The Cache
My original intention was to place this cache near the summit of Ellrig, refered to as Eldrig by Brochtie. A walk of around 2 miles from the Ardochrig entry point on the eastern side of Whitelee Windfarm takes you Ellrig. I have searched the forestry area on Ellrig looking for remains of the cairn mentioned by Brocthie. All I could find was an area densely planted with conifers and plenty of ditches and no indication on the ground of any cairn.
Downhill almost directly north from where you find the cache, the White Cart Water starts to wind it's way towards the Clyde. Please note do not cross the fence as the area beyond is not part of Whiteleee Windfarm.
The cache as originally placed contains a variety of items for swaps, a Travel Bug - Cart Blanc and a 'one use' camera. All visitors to the cache are invited to take a couple of photos of the scenery during their visit and return the camera to the cache in it's ziplock poly bag. Please mention in your logs when you use the camera and if the film is all used up let me know, so that I can remove it to be processed.
The White Cart Water rises on Ellrig Hill, south of the village of Eaglesham. The upper reaches of the White Cart Water pass through dairy farming areas and for much of its course the river passes through urban areas. At Renfrew it joins the Black Cart Water forming the River Cart which joins the Clyde estuary some 22 miles downstream from it's source on the northern edge of the Whitelee Windfarm.
In "The Borderlands Of Glasgow - Official Tramway Guide To The Romantic and Beautiful Countryside Around The City" written by T.C.F. Brochtie and published in 1923 by The Tramway Department of The Corporation of Glasgow, I had read - "THE hill o’ Ballagiech is of modest height, 1084 feet above sea level, a mere moudiewart compared with the majestic bens which keep watch and ward over the valley of the Clyde. Yet, thanks to its being upreared on the very backbone of Scotland, Ballagiech offers the wayfarer a magnificent panorama of land and sea, of mountain, moorland, and loch. Ailsa Craig and the hills of Galloway on the south, the peaks of Arran, Ben Lomond, Ben Voirlich, Ben Ledi, the Kilpatrick Hills and the Campsie Fells, the spacious valley of the Clyde from Dumbuck to where it melts into the blue ether beyond Airdrie, Wishaw, and Carluke. “Mosses, waters, slaps and stiles,” stretching far east until they are lost on the dark shoulders of Eldrig, where the birthplace of the White Cart is to be found."
The Cart above Raahead - 1923
"TO POLNOON AND CART’S SOURCE. A half mile from Eaglesham and on the banks of the Cart stand the ruined mill of Millhall and the dam of Polnoon. In a clump of trees on a knoll a couple of hundred yards from the dam are to be seen the mouldering vestiges of the ancient keep of Polnoon. The storm and shine of wellnigh six centuries have almost obliterated this castle of the powerful chiefs of Montgomery. Shattered and insignificant though the ruins be, yet their story links us with great events in Scottish history and literature; in the latter with the Scots and English ballads of “Chevy Chase” and “Otterburn,” in history with the Sir John de Montgomery, who, at the battle of Otterburn in 1388, took Percy prisoner. A more or less reliable but persistent tradition has it that it was with Percy’s ransom or “poind” money the castle of Polnoon was built. The dam and ruined mill are most picturesque. They offer a feast of Corot-like colour, and a composition tempting alike to brush and camera. The second road to the right, a walk of a mile past the ruined mill, will take you due south and twice over the River Cart, here but a purling brook. On this south-going road you pass Currachfaulds, and a quarter of a mile further on you reach the grey and weather-beaten farm answering to the philologically stimulating name of Rawhead (a Celtic or Teutonic root?) a memory perhaps of the days when the ancient Pictish was spoken on the moorlands of Cart head. An old field path leads from Rawhead to the Cart, here as our sketch shows, the most modest of brooks but clear as crystal and the home of fat trout. From this point it is a comparatively easy tramp of a couple of miles over bent lands and through peat haggs to the source of the White Cart, a gleaming eye of silver and green on the dark shoulder of Eldrig. The summit level is not far above the source, and at the little cairn which crowns the top you are 1215 feet above sea level, a splendid vantage point that commands a magnificent panorama of moorland and green and smiling fields, of villages and the distant city, with the Campsies and Dungoyne filling up the background."
Path to Carrot Top in sunshine from GZ
Corse Hill from GZ
Check the Scottish Outdoor Access Code for further information about access rights in Scotland and keep up to date with information specific to the Whitelee Windfarm here.
The following points are particularly important when entering the windfarm site:
FIRE - Prevent the creation or spread of fire. Never light an open fire within the windfarm, in forests or woodland areas, farmland, on peaty ground or near buildings. Please dispose of cigarettes carefully.
SNOW & ICE - Under certain conditions snow and ice can accumulate on turbine blades and be thrown a considerable distance as these rotate. Visitors are asked to keep as much distance as possible from wind turbines under these conditions, and to avoid entering the windfarm in periods of heavy snowfall.
LIGHTNING - Under lightning conditions visitors are asked to keep a safe distance from the wind turbines and leave the site as quickly as possible. Never shelter close to a turbine under such conditions.
Many thanks to Whitelee Countryside Rangers Maree and Rennie for their cooperation whilst this cache was being researched.