+Foinavon Posted April 14, 2007 Posted April 14, 2007 when I go to events people often ask me about my caching name. Well today was the Grand National, it was also the 40th anniversiary of one of the most remarkable Grand Nationals ever when a rank outsider won at 100-1, due to an extordinary incident. This horse was the winner. Quote
+ryme-intrinseca Posted April 14, 2007 Posted April 14, 2007 Good story! I'm not a horseracing fan, but I love it when the underdog horse wins! Quote
+The Bolas Heathens Posted April 14, 2007 Posted April 14, 2007 (edited) I've always wondered how to pronounce it - I'd imagined foyne-avon but am probably totally wrong. Edited April 14, 2007 by The Bolas Heathens Quote
+Stuey Posted April 15, 2007 Posted April 15, 2007 Interesting story about the National, thanks! Quote
+Morton Posted April 15, 2007 Posted April 15, 2007 I've always wondered how to pronounce it - I'd imagined foyne-avon but am probably totally wrong. I think that's how the racehorse was pronounced. There is a much-told story in my family about how my grandfather almost, but didn't quite, bet £1 on it, which at 100/1 would have yielded a small fortune in those days. The mountain in Scotland is pronounced "FON-yaaven" by my hill-yomping friends, although a quick Google for confirmation turns up various alternatives. While I'm by no means an expert on these things, it looks like it's already a corruption of the original Gaelic name... so I guess all bets are off. Quote
+The Forester Posted April 15, 2007 Posted April 15, 2007 The Foinavon oilfield, West of Shetland, is named after the mountain of the same name. It's pronounced FoynAvvon, with the emphasis on the second syllable Cheers, The Forester Former BP Survey Superintendent, Foinavon Field Quote
+Foinavon Posted April 15, 2007 Author Posted April 15, 2007 (edited) The scottish mountain is spelt with an E not an O, now I think the owners of the race horse made an error because they also had a (much better) horse called Arkle. Arkle is the neighbouring mountain to Foinaven. I have been a hiker/hill walker for longer than I have been a cacher and to this day the walk up Foinaven remains the best walk I have ever done. It was this that led me to my caching name (even though I made the same mistake as the racehorse owners). Foinaven is largely an ignored mountain, the reason is that mountain walkers like Geocachers can get sidetracked by pointless statistics and Foinaven is not a Munro (i.e . it is not 3000ft high it only misses it by a few feet its something like 2993) so people don't bother with it. Mountain Walkers often talk about their "Munro Count", the same way that geocachers talk about their "found" count. For what its worth my Munro Count is about 15 and I think there are about 290 of them. I've always wondered how to pronounce it - I'd imagined foyne-avon but am probably totally wrong. I think that's how the racehorse was pronounced. There is a much-told story in my family about how my grandfather almost, but didn't quite, bet £1 on it, which at 100/1 would have yielded a small fortune in those days. The mountain in Scotland is pronounced "FON-yaaven" by my hill-yomping friends, although a quick Google for confirmation turns up various alternatives. While I'm by no means an expert on these things, it looks like it's already a corruption of the original Gaelic name... so I guess all bets are off. Edited April 15, 2007 by Foinavon Quote
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