Parish Walk Micro Series (No. 1 : Braddan) Traditional Cache

This cache is part of a a series of 17 caches; inspired by the Parish Walk, … one of the oldest events in the Isle of Man’s sporting calendar.

               CONGRATULATIONS TO HAPPY HUMPHREY WHO WAS THE FIRST TO COMPLETE THE WHOLE SERIES ON THE 13TH OF MAY, 2009

               Congratulations also go to the Senior Citizens who completed the whole series on the 16th of May, 2009

               Congratulations to my colleague Jock Waddington for winning the 2008, 2009 & 2010 Parish Walks

First held as a sporting challenge between two men in the last century, it was revived in its present form in the 1960’s. It is a walking race that is open to competitors of all standards, and an event that generates a tremendous social atmosphere. Note: to take part you must be aged 18 or older (21 or older to continue past German). To complete the course you have to walk 85 miles, calling in at each and every one of the Island’s 17 parish churches and touching either its door or its gate (apart from Braddan for safety reasons, and German, where the Town Hall is used instead). Here is a list of the parishes in this series, including the geocaching code, distance the competitors have walked to reach them and an idea of how many of the 271 Island caches have been placed in each parish to date (including the 17 in this series). The four towns of the Island are also included for completeness (as they are not "in" any of the parishes but separate districts in their own right).

PARISHES...

TOWNS...

In 2008, there were almost 1,600 competitors, of which two thirds reached Rushen and 122 completed the full course distance; the winner (a colleague of mine) recorded an incredible time of 15 hours, 44 minutes and 43 seconds (even though the weather was the worst in the event's history). This year's event takes place on the 20th/21st of June. The closing date for entries has already passed. There is a record 1,621 competitors this year!

The start of the race is on the running track at the National Sports Centre in Douglas and the finish line is at the War Memorial on Douglas Promenade opposite the Villa Marina Arcade. There is a 24 hour time limit to complete the course (with appropriate cut-off times along the way based on a 3-5 mph schedule). It takes place on the nearest Saturday to mid-summer’s day and starts at 8.00am. The event is organised each year by the Manx Harriers and sponsored by Clerical Medical (see www.parishwalk.com for more details).

In this series, I have hidden silver/grey micro-cache capsules near to each of the 17 parish churches, on (or just slightly off) the route of the walk's course. Each capsule contains a rolled-up log-book (please bring your own pen/pencil).

For a bit of fun, here are the statistics for the 184 finds so far. (* represents FTFs. ** represents those who have completed the whole series. Bold signifies the Senior Citizens finding the first FTF at 4.00pm on the 5th of May 2009 for the Onchan cache, and Happy Humphrey for being the first to complete the series on the 13th May 2009). The column heading numbers refer to the parishes in the order they are visited in the parish walk. [1=Braddan, 2=Marown, 3=Santon, 4=Malew, 5=Arbory, 6=Rushen, 7=Patrick, 8=German, 9=Michael, 10=Ballaugh, 11=Jurby, 12=Bride, 13=Andreas, 14=Lezayre, 15=Maughold, 16=Lonan, 17=Onchan.]

This cache is for the 1st in the series and can be found near the parish church of Braddan in Douglas, just under 2 miles along the TT course from its start/finish line. The parish is about 6 miles long and 2 miles wide and includes the Douglas suburbs of Anagh Coar, Ballaughton and Farmhill, as well as the villages of Union Mills and Kewaigue, within a rural area stretching from the coast at Douglas Head to Mount Rule. The northern end of the parish is mountainous whereas the southern end is flatter. The Middle River runs through the parish in the Kewaigue/Oakhill area where the original Fairy Bridge can be found.

The ancient parish of Braddan was larger, and included much of the urban area of Douglas, as well as the remote East and West Baldwin valleys. It comprised the Douglas parishes of St George's, St Barnabas' (now merged with St George's), St Matthew's, and parts of St Thomas' and St Ninian's, which were established in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Baldwin area, including the chapel of St Luke's, was transferred to the parish of Marown in 1978.

Parking is available on the TT Service Road at the bottom of River Vale off Braddan Road. Please replace the cache exactly as found, and as usual, WATCH OUT FOR MUGGLES!

Happy caching!