Maughold Head Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Maughold Head, an exposed and often windy clifftop some 373 feet
high, overlooks Port Mooar with views of the coastline to the south
and inland to the slopes of North Barrule. Well worth a visit is
the nearby St Maughold's church, one of the oldest on the island
and built on the site of a Celtic monastery. The ruins of three
Keeils are contained within the churchyard as is a "cross shelter"
which houses a fine collection of decorated and inscribed Celtic
and Norse crosses.
Its not always windy or blowing a gale, sometimes it's calm as the
state of the sea shows in this photo of the lighthouse at Maughold
Head:
For those times when it's not so calm or if you're at all concerned
about the weather you may want to check the forecast before you set
out:
"The shipping forecast issued by the Met Office on behalf of the
Maritime and Coastguard Agency at 0100 on Monday.... there are
warnings of gales in VIKING NORTH UTSIRE SOUTH UTSIRE FORTIES
FITZROY SOLE SHANNON ROCKALL MALIN AND FAIR ISLE
THE AREA FORECASTS FOR THE NEXT 24 HOURS:
SOLE LUNDY FASTNET IRISH SEA NORTHWESTERLY BACKING SOUTHERLY 5 TO
7, DECREASING 4 FOR A TIME, OCCASIONALLY GALE 8 IN SOLE LATER. RAIN
LATER. MODERATE OR GOOD..."
The inshore forecast is closer to home and somewhat more
definitive:
Colwyn Bay to the Mull of Galloway including the Isle of
Man.
24 hour forecast:
Wind: northwesterly 5 or 6, backing west 4 by
evening, and south 5 or 6 later in night.
Weather: rain soon clearing, then isolated
showers.
Visibility: moderate soon becoming good.
Sea State: moderate or rough, increasing moderate
overnight.
Outlook for the following 24 hours:
Wind: southerly 5 or 6, increasing 6 to gale 8,
decreasing 5 or 6 overnight.
Weather: fair, then rain for a time in the
afternoon.
Visibility: moderate or good
Sea State: moderate increasing rough, possibly
very rough around the Isle of Man
A note of caution: although the cache is
hidden in a safe location there are steep unfenced cliffs in the
area.
You can get good all-round views of the
surrounding area from the
cairn at the top of Maughold Head and sea views from the cache site
itself. Maybe by now you've decided where it's located but these
are the coordinates which should take you to a quick find:
The cache initially contained:
FTF - Gold Celtic cross brooch
Fishing boat,
pen, "bugs" (grasshopper, fly,..),,
geocoins, travel bugs
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ab tbefr, ab cevpxyrf, ab urngure,...