DEAD MAN'S CAIRN - KIELDER Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

THE SMILEYS: Vehicular access and parking around Kielder is becoming increasingly limited making maintenance too time consuming for us. We will continue to maintain caches that are easily accessible by road with nearby parking.

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Hidden : 4/21/2007
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Moderate uphill walk from the nearest parking spot.

Kielder Water and Forest Park Lakeside Way - 27 miles - now complete.

Tucked away at the top of Northumberland, close to the Scottish Border and Hadrian's Wall, beautiful Kielder Water is the largest man-made lake in Western Europe and is set in the majestic Kielder Forest, one of Europe’s largest man-made forests. Home to one of Britain's biggest nature resorts, housing England's biggest colony of red squirrels, as many as 6,000 roe deer and many species of rare birds. Hills, rivers and open areas add to the diversity of the forest.

“This rich and varied landscape reflects the mood of Northumbria: a wild and romantic place to savour, a place to recharge the spirit”.

Kielder Water is the main reason why there are never any water shortages in Northumberland even though the county as a whole is one of the driest in the country. Constructed between 1975 and 1981 at a cost of £167 million, it is 7 miles in length, covers an area of 10 square kilometres and has a capacity of 200 million cubic metres – it took two years to flood the valley.

Kielder's quiet beauty is enhanced by a range of activities which include walking, cycling, horse riding, sailing, water-sports, fishing and a ferry cruiser.

There is a great selection of walks of varying distances, from easy to strenuous, around Kielder Water, Bakethin Reservoir and in Kielder Forest. The combination of water and forest creates a spectacular environment for walking and cycling with starting points all around the 27mile shoreline.

A 2.5m wide multi-user track around the shoreline of Kielder Reservoir is currently under development and the Art and Architecture programme at Kielder has led to the creation of a series of major new structures and installations around the Lake and in the Forest. An interesting 13 mile Forest Toll road connects Kielder Village at the head of the reservoir to the A68, providing a neat shortcut cross county for just £2 at time of listing all views inclusive of course !!

At all times along with the Country Code, please observe:

THE FOREST CODE

Guard against all risk of fire
Protect trees, plants and wildlife
Leave things as you find them - take nothing away
Keep dogs under control
Avoid damaging buildings, fences, hedges, walls and signs
Leave no litter

NO TREE COVER AT CACHE SITE

Follow the track into the forest to the left after the wooden steps on the right hand side of the road and before reaching Gowanburn – hope that helps hmmmmm…. A good track leads into the forest and without a great deal of ‘up’ you will come upon a large mound of stones in the forest, just off the path, which would originally have been on the open hillside. This cairn, built by people about 4,000 years ago who believed in an afterlife and treated their dead bodies accordingly, is thought to cover a prehistoric burial cist, probably dating from the Bronze Age, and would have contained some of the deceased’s possessions such as knife, flint and enough food for the journey into the ‘next life’. Although now protected as a scheduled monument, the site has been extensively ‘robbed’ in the past and human remains interred have long since disappeared.

From the cache there are wonderful views over Bakethin Reservoir and the surrounding forest.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Va n qvfgvapgviryl ynetr, syng gerr ebbg va gur bcra, whfg bss gur cngu.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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