The Coombe, Harrowbarrow Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Harrowbarrow, Cornwall - generally uphill, over a variety of
gradients.
The cache site is located in Harrowbarrow, on a footpath that goes
through what most local people call The Coombe. It’s a
quiet little area and a pleasant way of getting from one side of
the village to the other. The path is y-shaped and forks near the
middle, so there’s three starting and ending points. It
probably won’t take more than half an hour or so to explore
the lot. You can get from one end to the other in less than 15
minutes.
I picked this path because it has memories for me. I went to the
primary school at the bottom of the village and used to walk home
back along this path – call it a bit of nostalgia if you
will. This is also my first cache site, in commemoration of my
100th find. There’s some nice views – as you walk up
the path, you can look to the right and see some more remnants of
the Cornish mining industry.
The container is a small 450ml click/seal tub, wrapped in a
camo-bag. As it’s so close to the public-footpath, please
ensure that it’s really well hidden when you’ve
finished with it, so that it’s kept out of sight from keen
eyes! Dog walkers also regularly pass through, so a bit of stealth
will probably be required.
The suggested parking place is at the bottom of the village next to
the village hall, opposite the primary school - parking is free.
You can then cross the road and walk straight up the footpath
(start of path: N50 30.390 / W 004.15.365). Alternatively,
if you choose to park near the other two path exits (N50 30.645
/ W004 15.354 or N50 30.697 / W004.15.165), I’d suggest
that you’re careful – there’s lots of blind
corners around that area and you risk blocking residents in.
This was the cache’s contents at the time of listing:
1. Notepad and pen (in a plastic bag).
2. Calculator on a key-ring.
3. £1 Coin (for the first to find).
4. Torch key-ring.
5. 3 Highlighter pens.
6. Nautiloid fossil.
7. 16MB XD Card (For a digital camera).
8. Multicoloured fold-out ruler.
As you can see, for such a small container, it’s as full as
it can be and I’ve tried to put some good and interesting
stuff in there - so if you swap, please keep to the golden rule of
comparable (or better) quality swaps, preferably stuff you’d
want to take yourself.
GPS Coverage is generally good…. until you get close to the
cache (at which point, it goes very patchy). The best I could get
at the site is +/- 10 metres, but I think you’ll have a good
idea where to look when you get close.
There’s a little bag of silica gel stuck to the lid of the
container – this is deliberate, so that any moisture is
absorbed and the contents are kept as dry as possible. Please
don’t remove it.
First to find the cache gets the shiny £1 coin.
It’s probably worth noting that some of the land on the
right-hand fork of the path, whilst still being marked as an
official public footpath, has previously been disputed as such by
the owners of a nearby house. As you can see from the “left
or right?” picture I’ve posted, you can go that way
(and there are appropriate gates to let you through), but you may
occasionally find dogs loose in the area. If you’re at all
concerned about this, you don’t need to go through. The cache
is not sited in this area, nor do you have to go through it to get
it. I’ve never had any issues when going through the area,
but feel it would be prudent to make you aware of the history. I
should also add that it is listed on Cornwall County Council's
website as a public right of way.
Finally, the footpath gets extremely narrow (especially if you take
the right fork). You will also encounter some little steps over a
footbridge and a very narrow gate. The footpath is quite muddy and
uneven, so it’s not wheelchair/pushchair friendly, hence the
terrain rating of 2.5 – sorry.
Happy hunting!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx hc. Va evtug unaq fvqr bs gerr yrqtr. Lbh znl unir gebhoyr ernpuvat.
Treasures
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