Route 66 takes its name from the legendary former highway in the United States of America. But what does this mean for Cyprus Geocachers?
Across the island you will find that the Horizontal UTM Gridline 3866000 runs from the coast at Larnaca in the East, to the coast North of Cape Drepanum in the West; a distance in a straight line of 120Kms.
Our Route 66 follows this line and a total of 23 caches are placed at intervals along it wherever the Horizontal Grid line 38> 66000 intersects specific points. You will find that during the quest your GPS will indicate that in a straight line you are not too far from the next cache but that to reach it you will travel much further than you would think.
Ideally we would wish that you hunt for all the caches in order i.e. East to West so that you feel some sense of achievement, especially if you are able to study a map with all the caches drawn on it and see your journey. Obviously not all Geocachers will be able to complete Route 66 in this way, particularly if they are only here for a short time on holiday and so all the caches may be hunted as individual ones.
Along this romantically themed journey we hope you will feel you are getting to see some beautiful countryside and the spectacular views that Cyprus has to offer by way of some extremely pleasant off the beaten track routes. Granted, at the start in the industrial East you may not think so but have patience! There are several locations on your travels where you might wish to take time to study and learn a bit more about this wonderful island.
There will be a very special bonus cache to complete when all the junctions of Route 66 have been visited; but to be able to claim this cache you must fulfill a few conditions, some of which will be detailed in the caches as you find them. The most important, however, is that Route 66 must have been completed in the order set i.e. all Junctions visited in numerical order.
REMEMBER TO SET YOUR GPS TO UTILISE UTM COORDINATES SO THAT YOU CAN COUNT DOWN TO 386600 AS YOU GET CLOSER TO THE MAGIC LINE!
We aim to release 5 caches every few weeks for your enjoyment in order to encourage you to hunt them all in order so that you locate the first five then the second and so on.
Naturally, your own route may give you views we have not seen ourselves but if you are as lucky as us and have as much fun as we did in setting Route 66 you should have a really grand adventure!
Whichever way you choose to undertake this journey and as the song tells us to do - be sure to ‘Get Your Kicks on Route 66!’
Tips for completing Route 66:
In order to claim the bonus cache, each Junction must be visited in the correct order.
The caches we have set will have a greater degree of difficulty in terms of concealments than seen so far in Cyprus – we have enjoyed creating some cunning concealments and hope that you enjoy finding them. Please always carry a pen with you as not all the cache containers are large enough to hold one and we would ask that all caches are replaced EXACTLY as found.
Each cache will hold a clue for the next Junction to help you find the concealment. No clues will be placed on the website, so be sure to make a note of the clue before replacing the cache and setting off along the rest of Route 66.
Carry your camera with you – you never know when you might need it!
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And so to Junction 2 on our journey across Cyprus’s Route 66…………………….
This cache takes us to the Pyrga Nature Trail, and a fiendish little hide. There are some spectacular views, some very steep places on the track, and some excellent motorcycling to be had at this location. A 4x4 is recommended, but a saloon car could accomplish this with care.
If you visit the viewpoint, you will be able to see both Junction 1 and Junction 3 as well as Stavrovouni Monastery and the LTV studios.
REMEMBER TO SET YOUR GPS TO UTILISE UTM COORDINATES SO THAT YOU CAN COUNT DOWN TO 386600 AS YOU GET CLOSER TO THE MAGIC LINE!
This is particularly important, as we used UTM to set the locations of all the caches on Route 66, and some small discrepancies will arise in the conversion to degrees and minutes.
We are having trouble with placing the correct UTM co-ordinates on the website – Junction 2 is at 0539415 3866000