The line of longitude, 2°W, is the only line of longitude that is exactly the same as one of the lines of the Ordnance Survey National Grid. It’s line 400000 of the National Grid, also known as the Central Meridian, for those who like to know these things. It also runs the entire length of England: from just outside Berwick-upon-Tweed on the north-east coast to a couple of miles south-west of Swanage on the south coast, passing through our home town on the way.
The author and television presenter, Nicholas Crane, whom you may have seen on BBC’s ‘Coast’, once walked the whole line from north to south. He allowed himself a margin of just one grid square either side of the line. After the walk he wrote a very readable book called “Two Degrees West” which describes his escapades. The book is now out of print, but still available from second hand dealers.
To see more about Crane’s book click here.
On February 29th 2008 we set up Two Degrees West – The Original
and challenged other cachers to place caches exactly on the two degrees west line.
This series is slowly growing.
All active "Two Degrees West" caches can be seen here.
Park at the waypoint below.
View on the way to the cache
The track where this cache is placed used to be a coach road. If you would like a longer walk - just over a mile each way from the cache - there is still one of the milestones, where we have put another cache - How Far? - to the right of the track. On the way you will pass The Road to Nowhere cache.
