War and Peace Traditional Cache
Hidden : 11/29/2008
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size: small (small)

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Geocache Description:

A walk along a ridge of land overlooking relics of the Cold War and the Roman occupation of Wales.

The Neddern brook which flows down this valley was once a much bigger river and created the flood plain you see today. Navigable from where if flows into the Severn Estuary right up to this valley it was where the Romans fought with the Silurian people who had a hill fort across the valley on the wooded slope at Llanmellin. After the campaign and pacification of the Silurians the Romans built a city for them called Venta Siluram in about AD75. For over 300 years Venta Siluram was the civil centre of the region. Today the the modern village of Caerwent sits within the still impressive Roman walls and ruins and remain as a testament to the power of the Roman invaders who after defeating an enemy then brought them into the civilised world. If you look to the right down the valley, Caerwent and the Roman walls are clearly visible with St Tathan's church standing in the middle.

Some 1500 years after the Romans had gone war came once again to this valley. This time it was World War 2. Across the valley you'll see dozens of red brick buildings of all shapes and sizes. This is the huge RAF Caerwent base, built in the 1930's as a naval weapons factory it produced all the raw explosives needed to manufacture shells and other munitions. In the 1960's it became an RAF base used by the US Air Force for storage of armaments and although never admitted it was generally believed be a store of nuclear weapons. Last used during the 1990 Gulf War for arms storage, the base finally closed in the mid 1990's but is still used for ground training of troops. It is quite common to see various helicopters including Apache gunships circling the site.

From the parking area go left down the road then first right down a lane to some houses. You go past GC1JGVR Journey to Easter Island so make sure you stop and do it! The footpath is down this lane and goes left through the gates of Whitehall Farm (FP1) and down a green lane. Cross two stiles and then turn right onto the tarmac driveway of the large house (FP2). The footpath does go through the garden of this house and through a rather ornate wrought iron gate on their driveway. Don't worry, this is the footpath and it is marked as such! The walk takes you over several stiles so is not suitable for buggies. There are two lovely Shetland ponies in the last field before the cache; they are Giselle and Pippa. Both due to foal in May '09

The cache is a camoflaged clip lock box full of swaps and suitable for coins and small TB's.

If you continue down towards the A48 you may may also like to do our 'Roamin Roman Ruins' cache which takes you on a walk through the Roman ruins in Caerwent.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Yrsg bs fgvyr va ubyybj gerr onfr

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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