The cache is not at the coordinates given above - these are
coordinates for the free car park. To find the actual coordinates
you will need to solve the puzzle below.
Birchwood Forest Park is the name given to all of the green
spaces in the Birchwood area, which includes the villages of Gorse
Covert, Oakwood and Locking Stumps.
Birchwood new town was created after the demolition of the
Risley Royal Ordnance factory, a World War II bomb factory which
made thousands of bombs for the allies' war effort. The location
was chosen as low lying mist and cloud at the site helped
camouflage the factory from the air.
After the war, the factory was of little use, and part of the
land was sold off to the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority in
the late fifties. BNFL still occupy this part of the site. The
remaining parts of the former factory were put up for sale in the
early sixties, although it wasn't until 1968 that a buyer could be
found and construction of the new town begun.
Birchwood Forest Park occupies the central area of the Royal
Ordnance Factory site, and some of the munitions storage bunkers
can still be seen in the park.
The main section of the park, known as Birchwood District Park,
which lies to the south-west of the parking coordinates, features
football pitches, a childrens' play area, a kickabout pitch, a
skate park, a BMX track and several picnic benches. Due to the
family oriented nature of this area of the park the cache has been
marked as suitable for kids, however children will almost certainly
need an adult's help to solve the puzzle.
A network of wooded paths stretch to the east and west from the
central area and the park covers a total of 500 acres. Most of the
paths are surfaced and are suitable for prams and wheelchairs,
although access to the cache will be difficult for wheelchair users
and pushchairs.
To obtain the actual coordinates of the cache you need to
decrypt the code below:
Easy! Off you go then...
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com.
Whilst in the area I strongly recommend visiting
Risley Moss (open Sat-Thu, 9am-5pm). It's a lovely area, and
you can find a real piece of Geocaching history - the cache there
must be one of the oldest in the UK, having been placed just over
18 months after the world's first
cache was hidden in the US.
Getting There
By car: A free car park is available at the main coordinates
listed at the top of this page.
By bus: From Warrington Interchange take bus Nos. 24, 25, 26
or 27 to the Ordnance Avenue or Moss Gate stop.
