Monk Stray is situated to the north-east of York on either side
of Malton Road (A1036). It extends as a thin strip of land for
about one and a half miles from Heworth Green to the Monk's Cross
area in the parish of Heworth Without. The Herdsman's Cottage, a
one-storey building of about 1820, is on the west side at the start
of Malton Road, and the old Elmfield Villa (1832), which was a
Primitive Methodist college, Elmfield College for 70 years, is
about 1,000 yards (910 m) further up on the right (currently
Straylands Grove).
Much of the west side of the Stray is occupied by the Heworth
Golf Club. On the eastern side, the Stray in the Heworth area is
open parkland. Outside the old City boundary, the areas of Stray on
both sides of the road have a more rural air. There are views of
York Minster.
The small building at start of the stray (now used as a flower
shop) was a battery charging and waiting shed for York's battery
powered buses.
During the weekend that the cache was originally placed, the
Stray marked the finish of the first stage of the 2009 Tour of
Britain cycle race. A cycling related TB started his race in the
cache too.
The original cache was replaced with a 'cache on a chain' after
falling deep into the hollow trunk of the tree. Shortly after, the
poor old tree was cut down and the cache on a chain left at the
side by the workmen. We had no idea that they (or the cache fairy)
had found and re-hidden the original! Thankyou whoever you are! :D
The cache started life with logbook, pencil, cache note, Tour of
Britain 2009 sticker, smelly candles, snake, lizards, tube of
bubbles etc. Stealth is required !
There is no clue in this cache for the SL series super bonus cache.