The Wave in Blackpool Traditional Geocache
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This small magnetic cache (our first hide) is located near to the Cedar Square part of the St. John’s Precinct multi million pound redevelopment in the seaside resort of Blackpool, Lancashire.
You will need your own pencil / pen. ***PLEASE REPLACE EXACTLY AS FOUND*** ***IF YOU LIKED THIS CACHE PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO 'FAVOURITE' IT *** The focal point of the square is a 10.5 metre high sculpture named The Wave. Designed by artist Lucy Glendinning, the piece was designed to reflect Blackpool’s coastal location and resort status. A giant curl of stainless steel representing a breaking wave is studded with coloured resin inserts whose shapes were inspired by detail in the stained glass at the nearby St Johns Church. These inserts are lit internally by LED colour change lights that give the sculpture a feel of constantly changing when seen from different angles. The top of the wave is pierced by a twice life size blue figure diving through it. A series of funky pebbles around the base of the sculpture echo the seaside theme of the main work. Internally textured and lit with colour change lighting they emit a soft glow of colour. Nearby illuminated dancing water flumes add to the fun of the area. Depending on your viewpoint of course, a very nice job seems to have been made of the renovation of the area. At the cache site, which is slightly away from the sculpture but in clear view of it, there is likely to be much muggle traffic, on foot, cycles and in vehicles (especially taxis and buses). This combined with nearby CCTV security cameras and a restaurant with large glass windows adjacent to the site means that stealth is definitely required when searching for, retrieving and replacing the cache, hence the 3.5 Difficulty Rating (uprated from 2.5 in April 2011 due to the obvious difficulties at the site). You may find it handy to have something with you to cover your intended activity, like a bag, item of clothing, map, etc. PLEASE TAKE CARE ESPECIALLY WITH THOSE YOUNG CACHERS AS THE CACHE SITE IS RIGHT NEXT TO THE ROAD. Enjoy the area as much as we did, whatever time of the night or day that you choose to visit. You don't have to open anything to get at the cache. Please carefully replace the cache in EXACTLY the same place as you found it. There is an easier spot to replace it but PLEASE DON'T as there is a significantly greater risk of it being muggled. The high difficulty rating justifies the stealth that is sometimes needed to replace the cache too. Cache replaced on 22/04/2012, 23/09/2012, 04/07/2015, 26/10/2015, 28/10/2016, 12/11/2016, 11/03/2017, 16/11/2017, October 2018, 08/06/2019 and 23/11/2019 after the previous ones went missing. Thanks also to the helpful local taxi driver(s) who appear to be assisting cachers that are experiencing problems finding this one. Have we converted them from being muggles to geocachers too? LOL Happy caching! *** A BIG CONGRATULATIONS TO THE JONES' FOR BEING THE FTF *** UPDATE: On Sunday 11th September 2022 at 3pm the Mayor of Blackpool delivered the local proclamation of the accession to the throne of King Charles III nearby, outside the church.
*** FURTHER UPDATE: Elmer is coming to town and bringing an extra splash of colour and lots and lots of joy! From 13th April to 9th June 2024, Elmer and 30 of his uniquely decorated elephant friends will appear on the streets of Blackpool to form the biggest-ever public art trail the town has seen, running for eight weeks. Two are located in the vicinity of this cache site (Pebbles and Shell-Mer). Let’s see some photos of these too please 😀
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qba'g trg yvccl. Oruvaq 24 ohg abg irel yvgrenyyl. F0369 raq.