N1 Stilfontein Blockhouse (GMC12Z) Traditional Geocache
N1 Stilfontein Blockhouse (GMC12Z)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This is a Road Side Cache
This is more or less a roadside cache, this means that you can almost drive up to the cache. The cache is very easy to find. I have done this so that driving on our roads now may have a nice little twist. Keep an eye out for a roadside cache near you soon. The cache has been replaced by GorNat, please replace with care to maintain the life of the cache.
History of blockhouses: At the turn of the 20th Century, however, these little buildings with gunports were part of the massive blockhouse system built by the British forces during the South African War (formerly known as the Anglo-Boer War). Lord Kitchener, commander in general of the British Army in South Africa, was having a hard time countering Boer guerrilla tactics in the field. The Boer combatants, armed and mounted and moving in small squads, were hard to track and pin down as they swept through the countryside, causing havoc with the much larger – and slower – British contingents. So Kitchener had approximately 8000 blockhouses built, with barbed-wire fencing between them, spanning more than 5000 kilometres. Most of the blockhouses were erected near essential railway routes to protect vital supply lines. And they proved to be effective in controlling the Boers’ movements. Life in a typical blockhouse generally consisted of seven ‘Tommies’ (British soldiers) under a hot tin roof. More than 90% of their time was spent in boredom, cleaning equipment, teasing each other and holding corn cricket derbies. Then there was that 10% of white-hot action, when the Boers came visiting. Information from http://www.southafrica.net/za/en/articles/entry/article-southafrica.net-blockhouses-of-the-south-african-war
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
BCBE