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You'll have to try your hand at orienteering around Southampton Common in order to find this cache!
My first memory of orienteering was in 1998 when I did a course on a school residential trip to the Isle of Wight. I have very little recollection of it except for the fact none of us was very good! In fact, the team I was in scored the highest with 6 out of 9 - which shows how poor the standard was!
2009 reintroduced me orienteering when I did a cache by mitch.mob called Dunvant Deduction (GC1BKA1). I was hooked and subsequently attended many events held by Swansea Bay Orienteering Club (SBOC). A fair number of orienteering caches have sprung up since in the Swansea area but as I now live in Hampshire, I thought I would bring the idea to the Southampton region!
For those of you who have very little or no knowledge of what orienteering involves, it is basically using a map to navigate a route between markers (called controls). In competitive sport it is normally done at a run and many short-cuts are taken. Don't worry though, this course is mainly on paths and can be done at whatever speed you desire!
First of all you're going to need a map of Southampton Common. Click on the Related Web Page link at the top of the listing to see the official map which you can print and keep. There is also a simple one which was created in OS OpenSpace for you to print and use at the bottom of this listing, or you can pick up a copy from Hawthorn's Urban Wildlife Centre, for which the co-ordinates are given above. You will need to bring a pen to write down the answers as you go along. Please note that the centre's opening times are as follows:
Mon-Fri: 10:00-16:30
Sat-Sun: 12:00-16:00
Bank Holidays: Closed
Open all year round, admission free.
Once you've got your map you'll need to locate the Start control. This is labelled as "Start" on the map below and represented by a triangle in a double circle on the detailed O map. You'll see that it is directly in front of the main door to the Wildlife Centre. At this location, you should be able to spot a small red and white square with the word "Start" on it.
You're now ready to go! If you're using the map below, I've only included the controls you will need to visit, but if you have bought the O map, you will see there are a total of 26 controls. For the purpose of this cache you will not need to visit each and every control on that map, just 14 of them. This should take you roughly in a circuit, ending up back at the Wildlife Centre. By then you'll have the information needed to obtain the co-ordinates for the cache too!
Orienteering can be enjoyed as a solo venture or with friends and family. As a tip, try to keep the map orientated, i.e. pointing the way you're facing. This will mean that the writing is sometimes upside down, but at least the paths, landmarks and vegetation should be easier to locate as the map will show them where they actually are in relation to you.
The orienteering map has three suggestions for courses you can do: short, medium or long. You are more than welcome to do these suggestions and indeed to look for every control if you want to but to do the circuit needed to find the cache, I recommend doing the controls in this order:
START - 5 - 8 - 7 - 6 - 14 - 13 - 16 - 19 - 22 - 10 - 9 - 2 - 3 - 1
Each control, except for the start, has its number on it, along with a letter which the map does not tell you. It is this letter which you must make note of (there is space on the map for you to do so) and ultimately you will need to use these letters to get the cache co-ordinates.
The cache can be found at:
N50 (S - L) (C) . (U + U - Y) (J / L) (F)
W001 (J - N) (O - U - C) . (A x G) (L + M) (V - S - N)
NOTE: Some of the controls are currently unavailable. I have temporarily listed the final coords below.
The route to the cache should be straight forward and you can stick to the paths until you get close to GZ. Turn sharp right on entering at:
N50 CC.SSG
W001 L(L + L).AMF
Please only approach the cache from this direction and try not to trample around the area too much as this is a relatively undisturbed part of the common and needs to remain that way to encourage species to thrive there. It should, however, mean that you won't be disturbed by muggles. It also means that I have been able to hide a nice big ammo can to reward you for doing the course! At time of placement it contains many goodies including a DVD game, new earphones, a purse, magnetic photo frame, toy ring and bracelet and "Well Done!" bear statue plus a Travel Bug and Geocoin. If you take something (bar trackables), please put in something of equal or greater value. Thanks.
If you enjoyed this course, there are other permanent courses nearby you could try, such as the one in Itchen Valley Country Park or Royal Victoria Country Park, and I have another "georienteering" cache at the former: GC595M3. If you want to get to know some local orienteers where you can attend special events with temporary courses to try your hand at, you'll find local clubs dotted about all over the country (and world!) but the nearest to here being Southampton (SOC), Basingstoke and Andover (BADO) and the Isle of Wight (WIGHTO).
"Let's Go Georienteering!" was placed on Southampton Common with the kind permission of English Nature. Many thanks.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ynetr cvyr bs uhtr ybtf, genvyurnq raq. Frr fcbvyre cubgb.