SHC 7 - Turn right if you fancy a view. Traditional Cache
SHC 7 - Turn right if you fancy a view.
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(micro)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
Here is another of our circular routes this time with Speech House at its centre. The trail is along the cycle track that follows the route of the old forest mining railway, with various starting points along the way. We started the trail from the bottom of Speech House Hill where there is free parking (outside the barriers) for 8-10 cars. Other suitable parking places are available around the route.
This trail may be done on bikes or on foot. It is just over 7 miles however so is more suitable for bikers or fit walkers. The trail may be split into 2 sections for those on foot, with routes back to parking spots via Spruce Ride or the Gloucestershire Way, but by the time you have done this you might as well have walked the total distance on the easier cycle track. The trail is also on very good made up tracks and the gradient is never severe – as long as you attempt the caches in numerical order. Attempt the circuit in reverse numerical order & you will see why we put that bit in bold.
The caches are quite widely spaced apart, to avoid cyclists having to hop on & off too frequently. We would also suggest a local Explorer map (OL14) may be useful, or download one from the Internet, or use the marvels of technology on your GPS – they show the route accurately and have the local parking and picnic spots on them.
If you fancy a break for lunch there are quite a few places to consider – New Fancy picnic site, Beechenhurst picnic site and BBQs, Speculation picnic site off the New Road or Folders Green/Cannop picnic site – depends where & when you set off from on the circuit. Don’t forget, if you are parked up inside a barrier get back to the car by 5pm in the winter months, or you could have a long journey home that night. In the summer you have at least 2 hours more time available.
Cache 7 is on the approaches to the New Fancy where the cycle track to Cannop bears right. The New Fancy Colliery was the last of the house coal collieries in the Forest and the proposal to close it met with great opposition. The mine owners and the miners were for once in total agreement; the pit need not close. It was claimed that with adequate machinery the pit could produce one thousand tons per week and that could eventually be raised to twelve hundred tons. However on May Day 1944 the Forest Miners’ Agent felt it was touch and go whether the colliery would continue & the announcement of closure came 2 months later. The Regional Controller did not consider the colliery’s output justified the government subsidies being paid to keep it in production. In 1944 the New Fancy was closed with 300 men who worked there being dispersed to Norchard or Princess Royal.
Cache 7 is a magnetic micro in a camo container. There is another cache in this area which is a small and very interesting offset – GC260M1 Fancy Geomapping.
With thanks to the Forestry Commission for permission to place this cache.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Byq ehaaref.