Getting There
To access the forest, leave the A30 at the Five Lanes/Altarnun turning. If traveling East you need to pass under the A30 (if traveling West just drop down to the roundabout at the end of the slip road) and then take the single track lane signposted "Halvanna" (we think Highways spelled it incorrectly).
Follow the lane all the way to the end, and when you can't drive any further you have reached the forest.
If there is no space to park at the end of the lane, turn back and about a quarter of a mile back up the lane is a larger parking area.
The Caches
None of the hides are tricky, clever or difficult (no nanos hung in trees). The aim of the series is simply to take you on a nice walk, picking up some caches on the way.
You are looking for small clip lock boxes in camo cloth bags. Each cache contains a log book and pencil and has room for small trackables.
We walked the route twice taking average readings at each location, then used the GPS to locate the hide on our third walk to place the caches. In most cases we were with 10 feet but the trees caused problems at some locations and we made some minor adjustments to co-ordinates. Hopefully the hints will solve any dodgy GPS issues
Mining
Within the forest you will find evidence of historical mining activity, including shafts to your left on the way to cache 1. These are now mostly filled in and capped with conical steel frames. The largest is uncapped but has a cage cone plus a double ring of fencing around it. You will also see the remains of the mine adit (at cache 10).
The remains are those of Halvana and Foxtor mines, once worked individually, but later as a combined enterprise.
The lodes were of thin quartz veins with sporadic cassiterite (a tin oxide mineral, SnO2) and wolframite (from which Wolfram, otherwise known as Tungsten and used for a range of industrial purposes, is extracted).
Plans from the old mines show a depth of 20 fathoms (36.5m/120ft) below adit, which was at 29m (95ft) below surface, was reached.
So the mine workings extend to some 65m (210ft) below your feet. You could drop Nelson's column down the shaft and by the time it stopped at the deepest level of the mine, Nelson would be 40ft down the shaft below you, still stood upon his column!
Halvana mine started in 1843 and Foxtor shortly afterwards. Both mines had ceased production by 1918 with only small quantities of tin and wolfram having been sold.
At the time the caches were placed the forest was being 'remodeled' by the Forestry Commission with new pathways being constructed and darker parts of the forest opened up.
FTF
Congratulations to Seaglass Pirates on getting FTF on the whole series and for doing at least half the circuit in the dark. Thanks for the great logs too, much appreciated.
All caches have been placed in accordance with GAGB FC Peninsula guidelines, thanks to the GAGB for their work in gaining approval of these guidelines.