hambro hide! Traditional Cache
Calluna Tib: As there has been no response to the previous log requesting that this cache is checked I have no option but to archive it.
Regards
Heather
Calluna Tib
Volunteer UK Reviewer - www.geocaching.com
UK Geocaching Wiki - https://wiki.groundspeak.com/display/GEO/United+Kingdom
Geocaching.com Help Center http://support.groundspeak.com//index.php
UK Geocaching Information & Resources http://www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(small)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
a slightly different cache compared to others on the island!
ftf prizes of four leafed clover from the island and ftf travel-bug! congratulations to s+b who were first to find.
this time we wanted to do something a little different to some of the other caches we had seen on our adventures. this cache is designed so that it can be done by near enough anyone(with the exception of muggles) in order to make this cache both family friendly and wheelchair accesible!
the cache is a naturally camouflaged container with an inside dimensions of about 1.5 cm by 10 cm. probably room only for log and pencil and very small items. PLEASE SIMPLY ROLL THE LOG UP AND PUT IT IN THE BAG WITH THE PENCIL, PUSH IT IN ONLY ENOUGH TO CLOSE THE LID. (bring a pair of tweezers just in case someone hasn't followed this rule) please replace the log as you found it so that it can be easily retrieved.
the gz as with all my caches comes with a little history!
the pub up the hill that you can see from the gz is has been blessed with a royal title, why royal you ask? well it just so happens that hrh king george the third frequented this inn on his many visits to the island, he was particularly fond of the rare mutton produced on the island and was also quite partial to wheatears or "snalters" as they are localy known which were trapped by young boys in hand built traps on weston green and sold for 3d each!
still facing the pub the building in the top left hand corner of the car park is now the rbl meetinghouse but pre WW2 this spot was occupied by the high street bakery, it was a large cylindrical building and was reported to be one of the finest bakerys on the island and most likely sold the local(and much guarded) delicacy the portland dough cake. during an air raid on the island the bakery took a direct hit and was reduced to rubble, local oral historys say that the explosion was so great that all the windows along nearyby ventnor road were all blown out. (see east where? cache)
the gz, currently it is a ruined play park that was once popular with the local children but was eventualy vandalised beyond council approved repair and was left to rot, younger portlandlad has fond memories playing in this park as a kid, particularly sitting on his skateboard and riding down the slide that used to occupy the steep slope to the east. there is a small well spring here that was probably used to feed the allotments behind before the installing of a tap. in the victorian era the view to the east of the shops across the road would have been obscured by a terrace of victorian town houses that went from where the car park entrance is now to next door to the rbl. you are stood in what was probaly someones back garden in the victorian era before the entire street was leveled in order to build the glorious beauty or a car park you see before you, built to serve the seldom used local shops. as you come in to the car park opposite the pub near the car park entrance are some steps, the hand carved post nest to these steps is all that survives of this victorian street similar posts can be seen accending old hill.
the road coming into the car park is called hambro road but the whole area is refurred to as hambro after the much revered local mp colonel hambro.
NOW THE BIG ONE
you should see some red brick houses from the gz the third house from the left is a very important house indeed, during the cold war this was the home of a soviet spy, ethel gee worked at the admiralty underwater weapons establishment and was passing on vital information about new sonar submarine detection equipment to her lover harry houghton, houghton had been posting millitary secrets to polish spies for quite some time but nothing compared with what his new found lover could offer to them. gee would bring out confidential information and take it to harry who would photograph it in his caravan, the pair would then travel to london and book into a hotel where they would then meet up with a man called gordon lonsdale at his house in london and then would return to the hotel to spend the night and return to portland the next day while lonsdale who was actualy polish soviet spy konon trofimovich molody who would then get them to the ussr. it wasnt long before MI5 cottoned on, spies followed gee and houghton to the inn in langton herring where they were both found drinking merrily, gee was noted to be spending and possessing much more than her pay at AUWE would cover, later on their next trip to london, lonsdale, houghton and gee were all arrested, houghton and gee were sentanced to 15 years imprisonment while lonsdale and his associates were sentanced to longer but early on were traded for ussr captured british spies, so was the end of the infamous portland spy ring. gee and haughton served nine years and when released on 12th may 1970 they got married a year later. both harry and ethel lived together and both died in obscurity in poole in 1985.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
orgjrra n gerr naq nabgure gerr, qba'g sbetrg gb ybt guvf bar!
Treasures
You'll collect a digital Treasure from one of these collections when you find and log this geocache:
Loading Treasures