Chestnut Avenue Multi-Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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The 'lost' avenue of horse chestnuts at Rickmansworth Aquadrome.
To find the cache first identify the avenue of horse chestnuts running through the Ebury Way Play Area.
A= The number trees on the roundabout
B= The number trees on the east side of the avenue
C= The number trees on the west side of the avenue
Location: N 51° [2(B+C)+(C-A)].[A]06 W 000° [2(B+C)-A].BB[(C-A)]
Happy hunting :o)
Large-enough lockbox suitable for smallish swaps, TBs etc.
NO FOOD or SWEETS please
***********Muggle Warning***********
The final cache location is Muggledilly Circus in the City of Muggle, particularly at the weekends. So extreme subtlty required here folks. Once retrieved, I would suggest retiring to a bench a good distance away before opening the cache.
The trees you are interested in at the start of the cache are in a children's play area - but the final location isn't.
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Gubfr jub ivfvgrq Tbov'f Oveguqnl Pnpur Ab2 znl erpbtavfr gur pbagnvare, juvpu V unir erplpyrq naq xrcg gur betvany ybt va.
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Many a time I stood in the Ebury Way Play Area wondering why there was this avenue of horse chestnuts leading from a fence with no gate to a crash barrier by the river. And why are there two horse chestnuts on their own on the roundabout? Was this an old carriage way leading somewhere and if so where? There is another pair of horse chestnuts over the iron bridge by the waterski lake.
I started to hunt around. Looking on a map the avenue seemed to line up with the small bridge that now serves as the Aquadrome carpark entrance on Frogmoor Lane. And yes there is a lone horse chestnut here as well, by the canal. I looked at each of the islands on the lake. Did they have horse chestnuts that continued the line? No. Hmmmm the mystery continued.
Back at the play area, inspection of the undergrowth beyond the crash barrier revealed some overgrown concrete footings, and furthern inspection on the other side of the river near the other chestnuts revealed a similar eroded footing. So looking more like a 20th century footpath than a 18th century carriage way.
So I took my puzzle to the Three Rivers Museum (visit link) to see if they could shed any light upon it. And eventually we found a photo of the Aquadrome in its earlier days. It was an avenue of trees lining the path from the original entrance leading from the railway station, which is now somewhere under the road in front of the old Police Station. The path led to a lattice-work bridge that took visitors over the river to the lake.
The water-ski lake was origianlly used by the canal barge-builder Walker's of Rickmansworth (who's yard was at Frogmoor Wharf, now a supermarket) as a testing ground for its barges. As business declined following the expansion of the railways, Walkers diversified into 'leisure' for the tourists the railways now brought, using the lake for rowing, swimming and sailing.
(When I get a chance I'll go back to the museum to find the photo and include it here - CS69)
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Permission has been granted by Three Rivers District Council for the placing of this cache.
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FTF Honours go to dytham
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Vtaber gur fghzcf gung jrer bapr cneg bs gur nirahr, whfg gur yvivat gerrf.
Purpxfhz: Fhz (N,O,P) rdhnyf friragrra
Svany ybpngvba: Unir n "ebhgr" nebhaq haqre ahzore fvk
Treasures
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