Water Dog Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Printmaker, Hester Cox has created a series of geo art caches that take the seeker on a journey through Hackfall Wood with each cache illustrating a story of one of the many creatures that live there and leaving the visitor with a book of impressions from their day.
Water Dog: Otter
Tale:
The otter has long been seen as a friendly and helpful creature and has been given the name of ‘water dog’ because of these characteristics.
St. Cuthbert was born in 635 AD and became the prior of both Lindisfarne Priory and Melrose Abbey. He liked to preach in wild places and would often stay with the monks at the Abbey of Colding-ham which was perched on a steep cliff overlooking the sea. Each night the monks would notice that his bed was empty but they never knew where he disappeared to. One day one of the monks decided to follow him. Crouching out of sight, he spotted St. Cuthbert standing up to his neck in the North Sea saying his prayers to the rhythm of the waves. When he finished he returned to the shore and two otters appeared from the waves. They curled around his legs, drying them with their fur and warming his feet with their breath. St. Cuthbert became the patron saint of otters.
Hackfall:
Did you know that otters are part of the same family as badgers, stoats and weasels called mustelids? They are happy on land and in water and are excellent swimmers having sleek bodies, webbed feet and strong tails. Otters have between 1-5 babies and breed all year round. The babies stay with their mother for a year during which she teaches them how to swim and catch fish. Otters have been seen in the Ure at Hackfall. Look for tell-tale signs such as footprints and droppings called ‘spraints’ which they leave to mark their territory. They are shy creatures and are best spotted early in the morning or at dusk.
This geocache is part of a series of caches hidden in Hackfall as part of North Yorkshire Open Studios - http://www.nyos.org.uk
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Sebz guvf cbvag lbh pna fgvyy frr Svfure Unyy. Purpx bhg arneol ybt cvyrf!