This is the first in a circular series of 12 caches, starting and finishing at Colwall Church. The walk is 3 miles long, and it takes you up and over the limestone ridges to Oyster Hill, down to the outskirts of Coddington, and back again.
The route uses parts of the Geopark Way and the Herefordshire Trail, and there are plenty of interesting geological and historical features around if you keep your eyes open! You can park in the church car park adjacent to the cache (by kind permission of the Rector). I have also provided a waypoint for a lay-by half way around the circuit for those who would prefer the do the series in smaller chunks.
As the series name suggests, you really will need wellies (or waterproof walking boots) at most times of the year. The caches were placed in January 2013 after weeks of rain, and the fields were very soggy although manageable with wellies. There are a mixture of cache types to be found. You should bring a pen and ideally a pair of log-extraction-tweezers with you!
The path over the ridges is steep in places. The pathways are well marked. The latter part of the walk is over farmland where sheep and horses abound, so be prepared to cross a few stiles (and warn your geopooches that they will need their leads, and that they may need to go over several stiles too). The series is not suitable for prams, but energetic youngsters should manage without too much trouble, especially if you manage to bring a picnic with you to have on the top of Oyster Hill!
As this is the Geopark Way, you really ought to start out with an understanding of the landscape around here. These sedimentary rocks were lain down in the Silurian (approx 440-420 million years ago). The limestones, shales and sandstones were formed sequentially over millions of years, and subsequent folding and faulting has pushed the deeper limestones and shales up in a "bulge" above the overlying sandstone. Subsequent erosion occurs at different rates depending on the hardness of the rocks, and today's limestone ridges are separated by soft shales, creating the valleys. The Geopark Way's logo is a trilobite because many fossils can be found in such rocks.
Go and have a stroll up to the church and have a look at the stones that make up the wall. The hills that the Geopark Way follows from here to Wellington Heath are all ridges of Silurian limestone (the grey stone). The orange rocks are the sandstones.
The cache is a screw top container.
Well done Neil-H - FTF on 12th January 2013!