Hathern Trail No.6: "Ghostly Encounter" Traditional Cache

This is one of a series of geocaches that will take you on a short trail through fields and meadows around the pretty village of Hathern. The geocache and trail is located entirely on waymarked public footpaths. The trail is on flat ground, although you will need to climb over well-made styles and it can be muddy in places in wet weather. A "novelty" geocache containing only a simple log sheet. You will need to bring your own pen to record your log.

THIS CACHE IS BEST SEEN AT NIGHT

The geocaches in the Series are:

No.1; "Starting-in-Style" (GC2E8Y8)
No.2: "Rock-On" (GC2E938)
No 3: "Back-on-Track - Again" (GC4F6FD)
No.4: "Old Man Willow" (GC2E96G)
No.6: "Ghostly" (GC4F6JD)
No.7: "Wicked Hathern" (GC2EJ8H)
No.8: "Hathern Trail No.8: A crossing at Nijmegen?" (GC4F6DN)
No.9: "Art Fry & Spencer Silver" (GC33J0X)
No.10 (replaced): "Inspired View" (GC3H5DK)
No.11: "A Slow Pace" (GC36WT7)
No.12: "Gate closed but horse bolted" (GC36WWB)

Other geocaches may be added in due course

If you follow this small series you can make a circular route that can start and finish at Hathern Park, Pasture Lane, Hathern.

For a short walk: from the Trailhead (Car Park) follow the Series in the order 1, 2, 3 and 4, then back to the Trailhead (Car Park).

For a longer walk: from the Trailhead (Car Park) follow the Series in the order 1, 2, 3, 11, 10, 6, 12 and 4, then back to the Trailhead (Car Park).

"Wicked Hathern" (no.7) is only a short distance along the road into the village from the Trailhead and could be added as a short detour either at the beggining or at the end of your walk.

For a nice long walk you could combine, "Wicked Hathern" (No.7), "A Crossing at Nijmegan?" (No.8), and "Art Fry & Spencer Silver" (No.9) with the others in the series in the order 1, 4, 12, 6, 10, 11, 3, 2, 8, 9, 10, 7

"Wicked Hathern" and "Starting-in-Style" can all be reached by wheelchair and strollers but other caches in the series are along footpaths across rough fields and tracks that can be muddy at times, and/or involve climbing over styles that are not suitable for wheelchairs, and may be difficult or not accessible to pushairs/strollers.

Why not walk to "Wicked Hathern" from the the Trailhead up Pasture Lane, via the ancient "cross" at the junction of Dovecote Street, Church Street, Cross Street, then walk along Church Lane to see the pretty little village church. Hathern Cross is a scheduled ancient monument believed to be medieval in age and an iconic feature that is greatly loved by the villagers. Its shaft is constructed of sandstone blocks mounted on top of a stepped base of Charnwood stone. The top of the shaft had to be repaired after it collapsed during a gale in 1916. Little is known about the purpose of the cross. Whether it was a preaching cross or a simple market cross is unclear. A single Charnwood stone located at the southwest corner of the base was perhaps used for teathering animals or may have been used as a whipping post. It is an enigmatic feature - it actually has no "cross" . Whether it ever had a cross on top is unknown. Maybe the top stone was a lantern head, as is found on other similar monuments.

You can also saunter down to the River Soar while doing this series and admire the pretty view of Normanton-on-Soar with its beautiful spired church across the other side of the river, and watch the narrow boats cruising on the river. You could also take in a couple of other nearby geocaches.