Isca Dumnoniorum Multi-Cache
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Take a stroll around Exeter's City Walls. This multi involves a walk of around 2 km and should take around an hour. You will be able to combine this cache with several other caches in the city. At the end of the walk you are looking for a 35mm film pot, sign the log to claim the cache.
Isca Dumnoniorum was a Fortified Roman town on the site of what is now central Exeter. It is believed to have been the home of the 2nd Augustan Legion from AD55 for around 20 years. As you walk around the remains of the city walls you will see how much of the Roman workmanship survives after almost 2000 years. The wall has been repaired, demolished and heightened over successive centuries so not all of the workmanship you see dates from the Roman occupation. The walls have resisted attack from Danish raiders, King Stephen, Prayer Book Rebels and Royalist Forces in the English Civil War.
To find the cache you need to visit 6 locations and obtain a piece of information from each. Put these together and you will be lead to a magnetic film canister with a logbook inside.
- The headline coordinates take you to the site of the Roman Watchtower. A nearby information board explains what is on this site. According to the board the site of the Watch Tower is A6 metres to your left
- Head to waypoint 2. Here you will find a tower added to the walls in the Middle Ages. You have three options here and all give the same answer. Inside the tower is a circular stone with mosaic tiles around it. How many mosaic tiles are there? Answer - 4 = B. Alternatively look at the nearby street sign and count the number of letters on it, answer = B. Or you may prefer to use the second digit on a plaque on the outside of the tower (ie *B**). All these answers give you a value for B.
- Now go to waypoint 3. This gatehouse was built by William the Conqueror in 1068 making it one of the oldest stone built castle structures in Britain. How many rings are set in to the ground at the base of the tower? Answer = C, don't forget the small ring!
- Walk through Rougemont Gardens (the former castle moat) towards Queen Street then head to Northernhay Street. The fourth waypoint takes you to Maddocks Row, a narrow alley on your left. There is a date carved in to the keystone that appears to be obscured by building work, the answer you need here is D=7
- From here you can walk either side of the Roman wall to the junction of Paul Street and North Street where you will find a weather vane at waypoint 5. This is all that remains of the north gate. When was the gate dismantled? Answer = 176E
- Head down Bartholomew Street and follow the footpath straight on keeping the railings on your right. You will be rewarded with some of the finest views in Exeter. There is no cache information to look for along here so enjoy the view and look out for a challenge cache at the top of the steps.
- Head to waypoint 6 where you will find a plaque that starts with 'Site of West Gate...' how many more lines of text feature on this? Answer = F
You will find the cache at N 50 43.ABC W 003 31.DEF which is approximately 300 metres from waypoint 6.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Zntargvp naq abg va gur jnyy