The route will take you round the picturesque village of Alconbury. There are many caches locally now but this cache's predecessor was the first. The terrain is road or tarmac footpath throughout.
A 60ml camo pot with a TB and small items at time of placing.
This is a multi mystery cache in tribute to a local farmer who has had an interest in the steam age for many years. He still shows his steam traction engine regularly. He must be famous for it because J has found that you can purchase a replica model of his traction engine. He also has a street in Alconbury named after him.
This cache is also in tribute to a local cacher (to be named at a later date if permission given) who set an almost identical multi of the same name in the area some time ago. The original GZ is no longer available due to recently placed caches and many of the original clues are no longer available on the ground. The information is still obtainable though.
The original cache owner put on his listing "The cache was originally located on what was once the steam enthusiasts farm where he stored his engines.
I have been told that he would hold a yearly party and invite all the villagers, giving them rides on a model railway he had built in his garden. I anyone could confirm this or has any photographs of a party I would be interested in seeing them."
Well ... GZ of the original cache and the listed coordinates of this cache were practically on the track itself. The farm itself actually belonged to his father who was also a steam enthusiast and whose name still appears on the traction engines.
It was on his (the fathers) birthday every year that the farm would be opened up to the whole village. A mini steam train would run around the pond, which is still present at the listed coordinates, giving all the local children endless free rides.
There would also be a bar-b-que in the barns, with hay bales to sit on, which would be a health and safety nightmare nowadays!!!
And if memory serves there was also a barn dance/disco and a musical (steam powered?) contraption as well as several steam engines powered up and on show. There was probably also bar, I was too young to care!
It was always a very popular event and one of the highlights of the village social calendar.
To find the cache you will need to work out some information. Local knowledge may help out a little here and you may need to make multiple visits to determine if information is available or not. If it's not then you'll have to find an alternative source for the information required. Hence the difficulty rating.
The clues and locations are all the same as the original cache. I walked the route in about 15 minutes and gathered what information was available and then I jumped on my favourite search engine and was able to gather the remaining information within minutes.
One particular stage was teasingly half available, however YOU DO NOT NEED TO STRAY ONTO PRIVATE PROPERTY - You will need to do online research so include this in your list of online tasks!
So, once you have all the available information you may like to go home and work out the rest or, if you have the ability to surf the web in the field, retire to a convenient watering hole of your choice.
Stage A - A very old building here. Which century was it built? Add these numbers together then minus 4
Stage B - What’s the highest number on the depth gauge? Minus 8
Stage C - What decade did councilor Dix take office – 19X7? Minus 4
Stage D - How many arches does the old bridge have?
Stage E - What year did James Hagger die = 27th April 184X. Minus 1
Stage F - Which day in June did William York Die? Add the numbers together.
The cache can be found at N52 22.ABC W000 15.DEF
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.