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Britain's Oldest Log: Geolympix16 Tribute to GC177 Letterbox Hybrid

Difficulty:
2.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

Set at the given co-ords with help from The National Trust in the Ashridge Estate to celebrate GC177, the 2nd oldest surviving cache in England, as part of the 2016 Geolympix Legacy.


Here's a fun fact. While GC171 - View from Coombe Hill was set on January 14th 2001 (a Sunday), which was the same date as GC177 (a short way north of this cache), the cache with the earlier GC-code is always - quite correctly - recognised as England's Oldest Cache.

However! A look at the FTF for both caches tells us that onyx (for it was they) found both on February 3rd 2001. A Saturday. Interestingly, CG177 was logged as a Find first, making this log the earliest on any surviving cache in England!

Or so I thought... No, actually, I'm sure it is. I checked. Nothing else earlier than April 22nd 2001 (a Sunday) - GC781 - Angels View (Tyne & Wear) - remains in England.

But then, while typing this page up as "England's Oldest Log" I got to wondering when GCF0 - Scotland's First - the only cache older than GC171 in the whole of the UK - was first found. Now, while there is some evidence it was muggled in early 2001, it's this log by davidhg on August 19th 2001 (a Sunday) which is the earliest recorded for that cache.

This makes onyx's log on GC177 the oldest on any surviving cache in the whole of the UK! Woohoo. Upgrade the cache name!

For the oldest Log in Wales, one must look to alan g's log of June 3rd 01 (a Sunday) on GC2BA - The First in Wales. It was set on the 17th of February 2001 - a Saturday. Nothing placed in March 2001 remains in the UK. The closest is GC3CF - G'ebbes in the Netherlands, set on the 4th.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Raq bs ybt.

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)