GC61768 A View Over Foulness Island (Traditional Cache) in Eastern England, United Kingdom created by nathanjhunt

This cache has been archived.

nathanjhunt: I visited yesterday, and to my disappointment, the cache had gone. The wooden plank that the cache was nestling in has broken away completely, and been washed away by the river, along with the cache itself.

To those interested, the cache was a film canister, tied to the underside of an oyster shell. Perfect camo, if I say so myself.

I am archiving this one. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, access has now changed. It used to be a 500m walk to the cache, but this has now changed to a 3 mile walk.
Secondly, I was going to replace it with a normal container, but the location was different, and the size larger.
And finally, it will get reincarnated, along with 8 additional caches. Fairwell for now.

GC61768 ▼

A cache by nathanjhunt Message this owner

Hidden : 8/9/2015

Difficulty:

Terrain:

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:

Not everybody has the privilege of visiting Foulness Island. It is a 9 square mile island that is predominantly farmland, and is protected from the sea by a seawall. It is one of the most remote places in the UK to the general public, and there are two main settlements called Churchend and Courtsend. Although public rights of way exist, the site is owned by the Ministry of Defence, and access to the island is only permitted with a pass. The MoD also own various surrounding islands, and an area of land on the Essex mainland north of Shoeburyness, and east of Great Wakering. For this reason, very few people have ever seen the island. For the public, the cache location provides an insight into the secret of the island, as there is a wonderful view over the river on a clear sunny day.

Bangs are often heard over Southend, the Dengie, and even as far as Kent and Clacton. Despite the activity, Foulness Island is a peaceful haven, celebrating huge areas of SSSI and a very small population of around 200 residents.

From GZ, looking east to west, you will be able to see:

Foulness Point, and a square shaped target. A tall control tower. A cluster of buildings in an area called East Newlands. An area of trees, and a couple roofs of tiled buildings (one of these being Ridgemarsh Barn, a 16th century barn I oversaw the refurbishment of). Two tall towers used for target practice when an object is lifted between them. These fire out onto the Maplin Sands. A section of fresh grey seawall between Crouch Corner and High Corner which my father's company designed and oversaw the construction of. A large spacious cluster of buildings (details cannot be published). The seawall now curves back round as Nase Point. The next island along to the west is Wallasea Island.

Please only remove the lid. There is no need to detach anything else. The geocache is placed within a couple of metres of the public footpath, so you do not need to extend your search further than this. No geocaches are placed in habitats which are sensitive to trampling or other disturbance. To minimise disturbance to birds in the SSSI, you must keep dogs under control and on a lead when in or near habitats likely to support ground-nesting birds including salt marsh, grazing marsh and shingle. This cache has been placed with kind permission of Natural England.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Bv! Fgbc fgre-vat ng zr.

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)