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Wanderer #2 Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

insidelight: Archiving.
Hopefully I'll be able to resurrect it at some point.

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Hidden : 3/19/2016
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

This GeoCache is the second Wanderer along the River Cane. 

This cache is a 9x9x5cm box. It contains a logbook and pencil, and (at the start) a couple of pin badges to swap if you wish...

Please sign the log - draw a picture too!

Placed with the kind permission of the Richmond parks dept.

Happy Hunting!


Don't get your feet wet - there's no need...

Crane Park is a "lightly" managed park with the added attraction of a nature reserve and all kinds of interesting remnants of the old gunpowder mills that used to occupy this area. If you've already looked at the surrounding roads, you'll notice "Powdermill Lane", which takes its name from the old Hounslow Gunpowder Mills. 

There are lots of other caches in the area so it makes a good trail of discovery - some are quite tricky, but fun and rewarding to discover.

There's lots of history about the area here: http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.php?aid=188&cid=2&ctid=2

And a PDF here: http://www.richmond.gov.uk/local_history_river_crane.pdf

Charles Dickens visited: http://www.hounslow.info/libraries/local-history-archives/charles-dickens/charles-dickens-and-hounslow-3/

And good old wikipedia has this to say: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crane_Park

A word about the "Shot Tower" (not at this cache site, but there is another one close to it). There's some controversy about whether it is actually a shot tower - a place that makes lead shot by pouring molten lead through a grid at some height. There's actually no concrete evidence to support this - the tower isn't actually tall enough for the molten lead to form into nicely spherical blobs before dropping into a pool of water at the base to cool. Research by locak historians suggest it was actually a windmill, used to raise water from the river to the resevoir that used to be at a higher level (seen on old plans of the area). The resevoir was a kind of battery - the water then ready to power water wheels that drove the machinery in the the workshops making the gunpowder. 

Hope you enjoy this cache, the park and the many other caches in the area.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Jngpu bhg sbe Gebyyf! (Ohg abg gur vagrearg xvaq...)Ab ovyyl-tbngf urer!

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)