This cache is out at sea, so can ONLY be done on low tide. You can access tide tables from the local paper or https://www.gov.je/weather/Pages/Tides.aspx For your safety you should make your return no more than an hour after low tide.
Now to the virtual.
The Hermitage: Three hundred yards south of the Island on which Elizabeth Castle now stands is a high rock. Before the new breakwater was built, this was a separate islet, cut off from the Castle by a gully through which the waves rushed with such force that it was called Hell's Gate. Here a hermit called Helier is said to have lived in the 6th century.
The story tells how a childless couple in Belgium begged a saintly hermit to pray that they might have a son, promising, if his prayers were answered, to dedicate the boy to God; so when Helier was born he was entrusted to the old hermit to train. Helier appeared to have special healing powers, and his father decided he wanted him back, so Helier fled. He came across to Jersey to help the island from repeated attacks by Vandals and to bring the gospel to them
A medieval chapel was constructed over "St. Helier's Bed", the hollow in the rock where Helier sheltered and decided to fast himself. From his vantage point on his rock, Helier could see the sails of approaching attackers and would signal to the shore, whereupon the inhabitants would scatter into the surrounding marshes, thereby frustrating the attackers’. The story is that he was eventually martyred by pirates who beheaded him with an axe - hence the crossed axes on the parish crest and even though Helier starved himself for 13 years, legend holds that he had the strength, when he was beheaded by the attackers, to pick up his head and walk to shore.
Elizabeth Castle started to be built in the 16th century when the power of cannon meant that the existing stronghold at Mont Orgueil was insufficient to defend the Island and the port of St. Helier was vulnerable to attack by ships armed with cannon. It is named after Elizabeth I who was the queen of England at the time, by Sir Walter Raleigh Governor of Jersey between 1600 and 1603. The British Government relinquished the castle to the States of Jersey in 1923.
THE QUESTIONS
- At the listed location stand and face the Castle wall. How many flood lights are on the section of the wall in front from the end wall on your right to the outcrop of rocks to your left?
- At N49 10.559 W002 07.465 What is the date above the doorway?
- At N49 10.526 W002 07.490 How many eye lets ( metal loops) are there standing up on this stretch of wall?
- At N49 10.404 W002 07.486 How many steps are there up to the Hermitage?
- Please take a photo from the door of the Hermitage of the view towards St Helier. You can post this on your log
You can message or e mail the answers to me through my profile and post the photo on your log.
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.