A very long time ago, before even the advent of GPS, a small group of rather wet teenage cadets came squelching grimly through the clag looking for ye fabled cave of ye chartists, without which they would be deemed to have failed ye olde navigation exercise.
They had put a certain Cadet Squid in charge of the navigation, largely so there would be someone convenient to blame when it all went pear-shaped, and so it was that said cadet, compass firmly clutched in one cold wet tentacle, suddenly stopped and said brightly, "Hey, guys, it should be round here somewhere!"
To which the rest of the section replied, with great hilarity, "Yes, you stupid little (expletive deleted) ... you're about to fall in it!"
I wasn't very good at sport at school, partly on account of having two left feet and all the natural grace and co-ordination of a rollerskating hippopotamus, and partly on account of being the weird kid who always got picked last for everything. (First rule of school sport: one team has to have the fat kid, the other team has to have the weird kid.) But, standing there in a desolate area of Welsh bog, having just taken a bearing that led us straight to the cave, it occurred to me that this might be something I was actually good at, and I've been mucking about in the hills ever since.
So, this is where it all began, or at least where it began for me, and when Groundspeak decided for some inexplicable reason that I deserved a Virtual Reward this seemed like a sensible place to put it. Enjoy!
So, what do you have to do for the smiley, then?
(1) Post a photo of yourself with the cave. Or, if you're feeling camera-shy, your GPS, rucksack or dog with the cave.
-and-
(2) Stand in the mouth of the cave (about where I am in the photo), and look for the obvious cairn on the skyline. Take a bearing to the cairn (you did bring a compass like what it says in the safety note, right? ::o), then walk to it and measure the distance between the cairn and the cave. Email me with the bearing and distance.
There is also a traditional cache here - GCDC43 Chartists' View - which has some history to it and might be nice to do while you're here. ::o)
Safety Bit
This cache is in the middle of nowhere, miles from the nearest road and in a remote area in which bodies often lie undiscovered for years and years. Seriously, they're still looking for Nigel from 2 Section. Wear sensible boots and appropriate clothing for the weather, take a map and compass, and know how to use them in the event of a sudden GPS malfunction. As always, if you are not completely happy with your ability to attempt any given cache safely, either ask someone who DOES know what they're doing to help, or give up and go to the pub instead.
Also, if approaching from the uphill side, don't fall in the cave.
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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.