If you would like to add more caches to this series, please feel free to do so!
Please contact heartradio through his profile first so that he can keep track of numbers and avoid duplications. Caches should be any type except Traditionals, so cachers can learn more about the beach
The cache is NOT at the published coordinates but is located a short walk away.
At the published co-ordinates is the information you need to look at.
The beach from Netley down to Hamble, aka the Southampton Riviera, is a shingle beach and a very pleasant walk. If you continue walking south along the beach, you can also see the small exposed gravel cliffs. These are composed of flint, eroded from the chalk.
From GZ you’ll look out over the part of the Solent known as Southampton Water. Many people think this is a river estuary, but in fact it is much larger than the rivers that flow into it. In fact it is a ria, a drowned valley, of a river which once flowed east. Rising sea levels after the last ice age flooded the river valley, overwhelming the chalk ridge below and created the coastline we see today. The rocks below are over 40 million years old.
The beach is shingle but also contains many shells of the sea creatures that still live here today. Oysters live in these waters and catching them was once big business - by the mid 19th century, 124 million oysters were sold to London from the south coast.
Other than sealife, birds and geocachers, the area was also once roamed by reindeer and mammoths. Odd teeth and bones are often recovered from the sea bed by fishermen. Aurochs (a type of cattle over 2 metres high) lived in this area and a skull was found on the beach in 1870. It is now displayed in a Southampton museum.
Southampton Water is 28km long and is one of Europe’s busiest shipping routes. Famously, it has the benefit of a double tide. The petrochemical plant, at Fawley on the other side of the water, is one of the largest in Europe.
In one square metre of mud on the shoreline, there are up to 80,000 invertebrates living there. This in turn makes it a popular stopping point for birds migrating to Iceland and Scandinavia. The Solent is an important area for bird life - it's home to 103,000 waders (that's 8% of Britain's entire population) and 40,000 wildfowl (including about 22,000 dark bellied Brent geese, 60,000 dunlin, 5,000 teal).
To find the cache, look for 4 numbers on the ground towards the sea at the published coordinates. These numbers are ABCD.
The cache can be found nearby at:
N 50° 51. (B-1) (A-1) (A-1)
W 1° 20. (A/2) (C/4) (D-1)
Good luck!