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Golden Balls: Log out, log in Traditional Cache

This cache is temporarily unavailable.

Professor Xavier: Hi

One of my roles as a reviewer is to monitor my region for caches that have been disabled for a long time, have had a reasonable number of DNFs or appear to require some maintenance. This is done through running a query on a database of all the caches in my region that looks for such things or by cachers submitting Needs Archiving logs as it appears maintenance may not be being carried out by the CO.

It would appear that this cache may benefit from some attention by the CO. May I ask that the owner checks the cache and sort out any problems with it or gives an indication of when it may be up and running again for people to find. If this cannot be done or if the CO no longer wishes to maintain the cache then the listing should be archived.

Of course if the CO has visited the cache recently then please post an Owner Maintenance log indicating that they have done so, enable the listing, and all should be fine.

In the future, if a listing is going to be disabled for a long time then posting periodic notes to the page (once per month or so) keeps people up to date with what is happening.

This isn't a requirement to fix the cache immediately but if it's unlikely to be done within 30 days could the CO post a note to the cache page giving an indication of when the maintenance will be done, or an indication of why it cannot be carried out.

By all means send a mail to me through my profile, quoting the cache name and GC code, but please also post a note to the cache page. Emails to me may be missed or go astray and it would be a shame to archive the listing due to missing correspondence.

Guidelines: "You are responsible for occasional visits to your cache to maintain proper working order, especially when someone reports a problem with the cache (missing, damaged, wet, etc.). You may temporarily disable your cache to let others know not to search for it until you have a chance to fix the problem. This feature is to allow you a reasonable amount of time - normally a few weeks - in which to check on your cache. If a cache is not being maintained, or has been temporarily disabled for an unreasonable length of time, we may archive the listing."

Sadly if there is no response to this log after 30 days I may have to archive the cache.

Please note that the guidelines say that if a cache is archived by a reviewer or Geocaching HQ staff for lack of maintenance then it will not be unarchived - Unarchiving a Geocache

Regards

Ed
Professor Xavier - Volunteer UK Reviewer
www.geocaching.com
UK Geocaching Policies Wiki
Geocaching Help Center

More
Hidden : 11/29/2019
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:


Two logs to find, but only one log to sign.

The cache is metres away from where two becomes one.

The cache contains a log book, pen, and space for small trackables, geocoins etc.

If you're finding this cache why not try my other cache, GC8GM76 Chained unicorn on the other side of the roundabout?

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This cache is NOT on the main A4074 road. You do not need to park on the main road or walk in the main road. The cache can be approached from the north or south by car.

** Congratulations to Boggy_boys for a super-speedy first to find. **

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This cache is a very tenuous reference to the marriage between David & Victoria Beckham. David was known as "Golden Balls" whilst playing for the England football team. Meanwhile, Victoria Beckham or "Posh Spice" in the band the Spice Girls had a 2000 hit with "2 become 1".

This cache is just off the A4074 at the Golden Balls Roundabout between Oxford and Reading, at a point where two directions become one. Today a curiously named roundabout, the junction has a long and bloody past.

The junction takes it's name from the Golden Balls pub, which used to be at the southern tip of the almost lost village of Little Baldon. In the 19th century the pub became notorious when one of the lodgers was murdered. The landlord of the pub was hung for the murder outside nearby Hangingsland Copse. However, it later transpired that although the landlord intended to murder the lodger, the lodger's servant had actually murdered the lodger first. The reason why two people sought to murder the same person is, unfortunately, as far as I can ascertain not recorded.

In 1965 a Hastings C1A RAF aircraft crashed in the adjacent fields when two bolts in the flight control surfaces snapped. Tall barley in the field made search efforts difficult. All 41 on board were killed, at time the UK's third worst air disaster.

Meanwhile the road itself continued to claim lives. It used to be a lethal staggered junction at a kink in the main road, other sections of which are still known as the "bends of death". In the 1980s the road was straightened and made dual carriageway, leaving behind the remenant of the old road that this cache is located on.

However, it turned out the new, straighter road simply made drivers faster the collisions even worse. With little money left the junction was converted into current pill-shaped roundabout, although the paths of both previous layouts are very clear.

 

Overlay of 1960s mapping onto modern day map

Additional Hints ()

Gurer ner gjb fvtaf gung lbh ner pybfr gb gur pnpur. Lbh pna ernpu gur pnpur jvgu bar sbbg ba gur ebnq.

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)

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