Cleeve Common is the largest common in the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, being a 455-hectare (1,120-acre) biological and geological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It includes the highest point of the Cotswolds Hills at 330m; the trig point is at approx. N51° 55.193' W002° 00.352'. The Common also contains the remains of an Iron Age hill fort at N51° 55.65' W002° 01.39' (see, for example, The archaeology of Cleeve Common). A self-guided archaeology walk around the Common is also available. On clear days, the scenery is stunning. A page describing things to see on Cleeve Common may also be of interest.
This is a multi-stage geocache which will take you to some of the quieter parts; the Common is a popular area with walkers on most days, so locations have been chosen where the chance of encountering muggles is reduced. However, no matter what location is chosen, muggles possess an almost magical ability to appear suddenly from nowhere (which is rather ironic, given they are muggles!).
At each stage, there is a container that contains the coordinates for the next stage. To aid longevity, containers are attached to their surroundings - please treat with care as the attachments could break, if strained. You will be able to extract the information you need without detaching any of the containers.
You are likely to need tweezers at the final stage. Some stages involve searching in gorse areas. While it is never necessary to push your way through gorse bushes, you may wish to take gloves for searching.
Some areas can be slippery/muddy, especially after rain. (I speak from experience.) The route is about 5km in total, but covers only a small fraction of the Common; you should treat yourself by visiting other areas of the Common.
Please do not give specific information in your log entries about any of the stages, i.e. nothing that could spoil the fun for subsequent visitors.
My thanks go to the Cleeve Common Trust for their kind permission in allowing this geocache to be placed.
Congratulations to Dylan Burgess on the FTF.