Congratulations to ***Princeoreo*** for being the first to find this cache.
The cache is hidden away from the center attraction of this particular area. It is frequented by many dog walkers and like minded explorers from the local area and is also a popular place for young folk so there should be no reason for you to get muggled whilst exploring but please exercise caution. The area is somewhat boggy in places and there are many places to trip and perhaps even fall with many exposed roots from old trees but it is otherwise a very pleasant place to visit and explore.
The area its self is located in the Forrest Of Dean is a short drive from Littledean and Cinderford. This cache is our first hide and we hope you take the time to explore the surrounding paths and ways of the woods.
"The vale (of Castiard) has its beginning in St. Anthony's Well, a spring that bursts on the outside of the forest bowl into a shallow basin, before cascading into a plunge-bath the size and depth of a good-sized room. This pool was carefully made by the monks of Flaxley, but unfortunately some careless timber fellers of the Royal Engineers during the war broke some of the heavy stones of the coping, fouling the twelve steps descending through the water to the floor of the pool.
Though this water is salubrious without being efficacious, there is a local tradition (founded no doubt by the monks) that the bath is a cure for rheumatism to any one visiting the pool on twelve successive days, descending one step the first day, two the second, until on the twelfth day the floor of the pool is reached. This would be something of an ordeal, since after the ninth or tenth day the sufferer would be out of his depth, while even on the hottest day in summer the pool is deliciously icy. The well is also held to be good for skin diseases if visited in the month of May at the rising of the sun on nine successive days.
The above text is from "The Forest of Dean" by Brian Waters (publisher: Dent 1951)"
The cache is hidden from view of the well and also from the road but is easily accesible. You may need to tread carefully depending on the weather and will not need to climb particulary high but a small incline does lead to the cache.
It is advisable to park you car and visit the well first and bigin searching for the cache afterwards for a more intriguing search but it can be found easily by walking up from the road if the weather is wet.
This cache is a small container and within contains a few trinkets and a small log strip but no pen.
Placed with kind permission of the forrestry commision.
Happy searching.