A little history.
The old bridge was https://coord.info/GC68CQY Little Bridges # 769 Motor way Mayhem. This bridge was live for 4 years, 1 month, 2 days it had 401 finds in time hopping this one will pass that mark. I had to archive it when it was removed and I always thought if I am lucky enough to received a virtual this would be it.
A snap shot of the service history
Opened by Mobil as Michael Wood1971
Sold to Motoross1979
Sold to Welcome Break1983
Renamed Michaelwood 2014
The majority of the paperwork for this service area had it spelled as "Michael Wood", which is the name of the surrounding woodland. This gave rise to a theory that it was named after somebody, such as the TV presenter with the same name.
Welcome Break changed their internal spelling to "Michaelwood" in around 1991. This matches the name of a nearby farm, which was originally called "Micklewood" - the correct pronunciation. Heston is now the only service area to share its name with a TV presenter.
Michaelwood's footbridge between the two sides was removed in 2018 due to safety reasons after being in place for 40 years. The bridge was owned by Highways England and was removed over the weekend of 25 January 2020. Strictly speaking the bridge wasn't a public right of way, so there was no rush to replace it. A £3.2million replacement bridge was eventually installed during an overnight closure of both carriageways on 2 July 2022, and it reopened to the public in October 2022.
The Little Bridges series was started by Stanthews in 2009 to highlight small footbridges in remote parts of Wiltshire. Since then the series has been expanded by others all over the country and starting to spread fast. There is a stats listing, so you can see how many Little Bridges you have found, you can find it HERE . If you would like to add to the series, please contact Stan via the Little Bridges website with your caching name, name of your Little Bridge and the GC code and he will give you a number for your bridge. To qualify, the bridge must be a foot bridge too small for vehicles, please make sure your title exactly matches "Little Bridges # xxxx then the name" including spaces so it will get picked up and added to stats list.
Please leave the following text at the bottom of the page, so cache finders understand the Virtual Rewards 4.0 project.
Virtual Rewards 4.0 - 2024-2025
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between January 17, 2024 and January 17, 2025. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 4.0 on the Geocaching Blog.
So onto how you can log a find here.
1. Send us the code stamped on the hand rail fixing dead above the center barriers on M5 (6 letters + 1 number OR 6 letters + 4 numbers)
2. Take a picture while at gz with somthing you own or yourself. Or a snap shot of the M5 North or South.
SEND YOUR ANSER TO MY PROFILE, BE WARNED NO ANSWERS NO FIND.