The cache is not at the given coordinates, but the final coordinates can be found by visiting the War Memorial at the marked coordinates and solving the following puzzle.
Bothal War Memorial was constructed in the early 1920’s, to commemorate World War I (1914-1918) and recognises 35 local personnel who lost their lives in this conflict. A further 22 personnel who gave their lives in World War II (1939-1945) were subsequently added.
The memorial is situated next to the beautiful St Andrew’s Church in the village and is grade II listed. It is predominantly of sandstone construction and the poignant tree planting around the Memorial is indeed thought provoking.
The condition of the War Memorial had deteriorated noticeably in recent years and in 2012 Ashington Town Council was approached to look into the options for required repair and remedial work. The Town Council worked with representatives of St Andrew’s Church, the Royal British Legion, local historian David Wise and Welbeck Estates in developing an improvement project. Work included cleaning and repointing the monument and replacing the stone that commemorates those who fell in World War I with a new inscribed York stone plaque. The work was carried out in time for Remembrance Day 2013.
The cache can be found at N55 10.ABC W1 37.DEF
Front of the War Memorial
A. The person directly beneath 'William P Atkin Pts 14 N.F' - if A - 1, what does the first letter in this person's surname equal to? (Left hand side column)
B. Roughly 10 meters to the left of the War Memorial, is a plaque commemorating on of Queen Elizabeth's jubilees. What is the third number in the year this jubilee was celebrated?
C. What is B plus B?
D. What is the last number in the second year at the bottom?
E. What is D minus C, minus seven?
Left of the War Memorial
F. What is the amount of letters in the sixth word on the War Memorial?
Checksum - 17
The cache is located roughly 500 meters away from the given coordinates. I would reccomend you drive / cycle there as there is no path to safely walk on.
Once you have found the cache, please make sure you sign your geocaching username / initials and optionally the date on the log. You will need to bring a pen for this, but tweezers will not be needed.
If you happen to not find the cache, please make sure you log a DNF and I will go and check on it as soon as I can.
Happy caching!
Back in 2023 - when I joined geocaching, I had my first ever find here - 'Bothal Bells and Branches', placed by froggly spacebocs. I have placed this memorial cache in commemoration of the cache - which I have now been extremely kindly given the option to adopt. Thank you to froggly spacebocs for this amazing cache - and the wonderful offer.
If anyone would like to expand to this series please do, I would just ask that you could let Just-Us-Two know first at justustwo1013@gmail.com so they can keep track of the memorial numbers and names to avoid any duplication.
Congratulations to Drew and Kaz on the FTF!