Pooh had just come to the bridge; and not looking where he was going, he tripped over something, and the fir-cone jerked out of his paw into the river. 'Bother,' said Pooh, as it floated slowly under the bridge, and he went back to get another fir-cone which had a rhyme to it. But then he thought that he would just look at the river instead, because it was a peaceful sort of day, so he lay down and looked at it, and it slipped slowly away beneath him, and suddenly, there was his fir-cone slipping away too.
'That's funny,' said Pooh. 'I dropped it on the other side,' said Pooh, 'and it came out on this side! I wonder if it would do it again?' And he went back for some more fir-cones. It did. It kept on doing it. Then he dropped two in at once, and leant over the bridge to see which of them would come out first; and one of them did; but as they were both the same size, he didn't know if it was the one which he wanted to win, or the other one. So the next time he dropped one big one and one little one, and the big one came out first, which was what he had said it would do, and the little one came out last, which was what he had said it would do, so he had won twice ... and when he went home for tea, he had won thirty-six and lost twenty-eight, which meant that he was - that he had - well, you take twenty-eight from thirty-six, and that's what he was. Instead of the other way round.
And that was the beginning of the game called Poohsticks, which Pooh invented, and which he and his friends used to play on the edge of the Forest. But they played with sticks instead of fir-cones, because they were easier to mark.
taken from 'The House at Pooh Corner' by AA Milne
Now to the important stuff, how to find the cache.
This is a 7 part multi-cache involving a circular walk of about 5 miles, mostly on footpaths, but you may find one or two short stretches of road so do take care. The starting point and a suitable parking spot is at the co-ords given above. You will need to visit each of the locations where you will find clues which will require observation, counting and some simple maths to calculate the co-ordinates for the next location and eventually the cache, so don't forget your pen and paper. Once parked make your way to the first location.
(1) N51° 38.304 W001° 10.747
From the start point proceed down the lane past the church and over the Little Wittenham Footbridge. This bridge is where the World Poohsticks Championships took place until 2014 (moved to Witney in 2015) www.pooh-sticks.com, why not have a go yourself while your here. Once over the bridge turn left and head towards Day's Lock where you will find a pair of information boards, “Enjoying the River Thames” has the clues to the second location.
(2) N51° 38.2(L)(O) W001° 10.0(P-A)(C-3)
Once at the second location you will find a WWII pill-box and a kissing gate. Count the number of horizontal bars on the gate to give `A`, and count the number of openings on the pill-box and subtract four to give `B`.
(3) N51° 38.0(A)1 W001° 08.9(B)9
At the third location you will find an information notice, who placed it here? Count the number of letters in each of the three words to give you A, B and C.
(4) N 51° 37.(B)(A)4 W 001° 08.5(C-1)5
At the fourth location take a few minutes to have a rest on the thoughtfully provided benches and take in the views up the river and of the wonderful buildings. To find the co-ords for the fifth location you will need the date of the highest flood - JAN 2A B80C
(5) N51° 37.4(B)(C) W001° 08.3(C)(A)
By now you may be feeling a little weary, so why not take a well-earned break. Here you will find a few blue and white notices, in the bottom left corner you will find a Reg No 0AB8CD90
(6) N51° 37.(D)(A)((CX2)+1) W001° 10.(C)(A-B-C)(A-C)
Hopefully you have now found the cache, take a well-earned rest on the bench in this tranquil location, I think Barry Dyer-Lynch must have really enjoyed this spot. Once recuperated make your way back to the footpath you just left and continue along it back to the start location, about 3/4 of a mile.
The cache is a well stocked ammo box, which had the following in it when first hidden:
- Books
Winnie the Pooh and the Treasure
Winnie the Pooh and the Carrots
Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day
- 2 Winnie the Pooh talking books (tapes)
- Tigger badge
- Bugatti EB110
- Fun School 5 in Dreamland - educational CD ROM
- 5 Game Super Pak - CD ROM for Windows
- Legoland medallion
- 2 pairs of boot laces
- Flashing ball
- Handbag
- Starwars R2D2 alarm clock
- Philips mobile phone chargers
- 250 mb Zip disk
It would be nice if you could continue the Winnie the Pooh theme with swaps made
