BUCKINGHAM
BUMBLE
Buckingham is rare in having reasonable town
centre parking. I suggest you park between the High Street and the
river at around N52° 00.015 / W000° 59.044 as it's a handy
spot for this cache and it's free! Cut through the small shopping
area (open 24/7) past a store which sells Smeg to your first
target:
- On the back of the Old Gaol at N52° 00.067 / W000°
59.177 you'll find a stone plaque with a lot of information on
it. The mock castle was built in 1ABC. It was enlarged in
1CDE and restored in 1EEF.
- Take a short walk to meet 'Swan Girl' at N52° 00.041 / W000°
59.208. Her 'birthday' was GH July 1997.
- Now head up the High Street, past the White Hart Hotel (built
in 1AHB! In 1953 a gentleman walked into the pub and forthrightly
told the management that it's statue's antlers were on
back-to-front and were of the wrong sort, and that he would send
some more. They arrived the next day with a note from the Duke of
Bedford. Sadly they were stolen in 1984. In fact the town sports
many fine pubs and grand hotel buildings. It was a major Coaching
hub for centuries and a place of pilgrimage long before that. Much
of its grandness is still on show. Just look at the golden swan on
the Town Hall's roof!) and somehow through to Castle Street and up
to... The church! But it was built on the old mound of Buckingham
Castle. Here you'll find a tree at N51° 59.904 / W000°
59.369 which was planted to celebrate a famous Edward. There's
a date on a plate. Add the four digits of the year together to
give you a two digit number. Then add those two digits
together. That number MINUS TWO is i! (Lower case i to avoid
confusion with 1's or L's).
- Beyond this church is the site of the old church, which was
demolished in 1776. This proved a problem for Stowe House and
Gardens to the north (Capability Brown's finest work?) as a
triumphal archway and avenue of trees had been placed to frame the
steeple as an eyecatcher from the south side of the house. Damn!
Less disappointment awaits you in the graveyard if you go to
N51° 59.784 / W000° 59.455. Here you'll find a modern stone
inscribed with information about an infant Saint, of all people.
The date on it is 'c.6J0'.
- Stroll down to the river Ouse, past the mixed (many historic)
buildings of the University of Buckingham - the UK's only
independent university. The pretty Tanlaw Mill will be set back
from the road on your left and might be worth a detour or a visit
on the way back. Over the bridge, take a walk to get you on
the right track to bring you to N51° 59.769 / W000°
59.823. Here you'll find more information about a local hero.
Which year was a conduit house built on the site? Answer
1KLM.
A= \ B= \ C= \ D= \ E= \ F= | G= | H= / i= /
J= / K= / L= / M=
[ _ ] [ _ ] [ _ ] [ _ ] [ _ ] [ _ ] [ _ ] [ _ ] [ _ ] [ _ ] [ _ ] [
_ ] [ _ ]
The Cache is located at:
N5(M-L)° J(A+G).E(B-i)C /
W00(F+i)° (K-H)F.(M-D)(A+G)(B-D)
To get there, please use the footpaths provided and take care
crossing any roads. Access to the site isn't too obvious but it's
not through an industrial park. Eagle-eyed cachers might
notice that an interesting location is only a few hundred feet
away. Sadly there's no public access to it. A shame as it would
have made a fun hidding spot! Once you've found the cache (I
recommend long trousers for hunting for it. I set this cache in
shorts and did get a bit stung) backtrack on the railway to the
river and follow that back to the High Street and parking. It's a
really nice walk.
Happy hunting!
The smallish cache originally
contained:
1x Blank CDR
1x Party Popper
1x Confetti shooter
3x Smelly candles
1x Harry Potter™ badge
!x bag for CITOing
Plus the usual: Log book, pen. (If someone could leave a cache
notice, that'd be great. My printer is still MIA.)
While you're in the area I suggest you try my well received
MILITARY INTELLIGENCE cache or else Dan and Pid's always
fun
The Secret Garden cache. Both are within short driving
distance.
A small experiment - Please feel free to
rate your visit to this cache out of ten in your
log.