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Bothal Bells and Branches Traditional Cache

Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

In the middle of Bothal, beside the church, is a wonderful red-leafed tree, which we found in late Autumn back in 2003. It clearly deserved more visitors, and we decided to place a cache near by, and then turn it into a walk...

The tree (the "Branches") is beside St. Andrew's church in the centre of Bothal village. The tree is at its best in autumn, as shown in the photo below. The church (the "Bells") dates from around 882AD but the present building is mostly late 12th century.

Nearby is an excellent and mostly intact castle - a private residence - that is best seen on the approach from the west. Some pictures of the castle can be found here (see the photo gallery for this page also).


The cache is a small tupperware type tub containing logbook, pencil with sharpener, a foreign stamp, a clown, christmas tree decoration, euro coins, and a german train timetable (randomly).

This is the first of a pair of caches on the riverside walk from Bothal to Morpeth. The other is "Hidden (by a) Viaduct" (GCQPHB) for which you need information from close to this cache site to find.

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*Islablueseth* on the 15th June 2025

Back in April 2023 when I began geocaching, this was my first ever find. On the first of June 2025, I hid a War Memorial cache (GCB86W4) in front of this cache, and in commemoration of how important this one is to me, I messaged the owner. I asked if I could name my new WM in front of this after this cache, and they replied saying they would be absolutely fine with it, and asking if I would be interested in adopting this one since they can't get proper time to maintain it. Obviously, I said yes - thank you so much for this oppurtunity. Now, I have also been given the option to adopt 'Hidden (by a) viaduct' (GCQPHB), which I said yes, but wanted to find first. Happy finding, and I just can't thank you enough froggly spacebocs for this wonderful offer.


Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Abq lbhe obapr ng Wbua

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)