St. Briavels stands on the edge of a limestone plateau 800 feet
above the Wye Valley, with spectacular views. The village shelters
behind the remains of a 12th century castle which is now used as a
youth hostel. The entrance gateway dates back to 1275 and the
castle was the administrative centre of the Royal Hunting Forest.
The founder of the castle was Milo Fitz Walter, the Earl of
Hereford, who in the reign of Henry VIII found it necessary to
monitor the infringements of the Welsh. The flat grass platform to
the west of the castle is actually composed of a pile of cinders
thrown out in the days of iron ore smelting to make
quarrels(arrows). The village has two hostelries offering
refreshment. There is plenty of car parking space near the Church
and Castle but if you want to park closer to the start point then
there is some parking near the School.
Start point co-ordinates N 51º 44.146 W 002º 38.341 O.S. grid
reference 5598 0430
Using the 4 figure number on the “Old Crown Inn” Electricity
Transformer post substitute the letters for the numbers to find the
Cache Co-ordinates.
a = 1st number
b = 2nd number plus the 3rd number
c = 2nd number
d = 3rd number minus the 2nd number
e = 3rd number
Cache Co-ordinates N 51º 4a.bcd W 002º 38.0ec
Start by walking along Hewelsfield Lane and follow the public
footpath sign over the stile on your right into the field just
before “Uplands Cottage”
The Cache is a small sandwich box wrapped in a bag made from
garden ground cover material. Its original contents were - Log
Book, Pencil, Playing cards, Tintern Station Key Ring, Snail Shell,
Plastic Moose and explanation leaflet.
Congratulations to
ksenrab who were the first to find our very first
Geocache.