Great Northern No.3 - A walk on the wild side
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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*** Please note that after revisiting the cache in July, the
undergrowth is wild! I had shorts and a teeshirt on and I WOULD NOT
RECOMMEND IT! During the summer months wear long sleeves and
trousers as there are brambles and nettles in the wilderness of the
cutting....great for bird life though!
I'd take a stick to help make you way through the jungle
*** For the brave and hardy May - November! For the rest of us December to April.
For the third in the series, we felt that we ought to head West
with the GNR Derbyshire extension that was completed in 1881. This
linked Nottingham with Derby via Bulwell, Kimberley, Awsworth,
Ilkeston, WestHallam (for Stanley), Morley and Breadsall.
This one will really appeal to those with a penchant for railways, nature
and walking. This cache involves collecting clues to form the
co-ordinates of the final cache which is a decent sized box. All the clues
are on or near the trackbed of the old GNR between Stanley village
and Morley. The walk is along a ‘permissive’ path which can be a
little overgrown in places and traverses pleasant, wildlife rich,
cuttings and high (about 50ft!) steep sided embankments and can be
muddy in places. There is also the odd manhole cover missing if you
venture off the path.
Due to the terrain this cache would be inadvisable for those
with young children unless under close
supervision.
Look out for old railway relics along the way, signalling
channelling, telegraph pole tops, fencing and a very surprising one
…you may find more! Upload some pictures! On the day the cache was
set up, 9 deer were on the path nr clue 3! You never know what you
might see! It is possible to walk a mile further along the path
than this cache takes you although the more distant sections are
even more overgrown. It’s up to you! Nettles may become more of a
problem as summer progresses. If in doubt, don't wear shorts!
The co-ordinates above are NOT the cache co-ordinates but are
the access point for the permissive path from the public footpath.
Park in the village near the shop (they do nice filled rolls made to
order!) An easy way to get to the access point listed is to take
the public footpath at N52 57.677, W001 22.665 and follow it North
until you cross the waterlogged railway cutting, turn left, left
again to recross the cutting further West and the access point is
on your right. The path access is a green 'path' heading down into
the cutting from the earth bank infill that carries the public footpath
across the cutting. (South of where it appears on Streetmap).
There are two paths that cross the cutting by this method that are
close together, you need the westernmost one by Clue 1.
The clues have a co-ordinate, go to each one, find
the clue, write it down and move on to the next.
You need to visit all clues to get the final coordinates.
The co-ordinates for Clue 1 are N52 57.799 W001 22.741 Two numbers should be visible here. These two numbers are U and V.
The co-ordinates for Clue 2 are N52 57.694 W001 23.300
When you arrive, how many panes of glass were there? Answer is W
This was used by track maintenance staff for storage and shelter
The coordinates for Clue 3 are N52 57.594 W001 23.642
How many hooks on the old telegraph pole top? The answer is X.
Note the lack of porcelain insulators which would have insulated the wires from
these hooks. Bits of the porcelain insulators (curved white porcelain pieces approx 5-6mm thick ) are strewn in the ballast heaps along the trail if you keep an eye out.
Now perform the maths to find the final cache location.
The Final cache is at:
N52 57.ABC W001 2D.EFG
Where A=X, B = (Vx2) - (Ux2), C=W-X, D=W-X+U, E=W-X-V+(Ux2), F=U, G=X+V-W-U
Please put back in a natural looking state afterwards.
We hope you enjoy this cache as much as we did setting it up.
We had not walked this section before and thoroughly
enjoyed it.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
[For the Numbers] Ybbx ba gur cbfg ol gur fgvyr.
[For the Hut], ab nqqvgvbany pyhr, pbhag gur ubyrf jurer gur jvaqbjf jrer!
[For the telegraph pole top] qb ABG ybbx hc! . Abgr guvf unf zbirq bagb gur rzonaxzrag abj.
[For the final cache] Gur zbfg boivbhf cynpr?