RAPISHAW GAP Traditional Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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A moderate walk from Housesteads Fort with a couple of ups and downs or follow the low path (the Military Way) for an easier walk – the views are tremendous 360 degrees along the higher path along by the Wall.
Approaching from Housesteads car park follow the Wall from Housesteads Fort off to the left through the pine grove. At this point the ‘Clayton Wall’ has been specially reconstructed to allow visitors to stride upon a gravelled surface and sense the Wall patrol, although modern thinking is that a patrol walkway running along the Wall behind the crenellations is a misconception. The path slips through the ‘nick without a name’ and climbs onto Cuddy’s Crag, possibly named after a medieval shepherd – Cuddy being a pet form of Cuthbert. The ragged Whin Sill now veers left to enter Rapishaw Gap where the Pennine Way departs from Hadrian’s Wall over Haughton Common towards Wark forest.
The Nine Nicks of Thirlwell (the Gaps) are meltwater channels from the Ice Age which left a series of gaps along the ridge and rendered the wall far from impregnable. The Nine Nicks are: Walltown Gap - Hole Gap - Caw Gap - Peel Gap - Sycamore Gap - Milking Gap - Rapishaw Gap – ‘Gap with no Name’ - Busy Gap.
Rapishaw Gap must have been a well travelled Barbarian route – lawful traders would have used the Milecastle East of Cuddy’s Crag or Housesteads in the next dip along. It is an impressive place, where you can really get a sense of the past and slip back in time very easily, especially as it was when we set the cache steeped in a thick mist. The steps of stone to both sides of the Gap are quite steep and can be slippery in wet weather – so do take care, especially when you leave the path to look for the cache!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Uvqqra va n irel qrrc ubyr gb gur yrsg bs gur cngu jrfgobhaq.