Sankey Waters Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This is the oldest active cache in Merseyside and apparently the 8th Oldest in England / 12th Oldest in the UK! In the Sankey Valley Park which links St Helens and Widnes via Warrington along the Sankey Canal.
Because of the deep water please take care with children (and yourself)!
The Sankey or St Helens Canal was the first modern canal in England, first used in 1757. It is now partly derelict having been closed in 1963 but sections are being restored with the encouragement and hard work of the Sankey Canal Restoration Society (SCARS) whose web site http://www.scars.org.uk gives a good history of the canal and description of the restoration projects. This is with the support of the local authorities and thanks to their efforts the whole of the line is now walkable.
The section South from this cache is fully in water and makes a very pleasant walk. If you approach from the South and join the canal at Alder Lane Bridge, Burtonwood (SJ 587929) near the Fiddle i' the Bag Inn (good meals and beer but a somewhat eccentric WW2 memorabelia show!), the first few yards are dry until you reach the watered section.
The railway on the right is the West Coast Main Line and further on you could see when the cache was first hidden the old Vulcan foundry where many railway locomotives were built from the early days of steam. It is about one and a half miles to the cache which is at a lock. Because of this care must be taken with children. There is a nearer car park if you wish but not easy to find from the main road.
If you continue North for another quarter mile you will pass under the Sankey Viaduct built by George Stephenson to carry the Liverpool Manchester Railway of Rocket fame, the first modern railway over the first modern canal! Enjoy your walk - it is more rural than you would think from the map!
This was written some years ago in 2001. Since then the Vulcan works has gone and lots of caches and other things have been hidden along this stretch of canal.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Fznyy fancybpx obk va n urja ubyr va gur ybpx jnyy nobhg 16” orybj cngu yriry naq 6' sebz gur ybpx tngr.