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The Cretan Runner Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

The Cretan Runners: We have taken on board comments from visitors and think this hero deserves a better positioned cache so we are archiving this one and will create a new cache in due course.

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Hidden : 11/1/2012
Difficulty:
1 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

A cache dedicated to George Psychoundakis - the Cretan Runner - who was a major figure in the Cretan Resistance during WW2.

When the German invasion of Crete began, George was a 21 year old shepherd. He was a light, wiry, elfin figure who could move among the mountains with speed and agility and during the early part of the war, he was among the many who guided straggling Allied soldiers over the White Mountains to the south coast, from where they could be evacuated. From about 1941, he did most of his work for the Special Operations Executive. He became a runner, carrying messages, wireless sets, batteries and weapons between villages and secret wireless stations, always on foot, always in danger, often exhausted and hungry, over some of the most precipitous terrain in Europe. At the end of the war George was mistakenly taken for a deserter and locked up. He spent around 16 months in gaol and whilst there he wrote his wartime memoires. This book has been translated into many languages and is called The Cretan Runner. He died in 2006 and is buried in the graveyard near the cache. It is located on the outskirts of Asi Gonia - the small Cretan village in which this hero grew up. To reach the cache you will travel a superb scenic road through the Gipari gorge which follows the path of the river.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Haqre ebpxf

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)