Welcome to the 1500th Little Bridges cache!
I recently had the privilege to be asked to place the 1500th cache in this excellent series so I came up with a very short two-stage letterbox hybrid cache (trying not forget that this cache is about this fabulous little bridge rather than a fancy hide!)
The Bridge
Biblins footbridge is a small suspension bridge that crosses the beautiful River Wye by the Biblins Adventure Centre close to Symonds Yat, and crosses between England and Wales, or Lord's Wood and Lady Park Wood respectively. As you probably worked out the England/Wales border runs down the middle of the river and it's been known for my children to jump between the two countries at the lowest point of the span! All good fun!!
Designed and built by the Forestry Commision in 1957 it provides an excellent link in the middle of a long bridgeless stretch of the Wye, but only to travellers on foot or two self-propelled wheels, hence it's inclusion in the Little Bridges series. It is constructed of steel and wood primarily and lasted without issue until 1997 when it was given a substantial refurbishment with the steps leading up being changed to slopes (to accomodate bikes and strollers presumably) and the towers were completely replaced.
I won't go further into the construction here but suffice to say there was a report on the bridge carried out by an engineering student at Bath University in 2007, which can be found HERE, which goes into it in some depth.
The Cache
There is no parking allowed nearby, in fact there is a walk or cycle of at least a mile whichever way you approach but it's well worth it as whichever way you come you will be walking through attractive woodlands or by the river so it's really not a chore, and I have waymarked four car parking points for you. The cache is a letterbox hybrid which I have set up as a short multi, with the addition of a resident stamp of course in the final cache.
So, to find the cache visit the above headline co-ords and answer the following questions:
1) There is a large green sign either end of the bridge which says there should be no more than how many number of people crossing the bridge at any one time. This number is A.
2) Staying with the green signs - how many of the letter 'J' are there on the sign. The number is B.
3) On the northern (English) side of the bridge there is a footpath signpost. One of the directions points to Symonds Yat West. What is the last numerical digit on that sign? This is C.
4) On the southern (Welsh) side of the bridge there is another footpath signpost (opposite the ramp). What is the distance to Monmouth? This is D.
5) As you cross the bridge you will notice that there are transverse metal plates under your feet. How many? Divide this answer by the answer for A. This is E.
6) Don't forget the total number of plates yet! Divide the number of them by your answer for D this time. This is F.
Pop your answers into N51 49.ABC W002 39.DEF to find the cache.
Placed with kind permission from Forestry Commission England.
The Little Bridges series was started by Stanthews in 2009 to highlight small footbridges in remote parts of Wiltshire. Since then the series has been expanded by others all over the country and starting to spread fast. There is a stats listing run by Bloodsock, so you can see how many Little Bridges you have found, you can find it here:- https://littlebridgesseries.wordpress.com/ . If you would like to add to the series, please contact Stan on stanthews@aol.com and he will give you a number for your bridge, to qualify, the bridge must be a foot bridge too small for vehicles, please make sure your title exactly matches “Little Bridges # xxxx then the name” including spaces so it will get picked up and added to stats list.