Little Bridges # 1677 Bernard's Mead Letterbox Hybrid
Little Bridges # 1677 Bernard's Mead
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This cache is a multi stage Letterbox Hybrid cache and is not hidden at the headline co-ords.
There are questions to answer at two locations to collect the data needed to solve the co-ordinates for waypoint 2, the trailhead, near to the cache location.
NB The final location is close to the river where the current can be strong during a receeding tide.
The headline co-ords are for a little wooden foot bridge near the old Iford Bridge.
This is at the NW end of Bernard's Mead.
On the old tithe map of 1844 Bernard's Mead was not shown extending this far north.
but now the name usage does extend this far. (ref "The Christchurch Commons" by Sue Newman and Mike Tizzard)
Pasture rights for Bernards Mead dated back to the 12th or 13th century.
Between the wars (WW1-WW2) the area suffered from some infilling with rubbish.
We chose to have an elephant stamp in this Letterbox Hybrid because elephants get a mention in the book “Iford The Lost Village”, by Frederick W Barnes. When “Sanger's" Circus came to Christchurch and Pokesdown some of the animals, including the ELEPHANTS, walked the old Iford Bridge (then the only bridge) when relocating from Christchurch to Pokesdown.
Also Frederick W. Barnes thought old aerial photo of Iford river area could be imagined as looking like a baby elephant .
Questions at Headline co-ords at N 50° 44.513' W 1° 48.315
Wooden foot bridge.
Number of vertical posts supporting hand rails on the North East side = a
Number of wooden planks across from end to end = b 8
Question at Waypoint 1 at N 50° 44.524' W 1° 48.322
South East side of Old Iford Bridge viewed from ground level .
Date engraved into bricks near the top of the bricked up tall arch = 18cd
Waypoint 2 (trailhead near cache) is at N 50° 44.ad(b+c) W 001° 48.b(c+d)a
Waypoint 2 is along a small path. Approaching from the direction of waypoint 1 the aim is to arrive at a part of the path where there is a lone MT Willow to the right, and be under the overhanging branches of a large Ash tree growing from the left.
Then to find the cache turn off the path and head towards the river for a distance of about 12 paces to a concrete post to the right side of mini trail, passing a bent Elder bush on the right on the way to the concrete post.
Turn right at concrete post and go to the rear of a nearby MTT with ivy (the left hand tree of two).
The cache is 5ft up behind ivy ropes and is only retrievable from the rear of the tree.
There is a spoiler photo for cache tree because g.p.s accuracy for trailhead 2 was poor.
Cache is a small 400 ml clip and lock box and contains a log book and stamp.
Please tuck cache in well and add some twiggy camouflage when replacing cache. It may be necessary to" evict" fallen camo pieces from cache hidey hole before replacing cache so that there is room for the container to sit in and down nicely.
We would like it if swops were not placed in the cache. There is possibly room for tiny trackables.
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 Billiethecat, 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.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qrgnvyf sebz jnlcbvag 2 va gur grkg,