A short series of caches placed near entrances to the Bystock Pools Nature Reserve, a lovely area on the outskirts of Exmouth which is managed by the Devon Wildlife Trust.
There is parking close to each of the caches, but we would encourage you to leave your car at one of them and have a lovely walk through the reserve to access the others.
Most of the reserve forms part of the East Devon Pebblebed Heaths Site of Special Scientific Interest and includes heath, grassland, woods, boggy area and a small man-made lake. First impressions of the reserve are really quite different depending on which entrance you use. Two start with lovely woodland walks, one a walk through a meadow (often with Exmoor ponies in) and the other arrives straight at the beautiful lake.
Please respect the sensitive nature of the site at all times and do nothing to cause any adverse impact on the resident wildlife.
Many thanks to the Devon Wildlife Trust and the Pebblebed Heaths Conservation Trust for their kind permission to place these caches.
There is very little mobile reception throughout the reserve, so please go prepared.
The lake at Bystock was originally a reservoir serving nearby Bystock Court and Marley House, and in this area is the overflow weir and draw-off pipe.
There are two little bridges at this lovely location. The smaller, lower one is the one you need to answer the following questions:
Number of foot planks minus 2 = A
Number of large capital letters carved in a row on the top rail of the bridge plus the number of uprights on the same side of the bridge = B
Total number of bolts on the 3 flat levels of the valve minus four = C
Number of steps on the weir = D
Checksum of all answers = 20
The cache is hidden outside the reserve at N 50 39.ABC W003 21.BDD
Whilst there is a track near the bridge that appears to go in the right direction, the paths do not lead the whole way to the cache. As parts of the area are environmentally sensitive, the DWT have requested that cachers remain on trodden trails around the reserve, so please continue around the pond, through the gate and then head up through the heather to another gate at: N50 039.080 W003 21.955.
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, so you can see how many Little Bridges you have found, you can find it here: - https://www.littlebridgesseries.co.uk. If you would like to add to the series, please go to this site, on the tab Get Involved click number request and fill in the form. 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.