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Olivers 'Orrible Orifice Traditional Geocache

This cache has been archived.

Hanoosh: Whilst I do not like archiving old caches, as the owner has not responded to my previous log requesting that they check this cache and the fact that this cache has been DNF'd by a cacher who was out with three others who had previously found this cache, I am archiving it.

If you wish to email me please send your email via my profile (click on my name) and quote the cache name and number.

Regards

Brenda
Hanoosh - Volunteer UK Reviewer www.geocaching.com
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Hidden : 6/6/2004
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

If you've ever driven along Ermine Street near Longstowe and passed a pub called 'The Red House', you may have wondered - like me - why it should be stuck out in the middle of nowhere.


Turns out it was built on on a major intersection between Ermine Street (The Great North Road) and what was in the 1650's, the main road between Cambridge and Oxford - now a country byway.

You can approach the cache from two directions, but the shortest route (.52 mile) is from The Red House where you can park. If you have a 4x4, you could even drive to the cache site - but I do NOT recommend trying it in a 2 wheel drive vehicle!!

Its a pleasant walk - quite muddy at the entrance to the byway after wet weather, but mostly firm and dry along the way. Apart from tyre tracks, I wonder if it has changed at all since the 1650's?

The cache is hidden in an unusual feature marked on the 10k OS map as 'Oliver Cromwell's Hole'. How it got this name I don't know.

Was it a brick pit used to mine clay for buildings such as 'The Red House' whose red bricks were made from local clay? Was it used by Cromwells men as an ambush point on this once important road? I reckon several horsemen and their mounts could easily have concealed themselves in the funnel-shaped hole.

The original contents include some Civil War memorabilia - coins, a key chain, pencils and colouring set from the Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Gra [feet] Jrfg [of an orange] fgnxr [on the] rnfgrea [side of the hole in an old ] enoovg ubyr

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)