SILO COMMON Traditional Geocache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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A cache and dash cache south of Greenham Common, Newbury, Berkshire.
On the short walk to the cache you will pass very close to the silos that were controversially built on the Greenham Common airbase. These are now classed as a sheduled ancient monument! In 1979 Nato decided to site cruise nuclear missiles in Europe and a year later it was announced that 96 missiles were to be housed here. The six silos were duly built and are said to stand ten metres high, have a ceiling made of reinforced concrete about two metres thick below a steel plate, surrounded by around three metres of sand, all covered with tonnes of soil. Each silo had three bombproof steel doors at each end - the whole designed to withstand a direct hit from a 500lb bomb. It was 1983 when the first missiles arrived and they stayed until 1989, two years after Presidents Reagan (U.S.) and Gorbachev (U.S.S.R.) agreed to rid Europe of cruise. The final missiles left in 1991, but the area remains secure behind many fences and is still regularly patrolled The U.S.A.F. left the base in 1992 and the area around the silos became common land again in 2000. Suggested parking is at N51 22.560, W001 18.010. The cache is a Camouflaged tin (small for a regular, large for a small!!) containing the usual selection of goodies and a log book.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Ybbx va pyhzc bs ovt gerrf. Lbh znl arrq gb hfr gur fgrc cebivqrq ol angher.