Although other parking is available, the two car parks at the above
location (both free) are the recommended start location for this
multi-cache, which takes you around Holmwood Common. Owned by the
National Trust, this wonderful area of woodland is often
overshadowed by its’ better known and more elevated neighbours:
Leith Hill, Ranmore and Box Hill.
History:
Due to its wild, unkempt nature Holmwood Common used to be a haven
for smugglers and highwaymen, despite being part of a Royal Estate.
Stane Street, which passed by to the west at the foot of Leith
Hill, did little to make the area safer for travellers, and even
when a toll road was built through the middle of the common in
1755, highwaymen still thrived for half a century more.
The heavy clay soil, that is a feature of much of this area
(count the number of brick works) made arable farming unviable,
however a few people did settle on the common, building houses and
clearing small areas of woodland. This wood was used and sold for
fuel and timber, and livestock was then grazed in the clearings. As
you complete this cache, you will almost certainly come across a
few houses that owe their existence to this time.
Now:
The common is a great place for a dog walk, and the ridge that runs
east/west along the middle provides some nice views to the North
Downs. The area is mostly flat, but there is a not insignificant
slope as you head up the ridge from north to south. Except in
summer, some parts of the common are very wet and muddy, and I
would thoroughly recommend wellies as footwear when completing this
cache. It is worth mentioning that the shortest route walking round
this cache is just under 4 miles (including the trip back to the
car park).
The cache:
The cache has been called Alphabetti Spaghetti, because each of the
micros you encounter contains a word game or word related puzzle.
You will need a pen and paper for some, if not all, of the micro
puzzles, as there is only one waterproofed copy of the puzzle at
each location. Some clues are cryptic, and others require a bit of
lateral thought, but once again I have deployed my patented Cache
Test Dummy, who completed this cache in two sittings, but needed
one clue and one hint from me.
The cache contains a £10 winning lottery ticket as a reward
for the first to find.
The first micro is located at N51° A.B’ and W00° C.D’,
where:
A = Waterloo + Victoria
B = (Victoria³ x Paddington) - Euston
C = Waterloo x (Euston + St. Pancras)
D = (London Bridge³ x St. Pancras) - St. Pancras
And as most Nannies are generally thoughtful and caring people,
here's a clue:
Charing Cross = 5
If you would like further (possibly cryptic) clues then please
email me through my profile, and my mobile number is in each micro
if you need help in the field.
Please don’t leave any clues, cryptic or otherwise, in the log
and above all happy caching.
