Pipers' Holes: Virtual Reward Virtual Cache

To "find" this Virtual, you need to complete the tasks.

The legend of the Pipers' Holes.

From "The History of Cornwall: From the earlist records and traditions, to the present time" by Fortescue Hitchins and Samuel Drew. Published in 1824 by W. Penaluna, Helston.

Page 693:

Some of the most remarkable of the natural curiosities that abound here, are the groups of rocks at Peninis and a singular cave beneath them. In no part of these islands can those accumulated masses be compared with the sublime productions of this bold headland. Nature herself appears in this place to have sustained a shock. The enormous masses ride upon each other in sportive defiance as it were of the mimic efforts of art, exhibiting to the eye of the spectator a peculiar medley of crags, precipices, and caverns, in a greater variety of singular combinations, than the most romantic imagination seems to possess the power of associating.

At the base of this pile, and nearly level with the sea, there is a subterraneous cavern called Piper's Hole which is said to communicate under the surrounding waves — a distance of about four miles with the island of Trescaw, where another orifice is seen that goes by the same name. At the mouth of the cavern it is sufficiently high for a man to stand upright, but grows narrower as you advance, presenting obstructions which few have presumed to encounter. At a little distance from the entrance, several excavations in the rocks appear, resembling rock basons, which are continually running over with water incessantly dropping from the roof and sides. Many marvellous stories are related of this passage — of men having proceeded so far as to be seen no more ; lost either through some intricacy in the unknown labyrinth— some frightful precipice over which they have fallen-some abyss of water, into which they have been plunged — or some unheard of monster by which they have been devoured ! It has also been asserted upon the same venerable authority , that dogs have occasionally found their way through this Tartarean gulf, and that, entering at St. Mary's, they have actually come out in Trescaw with most of their hair off. Such are the tales which ignorance or superstition invents, which tradition propagates, and credulity receives.

and, on page 698,

On the side of Tregarthen Hill, which lies at the northern extremity of Trescaw, is a subterraneous cavern called Piper's Hole, which usually excites the curiosity of strangers visiting those islands. The approach to it over loose stones and rugged rocks is difficult, and somewhat enterprising, and this of itself gives a kind of interest to the object. This cavern at its entrance is about 8 or 10 feet wide, and nearly the same in height. It penetrates about 60 fathoms under the hill from the sea-shore. The roof and sides are formed of solid rock of granite, moist with continual droppings, which keeps the rocks below wet and slippery, and very troublesome to pass over. In order to explore it, it is necessary to have a guide with lighted torches. Near the middle is a pool of fresh, clear water, about 20 fathoms long, 2 fathoms wide, and nearly 3 fathoms deep. Beyond this pool is a fine sandy beach, and the whole is terminated by rocks ; so that the vulgar report of this cavern communicating with that in St. Mary's of the same name is nothing more than an idle tale.

Safety and the environment

Thanks to the Tresco Estate for generous permission to "hide" the cache in their Piper's Hole. Thanks too to the Isles of Scilly Wildlife Trust for kind permission for the "hide" on St Mary's. Both of these locations are in Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and both are close to Scheduled Ancient Monuments. Permission has been granted conditional on finders not disturbing these delicate environments.

Scillonian SSSIs, Peninnis Ancient Monument, Castle Down, Tresco Ancient Monument

Please aim to keep your impact on the biology and geology of these areas to a minimum, not disturbing rocks or flora. Please also do some "Cache In Trash Out" and pick up any rare piece of litter.

In terms of safety, please pay attention to the following:

• At high tides or in stormy conditions, seas can become very rough in these areas. The caves can be entered at anything other than spring high tides if conditions are calm. In rough seas, take great care. Tide tables are available in booklets on sale on the islands. You can also find a week of tide tables on the BBC website (note times are in GMT) https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast_and_sea/tide_tables/10/1#tide-details
  or you can search online for monthly tide tables for the Isles of Scilly.
• Both caves, particularly Piper's Hole, Tresco, can only be approached via scrambles over the rocks. Hitchins & Drew give a good description of the terrain. Any finders take on the adventure at their own risk.
• My family have explored Pipers' Holes for over 45 years and have met many others doing the same. All have had torches, preferably head torches with spare batteries, but none have worn caving helmets. There is a very small risk of rock falls and if you judge that wearing a helmet would be advisable then you should do so. (Actually, my comment about torches isn't quite right. Many people, over the years, have used candles but if you do that please don't leave them as litter.)
• There are no side passages in either cave, so route-finding inside is trivially easy.
• The lake in Piper's Hole, Tresco is more than 3 metres deep. I have taken young children across the lake in an inflatable dingy and have swum across the lake, (my younger brother first visited the inside of Piper's Hole in 1975, one month before he was born) but you may think that adults and children should only cross the lake wearing life jackets.
• Note that I judge this to be a "genuine" 5 terrain cache, which many might rate as a 5/5. I take Difficulty 2.5 to represent the difficulty in finding the cave entrances, route-finding and working out the answers to the questions.

Logging requirements. Answers to be sent to us:

Piper's Hole: Peninnis Head, St Mary's

1. What is the bearing of the line of the cave? (All measurements should be as accurate as reasonably possible)
2. What is the bearing of Piper's Hole on Tresco from here?
3. At the very end of the cave there are three vertical clefts. One is tiny, one very small and one medium/large (but too small to squeeze into). From left to right, which is which and describe any interesting item you find wedged into them.

Piper's Hole: Tresco

4. What is the bearing of the line of this cave?
5. What is the bearing of Piper's Hole on St Mary's from here?
6. Optional question, just for fun. Do you think that the legend might be true?
7. What is the width of the passage, on the far side of the lake, two metres from its far end?

Photo logging requirement, to be uploaded with your log

• Either, take a photo of your party (optional) or their vessel and GPSrs on the beach at the far side of the lake in Piper's Hole on Tresco. Make sure the sandy beach is in the photo.

Any logs not meeting these requirements will be deleted. All members of your group must reach the far side of the lake in order for them to log the cache.

But please do log notes and photos and send partial answers if you visit one or both locations, but don't complete all of the tasks.

Congratulations to The Gills on finally being the First to Find the cache, just 749 days after it was published. Very well done too, on getting across the lake via a swim in the dark.

Note that publication of this cache makes it possible to find 7 cache type on Tresco (at low tide). If you add the Wherigo on St Mary's, a well-timed Event cache would allow 9 types in a day. Thanks to SillySailor for reminding me that Piper's Hole on Tresco contains information for the Letterbox https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC3BCNE_scilly-billy-tresco-ios

Bonus Tresco sea cave: The Gun Hole N 49° 58.003' W 6° 20.992'
Very much to be investigated at your own risk.

For many years we believed what we had heard, that this short but dramatic cave is only accessible by boat. Exploration during a low spring tide and flat calm revealed that it can be entered along a narrow ledge from the North West. The scramble is a little tricky and there is scope to fall into the sea in an area where you wouldn't want that to happen. Only attempt it if you are feeling adventurous and sure-footed and the tide is low.
Or you could go by boat, but this area is outside the shelter of the islands so you would need to be a very experienced kayaker or boater.

Virtual Reward - 2017/2018

This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache (although only 2619 were published). Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.
Unsurprisingly, this is currently the furthest South Virtual cache in the UK (and the furthest West in England or Wales).

We were very proud to be awarded an Amberel Top Cache coin for this cache.  On August 19th 2021 we dropped a laminated copy of the coin in the ancient Pulpit Rock cache. We held an event to mark its 20th anniversary about 130m from Piper's Hole on St Mary's. Feel free to discover the coin but please leave it as a residential coin.
https://www.geocaching.com/track/details.aspx?guid=1d20d761-33ce-41d1-8a01-2dc769b8d311
https://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC1AC1_pulpit-rock