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A Fine Pair #39 ~ Balcombe Multi-cache

Hidden : 7/8/2012
Difficulty:
2 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   other (other)

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Geocache Description:

This is the 39th of a series in which a red telephone box is to be found within 20 feet of a red post box.



You are looking for a small sealed pouch, approximately 10cm x 7cm x 1cm. Please take good care to replace the log book in the plastic bag in the cache container exactly as you found it, or the seals may be impeded.

GZ could be a seriously muggle-bound area at some times of day so please do your best to be sneaky and stealthy whilst looking for the cache

Balcombe is a village and parish in the Mid Sussex district of West Sussex. According to Wikipedia, it is possible that the name Balcombe means "Mining Place Camp". Bal is a Cornish word meaning a mining place and it is also possible that the same word existed in Ancient British Celtic. Although Coombe or Combe can mean a valley it can also come from the Roman "camp". So, from its name, Balcombe could have once been a Romano-British mining settlement.

South of Balcombe on the London to Brighton railway line is the extraordinary and beautiful Ouse Valley Viaduct. Designed by David Mocatta and built 1839–41 it is 100 feet (30 m) high and 500 yards long. It has 37 arches and was built with 11 million imported Dutch bricks. It is a must see and, if you have not already been out to find Flatcoat Walker's cache GC1632X Underneath the Arches we cannot recommend it highly enough!!!

The cache is not at the published coordinates.

The published co-ordinates will take you to the location of this 'Fine Pair'. It's nice to see a red telephone box in such good condition for, as we know, this is not often the case.

These phone boxes, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott in the 1920's, have become desirable collectors items and an example of things quintessentially English. There is even one reported to be outside the British Embassy in Washington, though we have not yet found a picture of it online.

For more information, see the wikipedia entry Red Telephone Box.

Before you will be able to find and log the cache, you need to obtain some information from the letter box:

The first telephone number = 0345G HI JKLM

The postbox number = RH NOPQ

The cache can be found at N 51° 03.ABC W 000° 07.DEF

where:

A = O-1
B = J
C = M+Q
D = N+N+P
E = I+L+N
F = G+H-O

If anybody would like to extend 'A Fine Pair' series you are welcome to do so but first please contact wizardsmum, the series originator, and request a Pair number as she keeps track of the numbers and names of these caches to avoid duplication.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

[cache:] fvg naq guvax

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)