CC33 Crumlin Viaduct View (EVW3) Traditional Geocache
Write and Mane: Logical step in planned run down of our owned caches.
CC33 Crumlin Viaduct View (EVW3)
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(regular)
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This is the thirty-third of a series, the “Caerphilly Collection”, that will explore the whole Borough Council area. This cache, in a turtle (small round plastic tub), is also the third of a subset along the Ebbw Valley Walk. Expect a minimum 1mile walk on a generally good path that is almost level. The cache location offers views down the Ebbw Valley, over Crumlin, but imagination is required to see the viaduct!
The Caerphilly Collection is distinguished with a unique CC number and is made up of 50 caches. The caches vary in difficulty and type and usually have other “C” word connections – castle, cheese, coal, canal, etc. There may even be Cryptic Clues for Clever Clogs! The current Caerphilly unitary authority grew out of the former Rhymney Valley and Islwyn Councils and stretches from the outskirts of Cardiff and Newport in the south to the Brecon Beacons, north of Rhymney. Despite a past dominated by coal and heavy industry, it has a diverse history and varied and dramatic scenery. We hope you will enjoy exploring it with us.
Towards the end of the Collection is CC48 The Accumulator, the location of which is given in coded form. The translation details of the code are distributed around the whole Collection, but only about a third of the caches will contain a piece of the code, which is on the back of the Log Book. To do the Accumulator, you will need to keep a note of each piece of code that you find. Unless you are very lucky, you will need to find the majority of the Collection in order to do the Accumulator. The Accumulator cache is hidden in an area of difficult terrain and demanding navigation, with a 5,4½ rating.
CC33 is also in a subset of the main series following the Ebbw Valley Walk (EVW). This 16-mile long distance path links Festival Park, Ebbw Vale, with the Sirhowy Valley Country Park at Black Vein. Caches in this subset are on the southern two thirds of the route that fall within the Caerphilly area. Much of the EVW follows contouring paths high on the western side of the Ebbw Valley, which provide spectacular views of the main valley and the adjacent countryside - but there are also some steep ascents/descents!
This cache is on one of the best contouring sections of the EVW route, so a fairly easy walk will get you to the cache and good views of the Ebbw Valley. There is limited parking close to either end of this section – if you can find it! Approached from the northern end, there were levels of small mines above the path and this perhaps explains why this path exists and is well constructed. The cache location would have been a good viewpoint for the impressive viaduct that once spanned the valley at Crumlin (see uploaded image). For those who can’t imagine (CC standing for can’t conceptualise) the former railway viaduct here, there is an image (from the other side of the valley) of the structure in “Dont Look Down! (Crumlin)” – GCHN4V. The picture is called “This is what it used to look like”. We have also uploaded an impression of what the viaduct would have looked like from Crumlin in the 19C.
Since, we are encouraging exploration of the long distance path, we would suggest combining this cache with CC31 and/or CC32. These caches could be tackled in a circular walk from Pen-y-fan Pond (convenient also for CC30), utilising the track over Mynydd Pen-y-fan, which offers views to its better-known namesake in the Brecon Beacons. Such a four cache circular walk would be about 9 miles with some 850 feet of ascent – and CC might stand for combined caching … using a convenient circuit! Of course, this cache would be a good partner for the Dont look down cache – although the latter involves a good deal more up and down!
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Qba’g ybbx qbja!