CC34 Newbridge – a Better Prospect (EVW4) Traditional Geocache
Write and Mane: Retrieved cache in line with planned run down of our owned caches. Cache was still in serviceable - it is the owners who are no longer fit for purpose!
CC34 Newbridge – a Better Prospect (EVW4)
-
Difficulty:
-
-
Terrain:
-
Size: 
(regular)
Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions
in our disclaimer.
This is the thirty-fourth of a series, the “Caerphilly Collection”, that will explore the whole Borough Council area. This cache, in a medium sized plastic storage box, is also the fourth of a subset along the Ebbw Valley Walk. Expect a minimum 1mile walk with 150 feet of ascent. The cache location offers views up the Ebbw Valley, over Newbridge – and an infinitely better prospect than most other options!
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.
CC34 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! If you are following the whole of the EVW, note that in autumn 2005 the steep section on Craig y Pandy, near Crosskeys, was so overgrown with bracken and brambles as to be practically impassable (to all but a stubborn idiot, who has scratches and grazes to prove it!).
The terrain rating is an average: it is probably easier approached from the north, but rougher tackled from the south. Looking for an adjective to describe Newbridge, picturesque would not be the first to spring to mind, but, from the cache location, it is possible to get a selective view, with more wooded hillside and the landmark church of Our Lady of Peace centre stage (so CC could stand for conspicuous church).
If you are responding to our encouragement to explore the long distance path, we would warn that section between CC33 and CC34 contains some of the most challenging navigation, with poor way marking on little used paths – but look on this as a challenge rather than a reason for missing it out. If you look carefully, you may find a possibly unique EVW route symbol (see uploaded image).
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)