The Dead and The Undead (GC208V7)

Difficulty:

       Terrain:       

       Size:              (Small)

This weekend just gone, me and the other half went to visit some family in Gloucester with the intention of a nice relaxing Jubilee weekend. Little did we know that on the Monday we would make the 50 minute journey to the magnificent Tintern Abbey on the Welsh border to get involved with the Jubilee festivities going on.

The Abbey over the roof tops.

After being there for around an hour my curiousity got the better of me (as it usually does when I'm somewhere new) and I just had to open up the Geocaching iPhone app to see what caches were in the local vicinity.

After a quick search, I found that there was a cache nearby called 'The dead and the undead' (GC208V7). It had an interesting backstory, a rather perculiar container and what looked liked some good spots to take some photos.

So my brother-in-law, nephew and I decided to leave the girls to enjoy the fun while we took the short, but quite steep trek up the hill towards the cache. On the approach we were greeted by the wonderful Church of St. Mary the Virgin.

The Church of St. Mary the Virgin

This place was magnificent. It was once rebuilt in 1866 only to be destroyed by a fire in 1977 which coincidently was the same year as the Queens Silver Jubilee. We took a wander around the grave yard and took a peek through the Church Windows and was amazed to see that it looked like a mini forest growing inside.

Just outside the Churchyard there was a bench and a little clearing that allowed us to see down below to where the Jubilee event was taking place so we took a 5 minute breather to take in the spectacular views around us. This is one of the main reasons I love Geocaching. It has allowed me to see things that I probably wouldnt have seen if I was a mere muggle.

By this point, I think my nephew (and admittedly me) were dying to find the cache and to see what sort of unusual container awaited us. I love unusual containers, especially ones that have had a bit of thought behind them. I've found unusual containers that seem to have been used just for the sake of it but I love the ones that fit in with the surroundings or tie in with the theme of the cache etc.

The latter was the case with this particular container. There is a great back story and legend to this cache and whether or not the legend is true, the container fitted the purpose perfectly.

From where we were in the photo ro the right, the cache was only around 80ft  further along the path. Luckily the GPS on my iPhone was absolutely spot on and there wasnt any need for the clue. Now usually when my nephew is with me I would let him do the finding, or I would find it and give him hints as to where it is but on this occasion there was a slippery bank to negotiate without so much as a holly bush to hold onto!

I made my way down the slope and for some reason my eyes were automatically drawn to what looked like a likely hidey hole. Well what do you know, my Geosense was working well and I was right on the money. It wasn't particularly well hidden but the shape and colour helped it blend in with its surroundings.

I quickly signed the log, and passed the cache up to my nephew who wanted to do a few swaps. I also took a Travel Bug which strangely had nothing attached to the dog tag and then replaced the cache as well as I could.

Unfortunately, that was all the time we had and I didnt get chance to grab any more caches. Still, I'm happy that I bagged my first Welsh cache and managed to add another county to my caching map.


 *SPOILERS BELOW*

Below you will see some photos of the cache. Now the owner has asked not to include any spoilers in cache logs so please take note of the above warning if you want to keep it a surprise.

As you can see, its a very appropriate container given the surroundings and the back story to the cache. I most definitely would not want to be finding this on my own in the dark.

Photos Courtesy of Ian Knight