Jump to content

Simply Paul's June 2012 Extreme Event/s


Recommended Posts

Followers of my various 'extreme' events (both remote corners of the UK/Britain and vertical ones) may be interested in my plans for 2012.

 

For the sixth in this unusual set of events I'm returning to the wild west of England for the first time since 2008. When I was there last, it was to visit the UK's most southerly populated island, St Agnes, and its most southerly point; the excellently named Wingletang Down and Horse Head. Other events from this series have included St Kilda in 2007, Unst in the Shetlands in 2009, a tidal island off the south coast of Jersey in 2010 and Eigg in the Small Isles last year.

 

This time I'm in the Isles of Scilly to visit Bryher, the most westerly populated place in England (now the Bishop Rock lighthouse isn't staffed), and specifically Gweal Hill on its west coast - as this sticks out :)

 

I'll add a link to the event when it's listed. A few days later, The Blorenges have A Scilly event on June 23rd, in the larger (main) island of St Mary's. BOGOF!

 

Beyond that, I've almost run out of N/S/E/W geographical extremes to visit - except for mainland Britain's (and mainland UK's) most southerly spot; Lizard Point, at the end of The Lizard Peninsular in Cornwall, so I'm putting something together there too - another interesting location - which should be on Sunday June 17th. More details will follow, along with a Countdown to the Geolympix event (the final one) somewhere in the west country, perhaps Exeter.

Link to comment

Thanks to very quick work by Lindinis GC3B67K - Britain's Sixth Most Remote Event Cache (Bryher) is up and running.

 

For anyone interested in old caches, The Isles of Scilly are a jewel, featuring as they do GC1AC1 - Pulpit Rock (22/08/2001), GC1B1D - Hell Bay (24/08/2001), GC1B27 - Harry's Wall (29/08/2001) and GC1C7A - Scilly Island Hopper (06/09/2001) - 4 of the 29 oldest caches in the UK are there!

 

On the way down, you could find GC1C5F - Tintagel Castle (02/09/2001) in Cornwall and in Devon, GC3018 - Exmoors First (31/12/2001) - 27th and 81st oldest in the UK, respectively.

Link to comment

There's a trigpoint at -1m in Norfolk - or is it Suffolk?* Either way, for a long time I've been working on setting both a 'deep cache' and a holding a 'deep event' in a cave. Something deeper than Big Pit (100m, 330ft) would work for me, but getting access to such a location and being able to make it Open to All (who are able to get in/out) has proved difficult. I have hatched a plan though... ;)

 

*If I'm right about the trig, it's not at the 'lowest surface point' (as opposed to subsurface point). That's Holme Fen, Cambridgeshire, as discussed here: http://forums.Groundspeak.com/GC/index.php?showtopic=77336

Link to comment
I had been considering a hike to wherever on mainland UK is the furthest from roads (just to say I have been there)...
Funny you should say that. While I was in Scotland for last year's Remote event on Eigg (but you know this; you were there!) I had hoped to walk to the hillside of Ruadh Stac Beag as this is regarded as the most remote spot in the UK, being 7 miles from sea or road/track. I planned to put a cache there but didn't think I'd be able to find anyone 'local' to look after it. But then I had to compress my plans down to 10 days from 14 and it was one of the things which got dropped. Another time (2013?), perhaps...

 

http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/whats-the-furthest-distance-you-can-get-from-a-tarmac-road-in-the-uk

 

http://mapzone.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/mapzone/didyouknow/whatis/q_12_54.html

 

http://realcycling.blogspot.com/2009/03/quirky-map-stuff-2.html (Point 4)

 

http://forum.tgomagazine.co.uk/forum/thread/remotest-spot-in-britain

Link to comment

Some begging for help!

I've been working on getting permissions for several geocaches on Scilly for a while, but I've yet to find someone to look after them for me. Does anyone know if there any cachers actually living on the islands? Tresco are looking good (and the estate may be willing to be its guardians) as is Bryher. Samson may have the first virtual stage of a puzzle or multi. Still working on St Martin's and St Mary's to compliment my cache on St Agnes.

Link to comment

Don't forget to check MAGIC. Many of the smaller islands are SSSI's and most have a lot of archaeological sites on them. For example, Samson is all SSSI and SAM!

http://benchmarks.org.uk/magicmapit.php?c=49%C2%B055.919%27N%2C+6%C2%B021.138%27W

 

If the Duchy of Cornwall have checked each cache location and are aware they are protected areas and are happy with it then that would be fine!

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

Edited by Graculus
Link to comment

Thanks Chris.

A question - Would Samson being an SSSI stop there being a virtual stage there? Just info to gather at a location accessible to the public via a trip with the St Mary's Boatmen Association? I'd assumed the situation would be the same as the Royal Parks; so long as the area of the virtual stage was publicly accessible and the physical cache hidden elsewhere, beyond the confines of the park/off the island, then that would be fine? Thanks for any advice.

 

The Tresco cache would be on Tresco Estate land, so shouldn't involve the Dutchy (it's about the only place the Duke doesn't own) but I do already have print-outs of the MAGIC maps to take with me :)

Link to comment

A virtual waypoint in a sensitive location. Normally we'd not worry too much unless there was significant additional traffic - people visiting the site - then that might be a concern. I don't think that would be an issue here. The Scilly Wildlife Trust has a page about visiting Samson and they have no specific restrictions - apart from one area where birds nest so I would suggest you avoid that.

 

Chris

Graculus

Volunteer UK Reviewer for geocaching.com

UK Geocaching Information & Resources website www.follow-the-arrow.co.uk

Geocaching.com Knowledge Books

Link to comment

Wonderful, thanks Chris. The restricted area is shown on my OS maps so I'd certainly avoid that. As you say, I don't imagine Samson will be over-run by cachers but I'd want to site the virtual feature in an area where extra footfall would have minimal impact. I also have a Plan B (and a Plan C!) if I'm unable to identify a suitable guardian for Plan A; caches on each of the populated islands.

Link to comment

Good news! Tresco will be getting its first new cache since 2004 as Mr Dorrien Smith has given the green light for me to place a box there. Talks are continuing about location and format (I think a nice puzzle based on the island's history might compliment the existing trad and multi there. Or perhaps a letterbox as there isn't one of those on any of the Scillies) but I have my eye on a couple of interesting spots.

 

I also have the NT's ok to leave a cache at Lizard Point, along with a local cacher happy to be its guardian. It's going to be caching fun in the sun way out west next month! :)

 

Bodmin Diamond Jubilee - June 2nd

 

A Jolly Jubilee Picnic & J Class or Junk? – A Jubilee Jamboree - June 4th

 

Treviglas College - CITO Event 07 - June 8th

 

WWFM : Porthcothan Beach : SAT JUN 9th 1.45pm & WWFM IX - Den of Iniquity?

- June 9th

 

Countdown to the Geolympix #1 - Exeter - June 15th

 

SP's Final Extreme - June 17th

 

Britain's Sixth Most Remote Event (Bryher) - June 22nd

 

We Love Lundy & A Scilly event. - June 23rd

 

A Bishopsteignton Caching Get Together - June 27th

Link to comment

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...