Wirral Coastal Walk Multi-Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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This walk/multi-cache can be undertaken at any time, but it must be stressed that the total distance is 15 miles (hence difficulty 4.0) from Seacombe Interchange to Thurstaston via New Brighton, Hoylake and West Kirby. I have previously completed this walk on foot, end to end, in less than 3 hours 45 minutes. The above co-ordinates are for the start of the walk at Seacombe Interchange where you will find the first waypoint for stage 1.
Most of the walk is on level concrete/tarmac, though one stretch (Red Rocks to West Kirby marine lake) is on the beach, and part of West Kirby to Thurstaston is on a footpath across grassland before joining the Wirral Way. With the exception of the beach, it can also be completed easily on a bicycle. There are no clues on the beach, so cyclists can by-pass the sandy stretch by taking a detour via roads.
If you do not wish to undertake this as one continuous walk, you can undertake the stages separately in any order, but all stages will have to be completed before you can find the final cache.
This is also the route of the Annual Wirral Coastal Walk event that takes place each May (In 2017 its on Sunday June 18th). More details can be found at http://www.wirralcoastalwalk.org
During the event many thousands undertake the walk and therefore it is not be possible to use a bicycle. Car access at both the start and finish is also restricted. Although the route passes very close to several other caches, it’s not advisable to search for them during the event, as there are far too many other walkers close by who may notice your unusual behaviour.
Owing to the linear nature of this coastal walk, neither stages nor the whole walk return you to Seacombe nor the start point of the stage. Some of these points are serviced by public transport, whilst others have no transport links. A map of the route can be found here.
The cache is very well stocked and initially contains a White Jeep TB, Yellow Jeep TB, Green Jeep TB, Normal TB, Unite for Diabetes TB and an FTF Geocoin. As well as the usual goodies, there is a certificate and reward of an unregistered FTF Geocoin (different design to the one mentioned earlier) for the First to Find. There is also a special FTF certificate for the first person to find the cache after completing the whole 15 miles on foot as one continuous walk (as opposed to doing it in stages, on a bicycle or with a use of a car etc at any point between Seacombe & Thurstaston) – They’ll earn it, and they should also mention this achievement, plus how long it took to complete, in their log entry.
We wonder whether the first person to find this cache will have completed it in one continuous walk (maybe as part of the annual event) and thereby get the very unusual award of two FTF certificates for the same cache.
Good Luck
Stage 1 (Seacombe Ferry Terminal to New Brighton Marine Lake)
1. N 53° 24.590 W 003° 00.971 - On what day in March 2005 did Angela Eagle MP and Councillor Mark Dowd OBE officially Open the Seacombe Interchange? Answer = AB
2. N 53° 25.(B+1)44 W 003° 01.4(A+1)5 - This is a “Corner”, but how many letters are in the first word of this corner? Answer = C
3. N 53° 25.(C-2)28 W 003° 01.(C)16 - What big yellow digit appears here twice in front of Red and White? Answer = D
4. N 53° 26.(D-2)62 W 003° 02.0(C+1)1 - Close to here is a tall stone and brick pillar? How many layers of brick are in the upper set of bricks? Answer = E
5. N 53° 26.(C/2)(D)(B+7) W 003° 02.(A)(E+1)(A*D) - Here is your first milestone at the end of stage 1. From the rock take 10 paces towards the road to find a Trojan with a 3 digit BS number. P=double the 1st digit, Q=2nd digit & R=3rd digit -1st digit.
Stage 2 (New Brighton Marine Lake to Leasowe Lighthouse)
6. N 53° 26.402 W 003° 03.418 – A plaque here tells you about Pierrot. His height is A metres, here’s made of stainless steel B mm thick, and weights approximately C tonnes.
7. N 53° 26.1(B-A)6 W 003° 04.(C+B-A)54 – What number is midway between 86 and 87? Answer = DE
8. N 53° 25.(E+3)95 W 003° 04.9(D)7 – To the right of Ben, at the bottom of a narrow slope is a date, F is the missing digit 22-1-?1.
9. N 53° 25.(F/C)02 W 003° 05.(F-1)51 – There’s one standing all on its own. G is the digit that appears twice in the middle 52(3??)13
10. N 53° 25.(G-F)(D)(C+1) W 003° 06.(B)(E)(A-4) – Here, at the end of stage two you will find you can “visit 9 places from this site”, but which number is Moreton Railway Station? Answer = S
Stage 3 (Leasowe Lighthouse to Red Rocks)
11. N 53° 24.846 W 003° 07.660 – Is that 98 or is it 86? What’s the other small number nearby? Answer = AB
12. N 53° 24.(A)73 W 003° 08.(B-1)06 – What maximum number can you see here? Answer = CDE
13. N 53° 24.(E-D)73 W 003° 09.(C*D)91 – How many yellow signs are attached to the wall here ? Answer = F
14. N 53° 23.(F+C)40 W 003° 10.(B)30 – When was this club founder? Answer = GHIJ
15. N 53° 23.(C+G)(J)(H-A) W 003° 11.(F-C)(I)(E-D) – End of the third stage. What three digit number (black on white disks) can you see above head height? Answer = TUV
Stage 4 (West Kirby Marine Lake to Thurstaston Visitors Centre)
16. N 53° 22.300 W 003° 11.288 – In what year was the renowned “Birdman” and humourist born? Answer = ABCD
17. N 53° 21.(D)63 W 003° 10.8(B+A-C)2 – How much is this Owl? Answer = EF
18. N 53° 21.(E+1)46 W 003° 10.(F+1)43 – What are the missing numbers at this dangerous place 05/22??/1/200. Answer = GH
19. N 53° 20.8(G/H)1 W 003° 09.1(G)8 – Two places are signed to the left, how many to the right? Answer = I
20. N 53° 20.(B-H)(G/H)(D) W 003° 08.(A+I)(C+F)(E) – Unfortunately the original plaque has vanished, so look towards the car park. Between that path and the visitors centre in a sculpture. From its gold coloured information plaque :
W= Last digit of listed year divided by the first digit of the year
X= Number of the month on the plaque
Y= Number of letters in the last word of the first line of text (above the date)
Z= How many different vowels (A,E,I,O & U) in the sculptors two names
The cache can now be found at N 53° (Q-Y) (Z-R) . ZSU W 003° (U-X) P . (T+W) (X-Z) (V+W)
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Xrrc Bss