CC35 Moon to Mosaic (EVW5)
-
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-fifth of a series, the “Caerphilly Collection”, that will explore the whole Borough Council area. It is also the fifth (and last) of a subset along the Ebbw Valley Walk. Four virtual caches trace the southern section of the long distance path, leading to a final cache, in a medium sized plastic lunch box. Apart from a short steep ascent on the last stage, the route is on good surfaces, but expect a 2 mile walk with 100 feet of ascent.
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.
CC35 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!). If you are following the EVW from north to south, please note that this multicache runs in the opposite direction – so, what’s an extra couple of miles of walking, if you’re that fit?
Apart from the short final section, this cache is suitable for bicycles and wheelchairs and the cache attributes indicate this. If restricted mobility prevents you getting from the final cache, we will accept an email of the correct coordinates as a find. If you are a cyclist and can’t ride the last 50 metres – well, tough … you’ll just have to walk!
In the following, VC stands for Virtual Cache and RC for Regular Cache.
VC1 is at the coordinates given for the cache listing and is at the Full Moon entrance to the Sirhowy Valley Country Park, where there is convenient parking at N 51 36.911 W 003 08.381. Where is the (very small!!) bird in the image “VC1 clue” (3 words in English)?
VC2 is at N51 3e.fc7 W003 0g.hf1, where, using the answer at VC1:
a = number of letters in second word
b = total number of letters in first and second words
c = number of y’s in all three words
d = number of vowels in all three words
e = a + d
f = a - c - d
g = a + c
h = c - d
The route number here is jk: m = k + h and n = j +d.
VC3 is at N51 3k.fb2 W003 0k.mn6.
The name of this building is expressed in three words. You will need the number of letters in the words to find
VC4 which is at N51 3p.qr8 W003 0p.sq5, where:
p = the number of letters in the third word at VC3 plus 1
q = the number of letters in the second word - 10
r = the number of letters in the first word minus the number of letters in the third word
s= the number of letters in the first word minus 1
25 years ago, our children were amused by the painted murals on the many urinals around the Valleys. Most of these have gone, but there are some good mosaic ones around, though usually in more prominent locations than these. A picture of one of these is uploaded with the cache log, but this will not tell you what you should do for the children’s sake. The answer to this is one word (the messages given out at VC3 and VC4 may possibly another meaning for CC – common calls!). Convert the answer into a set of numbers using the keypad of your mobile phone.
RC5 is at N51 3t.uv6 W003 0t.wx7, where:
t = the third number of the set derived at VC4
u = the fourth number minus the third number
v = the third number minus the sixth number
w = the fourth number
x = the seventh number
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)