Monthly Archives: July 2015

events, grand day out, mega 2015, with alistair

Day #5 – Mersea & The Flitch Trials

Event: 2 Trad: 6 Earth: 1 Letterbox: 1 Virtual: 1
Walked: 6.6 miles

31st July 2015
31st July 2015

Another fun day of Essex Mega events today, kicking off with a trip to Mersea Island to find several trads, an unusual Virtual which moves around the country (it wasn’t actually in North Yorkshire when I found it, but at the end of Mersea Island!) and an Earth Cache. Alistair explored the cliffs along the coastline:

Up The Cliff
Up The Cliff

Boats near the Survey Monument at the end of Cudmore Grove (close to the location of the Virtual).

Mersea Boats
Mersea Boats

This evening we headed to Barleylands to enjoy Pie and Mash for dinner and pitch our camping spot.

Shifty The Megaduck!
Shifty The Mega Duck! [photo by Alistair]
Then it was time to attend the Flitch Trials – with a caching flavour. Three caching couples were cross-examined about the truth of their DNF logs – and the “jury” voted them Guilty or Not Guilty after hearing the evidence.

The Hanging Judge
The Hanging Judge
Selfie Time
Selfie Time
Guilty As Charged!
Guilty As Charged!
events, mega 2015, with alistair

Day #4 – Teddies & Highwaymen

Event: 2 Trad: 5 Multi: 1 Earth: 1 Letterbox: 1
Walked: 8 miles

30th July 2015
30th July 2015

Another two great UK Mega events today – starting off with a Teddy Bears’ Picnic at The Museum of Power in Langford. Of course, Alistair & I took teddies! (and a big, troublesome duck)

Shifty, Falkirk & Geo-Bear
Shifty, Falkirk & Geo-Bear

Himself, photobombing my pic of the picnic.

Photobombed!
Photobombed!

The new cache in the museum Café

The Cafe Cache
The Cafe Cache

This evening’s event was The Highwayman’s Horror at South Weald Country Park. We were escorted around the gloom of the woods, looking for dastardly Dick Turpin. All great fun!

The Grim Reaper
The Grim Reaper
Dick Turpin
Dick Turpin
Donna And Her Potions
Donna And Her Potions
events, grand day out, mega 2015, with alistair

Day #3 – Thorndon, Hadleigh And The Bunker

Event: 3 Trad: 17 Puzzle: 1
Walked: 7.3 miles

29th July 2015
29th July 2015

A busy day today! The first event Alistair & I attended was Glaciers & Gruffalos in Thorndon Country Park. We found a few caches on our way around the park. Alistair made friends with some fun characters:

Hello, Mouse!
Hello, Mouse!
Dead Ringers!
Dead Ringers!

Next up was a trip to Hadleigh Country Park for Rocky Ride Extreme. We didn’t ride bikes but had a picnic and then went for a quick look for a few caches.

The Olympic Mountain Bike course still has its medal podium in situ – so Alistair decided to pose as he know’s he’s a winner!

Winners' Podium!
Winners’ Podium!

The final event of the day was at the Secret Nuclear Bunker in Kelvedon Hatch. We had the run of the place for our event which meant the Committee were able to dress up as ghouls and zombies and scare the bejeezus out of us all! It was fantastic!

Zombie Cass
Zombie Cass
Steve's Lost An Eye
Steve’s Lost An Eye
The Way To Freedom
The Way To Freedom
events, mega 2015, with alistair

Day #2 – Hatfield Forest & Stargazing

Event: 2 Trad: 6 Puzzle: 1
Walked: 5.75 miles

28th July 2015
28th July 2015

There were too Essex Mega events to visit today, first off was the Caching & Nature walk in Hatfield Forest. Kids were taught to make fire (responsibly!) with the Rangers. I met Marley the Geodog – just about the sweetest-natured pooch you could hope to find.

Marley The GeoPooch!
Marley The GeoPooch!

I had the opportunity to find a few caches in the forest. There were plenty of other folks finding tupperware too!

Caching In Hatfield Forest
Caching In Hatfield Forest

The evening saw the Stargazing Picnic back at Barleylands. Alistair arrived from Newcastle in time for the interesting talk from cacher and astronomy buff, Loony Londo. Sadly the clouds closed in and it was too overcast to do any stargazing.

Too Cloudy For Stargazing
Too Cloudy For Stargazing

However, the clouds didn’t stop us being visited by Interstellar beings! This was at GZ of a great puzzle cache released that evening.

Interstellar Puzzle
Interstellar Puzzle
events, mega 2015, with alistair

Day #1 – Let Mega Week Begin

Event: 1 Trad: 2
Walked: 2.5 miles

27th July 2015
27th July 2015

It’s finally here – the UK Essex Mega 2015 week-long festival of geocaching. The very first event was the Imp’s Meet & Greet at Birchanger Services on the M11, but the next one was my first – UKME2015 – Welcome To Essex.

Welcome To Essex!
Welcome To Essex!

The event during the evening was held at Barleylands. There was a BBQ and an opportunity to see old friends and new.

Smoking BBQ
Smoking BBQ

I also found a couple of the new caches placed around Barleylands – A Damp Welcome and the excellent Grand Mega Bug Hotel.

Mega Bug Hotel
Mega Bug Hotel

I was also official photographer for the event, you can see more of my images on Flickr.