Trad: 5 CITO: 1
Walked: 7.3 miles

Today I found myself in Stout Wooden Ferrets (oh, alright, South Woodham Ferrers) for the Love Your Community CITO at Fen Washlands. It had a great logbook – a Valentine’s card – sadly the only one I got this year!

When I arrived, Mr Geotrowel and others were already hard at work hacking at a thicket of Blackthorn.

It was a modest but enthusiastic turnout, despite the cold. There was free tea, delicious cake and hot soup available for our efforts, which really made all the difference on such a nippy day.

My first task was to do a circuit of the area Litterpicking with my friend Larry The Litterpicker.  As well as a heavy bag full of trash, we also found a hanging basket and part of a broken street lamp in the bushes!

After suitable refreshments, I set to work ferrying the large prickly branches from where others were chopping them to the bonfire. The smell of Blackthorn smoke was rather aromatic!

After the event I took a walk around the town to pick up several more Trad caches. I last cached here several years ago and most of the hides I had already found have long been archived, so there were a few which needed picking up today. I finished around 4pm as it was getting bitterly cold, then I took myself home to get a cup of tea and thaw out.