Local caching buddy Kitty!! has family down in Eastbourne. She hates the drive there and back when it has to be done in a day, and was glad of some company. So I was able to hitch a ride, go and play on the seafront on my geo-bike while she went to do the family business.
I found plenty of caches along the way, including SideTracked, Church Micros and some solved puzzles which I had prepared for the trip.
SideTracked Eastbourne
Moving inland from the seafront to find some CMs…
CM8354
The bike made life a lot easier and I was able to cover much more ground than if I had just been on foot.
CM4435
We wrapped up with a quick find on the Downs under a great sunset, before heading back to Essex in Kitty’s car.
After a few hours at Elstree for work this afternoon, I decided to head to Abbotts Langley to find a few more caches by geobike. They were mainly in the AL Monopoly series (since all archived) but there were a few others too. The pretty little church of St. Paul’s in Langleybury was one of the first – not actually a Church Micro but still a nice hide.
St Paul’s Church, Langleybury
The local phone box has been turned into a little library, where I found a very interesting read hidden on the shelves!
Clever Phone Box Library Cache
Another nice caching session, and the bike made things much quicker to get around.
Today’s mission was to Newport to find the Wherigo Postman’s Nightmare. It was a pleasant trip up and down the High Street on my bike, but some of the information was a bit of a nightmare to find!
At last, I had the numbers I needed and found the cache!
Newport Architecture
Next I headed to Wedens Ambo to do a little circuit of trads on foot. The TB hotel was one of the first stops, where I left this little red dude to continue his travels.
Wenden TB Hotel
It was beginning to get dark as I found the last couple, but at least it stayed dry on the way back to the car. Not a bad little outing, all in all.
Caching friend Kitty!! needed to visit her mum in Eastbourne today, and the journey can be a bit of a drag on your own. So she asked if I wanted a lift so I could find a few caches while she dealt with family business. I jumped at the chance.
Colourful Beach Huts
I decided the way to travel would be by geobike – thankfully it folds up small and fitted in Kitty’s car perfectly. It was quite hard work pedalling along the prom – the wind was ferocious! But I managed to find plenty of caches along the way.
Geobike Near The Pier
The pier is a little more sad than when I last saw it – a couple of weeks before the fire destroyed half of it. At least they are beginning to sort it out again now.
Walking On The Prom
It was a nice day out and enjoyable to keep Kitty company for the journey there and back. I hope we can do it again soon.
I needed to find and Earthcache today for my International Eartcache Day souvenir. The nearest unfound was at Tollesbury, so that’s where I headed. The EC itself was quickly sorted out, then I went for a little walk around the town.
Earthcache At Tollesbury
The Lightship is a familiar sight in Tollesbury, so of course I had to make a picture.
Tollesbury Light Ship
Before heading off for my big walk around the Essex 100 Section 4, I needed some fortification, so stopped off at the excellent café near the boatyard for a tasty bacon sarnie and a pot of tea.
Bacon Butty Beauty
Then I was off around the sea wall looking for caches as I went. It would have been quite a walk, but I had taken the geo-bike with me.
Bacon Butty Beauty
Plenty of boats and things to see along the way, and fluffy clouds floating above the salt marshes.
Salt Marshes
With the familiar shape of Bradwell Power Station in the background, I made quick progress along the sea wall on the bike. Although about half way round I saw a sign saying “no cycling”. Oops. Well, too late now!
Geobike & Bradwell In The Distance
It was good to get this section of the Essex 100 ticked off, I’ve been meaning to visit for ages. 16 finds today will do very nicely.
It’s CITO weekend so a few of us headed to Danbury Country Park to help the rangers clear some invasive shrubs. There were lots of willing volunteers!
Danbury CITO Working Hard
Ian was hard at work digging a drainage ditch too.
Ian Shovelling
Jill got busy hacking bushes while Rob cleared up.
Rob & Jill Hard At Work
Meanwhile, Shifty Duck was doing his best to “help” clear up the cakes which had been left unattended!
Shifty Duck “Helping”
After a couple of hours hard work we all posed for a picture!
CITO Crew
The event done, I headed towards Southminster to find some caches by bike. Village signs, Church Micros and other random hides which had been staring at me on the map.
Southminster Sign
It was quiet at the station today – hardly any traffic at all!
End Of The Line
The bike was handy to get to a few outliers around the town.
I’d had the Coal Post Challenge on my radar for some time (find 6 consecutively-numbered Coal Post caches). But having done some research, many of the original caches have now been archived, and I could only spot a run of 7 still active around Reigate in Surrey.
That’s a bit out of my normal caching zone, but when I noticed a CITO had been published close by for today, I decided a road trip was in order, to kill several birds with one lump of coal!
On arrival at the CITO, we were each given our sacks and I set off. Perhaps the soggiest lump of rubbish I found today was this:
Discarded 🙁
Of course, Shifty Duck made sure he signed the log, and was ready for people to discover his TB code, along with the ever-helpful Larry The Litterpicker.
Shifty Signs The Log
We gathered up quite a lot of stuff! Great to see such a good turn out.
Lots Of Cachers, Lots Of Rubbish!
Having scoffed a tasty bacon sandwich from the car park snack bar, I set off to find the other hides I came for. The first of them was the newly-replaced Reigate TB Hotel. Great box!
Lovely New Box
I had a frustrating DNF at a Letterbox hide nearby, which others don’t seem to have had any trouble with. Damn. Never mind, I really came for Coal Posts!
Wonky Post 153
So I moved the car to somewhere convenient and unfolded the geo-bike for my ride along the bridleway between Kingswood Warren and Colley Hill. The bike made my progress much quicker!
Coal Post 149 And The Geo-Bike
I was aiming for posts 149-155, and luckily found them all quickly, apart from one, which took a bit longer.
Selfie At Coal Post 152
Even this tricky whatsit didn’t fool me!
Peekaboo!
So, with 7 posts already under my belt, I decided to stop off at the Challenge Cache itself (Coal Post 206), which is conveniently just off the M25 at Swanley, not much of a detour on the way home! Job done.
But, there was another Coal Post cache just half a Km away, so why not pick up stumpy No. 203 too, while I’m here? That makes 9 Coal Post today – hurrah!
After yesterday’s outing, I was 13 finds short of my 6K milestone. I decided to head to the Flitch Way around Braintree, so I took my geo-bike to see if I could tip the total across the line.
One of the first caches I found was Using The Right Tools by flossregularly. It was a brilliant field puzzle which had me chuckling at the cheek for the rest of the day, definitely a fave for that one!
Street Art On The Flitch Way
I had a few DNFs but the numbers gradually ticked down until I was just 1 find away from the number I needed…
Another Cache Closer To 6K
I had chosen Boom! by infinson as the target for my 6000th cache. It is a Letterbox and I needed a new type for my milestone to qualify for a challenge cache. I parked a little way away and hopped on my bike again for the rest of the journey. Passing this burned-out van along the way, I hoped my car would still be in one piece when I returned! Thankfully, it was.
Is This A Nice Neighbourhood?
I approached GZ and after a short search, the pot was located! I had brought along my two stamps for the logbook and my newly-earned 6000 Finds Geo-Achievement coin. Job done.
Boom! Made It To 6000 Finds
Of course, there is always time for one more, and on the way home I stopped off for another cache and dash hide, to bring my total up to 6001.
Mr Crow is most renowned for setting fiendishly difficult puzzles, only some of which I’ve been able to crack. But he recently published a series of trads in Coneyfield Wood, which I decided to tackle today.
I drove to Tiptree and then unfolded my Get Thi’ Sen There GeoBike and took a ride around the lanes, picking up a few others before heading into the woods.
The hides all had great containers, but these were some of my favourites:
Today’s first even was Ddraig’s Big Day Out at Chirk. There wasn’t a lot going on apart from a few oversized games laid out on the lawn. Shifty challenged me to a game of giant Chess, but I know how he plays, so I declined.
Shifty Challenges Me To Chess
We did sign the big daffodil which was the event logbook and then headed off by gee-bike to pick up more of the Llangollen Canal Trail series. I was hoping to get as far as the ones Gilly and I found just east of Llangollen the other day.
Big Fat Daffodil
There was plenty to see along the way. The industrial archaeology of the area was celebrated with this fine little sculpture – LQ enjoyed sitting in the alcove to pose for a photo.
Little Quacker Finds A Sculpture
The highlight was the part of the towpath which crosses the Pont-Cycyllte Aqueduct. Not the thing if you are afraid of heights! But thankfully they don’t bother me too much. I did of course walk across rathe than cycle as the towpath is very narrow, and if I was sitting on the saddle I would have been dangerously above the handrail – I wasn’t that daft!
Scary Pont-Cycyllte Aqueduct!
It was quite a hot day, so I stopped at the canal basin in Trevor for a delicious ice cream and to make a few photos of the boats from the bridge.
Canal Basin At Trevor
Parts of the canal path were nice and shady which was very welcome given the temperature. There were plenty of barges on the move – at a very relaxed pace!
Lazy Days On The Canal
We made it to No. 21 which was the target – to join up the trail we had already found. LQ and I then stopped for a refuelling snack before heading back the way we had come – the geo-bike making the return journey much quicker than it would have been on foot.
LQ Eats A Pork Pie As Big As Him!
As the ice cream was so nice, I stopped off for another at Trevor on the way back, before grabbing a few more along the canal trail by bike south of Chirk. Eventually I was feeling rather saddle-sore, so decided to head to Carrog for the evening even at the campsite.
I was also trying to keep up my unconventional streak (15 days needed for a Challenge cache) and the only cache which would satisfy that around about was the Whereigo. The actual puzzle was solved very quickly, but the climb up to the final GZ was a bit of a killer – especially given that my legs had already had plenty of exercise today! Still, job done.
