I enjoyed a trip into Kent today to pick up a couple of Challenge caches and some higher DT boxes to get my Grid Loop 2 filled a bit more. One of the first was (Un)lucky Dip near Ashford. I had to park next to a field of pumpkins!
That’s A Big Pumpkin Patch!
The cache itself was under a little road bridge, so I donned my waders and off I went. Nothing unlucky about it today, I found the pot no problem.
Messing About In The Water
The Village Sign in Wye is a rather snazzy modern thing, but it gave me the info to find the VS cache nearby.
VS #535 Wye
The last port of call were some higher T caches around the Downes to the north east of Ashford. Thankfully, a few of them could be done with a modest walk or as cache and dash.
Lovely Sunset On The Downs
The nights are drawing in now, so although I wasn’t out that late, the sun had begun to set by the time I was close to finishing. A nice end to the day.
Today’s outing was a brief solo foray into Hertfordshire to pick up some caches around Amwell, followed by a nice walk around Tiptree Heath back in Essex with geo-buddy Kitty.
My first target in Amwell was a Challenge cache, Spread the Love Challenge (UK) all about resuscitating unloved caches which haven’t been found for over a year. Well I qualified easily enough, but also noted that this cache itself had been unfound since 5th September 2015, even though someone had tried in the interim. Challenge Accepted!
I wandered around for ages and eventually found the box, very sorry for itself, a little way from the co-ords and only just as described by the hint. The contents were pretty soggy.
Soggy Box
However, I unfolded the log and was delighted to find nobody else had signed the book since the last recorded find online – so I had just managed to Resuscitate The Resuscitator Cache! Do I get extra points for that?
Yay! Resuscitate The Resuscitator Cache 🙂
Since I was in the area, and there were some other interesting caches nearby, I made it a little circular walk to pick up a few more. The next one was placed close to the marker for the Greenwich Meridian – but the GPS seemed to think this was a little way off the correct location for E/W 0° 00.000!
GPS At The Post
There was a bit of fine industrial architecture too; the old Victorian Pumping Station along the New River.
Pumped Up At The Pumping Sation
Having finished my walk in Herts, I had a rendez-vous planned with Kitty in Tiptree Heath, to search out a quartet of Mr Crow’s puzzles relating to the tree carvings in the area. There were some great examples. Not sure this lady wanted to be disturbed though!
Do Not Disturb The Lady
Talking of Crows – Corvus plasticus was guarding one of his other puzzles which we had also solved. With the aid of a ladder we had in the car, we soon made quick work of finding the pot and wresting it from the avian beak!
Corvus plasticus Is At Home
Our final port of call this evening was Sing It Again Rod (Encour), an audio conundrum by Fenners1984. We had both had a hand in solving it, so a joint find was a nice way to round off our outing.
It was my last day in Hampshire and Dorset today, so I made the most of it by running round like a mad thing picking up the last caches which were on my list – a mixture of virtuals, challenges and a few others as I was passing. I started off heading further south west, to pick up a D1/T4 Loop 2 grid filler, The Bear Necessities Of Life. There were even bears inside! Awesome.
Bear Necessities!
Next I headed to Minstead Church, situated in a quiet village just off the busy A31.
Minstead Church
I was looking for a Virtual cache dedicated to the author of a famous Detective. Can you guess who?
Elementary, My Dears
Next I headed for another Virtual, this time on Hengistbury Head, an outcrop of rock overlooking Christchurch Harbour. Just as I got out of the car, it started raining! Drat.
Hengistbury Head
The rain continued, on and off, for much of the day. I also enjoyed locating several trads and Challenge Caches along the route of the old railway between Upton and Broadstone, north east of Poole. I was particularly pleased so spot The Fat Controller – or perhaps he is a frustrated commuter – in one of the caches.
The Fat Controller?
Other wildlife spotted included this huge red beetle! Thankfully, it was just plastic.
Big Bug!
The irony of walking past a solar farm in the pouring rain is not lost on me! By this time I was east of Ferndown looking for a trio of Challenges by DizzyPair. There are one or two more in the area which I don’t yet qualify for, so perhaps I will be back on a sunny day sometime!
Not Generating Much Today!
My final find, as it turned out, was another Virtual at Florence Nightingale’s Grave. Here I am, posing under a brolly!
With Florence, In The Rain
As if I wasn’t already wet enough, I decided to attempt another grid filler – this time a D2.5/T4.5. I even donned my waders, but the cache was out of reach and I didn’t feel it was safe to go climbing on my own, so I left it be – it’s only a cache!
It was a rather soggy drive back home, but I had a great 4 days finding some unusual stuff in an area I don’t get to very often. A grand road trip!
I have been staying in Alton over the past couple of nights, and had noticed there was a Virtual Cache in the cemetery nearby. So this morning, it was the first cache on my list. Sweet Fanny Adams was found quickly in her resting place – it took longer to park the car!
With Sweet FA
I then headed off to pick up some more Challenge caches around East Tisted and East Meon. The countryside is quite bumpy around here!
Rolling Hills Near East Meon
Having done that, I headed to Liphook to meet my muggle friends for the birthday event during the afternoon, at the Hollycombe Steam Collection, followed by a curry in the town. It wasn’t really dark when we wrapped up, so I took a little wander around Liphook itself to find a handful more, before finally heading back to my hotel for the night.
My first cache of the day was another 5/5 Challenge, this time the 365 Days – A Year Lost! Having just completed a 400-day streak, I was more than qualified. More cows, but they were behind a fence and once the muggles at GZ had pushed off, I made a quick find.
A Year Lost!
After bagging another Challenge close by, I headed to Portsmouth to Fort Cumberland for the CITO event there. Shifty insisted on coming along too, as did Larry The Litterpicker, ever helpful at a CITO event.
Shifty & Larry At The TB Table
The attendees were happy to pose for a group shot after our work was done, and then I headed off for more Challenges around Portsmouth which I had earmarked for my attention.
Successful CITO
After picking up some nice DTs on challenges, I then headed off for some more Loop 2 fillers – mainly trads – which I had noticed in the area. I bumped into som CITO foilks at one, and we had fun wading in a very dry ditch before finally finding what we had come for.
Another Challenge completed was the 3 Caches In 3 Continents Challenge. Well, having found boxes in the UK, US and Japan, that will qualify me very well. And it was a great little box with a bear passport inside!
Passport For A Bear
I found another trio of trads last thing, but before that I had earmarked three letterbox caches in the Whiteley Walk series, one of which would fill my Loop 2 D1/T4.5 square. It promised to be swampy, but I had the waders in the car and I was itching to use them! It was a slippery and sweaty walk to this one, but I picked up another couple along the way. Then I arrived at GZ!
I suspected I knew where it would be, but there was about 20ft of evil smelling swampy water to cross first. I found two substantial sticks which were kicking around to use as depth feelers and steadiers, and gradually glooped my way across! Yes, there’s the box… And after signing the log, I was most relieved to get back to dry land without having fallen over. Job done! And much fun had in the process.
Caz Has Crossed The Swamp
I bagged up my swampy waders and headed back to the hotel for a rest, having found 16 hides today. Phew.
It’s a friend’s birthday party on Sunday, in the Southampton area, so I decided to make a long weekend of it and booked a couple of nights in the local Travelodge. I headed down today via a Challenge cache in Woking and then a few more around Eastleigh, which I had qualified for. The first was a nice big Ammo Box (not quite the largest I’ve seen, but getting there) which was for a Half Jasmer Challenge. I love finding old caches and qualified for it easily. The box itself was in a bit of a sorry state when I arrived:
A Huge Ammo Box!
It had been semi-muggled – the lid was off and I had to tip lots of rain out of it. But the contents were safe, just no log book. [It turns out that that was found by another visitor a few days later, about 20ft away].
Goodies Inside
I dried things off as best I could and re-hid it under some natural camo I found in the area. Hopefully it will remain safe now!
Covered A Bit Better
Talking of old caches, there was one hidden in 2005 not too far a walk from the Half-Jasmer, so I made my way there next. Thankfully, the local bovines were safely behind a fence! So I walked on unhindered.
Beware Bovines!
Even when a cache has survived for a decade or more in the wild, it’s unusual to still find the original log book. But here it was – a little damp but still readable!
2005 Vintage Log Book
I added my signature a few pages further on.
Adding My Mark
Next up, after a short drive, was the Double Digit Blockbuster Challenge – which I had been working towards for several months, targeting finds on specific dates to fulfil the requirements. A lovely 5/5 DT was the reward! I was relieved there was no tree climbing involved to actually pick up the cache today.
Goodies In The Box
After finding a couple more in the vicinity (a regular puzzle and another Challenge), I finally headed off to my hotel for the evening, satisfied with an interesting day out, despite the rain.
Today’s trip was a drive to the East Peckham area in Kent to pick up some specific Challenge Caches with some high DTs. One location was a rather well-laden orchard with some tasty looking apples clustered on the trees.
Cider In The Making?
I headed for a Letterbox cache which was clearly near the site of an old pub – all that remained was an empty sign!
The Pub Has Closed
Of course, Kent is famed for its Oast Houses and there was a particularly fine example on one part of my walk.
Oast House Country
Last night I had a notification that yet another cache in the excellent Common Genius series on Danbury Common had been published. While I was out in Kent, I checked the phone to see if any finds had been logged yet. Nope. But I was reasonably convinced that someone would have had a go at it by now. However, I thought I would give it a punt on the way home anyway.
I arrived at the car park and it was already dark. Previously, I would not have attempted it, but having found 20 in the dark the other day, I wasn’t phased. Arrived at GZ with head torch and hand torch. Aha! Another field puzzle, which thankfully I quickly sorted out. OOOOh! And a lovely blank log sheet. FTF No. 38 – don’t mind if I do!
Today was the last day of my road trip to the Berkshire/Wilstshire borders. First on the menu were a couple of Challenge caches, which I’ve already qualified to find. I realise I put the wrong date on the 100 Days Challenge logbook. Oops.
100 Days Challenge
The 200 Days Challenge was a nice ammo can found in the woods.
200 Days Challenge
After those two, and a few more nearby trads along the way, I headed back to Silbury Hill and Avebury to pick up two more Virtuals and a couple of trads on my route. My walk started off sunny as I climbed Waden Hill, overlooking Silbury’s mound.
Sunny Silbury Hill Today
Having gone over the top and back down the other side, I was at Avebury Stone Circle and found the info for the Virtual quickly. Then I set off south for West Kennet Long Barrwo…
Avebury Stone Circle
… just as the heavens opened. It was a long walk to the barrow and after stopping for a nearby trad, I eventually got to the top, rather soggy. Info collected and soggy selfie completed, I trudged back to the car and had to endure a damp drive home! All good fun in the end.
I enjoyed another crazy day today, on my road trip from Essex. I had originally planned to visit Imber Village (for the rare D5 Virtual) next weekend, but checking the access times again a few days ago, I noticed the MoD had decided to close it early. So it was this weekend or bust! A hastily-arranged road trip saw me finally visit the Ghost Village and fulfil an ambition at last. However there were a few caches along the way which needed my attention first!
Selfie At Woodhenge
The village of Durrington was worth a visit, for the Woodhenge Virtual, Cuckoo Stone Earthcache…
The Cuckoo Stone
… and Sun Gap Cache – another Virtual to tick off the list.
Sun Gap Cache Virtual
Then on to the main reason for my trip, Imber Village. It’s a spooky place, even when full of summer visitors. The MoD only open it for about 4 weeks in total each year, so it was definitely worth going when the opportunity arose.
Spooky Houses In Imber Village
The church has two caches associated with it, one of which requires a visit inside, and with even more limited opening times than the village itself, the window to get the information was pretty small! I’m so glad my plans worked out.
Imber Church
Once that business was concluded, I was able to drive across some of the ranges of Salisbury Plain to pick up a few challenge caches which I had qualified for. But you must remember to give way to the Routemaster Bus from Warminster to Imber, ferrying curious muggles to the place I had just left!
Give Way To The Bus On The Ranges!
After the challenges, I was able to find The Biggest Cache In Wiltshire too, which turned out be a true monster!
The Biggest In Wiltshire!
The log was equally massive, and I had a bit of trouble trying to take a selfie in the rain with the logsheets flapping about in the wind! Here’s the best you get.
Ridiculous Log!
From sunny in Imber, the weather was beginning to deteriorate. It was quite cold and damp by the time I arrived at Caen Flight for the multi nearby, a 2002-vintage hide and a Large as well.
Caen Flight In The Gloom
On the way back, I stopped off at Silbury Hill to log the Virtual there, taking another selfie in the gloom. At least it had stopped raining.
Silbury Hill And Clouds
Then it was time to head back to Lambourne in Berkshire for the nearest Finish Line event for the HQ Duck Dash. Little Quacker has had fun over the last month, but is now happy to go into retirement, having covered 1,408 miles with me! I wouldn’t normally do that many miles in a month, but it did occur during the period of my 10-day holiday in North Wales and elsewhere, to visit two Megas!
I’m heading to Imber Village in Wiltshire this weekend (more of that tomorrow), but first I had to drive to Margate in Kent for meeting this afternoon. You never know what the motorways are going to do, so I set off super early and had time for a few finds in Kent before the meeting. Since I was passing, I stopped off briefly for the 13th Day Of Every Month Challenge just south of Whitstable. Then the T3.5 Earthcache near Reculver was high on the agenda.
Looking For Sharks’ TeethBlowy Day At ReculverLittle Quacker Takes A Swim
I had lunch next to the pretty little Church at Reculver before doing the Church Micro.
CM3444 – Reculver
Once my meeting was done, it was back on the motorways, but I had time for one or two on my way to my hotel in Berkshire this evening – the payoff for travelling on the M25 on a Friday night!
CM4415 – Eversley
The CM at Eversley was hardly a Micro! Little Quacker met a blue friend in the big ammo box we found. Why Eversley? Well I needed just one CM in the CM44xx range to finally qualify for The Mega Church Micro (CM) Challenge Cache and this wasn’t too far off my planned route. Job done!
It’s A BIG Micro
The last stop of the day was to Burghclere Memorial Chapel for the CM there, before turning in for the night and settling down to log the day’s finds.
