It was another crisp Autumnal day, but the sun was out so Alistair and I decided to have a walk to find some caches around Gosfield. We settled on the Greek Myths series by itandat, giving us a nice circular route.
Of course, no caching expedition is complete without at Church Micro – so we stopped off for CM370 in Gosfield before starting the main walk.
CM720 Gosfield
Part of the route took us past some of the holes of the local Golf club. Look out for low-flying balls!
Low Sun On Our Walk
Some of the signs were a bit the worse for wear, but we spotted them all in the end.
Alistair Shows The Way
There were loads of lovely colours in the trees, and plenty of golden light to show it off at its best.
Golden Trees
As the afternoon progressed, our shadows got longer and longer. I’ve never had such long legs!
Longest Legs I’ve Ever Had
Even towards the end of the day, there was still pockets of frost on the ground in the shadows. Some places hadn’t seen the sun all day.
Still Some Frost In The Shadows
As the last of the daylight was fading, we made the last of our finds – the bonus for the series, and then headed back to the car and home for tea and cake.
It was a cold but sunny day. Alistair and I fancied a short stroll somewhere, and I found the Tinker’s Trail series near Warley which looked like the ideal candidate for a stretch of the legs.
There were some lovely paths on the walk, with Autumn colours in full view.
Is It Down Here?
We met this rather stylish Elephant in one of the boxes – although we left him there as we didn’t have anything to leave in return.
We Met An Elephant!
Some of the walk was along paths next to rolling countryside. The blue sky and sunshine made it a lovely area to have a potter.
Rolling Countryside
At the top of the hill we found a cache with a little boat inside. I think Captain Alistair wanted to keep it!
Captain Alistair And His Boat
Across the bridge for a look at the M25, not so much of a car park today but still pretty noisy. Then we headed back into the countryside and towards the car.
M25 Car Park
We had remembered to collect info on the way round for the Bonus cache. Presumably this was the eponymous Tinker, who we found waiting for us in the box!
This Must Be Tinker
All in all a great little circuit which took just over an hour to walk – not that we were hurrying ourselves on such a nice day.
I was working in Elstree again today, but arrived a bit early and stopped off in Shenley along the way. I managed to find the recently-replaced White Rabbit which had been missing last time I looked for it.
Butterflies In A White Rabbit
After work was done, I headed to St. Albans to stay with Alistair’s parents for the night. We went out in Tyttenhanger for a drinkie in the evening, so Alistair and I were able to bag VS#9 Tyttenhange Green on the way back.
Well, who would have thought, when I found some caches on 27th July 2015, the first day of Essex Mega Week, that I would still be finding them daily 400 days later? Certainly not me! I would have called you mad. Now I just call myself mad.
But, the strain was beginning to show. I had somehow reached Day #366 but didn’t want to give up then. 500 days would take me back into December and Winter caching, and I really couldn’t face that – so a little while ago, I promised myself I would stop at Day #400, a nice round number. And here we are!
I wanted to have a good walk for my last hurrah, so Alistair and I set off for the Strod & Trod loop and The Saffron Trail (plus extras) just south of Hullbridge. There were some great hides and we had a lot of fun – something which has not always been the case during the last 400 days, and other reason for “doing it when I want”, not “because I have to”.
A Tricky Little Magnetic DevilAlistair Climbs A Pointless StileFools Along The WayLook What He’s Got!Smiley!Phew! Made It To Day 400, Somehow!
From now on, I will still be caching (but NOT tomorrow!) and writing about my most interesting adventures here, just not every day. Thanks for all my geo-friends’ support along the way, it’s been a blast!
Sunday, and that can only mean one thing – another Beastie Meet along the coast.
Blustery Beastie-Meet In Burnham
This time it was a Burnham-on-Crouch, and although the sun was out, it was also very windy! We nearly got blown off the sea wall. I went along with Alistair who is staying for a few days, and we took Geoffrey The Geocacher with us for a walk.
Alistair & Geoffrey The GeocacherFlags A’ Flapping
Afterwards, we found a few more around the town, but eventually we were so cold and windswept we decided to come home for tea and cake!
Alistair needed to head back to Newcastle this afternoon, so we both drove to Shalford, north of Braintree, to do a couple of caches before going our separate ways. Our first location was to visit Infinson’sMagic Wand. I had heard great things about this clever field puzzle, and knew Alistair would enjoy having a go. I got about half way before getting stuck, then handed it to him. A bit of twiddling later and we had the log in our hands in about 5 minutes! Pretty good going if you read some of the previous logs 🙂
Magic Wand Magically Open!
We had picnicked on benches around the village green, looking for clues to another cache which we soon polished off after faffing with some numbers (despite being one short).
View From A Bench
After Alistair had gone, I headed to Gainsford End to pick up a new VS and Fine Pair which Infinson had set to coincide with today’s meetup in nearby Toppesfield. I bumped into Vanguard3, Happileigh and Starguider (TeamSOS) for the first time today, on my way back from one hide. I would see them again later.
VS Gainsford End
The CM at Stambourne has been on my to do list for ages, as it helps me qualify for a Church Micro Challenge cache. Having found that, I have just one more specific CM to collect, but not today.
CM4644 Stambourne
Next I found a parking spot in the tiny village of Toppesfield itself, which was already getting tricky as other Essex geocachers had begun to arrive early for the meetup.
I teamed up with TeamSOS to find the Church Micro and a few other new ones. We parted briefly again as we had done different bits of the circuit already. I almost didn’t get to look for VS Toppesfield as a muggle was right at GZ trimming her bush! (Ooh-er!) But she eventually pushed off and I made a quick find.
VS Toppesfield
I also bumped into Goldpot again this evening (having seen him at yesterday’s meetup in London), and we searched for a couple of hides together before I headed to the pub for my pre-ordered dinner. Being hard core, he headed off for Hard, Harder and Hardest instead.
CM1332 Toppesfield
Shifty The Mega Duck had been patiently guarding the car all day but he was allowed in the pub provided he behaved himself. Which was barely – I saw him eyeing up other people’s pints and dinners all night! Pesky duck!
I had a meeting in London this afternoon, so I went up earlier in the day with Alistair so we could grab a few boxes beforehand. It started well enough, with us finding a couple of the Lost River Fleet series north of the Thames.
Then we crossed Blackfriars bridge to look for Father Thames & The Mermaid. Good job it was low tide, as access was only from the river bank beach!
Low Tide On The Thames
I did the admin while Alistair explored the detritus on the beach.
Alistair Explores
The log was rather soggy, but I managed to make our mark.
Soggy Log Sheet
Then it started pelting with rain. Of course! (Alistair is convinced I’m a Rain Goddess as it frequently rains while we are out caching together). We needed to complete the tasks for the nearby Earthcache too, so we sheltered under the jetty while gathering the information we needed.
Earthcache Under The Jetty
See, he’s still smiling (sort of), even though it’s raining!
Behind Me!
Eventually it stopped so we headed towards Westminster. Along the way, we found a bargain BOGOF, two pots for the price of one, at West End Trail – Bridges and Statues (2).
Two For The Price Of One!
Then it was time for my meeting, so Alistair went off to explore the Thames Flood Barrier, while I sat in an office along Millbank watching the river go by and listening to my colleagues debating various stuff. Eventually, the work bit was done, and I arranged to meet up with Alistair again at Blackfriars Bridge.
We headed south of the river once more to attend the London Event: Over from Hanover @ River Thames in a nearby pub. Camilla the Camel came to say hello, she seemed very friendly but slightly perturbed that her glass was empty.
Camilla The Camel Says Hello
Alistair met another duck – he’s always a bit wary, given the capers he’s had with Mr Duck over the years!
Alistair Meets Another Duck
Lots of chatter and a few pints later, we staggered away to get the train home.
Today I was a good girl and finally got around to doing some maintenance on my own caches. It helped that Alistair was chauffeur so I could just jump out and quickly change a log book when required. But we also found some boxes too!
Our first stop was to revisit and old location in Brentwood. The cache that used to be there was a lovely little multi with a doorbell push at Stage 1, and you had to navigate to Stage 2 by pressing the bell. We found it – just – at the end of last year, but the bell’s batteries kept dying and the CO archived it. However, Stage 1 is now reset as a trad, so we went to pick that up. We also got some bonus slugs!
Slugfest!
Then we relocated to Ingrave/Thriftwood for a walk to find another five in the area. We encountered more wildlife here, this time a load of snails had colonised the camo bag!
What a grand day out! Having bombed on floating Boaty for the first time a few days ago in Sussex, I spotted another Boat Only event at Fotheringhay, near Peterborough, slated for today. Hasty plans were hatched, encouragement offered to Infinson to finally pull his finger out and buy a kayak, and it was agreed that Team Essex would convene for the do at the Event waypoint.
Alistair and I arrived at about 10:30 to lashing rain. We sat in the car for half an hour to let it pass, which it did eventually. While we were there, another car pulled up and we noticed a huge blue chum for Shifty sitting on the back shelf! They made friends quickly.
Shifty Makes A Friend
Infinson and Fincache had parked some way off and arrived in their shiny new Challenger K2, with Ian sitting in State at the back while Ryan did all the work!
Infinson & Fincache
Once Boaty was inflated, Shifty took the back seat, I got into the middle and Alistair was Stroke at the front. We set off with the others to find the boat only caches and sign the boat only log.
Boaty McBoat Face Afloat!
It was great fun paddling along the river, with a few stops from time to time, to frisk the overhanging trees.
Where Is It?
Ryan got this one!
Got It!
Alistair took hold of the GoPro for a while, just to prove that I was working hard at the back!
Making Progress
There was a soggy log at one or two, but a photo log would suffice here.
Alistair Shows Off The Cache
There were several puzzle caches which we had solved – this one was technically missing a log book, but the CO was kind enough to let us claim the find as we were in the right place.
Ramming Speed?
A few of the locations were a bit overgrown! Got this one in the end, having shoved the kayak as far in as we dared.
Up The Creek Without A Paddle
Ian and Ryan had no trouble finding this one, but it took ages to put it back again.
Almost Run Aground
Half of Team Essex went back to their car past the lock, but we paddled back to the event location to dry out the kayak and have our picnic. It was a great gathering on the banks.
Post Paddle Picnic
We met up with Ian and Ryan again in Elton to bag a few more in the village. Shifty and Mr Duck spotted a very appropriately named street – I think they want to move here!
More and more of the archived Essex Way series are being resurrected by various cachers along the route. Recently a new section between Fairstead and White Notley has come back online, placed by Potternut. So today I took Alistair along for the walk – it’s great to have him visiting again for a week.
Here he is, doing his best impression of a Munchkin, due to an unfortunate camera angle and a wide-angle lens! Made me laugh…
Alistair Doing His Munchkin Impression!
We also visited the new Earthcache in White Notley – all about the Puddingstone – yum yum.
Resting At The Earthcache
Our last find was due to be at the little bridge over the Brain. But then a funny thing happened…
Bridge Over The River Brain
I had the GPS but had forgotten to tell Alistair we had finished all the batch of caches along this stretch. But he carried on to the next likely spot and found another pot! What? We guessed we had found the unpublished No. 16! So he’s claiming FTF for that one.
We walked on a little further and I then claimed FTF on No. 17 – again unpublished. I contacted the CO when we got home, and the cache pots had only been put out that morning! It took the reviewer another 3 days to agree the publication.
FTF Before Publication!
So a very welcome, but certainly unexpected, FTF – No. 27 for me. 😀
