I headed over to St. Lawrence Bay today to look for a series of hides along the sea wall. The afternoon started off sunny, although the wind was rather keen in places!
Boats In The Bay
Being close to the Winter Solstice, the light didn’t last very long. The golden grasses were soon illuminated by orange light from the fading sun.
Golden Light On Grasses
The sunset happened at about the time I had just turned from the furthest point from the car, heading back. The clouds were rather good too.
Spectacular Sunset
Having had a DNF on a tricky D4 hide on the way out (think tupperware box under a pile of rocks), I finally bagged the tricky blighter by torchlight on the return leg. Hurrah!
I was spending Mothers’ Day in Wivenhoe today and only had time for a quick cache and dash during a short walk. Carl’s Cache #5 was on my list since I last tried it on Boxing Day and couldn’t get near to search due to muggle kids playing football right by GZ.
Before 10am this morning, nobody was out kicking anything about, so it was a quick find. I had a little walk to the Jetty and Quay and then made my way back to my parents’ for the rest of the day.
I took a walk down to Wivenhoe Quay before lunch today, the weather was rather better than I was expecting, which is always a bonus. I found a couple of straightforward urban hides on the way back to Mum & Dad’s. It was nice to stretch my legs for almost 5 miles.
I had another day’s exploration in London today and took the opportunity to find some old virtuals, a puzzle and three trads.
My first stop was a lovely puzzle cache based around the hidden gem that is Cleary Gardens – with a final in another popular tourist location.
Cleary Gardens Puzzle
A visit to the Millennium Bridge and environs for MMMemorial was next on the agenda. I encountered some Bridge Monkeys busy painting the structure (or were they just thinking about it?)
Bridge Monkeys Painting The Millennium Bridge!
The memorial itself is actually under the bridge on the north bank of the Thames – somewhere I’ve visited before but never noticed the memorial! It’s great when geocaching takes you somewhere like that.
MMMemorial Virtual
Later on I revisited Wilmington, which I have DNF’d TWICE now – but today was more successful – and I found the little blighter.
Lovely Light In Wilmington Square
The last port of call were a couple of caches along the Regent’s Canal around Islington. The first was ‘Legging it’ – Islington which was a quick find.
Regent’s Canal At Islington Tunnel
Although I found the second at City Road Basin easily enough, I only just managed to reach it, and was having trouble putting it back. So I resolved to ask the next tall passer-by for help.
A couple of guys came along walking a dog, and I explained where the cache needed to go. They looked bemused but obliged without comment. After they had walked off, I thought one of them looked very familiar – it was bugging me for ages, but eventually I realised it was none other than writer and actor, Mark Gatiss! I bet I was his oddest encounter of the day, he was probably expecting me to ask for an autograph!!
I had to pay another quick visit to Southend today so I took the opportunity to grab another cache from the Team SOS Seafront Stroll series. It was a quick find. Here’s a boat I saw along the way.
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
Boats near the Survey Monument at the end of Cudmore Grove (close to the location of the Virtual).
Mersea Boats
This evening we headed to Barleylands to enjoy Pie and Mash for dinner and pitch our camping spot.
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.
