Tag Archives: bradwell

McWombling On The Dengie

Trad: 1 Puzzle: 5
Walked: 4.1 miles

It’s been about 7 years since I started on McWomble‘s linked Church Micro series, scattered about on the Dengie peninsula. I’ve had a few of the numbers safely written down for ages, but made a concerted effort to gather a few more a couple of months ago. Then I promptly forgot about them again.

Today I decided to see if I could finally put the series to bed. Several Bonus churches needed collecting, and the Bonus Bonus! (McWomble doesn’t do things by halves). Actually, most of these have now been adopted by Bean & Sprout, but they remain evil and pretty much in their original locations.

The first target was CM541 Mayland which I found eventually after barking up the wrong place for several minutes. It’s a nice neat little church quite a way from the village centre.

CM541 Mayland
CM541 Mayland

I stopped for another puzzle by Bean & Sprout next, Joker – which required a bit of bog snorkelling, but I had come prepared! It’s not a T4 for nothing… Then a quick trad on the way to CM538 Asheldham. Thankfully this was a quick find.

CM538 Asheldham
CM538 Asheldham

CM536 Tillingham was next, which led me a bit of a merry dance. Eventually I spotted it somewhere where I should have noticed it before.

CM536 Tillingham
CM536 Tillingham

One more bonus church to go – CM545 Bradwell St. Thomas. It’s a notoriously difficult one to find, even though it only gets a D2 rating. I’m sure the older ones are harder than some now! Anyway, after much grovelling all I came away with were damp knees and stung hands. Drat.

However, undeterred, I was only missing one bonus number, so I headed off to CM546 Bradwell St. Peter and sat in the car park to think about where it might be. Luck was on my side – the number I was missing was only going to be one of a couple of values, since it would be in the sea otherwise! So I made a guess and headed off to my GZ.

Silent Spinners - Near CM546
Silent Spinners – Near CM546

I was delighted to find the pot, exactly where it should be. Hurrah! So, just the one cache in the series still to find, but I’ll come back for that another day.

Tollesbury Totter

Trad: 15 Earth: 1
Walked: 9 miles

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
Earthcache At Tollesbury

The Lightship is a familiar sight in Tollesbury, so of course I had to make a picture.

Tollesbury Light Ship
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
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
Bacon Butty Beauty

Plenty of boats and things to see along the way, and fluffy clouds floating above the salt marshes.

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
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.

Day #297 – Amber Gricer

Trad: 4 Multi: 1 Event: 1
Walked: 1.4 miles

It had been raining for most of the day but it finally stopped around 4:30pm, so I headed out to find a few boxes before the Essex Meet #40 near Braintree. I hit the A12 just as the slow slog commute began, so arrived in Rivenhall End a little later than I had hoped.

Parking the car, I headed towards gillywig’s Amber along the railway line. It was  a multi with puzzle element thrown in – and of course, railway themed. It didn’t take long to locate the shiny amber pot after working out what to do with the numbers!

Shiny Amber!
Shiny Amber!

Despite being quite wet after my waddle through damp undergrowth, I then headed towards Silver End to pick up a Church Micro which was missing when I last passed.

CM2789 - Silver End
CM2789 – Silver End

From the modern, to the ancient, my next stop was a very quick cache and dash at Church Micro  1102, Bradwell.

CM1102 Bradwell
CM1102 Bradwell

I found another couple of trads around Bradwell, as well as scoping out some hides near the meet which will need my waders again.

Echoes In Time
Echoes In Time

Finally, I got to Essex Meet 40 about 7pm, just in time to bag the last car park space and order some dinner before the event began at 8pm!

I had a great evening chatting to folks and was delighted with my 6000 Finds certificate, which Shifty The Mega Duck sat guarding for me for the rest of the evening!

Shifty Admires My Certificate
Shifty Admires My Certificate