Trad: 12 Multi: 3 Puzzle: 2 Letterbox: 1
Event: 1
Walked: 8.8 miles
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’s Magic 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 🙂
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
