Tag Archives: milestone

Day #400 – Enough Is Enough!

Monday, 29th August 2016 Caz

Trad: 15
Walked: 6 miles

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”.

Look What He's Got! — Look What He’s Got!

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!

with friends

Day #300 – Ham Sandwich!

Saturday, 21st May 2016 Caz

Trad: 5 Multi: 1
Walked: 4.4 miles

Still in Kent staying with Julian today, we had some muggle-related business in Margate at lunch time but took the opportunity on the way back to Deal to stop off in Cliffsend, Pegwell Bay to have a little geowalk.

The first find was a Multi, The Vikings Are Coming, themed around the replica Viking lonship, Hugin, which is on permanent display on the cliff top. I collected the numbers while Julian went for a wander around the now-disused hoverport below, which he remembers well from his childhood growing up in the area. He and his friends used to take day trips on the Hovercraft to France like they were getting the bus to Canterbury! And his parents used to do their weekly shopping in Cité Europe as it was quicker, cheaper and easier to pop over there than going to the local big town. How times have changed!

After finding the multi, we went for a little potter to pick up some other nearby trads, including one overlooking a duck pond. I do like a nice duck – and this one was particularly pretty!

Then I persuaded him to drive us past the “Ham Sandwich” sign, which I’ve seen before, but wanted to take a better photograph of. We retired to the nearby pub in Finglesham for a quiet pint. I was idly flicking through nearby caches on my phone when I noticed there was one at the sign which we had missed! (I hadn’t loaded up every cache in Kent onto my GPS, despite what you may assume).

So we detoured again on the way back to Deal to have a root around. It was a tricky blighter, but eventually I spotted it safely lurking in the undergrowth.

I nearly forgot to mention that I’ve now reached the Day 300 milestone – so only 66 days to go for my full year geostreak! How time flies…

puzzles, solo

Day #295 – 1000 Days Of Caching!

Monday, 16th May 2016 Caz

Puzzle: 1
Walked: 1.4 miles

Last night, I was idly flicking through my profile stats on Project-GC when I noticed that I had so far been caching on 999 days out of 2802 since I began back in September 2008. So that meant today would be day 1000!

Rather than going for a random cache and dash, I wanted the find to be a bit more memorable, so chose to go and pick up the penultimate of Mr Mercator’s Projections, 12b, which I haven’t already found.

It was a pleasant stroll to a GZ near Danbury, which my geo-buddy Tot66 had visited a few days ago (we’ve been working on the 12’s together via email). I found a lot of cash in the cache! But decided to leave it for the next finder 😉

So here we are, Project-GC now shows I’ve been caching on 1000 days!

The other thing I’ve been doing today is dipping my lovely new Life Begins geocoin into some of my favourite caching adventures. It’s a great mantra for life, and I wanted it to remind me of all the fun I’ve had over the last 7.5 years.

Life Begins At The End Of Your Comfort Zone

I’ve been spurring myself on to do more daring caches of late, to complete my DT Grid, and it’s been great fun to have a go at something a little more challenging than a film pot thrown in a bush.

grand day out, solo

Day #280 – The Big 5K!

Sunday, 1st May 2016 Caz

Trad: 10 Puzzle: 2
Walked: 6.7 miles

Today was the day for the Big 5K! I decided I needed a series to fill the 10-cache gap and one which meant I wouldn’t have to walk too far, as I’d had a long day yesterday. There were 9 caches placed around Cheshunt Park which fitted the bill nicely. I found 8!

I had decided that I would find chiptheduck’s Ducks At Dusk puzzle as my 5000th cache. It was a great little problem involving balancing ducks on their perches in the duck houses, which I spent a couple of happy hours solving yesterday. Much more satisfying than if my milestone had been a random film pot thrown in a bush. The only down side? The cache was in Hertfordshire!

Having done the business in Cheshunt, I was still two caches short, but relocated to Letchmore Heath and found a couple more of the Letchmore Loop to make it to 4999. Then onto the main attraction:

Thankfully the actual Ducks At Dusk hide was an easy spot once I got to GZ, which was a relief! I had brought along my 5000 Finds Geo-Achievement coin in readiness, and posed with it to mark the occasion. 🙂

You know how there’s always time for one more? Well the two Letchmore Loop finds meant I had enough numbers to calculate the final co-ords for the bonus of the series, even though I haven’t found all of the other caches yet. I couldn’t resist making it 5001 in total, and finishing off there for today, a very memorable day out.

solo

Day #227 – Cache And Hash

Wednesday, 9th March 2016 Caz

Multi: 1
Walked: 1.9 miles

Well I had intended to do the High Easter Village Sign multi as a cache and dash as the weather was so iffy today. But instead I made it more of a cache and hash…

Having done the caclulations and plugged the numbers into my GPS I got a convincing GZ quite a bit away from the sign, but set off for it on foot. On arrival at my co-ords I found things which matched the hint but were at least 50ft from my “GZ”. Re-checked the numbers and discovered that I had plugged in E0° 20… for the Eastings instead of E0° 21… Argh! So, I had to trudge back to the car and drive to the new location instead. What a numpty!

puzzles, solo

Day #225 – Weeley Wander

Monday, 7th March 2016 Caz 1 Comment

Trad: 15 Multi: 1 Earth: 1 Letterbox: 1 Puzzle: 1 Whereigo: 1
Walked: 9.5 miles

I took a trip further east from Wivenhoe today to find some caches around several villages in the area. The first stop in Alresford was for the Village Sign – this isn’t it, but it did make me smile! The sign was also my 4500th find!

I also picked up the SideTracked hide while I was there. I was very careful to take this image when I knew there were no trains coming!

The Church at Great Bentley not only has a Church Micro multi, but also an earthcache. Both of which I found easily today. Two for the price of one!

Then it was on to Weeley for a walk around a loop taking in several types of cache, including a Whereigo which took me to a curious “stone” circle and “Easter Island” heads! What a find. Eventually, I made rather a meal of the actual finding even though the Whereigo was easy enough!

All in all, a nice haul of 20 finds with a few more DNF’s. C’est la vie.

solo

Day #183 – Half Year Geostreak

Monday, 25th January 2016 Caz

Trad: 1 Multi: 1
Walked: 5.4 miles

I was working in London today and hadn’t had time to find anything during daylight, so thought I would try a couple of caches close to Liverpool Street on the way home. Since I arrived having just missed a train, I also had some time to kill.

The first one on the list was erauqS erihsnoveD, which was a quick find despite the fact I’m not usually any good at night caching. There was lovely old Georgian architecture around several sides of the square.

I still had a while before my train was due, so moved along to Spitalfields Market to pick up Sherlock 1 – The game is afoot! It’s one in a series of six old mulit/virtuals which eventually lead to a physical hide. I had found one of them ages ago, so thought it was time I went for another. The information was quickly found, and photo taken, job done.

And that brings up my 183rd day-in-a-row geostreak. Half a year – will I make it to 366 days? We’ll see – my next milestone is 200 which which should occur on 11th Feb, all being well. Here’s to the next half year!

solo

Day #165 – Back To Pleshey

Thursday, 7th January 2016 Caz

Trad: 4 Puzzle: 1
Walked: 2.5 miles

When it was grey, grim and pouring with rain this morning, I was doubtful that I would get any sort of walk and had resigned myself to having to use up one of the nearby cache and dash hides for today’s find. But after lunch, the sun came out, and I hot-footed it over to Pleshey to have a look for four recently placed Essex Way Diversion caches.

My first stop, however, was back to the Pleshey Ring Bonus cache which I have DNF’d twice now. I’ve no idea why I made such a hash of it before. With a bit more info from the CO, today I found it quickly.

The sun was beginning to set by the time I finished, but I was pleased to put another 5 caches on the found list. Pleshey is a lovely place, but it’s a pain in the butt to get to, which is why I decided to mop up all the stragglers today.

I’ve just noticed that the final find today makes 1000 caches since I started my geo-streak on 27th July 2015. Yay!

events, my hides, with alistair, with friends

Day #159 – Older But No Wiser

Friday, 1st January 2016 Caz

Event: 1
Walked: 2.0 miles

I enjoyed my Birthday/New Year event today, hitting my 4000th find with perfect timing! Alistair gave me a geocoin to commemorate the milestone. And I encouraged everyone to wear a silly hat and the “log” was rather well themed too…

Even Shifty The Mega Duck had some new head wear for the event. What a smart bird!

Now I’ve reached 4000, I can find as many as I like in a day, rather than rationing myself as I have been over the past few days.

solo

Day #86 – Mersea Mooch

Tuesday, 20th October 2015 Caz

Trad: 7
Walked: 3.7 miles

The sun was shining so I fancied a trip to the seaside. During Mega Week there had been quite a few caches on Mersea Island which Alistair and I didn’t have time to look for, so I thought I would try to mop a few more up today.

Which One Is Hutchey's? — Which One Is Hutchey’s?

There are some lovely views of the colourful beach huts and out across the water by some rusty anchors (caches close to both, of course!).

I was particularly pleased to have found a very tricky little cache hidden in lots of ivy in a local park. I’m not sure I would have had the patience normally, but I had just enjoyed a mug of tea and tasty slice of cake at a café overlooking the prom, so I was fortified for my search!

The day rounded off with a colourful sunset at the jetty. Unfortunately, the cache there had walked, so pictures were the only thing to be had.

I’ve just realised that my 6th find today was also my 700th since starting this geostreak! BUT – it’s not about the numbers 😉

Daily Cache

Tag Archives: milestone

Day #400 – Enough Is Enough!

Day #300 – Ham Sandwich!

Day #295 – 1000 Days Of Caching!

Day #280 – The Big 5K!

Day #227 – Cache And Hash

Day #225 – Weeley Wander

Day #183 – Half Year Geostreak

Day #165 – Back To Pleshey

Day #159 – Older But No Wiser

Day #86 – Mersea Mooch

My Tupperware-Hunting Adventures