Tag Archives: routemaster bus

solo

Morning Stagger Around London

Trad: 1 Multi: 2 Puzzle: 1
Walked: 9.0 miles

I had been on a night shift in London all night, so what did I do? Yes, go for a caching expedition before heading home to bed! What do you mean, I’m mad?

Strand Lane Roman Baths were my first stop. You can’t have a bath there now, but you can work out where the cache is hidden!

Stagger Down The Steps
Stagger Down The Steps

Next on my agenda was a trip to Brompton. I didn’t see any folding bikes, but I did spot some wonderful Autumnal colours while I was searching for CM2691 at Holy Trinity Brompton.

Lovely Autumn Colours
Lovely Autumn Colours

One of the many puzzle icons on the London map is Routemaster No. 9. For some reason, I had been putting off attempting this one for ages, probably due to how spread out the waypoints were, but a week or so in the capital had meant I could look for a few  on foot each night on the way home from work. By this morning, I had enough info to head for the final destination.

I was rather hoping to spot one of the lovely old Routemaster buses, but I only saw a new “Boris Bus” variant today, as I made my way to GZ.

Routemaster No. 9
Routemaster No. 9

I do like it when the final key of a puzzle fits into place. And I was happy to have found the cache at the end point, after all that work.

Who Has The Key?
Who Has The Key?

The TUBE SideTracked hide in Bayswater had a very nosy neighbour which kept looking at my while I was searching for the cache! I hope his bite is not as bad as it looks!

Big Cat Watching Me
Big Cat Watching Me

By now I was almost dead on my feet, so I hopped on the nearest tube train back to Liverpool Street and made my way home to bed, at last.

challenge cache, events, hq duck dash, road trip, solo

Day #391 – Imber Ghost Village

Trad: 4 Multi: 2 Puzzle: 3 Challenge: 5
Letterbox: 1 Earth: 1 Virtual: 4 Event: 1
Walked: 6 miles

I enjoyed another crazy day today, on my road trip from Essex. I had originally planned to visit Imber Village (for the rare D5 Virtual) next weekend, but checking the access times again a few days ago, I noticed the MoD had decided to close it early. So it was this weekend or bust! A hastily-arranged road trip saw me finally visit the Ghost Village and fulfil an ambition at last. However there were a few caches along the way which needed my attention first!

Selfie At Woodhenge
Selfie At Woodhenge

The village of Durrington was worth a visit, for the Woodhenge Virtual, Cuckoo Stone Earthcache…

The Cuckoo Stone
The Cuckoo Stone

… and Sun Gap Cache – another Virtual to tick off the list.

Sun Gap Cache Virtual
Sun Gap Cache Virtual

Then on to the main reason for my trip, Imber Village. It’s a spooky place, even when full of summer visitors. The MoD only open it for about 4 weeks in total each year, so it was definitely worth going when the opportunity arose.

Spooky Houses In Imber Village
Spooky Houses In Imber Village

The church has two caches associated with it, one of which requires a visit inside, and with even more limited opening times than the village itself, the window to get the information was pretty small! I’m so glad my plans worked out.

Imber Church
Imber Church

Once that business was concluded, I was able to drive across some of the ranges of Salisbury Plain to pick up a few challenge caches which I had qualified for. But you must remember to give way to the Routemaster Bus from Warminster to Imber, ferrying curious muggles to the place I had just left!

Give Way To The Bus On The Ranges!
Give Way To The Bus On The Ranges!

After the challenges, I was able to find The Biggest Cache In Wiltshire too, which turned out be a true monster!

The Biggest In Wiltshire!
The Biggest In Wiltshire!

The log was equally massive, and I had a bit of trouble trying to take a selfie in the rain with the logsheets flapping about in the wind! Here’s the best you get.

Ridiculous Log!
Ridiculous Log!

From sunny in Imber, the weather was beginning to deteriorate. It was quite cold and damp by the time I arrived at Caen Flight for the multi nearby, a 2002-vintage hide and a Large as well.

Caen Flight In The Gloom
Caen Flight In The Gloom

On the way back, I stopped off at Silbury Hill to log the Virtual there, taking another selfie in the gloom. At least it had stopped raining.

Silbury Hill And Clouds
Silbury Hill And Clouds

Then it was time to head back to Lambourne in Berkshire for the nearest Finish Line event for the HQ Duck Dash. Little Quacker has had fun over the last month, but is now happy to go into retirement, having covered 1,408 miles with me! I wouldn’t normally do that many miles in a month, but it did occur during the period of my 10-day holiday in North Wales and elsewhere, to visit two Megas!