Tag Archives: with mr crow

Backs Against The (Braxted) Wall

Friday, 9th December 2016 Caz

Trad: 4 Puzzle: 7
Walked: 10.5 miles

I’ve been meaning to tackle Mr Crow’s Great Braxted Wall series for literally years. But there always seemed to be other caches which moved higher up the to do list. Today I remedied that situation and had the company of the Corvine CO himself, who wanted to do some maintenance while we were out. A grand walk of just over 10 miles. Tiring at Crow’s pace but rewarding to finally get these turned into smilies.

The walk out was fine, but we met a few obstructions along the way which had to be negotiated carefully!

Did I mention Mr Crow’s frenetic pace? I think he slowed up a bit for me, but this was usually the view I had!

Once the wall itself was completed, we added a few more on the loop back, which were also orphans on my map.

As well as a rare Edward VII Postbox, we also saw a crowd of bemused looking sheep who just stared at us as we went past. Silly creatures!

A grand walk and good company too. Apart from the sheep!

the essex way, with friends

Forty In The Bag

Tuesday, 11th October 2016 Caz

Trad: 39 Multi: 1
Walked: 12 miles

I teamed up with Kitty!! and Mr Crow for another outing today. We decided to go for the latest section of Essex Way caches to be revived, between Cressing and Coggeshall. Handy having two cars, leaving one at each end.

Most of the pots were easy enough but one or two needed a bit more of a search.

Hmm. Where's The Cache? — Hmm. Where’s The Cache?

Mr Crow was usually up ahead so we often spotted him grovelling in a bush or behind a telegraph pole before emerging with a pot in hand.

We spotted some fluffy friends along the way – Alpacas, I think.

Occasionally, when Mr Crow couldn’t find one, Kitty would dive in and have a look instead. I think I got to look for a couple!

We enjoyed our walk and the views – especially the rickety old bridge along the river.

There was also a hilarious incident at No. 18, which is probably best explained by reading my log. A fave for sure! Forty in the bag today, but that was definitely the most memorable.

grand day out, puzzles, with friends

Day #292 – Fabulous Friday!

Friday, 13th May 2016 Caz

Trad: 9 Multi: 1 Puzzle: 3 Earth: 1
Walked: 11.7 miles

I had a Fabulous Friday out caching in Kent today with Kitty!! and Mr Crow. We centred our activities around Cliffe and Cliffe Woods initially, taking in a multi Church Micro, Earthcache and several excellent trads.

The Charnel House was an interesting Earth cache to visit.

Torpedoes Again was located at Cliffe Fort.

However, the main point of our trip today was to pick up two caches in new DT squares for us all. The first was Earth Engine. I’ve had the co-ords for this one for a few months, but today was the perfect day for a visit. The sun was shining, there was a cool breeze and the walk from the car park was spectacular. Initially, it looked very daunting, but once we found a sensible way in, wasn’t too bad at all.

Earth Engine - A Way In — Earth Engine – A Way In

Of course, we had to take a few pictures from the top! And that was the D3.5/T4.5 box ticked off the list.

Finally, we had to visit Shrek – his swamp was on the outskirts of Maidstone, and we came prepared. The perfect place to christen our new waders!

Kitty and I gingerly edged our way through the gloop to GZ while Mr Crow stayed on dry land, guarding our stuff and taking pictures of the escapade. I also managed a pic at GZ with my phone, without dropping it or the log sheet into the mire. And that was the rather satisfying D4.5/T5 box done too!

We triumphantly celebrated our Grand Day Out with dinner and a pint at a nearby pub, before heading home, weary but satisfied with our achievements.

grand day out, solo, the essex way, with friends

Day #252 – Best Day Yet

Sunday, 3rd April 2016 Caz

Trad: 73 Multi: 1 Earth: 1
Walked: 15.1 miles

Yesterday I hastily arranged an outing with Kitty!! and Mr Crow to do some more of the revived Essex Way caches today. We started a little bit west of Pleshey (at No. 21) and finished at Great Leighs (No. 75).

The track was mainly easy going, with few mud patches along the way. We met a some bikers along the way who were churning up the track.

Ray did a lot of the finding as he went striding ahead, while Anne & I enjoyed the walk – occasionally having to come to the rescue to find a difficult one which eluded him!

We were pleased with our 52-cache haul at Great Leighs and retired to the lovely Snug Café in High Easter for a well-earned pot of tea and a panini.

While we were refuelling, I mentioned that I needed 75 caches for a challenge cache and Anne suggested it was worth keeping going as I was 2/3rds of the way there already. So they dropped me at Good Easter to walk another section which they had already completed.

I bagged another 18 caches along this stretch, and realised I was still 5 short of my target, so I stopped off for some drive by caches on the way home. The first was Pleshey Boulders, a new Earthcache which has only been published for a few days.

A few more finds around Chelmsford, finishing at Sandford Mill Lock, finally brought up my best total for the day, 75 caches, and qualified me for another Challenge Cache. Plus, I also earned my 72 finds in a day geocoin, which has been sitting unactivated at home for a few months! I think that makes it a Grand Day Out.

with friends

Day #207 – Takeley Trail & Cottage Pie

Thursday, 18th February 2016 Caz

Trad: 16 Puzzle: 1
Walked: 8.8 miles

I was out with Kitty!! and Mr Crow again today. Our first target for the day was the D1/T5 hide, the Cottage Pie Bonus cache near Ongar. A tree over water, Kitty volunteered to scale the obstacle, and the cache was quickly spotted.

This nicely fills another DT square fore (and us all). My grid now looks like this, 10 left!

DT Grid, 18th Feb 2016

After that success, we relocated to Takeley to attempt Run Around’s Takeley Trail. But first there was time to find the Church Micro to pick up. There were lovely patches of snowdrops in the churchyard.

We had mixed success with the trail, there were lots of great hides but we also failed to find 6 of the 17 on the loop! And we had to take quite a diversion on the walk to avoid this collapsed bridge:

This one was an easy find but more tricky to open! It took at least 4 hands, glad I wasn’t trying to do this one on my own.

Fantastic log book here, very original.

Kitty!! and Crow (meanies) handed me this one to open. They both have similar puzzle boxes and knew its secret. I got there eventually.

So, a good day out, but it’s a shame we were so rubbish at finding so many. We’ll be back to try again another time.

with friends

Day #200 – Two New DTs

Thursday, 11th February 2016 Caz 2 Comments

Trad: 3 Puzzle: 4
Walked: 4.9 miles

I planned a day out with Kitty!! and Mr Crow today, initially to find The Tapper near Hatfield Peverel, which required some wading and me being part of the brawn to pull Kitty out of the river!

It was freezing in the river, so I was glad Kitty had volunteered to do the wading. She retrieved the big box quite quickly.

There was a fab method of “signing” the log! We loved it.

Once we had done that one, we dropped Mr Crow off for a walk to do some maintenance on some of his caches and we headed off to A Bad Sine – which I had solved ages ago but had been putting off finding. Since it filled a DT grid square, I had resolved to try it soon. Kitty agreed to accompany me, even though she had already found it.

Job done, we retired to a nearby garden centre for a hearty late lunch and to wait for Mr Crow!

The we went onto Rally Round 80 Mr Crow and a few others, but RR80 filled a second DT grid square for me. We also picked up a few more along the way.

Now I only have 12 squares left to go:

puzzles, with friends

Day #173 – Cool Cuban Spirit

Friday, 15th January 2016 Caz 1 Comment

Trad: 1 Puzzle: 62
Walked: 12.4 miles

I’ve had my eye on the Cool Cuban Spirit circuit in Kent by jazzyjessups for a while. I think I solved all 60 main puzzles well before Christmas, but haven’t had the time to come and pick them up yet. And a couple of days ago at the Essex Meet, I mentioned the series to Kitty!! and Mr Crow who were very eager to join me on my proposed attack on the caches today.

Kitty!! spent most of yesterday solving the puzzles and after a few late night emails we finally had a set of co-ords we both agreed on. Having met at Kitty’s house, we travelled to Kent in one car, parked up and set off along the track.

To begin with, the going was pretty good – the ground was still frozen in many places and we made good time on the first section. The route was mainly micros, but occasionally we were rewarded with a bigger box.

We met a few furry four-legged friends along the way – this was the cutest (and shortest!).

We had each brought a packed lunch, and just after finding Number 31, we stopped and had a bite to eat in the woods.

I was very glad of my silly woollen hat at times – it was very sunny all day but perishing cold!

It was a great series to do, with only 1 cache which needed replacing (which we did with the CO’s blesssing, meaning we had no DNF’s – hurrah!).

SMILE - You've Found Lots Of Smileys Today! — SMILE – You’ve Found Lots Of Smileys Today!

After 61 puzzles and a trad Church Micro thrown in along the way, we were really pleased to finally reach cache #63 for the day – the bonus cache! That makes my best day’s caching so far, and it was great fun to have company for the route.

Job Done - At The Bonus! — Job Done – At The Bonus!

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