27/12/2010
A hungover day after Boxing Day, and Patrick rang me wanting to get out and about as he was pushing for his 1000th cache before the year was up; he'd started caching on New Year's Day and as he was almost at 1000 it seemed like a good way to round the year off. We know it's not all about the numbers - but it did seem like a neat coincidence.
Just he and I went up to Dodworth once again, this time to visit a couple of series there by 'terencem' called Waggonway Trail and Dodworth Muck Stack.
We parked up and set off in the bitter cold at 11am and commenced a 4.4 mile walk along and around the Waggonway Trail - based along the route of the railway line which served Dodworth Coal Mine in years gone by. It was a lovely, well planned out walk and we had a good chat as we also wandered around and over the nearby golf course. We detoured a little to pick up two extras and Patrick didn't break tradition and managed to take us on a small wild goose chase. All good fun and 8 more caches and one DNF.
By the time we ended up back at Patrick's car (at 13:10) we noticed all the hedgerow's now wet and no longer frozen - the thaw was setting in.
After lunch (a sandwich and flask of tea in the car) we drove a short while and started the nearby Dodworth Muck Stack series which is through a regenerated woodland presumably on the waste created by the old mine. If it was originally wasteland it is very mature and makes a good woodland walk, which was made all the better by some ingenious hides.
The first, a microcache, caused us a nightmare and eventually we had to give up. However on the way around we PAF to Easiron (thanks Ron yet again!) and he told us where the micro-cache had fallen so we picked it up on the way back to the car.
On this smaller 2 mile walk we found 12 caches and also, on the way around, we detoured a little to pick up an extra one which turned out to be my 500th cache! Hurrah for me!
Finally, with Patrick desperate to close in on his 1000th, we popped over the motorway to Locke Park where he knew there was a (very probably) missing one and two more to find. We scanned quickly for the missing one and then easily bagged the other two.
Total count for a busy and great day out with a good friend was 20 caches, two DNFs and 7.4 miles walked. Marvellous.
(Incidentally, both the DNFs were maintained and replaced by Terencem the very next day - I'm very impressed - a big thanks to him for being so prompt.)
Thursday 30 December 2010
Wednesday 29 December 2010
Christmas Eve Eve
I had taken another day off to use up some of my holidays and also to get out and about again. I decided to do a series in Sheffield called MAP's Animal Trail - MAP being the initials of the three children who placed it with their parents.
This series starts at Endcliffe Park, leads into Bingham Park, onto Whitely Woods and back through Trippet Wood and into Endcliffe Park again. I only know this because I'm looking at my GPS track in another window - I don't know Sheffield too well and I actually thought this walk was pretty much all in Endcliffe Park.
Hmmm that seems strikingly ignorant given that I walked through it all 5 days ago and never noticed - I'll blame it on the heavy snow covering up any signs that may or may not have been there!
---
Hannah, Adam and I arrived just before midday and within moments of leaving the car it started to snow again. It was still very cold with no signs of a thaw but we were wrapped up well and would be OK.
This was a really lovely walk which I am not going to detail except to say when we opened our own supply tub at number 6 (because the pencil in the cache was broken) we noticed a flipping cache log which was full of signatures.
We hardly ever use our supply tub as we rarely do swaps (except for Travel Bugs and these we keep in our pockets). We cast our minds back and hoped that it was because Hannah had swapped a Santa at cache number three. I prayed it wasn't in the tub from another day and another series.
We had no trouble with the series except for a nightmare find at number 7 by which time Adam was cold and had had enough. However we continued as there was no point in returning (because we were actually half way) and also because he's 15 and I say tough.
Back to the car and a drive up to number 3, a quick trot along the track and YES! a missing log quickly replaced - I've never been happier to see something missing!
Home, shower, change and out for Jade's birthday meal. A lovely refreshing day in a very pleasant part of Sheffield and thanks must go to "Hulababy and the.gillinghams" for bringing us here.
[Total for the day was 13 caches and 3.5 miles.]
This series starts at Endcliffe Park, leads into Bingham Park, onto Whitely Woods and back through Trippet Wood and into Endcliffe Park again. I only know this because I'm looking at my GPS track in another window - I don't know Sheffield too well and I actually thought this walk was pretty much all in Endcliffe Park.
Hmmm that seems strikingly ignorant given that I walked through it all 5 days ago and never noticed - I'll blame it on the heavy snow covering up any signs that may or may not have been there!
---
Hannah, Adam and I arrived just before midday and within moments of leaving the car it started to snow again. It was still very cold with no signs of a thaw but we were wrapped up well and would be OK.
This was a really lovely walk which I am not going to detail except to say when we opened our own supply tub at number 6 (because the pencil in the cache was broken) we noticed a flipping cache log which was full of signatures.
We hardly ever use our supply tub as we rarely do swaps (except for Travel Bugs and these we keep in our pockets). We cast our minds back and hoped that it was because Hannah had swapped a Santa at cache number three. I prayed it wasn't in the tub from another day and another series.
Back to the car and a drive up to number 3, a quick trot along the track and YES! a missing log quickly replaced - I've never been happier to see something missing!
Home, shower, change and out for Jade's birthday meal. A lovely refreshing day in a very pleasant part of Sheffield and thanks must go to "Hulababy and the.gillinghams" for bringing us here.
[Total for the day was 13 caches and 3.5 miles.]
Reindeer Ramble
17/12/10 - After the stress of work the last few weeks I insisted on a day off to finish my Christmas shopping. I took this opportunity to get in and out of Meadowhell as fast as possible and to then do some solo caching in the peace and quiet of open countryside.
I had chosen to do the Reindeer Roundabout Ramble series near Overton, a village 20 mins up the motorway. This is a short walk of around 4 miles starting and ending at the Reindeer Pub near the National Coal Mining Museum.
I arrived at midday and quickly set off south down the road looking for the path off to the left heading east. It was bitingly cold, extremely frosty, with all the puddles frozen solid but I thought I'd be OK. After all I had a flask of tea!
I was stressed from work and I was stressed from Christmas shopping so I was hoping to 'come down' as I walked around.
I was at the first cache within 10 minutes and then the problems began. I simply couldn't find this cache and the hint was being no help. I phoned-a-friend (PAF) to no avail. I'd forgotten my hat, my batteries ran out and I had to keep taking off my gloves to use my iPhone for calling and also searching previous logs for information that might help. It was BITTERLY cold and the driving wind was of course making things much worse.
So it was starting to look pretty grim but THANKFULLY I found the little bugger. It was a test-tube style container hidden in the crack of a tree which was perfectly covered up by a blob of ice.
Change of batteries. Still stressed. Deep breath. Try to chill out (mentally not physically, that was already happening) and onwards.
The next two caches were thankfully really easy although again I was really exposed to the wind. The fourth was tricky as it was hidden under a stone I couldn't even see - it was frozen into the ground under the grass but luckily I tripped on it after about 15 minutes of looking.
An easy one and then one I was convinced had been Muggled. I PAF Patrick again and he tried to recall the cache but nothing rang any real bells. Fortunately I'd been misled by a pile of stones and somehow, I never figured out how, I found the cache stuck in a little hole half the size of the cache and covered with a clump of dead grass. I couldn't replace it similarly so had to resort to putting it under the stones 6" away. Freezing cold I stopped for a cuppa.
The walk now moved away from fields onto a tree lined track which afforded me some protection from the elements and as a bonus the sun was also peeking out - although it was guaranteed nothing was going to melt today except my stress which was starting to fade.
The next cache was at the side of the track, down a ledge and under a tree. I'd not seen one single solitary soul in the two hours since I'd started and as I stepped up onto the track it must have looked as though I was trying to abduct this poor female horserider. The horse reared up only marginally higher than I did as my feet got even colder temporarily leaving my boots. I apologised but I think she'd lost her voice, or her bowels.
We trotted off in separate directions both no doubt adrenalised by the experience and two minutes later I bumped into, it transpired, her friend leading a pony. She asked me if I'd lost my dog as one had been running wild nipping at her pony. We got chatting about the area, Christmas, the weather and her friend with the newly found heart murmur further up the track.
The next cache was a tricky one, frozen and camouflaged as it was into the mud, and it wasn't until logging it later that evening that I noticed the two previous loggers had logged a DNF (did-not-find) - it's a good job I'd not noticed these or I'd likely have given up searching.
The 'pony girl' returned and we chatted for another 10 minutes before our paths separated.
Now into woods and on the way back there's little of interest to note as I found the next three. I then couldn't find the last of the series certain it had been Muggled and finally I had to PAF Patrick again as like a wally I'd forgotten the clues from the first three caches of the day to get the final mystery cache.
A mile back to the final (thanks for the coords Patrick) and then another quarter mile back to the car - too late to get a sneaky pub lunch.
Total for the day was 3.8 miles walked, 14 finds, 1 DNF, frostbite and a tiny heart attack.
(Thanks must go to MikeG for the series and the two randoms I picked up en-route.)
I had chosen to do the Reindeer Roundabout Ramble series near Overton, a village 20 mins up the motorway. This is a short walk of around 4 miles starting and ending at the Reindeer Pub near the National Coal Mining Museum.
I arrived at midday and quickly set off south down the road looking for the path off to the left heading east. It was bitingly cold, extremely frosty, with all the puddles frozen solid but I thought I'd be OK. After all I had a flask of tea!
I was stressed from work and I was stressed from Christmas shopping so I was hoping to 'come down' as I walked around.
I was at the first cache within 10 minutes and then the problems began. I simply couldn't find this cache and the hint was being no help. I phoned-a-friend (PAF) to no avail. I'd forgotten my hat, my batteries ran out and I had to keep taking off my gloves to use my iPhone for calling and also searching previous logs for information that might help. It was BITTERLY cold and the driving wind was of course making things much worse.
So it was starting to look pretty grim but THANKFULLY I found the little bugger. It was a test-tube style container hidden in the crack of a tree which was perfectly covered up by a blob of ice.
Change of batteries. Still stressed. Deep breath. Try to chill out (mentally not physically, that was already happening) and onwards.
The next two caches were thankfully really easy although again I was really exposed to the wind. The fourth was tricky as it was hidden under a stone I couldn't even see - it was frozen into the ground under the grass but luckily I tripped on it after about 15 minutes of looking.
An easy one and then one I was convinced had been Muggled. I PAF Patrick again and he tried to recall the cache but nothing rang any real bells. Fortunately I'd been misled by a pile of stones and somehow, I never figured out how, I found the cache stuck in a little hole half the size of the cache and covered with a clump of dead grass. I couldn't replace it similarly so had to resort to putting it under the stones 6" away. Freezing cold I stopped for a cuppa.
The walk now moved away from fields onto a tree lined track which afforded me some protection from the elements and as a bonus the sun was also peeking out - although it was guaranteed nothing was going to melt today except my stress which was starting to fade.
The next cache was at the side of the track, down a ledge and under a tree. I'd not seen one single solitary soul in the two hours since I'd started and as I stepped up onto the track it must have looked as though I was trying to abduct this poor female horserider. The horse reared up only marginally higher than I did as my feet got even colder temporarily leaving my boots. I apologised but I think she'd lost her voice, or her bowels.
We trotted off in separate directions both no doubt adrenalised by the experience and two minutes later I bumped into, it transpired, her friend leading a pony. She asked me if I'd lost my dog as one had been running wild nipping at her pony. We got chatting about the area, Christmas, the weather and her friend with the newly found heart murmur further up the track.
The next cache was a tricky one, frozen and camouflaged as it was into the mud, and it wasn't until logging it later that evening that I noticed the two previous loggers had logged a DNF (did-not-find) - it's a good job I'd not noticed these or I'd likely have given up searching.
The 'pony girl' returned and we chatted for another 10 minutes before our paths separated.
Now into woods and on the way back there's little of interest to note as I found the next three. I then couldn't find the last of the series certain it had been Muggled and finally I had to PAF Patrick again as like a wally I'd forgotten the clues from the first three caches of the day to get the final mystery cache.
A mile back to the final (thanks for the coords Patrick) and then another quarter mile back to the car - too late to get a sneaky pub lunch.
Total for the day was 3.8 miles walked, 14 finds, 1 DNF, frostbite and a tiny heart attack.
(Thanks must go to MikeG for the series and the two randoms I picked up en-route.)
Thursday 16 December 2010
Icy Dinnington
On Sunday afternoon, after a quick lunch following on from the morning's Beeley Wood clean-up, Patrick, I, Hannah and Donna met up (as Team PADS) to do a second 'Great Scots' series in Dinnington. We had done the first series a month or so ago.
This series was about 10 days old but because of the heavy snowfall had only been found once. There were also several did-not-finds (DNFs) because of the snow, a DNF because of child muggles playing nearby, and one that was believed muggled before ever being found.
Having suffered badly from the snow ourselves, which was clearing away nicely, we hadn't expected to see so much still at Dinnington. Also, strangely, the hill sides were coated in solid ice - I don't mean compacted snow that has been walked on and turned into ice, but ice like you would find on the top of a pond; the tracks up the hills were solid ice with water running under them as though the trails were originally streams. Very odd.
We first walked across what appeared to be flood plains with huge frozen puddles-come-lakes and quickly got the first easy cache. We then went up the tracks to another easy second one with Dizzy the dog eating ice where possible. On the way to the fourth one we stopped by the third which was seemingly muggled, just in case, and lo and behold it was there in the snow in plain view. We presume that it had fallen from it's hiding place in the snow and was buried for the previous two seekers - we happened to be first to arrive once the thaw had started. A completely unexpected First-To-Find (FTF) and amazingly the first one for Team PADS as a group.
The fourth was another easy find and after a wet trudge up semi-frozen tracks and a good search Hannah found the fifth. Then it was just a brisk mile back to the cars.
A great Sunday afternoon; fresh air, a good walk and good company. What more could you want?
[Total 5 finds, 2.5 miles.] [Forgot to mention in last blog the 2.4 miles done this morning.]
This series was about 10 days old but because of the heavy snowfall had only been found once. There were also several did-not-finds (DNFs) because of the snow, a DNF because of child muggles playing nearby, and one that was believed muggled before ever being found.
Having suffered badly from the snow ourselves, which was clearing away nicely, we hadn't expected to see so much still at Dinnington. Also, strangely, the hill sides were coated in solid ice - I don't mean compacted snow that has been walked on and turned into ice, but ice like you would find on the top of a pond; the tracks up the hills were solid ice with water running under them as though the trails were originally streams. Very odd.
We first walked across what appeared to be flood plains with huge frozen puddles-come-lakes and quickly got the first easy cache. We then went up the tracks to another easy second one with Dizzy the dog eating ice where possible. On the way to the fourth one we stopped by the third which was seemingly muggled, just in case, and lo and behold it was there in the snow in plain view. We presume that it had fallen from it's hiding place in the snow and was buried for the previous two seekers - we happened to be first to arrive once the thaw had started. A completely unexpected First-To-Find (FTF) and amazingly the first one for Team PADS as a group.
The fourth was another easy find and after a wet trudge up semi-frozen tracks and a good search Hannah found the fifth. Then it was just a brisk mile back to the cars.
A great Sunday afternoon; fresh air, a good walk and good company. What more could you want?
[Total 5 finds, 2.5 miles.] [Forgot to mention in last blog the 2.4 miles done this morning.]
Wednesday 15 December 2010
Beeley Wood - Rant and Tidy
Sunday morning, bright and early after my work's Christmas do the evening before, Patrick picked me up and we went down to Beeley Wood to do a clean up. Beeley Wood is located between Hillsborough and Oughtibridge and was the location of a very badly maintained series that I originally completed in June.
I say 'completed' but I mean 'tried to complete' and I alluded to this rather subtly in my very first blog as I was still sore about the neglect afforded to this series.
Before I rant I will first say that several of the caches (the 5th, 6th and 7th in particular) had several comments by finders about how inaccurate the coordinates were - sometimes as far off as 50-60 feet. That's a major bugbear of mine and only serves to hurt a potentially lovely day's walk by slowing it down and 'spoiling the game'.
[wibbly wobbly lines as the present fades and we go into the past...]
The first two caches were on a road leading through an industrial estate and were nothing special but the third cache, called 'Beeley Wood - Dumpit Site' was hidden under a stone at the topside of a huge pile of trash which people had flytipped over the side of the lane into the woods over the years. I had found this on a hot summer's day (25th June) and after digging around trying to find this cache I then spent the rest of the day smelling and feeling as though I had slept in a wheelie bin. It was disgusting. Why on Earth anyone would hide a cache here simply beggars belief.
I found the next cache easily and then spend almost an hour, including being on the phone to someone who had already found it, before giving up on the 5th cache. (Terrible coords and eventually presumed muggled.)
The 6th was another easy find (albeit again with terrible coords) and then I had to do some calculating for the 7th as it was a mystery one and I was missing the number from cache 5. It was pretty obvious what the number was as it was a significant digit and anything else would have me a long distance away so off I set, in a bad mood, to attempt the last one.
Arriving roughly on location I could see two huge fallen trees which were part of the clue. I only spent 5 minutes looking before giving up; even though it was a red hot day they were laying in mud, I still stank of wheelie bins, the actual coords did not point to a fallen tree and basically I was fed up.
I walked back to the car and went off to do a lovely series a few miles away before going home. I reported the did-not-finds (DNFs) on the logs and added a polite-but-constructive comment about the dumpit site.
Over the next few months the number of DNFs on number 5 added up and also complaints about the location of number 4. Additionally DNFs also started accumulating for number 6 which I do recall was hidden quite blatently in a muggle-able spot right on the public footpath. Comments were also made about a trackable item which had been stuck in the final cache for over 6 months.
The cache owner (CO) ignored all maintenance requests and complaints until a reviewer stepped in during October saying something should be done. False promises were made, more complaints were made and then the reviewer finally placed the missing caches on 'disabled'. At this the CO closed down the entire series saying he'd left the area, and promised to pick up the caches as essentially they were now just litter, in November.
So the series disappeared and nothing more was heard. However I liked the area and I mentioned this to Patrick who had never done the series. My reasoning was that once you had passed the industrial estate, and all the fly-tipping, the woods themselves were a lovely walk and it was a shame there was no series there. So we hatched a plan; we'd go and check-out a circular walk and pick up the caches which we presumed the cache owner would actually have left there.
[wibbly wobbly effect and we're back to 15th December...]
So Sunday morning... we did a drive-by on the first three caches - yes they were still there despite the CO pretending to go and remove them, then parked up and set off into the woods.
What a difference 6 months make! (Obviously, but I thought the sentence had impact.) I'd been here in the height of summer and now it was the depths of winter; the ground was either hard ice or mud, and there were rotting leaves everywhere. The river was easily 18 inches higher than before and I was surprised to see that the weir was almost invisible - in fact if you did not know it was there you really wouldn't have known, the water flowing over it was so high it was almost level from the top side to the bottom side. Also riverside areas I had walked along looking for missing cache 5 were now several feet inside the river.
We struggled a little with number 5 as I'd forgotten where it was hidden and then went to number 7, the final.
Grr. We spent, and I kid you not, 70 minutes looking here. We unearthed every single tree that had fallen, or looked about to fall, within 150 feet. We might not be super-experts but we've got 18 months and 1500 finds experience between us and we tried and tried and tried to find this one. It was a beautifully cold day, we had a flask of hot tea, and we were in no rush. Plus we didn't want to be beaten. We looked online at the log and tried to work out who to ring and there was only one finder for whom we had a number and calls to him were going direct to his voicemail.
So like I say after 70 minutes we gave up and trudged back dejectedly. We'd just got to the car and Ron rang back giving us exact location of the cache. It was a tree I had definitely searched and Patrick had actually been to twice. We're pretty sure it has been muggled - but just to be sure we will go back and check again when we actually scope out the area for our new series. We didn't do it this weekend because there was too much mud and ice.
Overall we did 2.4 miles and Patrick got 4 finds (and 4 physical caches). None for me but I did get a nice clear head from the Sunday morning walk and hunt.
** Notice to cache owners - if you can't commit to maintainenance then don't place a series! **
I say 'completed' but I mean 'tried to complete' and I alluded to this rather subtly in my very first blog as I was still sore about the neglect afforded to this series.
Before I rant I will first say that several of the caches (the 5th, 6th and 7th in particular) had several comments by finders about how inaccurate the coordinates were - sometimes as far off as 50-60 feet. That's a major bugbear of mine and only serves to hurt a potentially lovely day's walk by slowing it down and 'spoiling the game'.
[wibbly wobbly lines as the present fades and we go into the past...]
The first two caches were on a road leading through an industrial estate and were nothing special but the third cache, called 'Beeley Wood - Dumpit Site' was hidden under a stone at the topside of a huge pile of trash which people had flytipped over the side of the lane into the woods over the years. I had found this on a hot summer's day (25th June) and after digging around trying to find this cache I then spent the rest of the day smelling and feeling as though I had slept in a wheelie bin. It was disgusting. Why on Earth anyone would hide a cache here simply beggars belief.
I found the next cache easily and then spend almost an hour, including being on the phone to someone who had already found it, before giving up on the 5th cache. (Terrible coords and eventually presumed muggled.)
The 6th was another easy find (albeit again with terrible coords) and then I had to do some calculating for the 7th as it was a mystery one and I was missing the number from cache 5. It was pretty obvious what the number was as it was a significant digit and anything else would have me a long distance away so off I set, in a bad mood, to attempt the last one.
Arriving roughly on location I could see two huge fallen trees which were part of the clue. I only spent 5 minutes looking before giving up; even though it was a red hot day they were laying in mud, I still stank of wheelie bins, the actual coords did not point to a fallen tree and basically I was fed up.
I walked back to the car and went off to do a lovely series a few miles away before going home. I reported the did-not-finds (DNFs) on the logs and added a polite-but-constructive comment about the dumpit site.
Over the next few months the number of DNFs on number 5 added up and also complaints about the location of number 4. Additionally DNFs also started accumulating for number 6 which I do recall was hidden quite blatently in a muggle-able spot right on the public footpath. Comments were also made about a trackable item which had been stuck in the final cache for over 6 months.
The cache owner (CO) ignored all maintenance requests and complaints until a reviewer stepped in during October saying something should be done. False promises were made, more complaints were made and then the reviewer finally placed the missing caches on 'disabled'. At this the CO closed down the entire series saying he'd left the area, and promised to pick up the caches as essentially they were now just litter, in November.
So the series disappeared and nothing more was heard. However I liked the area and I mentioned this to Patrick who had never done the series. My reasoning was that once you had passed the industrial estate, and all the fly-tipping, the woods themselves were a lovely walk and it was a shame there was no series there. So we hatched a plan; we'd go and check-out a circular walk and pick up the caches which we presumed the cache owner would actually have left there.
[wibbly wobbly effect and we're back to 15th December...]
So Sunday morning... we did a drive-by on the first three caches - yes they were still there despite the CO pretending to go and remove them, then parked up and set off into the woods.
What a difference 6 months make! (Obviously, but I thought the sentence had impact.) I'd been here in the height of summer and now it was the depths of winter; the ground was either hard ice or mud, and there were rotting leaves everywhere. The river was easily 18 inches higher than before and I was surprised to see that the weir was almost invisible - in fact if you did not know it was there you really wouldn't have known, the water flowing over it was so high it was almost level from the top side to the bottom side. Also riverside areas I had walked along looking for missing cache 5 were now several feet inside the river.
We struggled a little with number 5 as I'd forgotten where it was hidden and then went to number 7, the final.
Grr. We spent, and I kid you not, 70 minutes looking here. We unearthed every single tree that had fallen, or looked about to fall, within 150 feet. We might not be super-experts but we've got 18 months and 1500 finds experience between us and we tried and tried and tried to find this one. It was a beautifully cold day, we had a flask of hot tea, and we were in no rush. Plus we didn't want to be beaten. We looked online at the log and tried to work out who to ring and there was only one finder for whom we had a number and calls to him were going direct to his voicemail.
So like I say after 70 minutes we gave up and trudged back dejectedly. We'd just got to the car and Ron rang back giving us exact location of the cache. It was a tree I had definitely searched and Patrick had actually been to twice. We're pretty sure it has been muggled - but just to be sure we will go back and check again when we actually scope out the area for our new series. We didn't do it this weekend because there was too much mud and ice.
Overall we did 2.4 miles and Patrick got 4 finds (and 4 physical caches). None for me but I did get a nice clear head from the Sunday morning walk and hunt.
** Notice to cache owners - if you can't commit to maintainenance then don't place a series! **
Christmas Corroboree VIII
I'm not sure why the organisers have used an aboriginal word (for ceremonial meeting) but on Saturday afternoon we attended, for the first time as we've only cached for 6 months, the annual Christmas Corroboree VIII in Elsecar. This year it was run by MikeG and involved a HUGE puzzle cache hidden up in the woods full of presents and sweets for the children, a raffle for charity, pie and peas and of course lots of chatting to friends old and new.
Having some time constraints I decided we wouldn't do any caching on the day except for the related puzzle cache "A Gift from St. Nicholas" which now takes the credit as being our largest find to date, it being about 36" long, 18" wide and 24" deep. A hearty and merry thanks must go to MikeG for the effort (and cost!) in arranging and positioning such a festive treat for everyone.
I had a lovely chat with Mr Truffles about my planned walk along the Yorkshire Dalesway next year, met up with The Black Sheep (Rob and Jen and their super-energetic 20 month old son), chatted to MikeG and Penfolio, and teased Bleaklow about him not being able to find Not a Bit Sticky - with an invite around for a cup of tea next time he looks for it.
Patrick and family were all there and also YorkyPudding and AgingHippy, many more I don't know and no doubt a few I do know but I've forgotten to mention... sorry!
We bought a fiver's worth of tickets and ended up winning the donation YorkyPudding brought (a string/wood puzzle) and in return she won the ready-to-place cache container I'd donated. Such a small world, she only lives a few doors away so we could have just popped around, done a swap and saved ourselves a few quid :) [I know that's not in the spirit of a raffle, I was joking!]
Big thanks again to MikeG - well done Sir.
Having some time constraints I decided we wouldn't do any caching on the day except for the related puzzle cache "A Gift from St. Nicholas" which now takes the credit as being our largest find to date, it being about 36" long, 18" wide and 24" deep. A hearty and merry thanks must go to MikeG for the effort (and cost!) in arranging and positioning such a festive treat for everyone.
I had a lovely chat with Mr Truffles about my planned walk along the Yorkshire Dalesway next year, met up with The Black Sheep (Rob and Jen and their super-energetic 20 month old son), chatted to MikeG and Penfolio, and teased Bleaklow about him not being able to find Not a Bit Sticky - with an invite around for a cup of tea next time he looks for it.
Patrick and family were all there and also YorkyPudding and AgingHippy, many more I don't know and no doubt a few I do know but I've forgotten to mention... sorry!
We bought a fiver's worth of tickets and ended up winning the donation YorkyPudding brought (a string/wood puzzle) and in return she won the ready-to-place cache container I'd donated. Such a small world, she only lives a few doors away so we could have just popped around, done a swap and saved ourselves a few quid :) [I know that's not in the spirit of a raffle, I was joking!]
Big thanks again to MikeG - well done Sir.
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