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.)