I popped out for a 5 mile walk on Sunday with my sister and my kids. I don't want to give anything away at this stage but I am hoping, touch wood, to be given permission to put down ~15 caches in what I think is a beautiful area with some magnificient views, which is full of memories from my childhood when I used to cycle or walk the area with my parents... I can even remember one Sunday when my damned Raleigh Chopper got it's stupid tiny front wheel stuck in a hole and consequently it throwing me over the handlebars!
Ahhh happy times.
It's early days yet and even if permission is given I need to buy all the swaps and tubs, make and camouflage all the caches, hide them, get accurate coords and then create all the Geocaching listings - but I'm hoping that it all happens according to plan, and then it will be good to have given something back to the community that's a little more substantial as opposed to the puzzle based odds and ends I've been hiding.
Fingers crossed.
Monday 31 January 2011
Monday 24 January 2011
Hide and Walk
On Sunday morning I set out to place my new cache. I've been working on a puzzle in my head for a week or so now but couldn't progress with it until the cache was in place and I had the coordinates to work with.
I popped out and placed it locally in a location I've had my eye on for a while but which, I have to confess, I'm not overly happy with. There's little reason for people to be there as there's not really a walk involved.
It was a nightmare getting accurate coordinates because of the tree cover and also, I believe, because it was placed on a south facing banking which blocks the view to the satellites. I spent 45 minutes there with both my GPS devices taking multiple readings (each averaged for a couple of minutes) before moving away and returning to reset and do another. Each reading was nowhere near the previous so it took me ages to finally get some coordinates I was happy with. (I had 15 readings in total, disposed of the furthest out-of-range, and averaged the rest but weighting ones which were more common).
Back home I searched online for all the clues and calculations to allow people to solve my puzzle and published it about 12:30am. It was reviewed and went live within two minutes (DalesmanX certainly on the ball today!). As I type this blog no-one has yet solved the puzzle which I'm surprised at as I made it only medium difficulty. It is, however, a completely different style of puzzle to one I would normally think of - the result of specifically trying to do something different.
Shortly after this was done we set off to meet Patrick, Donna and clan to do the High Hoylands Hike - a short walk of 3.5 miles and 9 caches.
This was a hundred times more interesting than Friday's walk - we were back to fields, woodlands, lanes, tracks, roads, hills, farms and mud. A very pleasing walk with some interesting hides (and some we don't agree with as they involved nails into trees which is generally frowned upon) and we timed it perfectly as the rain started to come down as we got back to the cars.
The only downer for the day, for me anyway, was that the kids rang their mother and vanished off home when we told them we were walking. I didn't put up a fight but in hindsight I was wrong. They might not like walking and I know they would rather be on MSN or Facebook but "normal" families do activities together and next time I won't be so soft.
I popped out and placed it locally in a location I've had my eye on for a while but which, I have to confess, I'm not overly happy with. There's little reason for people to be there as there's not really a walk involved.
It was a nightmare getting accurate coordinates because of the tree cover and also, I believe, because it was placed on a south facing banking which blocks the view to the satellites. I spent 45 minutes there with both my GPS devices taking multiple readings (each averaged for a couple of minutes) before moving away and returning to reset and do another. Each reading was nowhere near the previous so it took me ages to finally get some coordinates I was happy with. (I had 15 readings in total, disposed of the furthest out-of-range, and averaged the rest but weighting ones which were more common).
Back home I searched online for all the clues and calculations to allow people to solve my puzzle and published it about 12:30am. It was reviewed and went live within two minutes (DalesmanX certainly on the ball today!). As I type this blog no-one has yet solved the puzzle which I'm surprised at as I made it only medium difficulty. It is, however, a completely different style of puzzle to one I would normally think of - the result of specifically trying to do something different.
Shortly after this was done we set off to meet Patrick, Donna and clan to do the High Hoylands Hike - a short walk of 3.5 miles and 9 caches.
This was a hundred times more interesting than Friday's walk - we were back to fields, woodlands, lanes, tracks, roads, hills, farms and mud. A very pleasing walk with some interesting hides (and some we don't agree with as they involved nails into trees which is generally frowned upon) and we timed it perfectly as the rain started to come down as we got back to the cars.
The only downer for the day, for me anyway, was that the kids rang their mother and vanished off home when we told them we were walking. I didn't put up a fight but in hindsight I was wrong. They might not like walking and I know they would rather be on MSN or Facebook but "normal" families do activities together and next time I won't be so soft.
Lincoln let-down
On Friday Patrick, Donna and I had all arranged to do a long walk near Lincoln which tracked due West along a long-disused railway line.
I set off at 8:15 (getting up earlier than on a work day!) and did the 45 minute drive down to the end of the walk near Newark. Donna, Patrick and Dizzy the dog then arrived in the van, parked up and got into my car and I drove to the start of the walk, about a further 30 minutes away.
It was a very cold day, somewhat surprising after the day before, but fortunately I had packed my gloves and hat just in case.
The cache owner here had placed four consecutive series in a straight line, with each series having a bonus cache calculated from numbers placed in the preceding caches.
We set off in good spirits and found the first few with no problems but then the proverbial started to hit the fan.
Number 5 was obviously a tough one as proven by the ~55 did-not-finds (DNFs) against ~70 finds. The hint was near useless so eventually we resorted to phoning-a-friend who told us exactly where it was. Except it wasn't. I'm not sure if it's been stolen (highly unlikely given where it's meant to be hidden) or if it was pushed too far in or frozen into the surroundings but we simply couldn't find it.
Frustrated we headed to the next.
Number 6 couldn't be found anywhere and to add to our frustrations the given hint was meaningless; I guess it might mean something to locals but to us it meant nothing. There was also a previous DNF logged.
Frustrated we headed to the next.
Number 7 couldn't be found anywhere and even with the hint there was no sign of it. We think this one has beeen muggled as there was also a previous DNF logged.
Frustrated we headed to the next.
Number 8 couldn't be found anywhere and even with a (finally!!!) useful hint there was no sign of it. There was also a previous DNF and again we think this has been muggled.
By now plain annoyed, we headed to the next cursing the cache owner for not maintaining his series (ie. checking caches after DNFs), for having mostly useless hints and we were all beginning to think that we'd wasted a day's holiday.
THANKFULLY number 9 was found and indeed for the rest of the day we found every cache (except for one and the bonus for each series) and slowly, as we progressed, our frustrations eased although we were still disappointed that each bonus cache was behind us. I guess the series owner wanted people to walk (maybe cycle?) 9 miles west, picking up ~30 caches, and then walk 9 miles back east to pick up 4 bonuses - rather a strange plan given that it's possibly the most boring walk I've ever done - nine miles on a perfectly flat track, on perfectly flat landscape, with nothing to view except empty fields.
Needless to say I won't be returning to pick up the 5 DNFs and the 4 bonus caches.
However the day wasn't a complete washout because of the company - we did a walk that would likely drive a solo walker to suicide but the three of us entertained ourselves and the walk, after cache 8, passed by quite quickly.
In the end we logged 30 finds (no idea how, I thought we'd done about 16!) and almost 9 miles walking. It was also a great real-world test of my new GPS and I'm getting the hang of it now.
Last but not least we then had to reverse the vehicle procedure of the morning and despite it being Friday afternoon the traffic was great and I was home quickly.
I set off at 8:15 (getting up earlier than on a work day!) and did the 45 minute drive down to the end of the walk near Newark. Donna, Patrick and Dizzy the dog then arrived in the van, parked up and got into my car and I drove to the start of the walk, about a further 30 minutes away.
It was a very cold day, somewhat surprising after the day before, but fortunately I had packed my gloves and hat just in case.
The cache owner here had placed four consecutive series in a straight line, with each series having a bonus cache calculated from numbers placed in the preceding caches.
We set off in good spirits and found the first few with no problems but then the proverbial started to hit the fan.
Number 5 was obviously a tough one as proven by the ~55 did-not-finds (DNFs) against ~70 finds. The hint was near useless so eventually we resorted to phoning-a-friend who told us exactly where it was. Except it wasn't. I'm not sure if it's been stolen (highly unlikely given where it's meant to be hidden) or if it was pushed too far in or frozen into the surroundings but we simply couldn't find it.
Frustrated we headed to the next.
Number 6 couldn't be found anywhere and to add to our frustrations the given hint was meaningless; I guess it might mean something to locals but to us it meant nothing. There was also a previous DNF logged.
Frustrated we headed to the next.
Number 7 couldn't be found anywhere and even with the hint there was no sign of it. We think this one has beeen muggled as there was also a previous DNF logged.
Frustrated we headed to the next.
Number 8 couldn't be found anywhere and even with a (finally!!!) useful hint there was no sign of it. There was also a previous DNF and again we think this has been muggled.
By now plain annoyed, we headed to the next cursing the cache owner for not maintaining his series (ie. checking caches after DNFs), for having mostly useless hints and we were all beginning to think that we'd wasted a day's holiday.
THANKFULLY number 9 was found and indeed for the rest of the day we found every cache (except for one and the bonus for each series) and slowly, as we progressed, our frustrations eased although we were still disappointed that each bonus cache was behind us. I guess the series owner wanted people to walk (maybe cycle?) 9 miles west, picking up ~30 caches, and then walk 9 miles back east to pick up 4 bonuses - rather a strange plan given that it's possibly the most boring walk I've ever done - nine miles on a perfectly flat track, on perfectly flat landscape, with nothing to view except empty fields.
Needless to say I won't be returning to pick up the 5 DNFs and the 4 bonus caches.
However the day wasn't a complete washout because of the company - we did a walk that would likely drive a solo walker to suicide but the three of us entertained ourselves and the walk, after cache 8, passed by quite quickly.
In the end we logged 30 finds (no idea how, I thought we'd done about 16!) and almost 9 miles walking. It was also a great real-world test of my new GPS and I'm getting the hang of it now.
Last but not least we then had to reverse the vehicle procedure of the morning and despite it being Friday afternoon the traffic was great and I was home quickly.
The aftermath & the wallet
Thursday morning arrived and I knew the 14 mile walk was not an option. So as a slight compromise I went and spent some money!
I dearly love my first GPS; a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx which I've had since I started Geocaching in May. It's rugged, it's scratched, it's reliable, it's dirty, it's waterproof and above all it's my first! It's been regularly updated with the free online maps (via talkytoaster) and it's genuinely been worth it's small weight in gold but as I've progressed in caching I've come to need more; when I've been out solo it's been a logistical nightmare carrying maps I've printed out especially for the day, any additonal route notes or puzzles and even lists of the caches I'm doing so I can take notes to remind me of each cache to aid me in doing my online logs.
I've been looking, on and off, for a few months now but last Sunday (the paperwork!) and a nicely timed Christmas bonus made me look again. Patrick has a Garmin Oregon 450 and this was the exact model I'd been looking at for a while. Questions and answers went back and forth about likes/dislikes, value for money and the professional maps vs the free maps. In the end I decided to double-treat myself and got one with the entire GB Ordnance Survey loaded, which practically doubles the cost.
I justified this to myself by thinking of my adventure doing the Yorkshire Dales Way. I won't need to carry ~£60 worth of non-waterproof folded maps saving weight and hassle.
Well that's my excuse anyway.
Home, a quick unbox and play, and then out for a small walk to stretch my legs (seizing up from the day before) and also to test my new GPS.
I did a quick two miles and 'discovered' Hannah's nearby series. I'd helped her place all these a couple of months ago (see blog) but it seemed reasonable now to re-do the walk, check they were all OK, sign them and then log them as finds.
The new GPS is really good; the compass and speed of updates is much better than the old one, but there are a few features I miss. They're there, but hidden away, so I suppose it's just a case of getting used to the new one. However the biggest bonus is the paperless caching - you can type notes in it as you wander, you can view the webpages, logs and hints on-the-go and all without needing a phone signal. My iPhone can stay tucked in my safe and dry pocket instead of being dragged out everytime I get really really stuck on a cache and need to consult the hint or old logs for clues.
But I do still love my old one and feel sorry for it. I have tech-sentimentality.
I dearly love my first GPS; a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx which I've had since I started Geocaching in May. It's rugged, it's scratched, it's reliable, it's dirty, it's waterproof and above all it's my first! It's been regularly updated with the free online maps (via talkytoaster) and it's genuinely been worth it's small weight in gold but as I've progressed in caching I've come to need more; when I've been out solo it's been a logistical nightmare carrying maps I've printed out especially for the day, any additonal route notes or puzzles and even lists of the caches I'm doing so I can take notes to remind me of each cache to aid me in doing my online logs.
I've been looking, on and off, for a few months now but last Sunday (the paperwork!) and a nicely timed Christmas bonus made me look again. Patrick has a Garmin Oregon 450 and this was the exact model I'd been looking at for a while. Questions and answers went back and forth about likes/dislikes, value for money and the professional maps vs the free maps. In the end I decided to double-treat myself and got one with the entire GB Ordnance Survey loaded, which practically doubles the cost.
I justified this to myself by thinking of my adventure doing the Yorkshire Dales Way. I won't need to carry ~£60 worth of non-waterproof folded maps saving weight and hassle.
Well that's my excuse anyway.
Home, a quick unbox and play, and then out for a small walk to stretch my legs (seizing up from the day before) and also to test my new GPS.
I did a quick two miles and 'discovered' Hannah's nearby series. I'd helped her place all these a couple of months ago (see blog) but it seemed reasonable now to re-do the walk, check they were all OK, sign them and then log them as finds.
The new GPS is really good; the compass and speed of updates is much better than the old one, but there are a few features I miss. They're there, but hidden away, so I suppose it's just a case of getting used to the new one. However the biggest bonus is the paperless caching - you can type notes in it as you wander, you can view the webpages, logs and hints on-the-go and all without needing a phone signal. My iPhone can stay tucked in my safe and dry pocket instead of being dragged out everytime I get really really stuck on a cache and need to consult the hint or old logs for clues.
But I do still love my old one and feel sorry for it. I have tech-sentimentality.
Wednesday 19 January 2011
WMW #2
Today I went back to repeat the Wentworth Monument Wander series by Mr Truffles just as I had promised myself on Sunday.
This time it was a solo wander where I was aiming to do the entire series again (without actually touching the caches I had already found) and also taking a few diversions to pick up other caches around the area.
Mr Truffles has placed quite a few puzzle caches in the same area so I've spent the last couple of weeks occasionally looking at them, and then I had a concerted effort on Monday and Tuesday evenings to try to get them ready for today.
I like to think I'm pretty good at puzzles but of course we all have areas of strength and areas of weakness and unfortunately all four caches I was trying to solve fell into the latter category for me. I got some hints off my good friend Patrick and even with those two of the caches were unsolveable. Mr Truffles had beaten me good and proper. More hints and eventually I had to just give in on one of them. Patrick told me how to do it and even now I understand it I reckon it's impossible to solve!
I set off walking at 9:40 (again, coincidentally) and went to the two churches to get the answers for the first cache. This took me an age and I felt really uncomfortable wandering around a church graveyard. I know these poor people have been dead for 200 years but it seemed wrong, to me, to be 'playing a game' there. I never mentioned it on the log because I'm clearly in the minority and many people have complemented the cache which has been there for 7 years.
Then it was a long walk of almost 5 miles to the next cache. My legs started aching after about 3 miles and I was briefly worried but it soon passed - I think they were just loosening up again after Sunday.
It was a lovely day, a little cold, but lots of sun and strangey that was my biggest bugbear of the day...
With it being winter the weak willed sun didn't have the courage to leave the horizon and for the first 3 hours I was heading directly into it and consequently, because of the brightness and the way it lens-flares on my glasses, I ended up hardly seeing anything for the first third of the walk. I wonder if I've got a tan for my troubles?
I then picked up Wentworth Wanders #5 at Keppel's Column, turned away from the sun and headed north-east into the woods.
Another long walk on now familiar ground until eventually I had to make a diversion to pick-up the first of Mr T's puzzles. I was somewhat lost as to how to get to it but in the end just followed the arrow and (*looks around feeling guilty*) went through a fence and ignored the lack of footpath signs.
A good find ensued and then I headed back towards the proper path but again then detoured before I got back to it. A tricky find here and I had to sit down and look at my map, purely as an excuse, while four nice ladies stopped to chat to me - presumably a small walking club of friends out for the day.
I was then quite a way off the original track and couldn't see where to go to get back to it so I simply headed off to my next cache and eventually the tracks did meet. However I then had another, quite large, diversion to pick up the next puzzle cache. Unfortunately it was along roads but as the sun was out and the roads were quiet it was still a lovely jaunt.
By now the clock was at 10 miles and I was feeling as though I could walk forever. No blisters and only minor aches and pains. I was feeling good.
Back on the original course I was now at another monument where I had to solve an on-site puzzle. A rather strange puzzle given that it's about a bizarre and fascinating building - Hooby's Stand - yet the puzzle is about blummin' grafitti. Talk about missing the point. (This isn't one of Mr Truffles I hasten to add!)
Then further West-NorthWest along the hillside edge towards another monument - Needle's Eye. An easy find here and quickly onto the one I miscalculated on Sunday which I had to leave owing to light and time contraints.
Back across the fields and then into the woods on the outskirts of Elsecar.
At this point I was touching 13.5 miles and suddenly, without warning, my legs turned to jelly. They were all out of energy and I knew there'd be no walking through the pain this time because it wasn't pain.
I now came to my final detour - I missed out the last three caches of the original series to pick up the last puzzle I had (eventually) worked out. It was strange finding this as it was about 20 metres from a now-archived cache that I had picked up a few months ago; this is the first time I've visited a recycled spot both before and after.
Now back to the car and up a small, yet to my legs unrelenting, hill. It was now hard work.
I got back to the car at 15:25. This means today I walked 14.7 miles in two hours less time than I did 13.7 on Sunday - however that's primarily because I had approximately 35 less caches to find & sign.
Nine more caches in the bag but the best thing about today was SEEING the walk. On Sunday I knew from the start we would be pushed for time and I hardly actually SAW the sights, the monuments, the views and the countryside. Today I was walking with more time to spare and it made a huge difference. Much nicer.
My legs are now OK but still tired. I'm undecided what to do tomorrow. I ought to rest them to let them repair and get stronger but I want to get out because I wanted to do two consecutive days of long walks. Ahh well we'll see, after all I do have the 10 mile walk in Lincoln to look forward to on Friday.
Still no blisters!
This time it was a solo wander where I was aiming to do the entire series again (without actually touching the caches I had already found) and also taking a few diversions to pick up other caches around the area.
Mr Truffles has placed quite a few puzzle caches in the same area so I've spent the last couple of weeks occasionally looking at them, and then I had a concerted effort on Monday and Tuesday evenings to try to get them ready for today.
I like to think I'm pretty good at puzzles but of course we all have areas of strength and areas of weakness and unfortunately all four caches I was trying to solve fell into the latter category for me. I got some hints off my good friend Patrick and even with those two of the caches were unsolveable. Mr Truffles had beaten me good and proper. More hints and eventually I had to just give in on one of them. Patrick told me how to do it and even now I understand it I reckon it's impossible to solve!
I set off walking at 9:40 (again, coincidentally) and went to the two churches to get the answers for the first cache. This took me an age and I felt really uncomfortable wandering around a church graveyard. I know these poor people have been dead for 200 years but it seemed wrong, to me, to be 'playing a game' there. I never mentioned it on the log because I'm clearly in the minority and many people have complemented the cache which has been there for 7 years.
Then it was a long walk of almost 5 miles to the next cache. My legs started aching after about 3 miles and I was briefly worried but it soon passed - I think they were just loosening up again after Sunday.
It was a lovely day, a little cold, but lots of sun and strangey that was my biggest bugbear of the day...
With it being winter the weak willed sun didn't have the courage to leave the horizon and for the first 3 hours I was heading directly into it and consequently, because of the brightness and the way it lens-flares on my glasses, I ended up hardly seeing anything for the first third of the walk. I wonder if I've got a tan for my troubles?
I then picked up Wentworth Wanders #5 at Keppel's Column, turned away from the sun and headed north-east into the woods.
Another long walk on now familiar ground until eventually I had to make a diversion to pick-up the first of Mr T's puzzles. I was somewhat lost as to how to get to it but in the end just followed the arrow and (*looks around feeling guilty*) went through a fence and ignored the lack of footpath signs.
A good find ensued and then I headed back towards the proper path but again then detoured before I got back to it. A tricky find here and I had to sit down and look at my map, purely as an excuse, while four nice ladies stopped to chat to me - presumably a small walking club of friends out for the day.
I was then quite a way off the original track and couldn't see where to go to get back to it so I simply headed off to my next cache and eventually the tracks did meet. However I then had another, quite large, diversion to pick up the next puzzle cache. Unfortunately it was along roads but as the sun was out and the roads were quiet it was still a lovely jaunt.
By now the clock was at 10 miles and I was feeling as though I could walk forever. No blisters and only minor aches and pains. I was feeling good.
Back on the original course I was now at another monument where I had to solve an on-site puzzle. A rather strange puzzle given that it's about a bizarre and fascinating building - Hooby's Stand - yet the puzzle is about blummin' grafitti. Talk about missing the point. (This isn't one of Mr Truffles I hasten to add!)
Then further West-NorthWest along the hillside edge towards another monument - Needle's Eye. An easy find here and quickly onto the one I miscalculated on Sunday which I had to leave owing to light and time contraints.
Back across the fields and then into the woods on the outskirts of Elsecar.
At this point I was touching 13.5 miles and suddenly, without warning, my legs turned to jelly. They were all out of energy and I knew there'd be no walking through the pain this time because it wasn't pain.
I now came to my final detour - I missed out the last three caches of the original series to pick up the last puzzle I had (eventually) worked out. It was strange finding this as it was about 20 metres from a now-archived cache that I had picked up a few months ago; this is the first time I've visited a recycled spot both before and after.
Now back to the car and up a small, yet to my legs unrelenting, hill. It was now hard work.
I got back to the car at 15:25. This means today I walked 14.7 miles in two hours less time than I did 13.7 on Sunday - however that's primarily because I had approximately 35 less caches to find & sign.
Nine more caches in the bag but the best thing about today was SEEING the walk. On Sunday I knew from the start we would be pushed for time and I hardly actually SAW the sights, the monuments, the views and the countryside. Today I was walking with more time to spare and it made a huge difference. Much nicer.
My legs are now OK but still tired. I'm undecided what to do tomorrow. I ought to rest them to let them repair and get stronger but I want to get out because I wanted to do two consecutive days of long walks. Ahh well we'll see, after all I do have the 10 mile walk in Lincoln to look forward to on Friday.
Still no blisters!
Monday 17 January 2011
Wentworth Monuments Walk
Wentworth Monument Walk (WMW)
On Friday evening, whilst in my local club, I checked my emails and was baffled to see over 50 had come in on my Geocaching account. Closer inspection revealed that a new series had been published at Wentworth and I recalled that Mr Truffles had mentioned he was planning something special in that area when we met at the Christmas Corroboree. He wasn't kidding - here were 45 new caches placed over a 12 mile circular route.
I knew I couldn't do this on the Saturday, because of the time the kids arrive, so I spoke to Patrick to see about doing it Sunday. Patrick wasn't too keen; the weather forecast was putting him off.
However I was really keen, and for a few reasons. Firstly it's a new series so there's likely other people doing it. Secondly it's 45 caches, with 6 others on or almost on the route. Thirdly, and most importantly, it's 12 miles and would make perfect practice for me doing the Yorkshire Dales Way walk - especially if I do it more than once on consecutive days.
But things seemed to be against me doing this. The weather did look pretty bad with 40% chance of light rain, Adam had been sick on Saturday morning, and when logs started coming in on Saturday night from the first people who had done it they were speaking of having done 15 miles which I thought too much for the kids. (It turns out that this was from adding in extra caches.)
So my plan was thus: go to bed and see what time Adam wakes up. If he's up at 7am playing on the PC (as per usual on a Sunday) then he's well enough to go! We'll go to Wentworth and if the weather is dreadful we'll come home, if it's half and half we'll drive-by the Wentworth Wanders (WW) series that's dotted around and if it's good we'll go for it!
I prepared by copying and pasting all the helpful walking directions from each of the 45 pages and also the description of each cache - it's amazing how much easier it is to look for something when you know if it's a tube or a box or something so small there's no room for a pencil in it. I seperately also printed out a map, the on-site puzzle instructions, all the hints (time and therefore light would be an issue so I wanted all the help I could get) and finally details of the five WW caches. I also double-checked my workings on the two puzzles that you have to solve before setting off.
Up at 8am on Sunday I finished packing, made sandwiches and a flask of tea to go with my 2-litre 'platypus' water holder, and set off at about 8:45 with two highly unimpressed kids. I was a little worried about my overly heavy rucksack - with waterproof coats for the kids, and food & drinks for three it was very heavy - more so than I was used to carrying.
We arrived at 9:20 and immediately spotted some Geocachers just leaving their cars. I quick equip and we caught them up at the first cache, neatly hidden in the car park, introduced ourselves and set off the wrong way. Peter & Di and AldoCandy (and their dogs) headed off in front and it was about 50 metres before I looked at my GPS and wondered where they were going. I turned around just as they did the same and we went back in the correct direction with us now in front.
By this time I had already decided not to do the WW series, I knew I would be back shortly, and I didn't want to 'waste' time as I wanted to complete the entire WMW series in one go.
We set off on the route a good 100m or so in front of the other team, the weather was overcast but dry, the ground was good at this point although clearly wet.
By the 8th cache the two teams had joined forces and it was nice to chat with new friends and also all search for caches as a group. The 9th cache contained a devilish little trick of a puzzle to solve the coordinates for the 10th and I must have done it correctly (or at least accurate enough!) as we soon had that one in hand too.
The trouble with a route of this size and duration is that all the caches blur into one and it's pretty hard to remember any specifics.
After #11 the others headed off to do a WW and we went directly to 12 to solve an on-site puzzle. Quickly calculated and off to the actual cache we were hindered by a loitering dog-walker so we out-loitered him by having a sandwich, during which time the other team caught us back up.
We then remained together for about 20 caches, which did include a standalone cache by someone else and also WW 1 which was not a puzzle and we were walking directly past. Bonus.
Solving the next on-site puzzle the other team left to pick-up two unrelated caches, which I had done previously, whilst we headed for the actual cache. We said our goodbyes, just in case, even though I thought they'd likely catch us up later but this turned out not to be the case. It was lovely to meet them all and once again I have to thank AldoCandy for lending me his spare batteries after I went through 3 sets! (One set half used and eventually ran out, second set just dead, third set lasted 1 minute. Time to throw away and replace all my rechargeables!) I left his batteries under his car wipers later.
A couple of caches later we had our first disappointment of the day; I had miscalculated an on-site puzzle and it wasn't until we were at the supposed final location that I knew I had done it wrong. However time was pressing upon us and I resolved not to be too disappointed, I would recalculate and find it another time and we'd move on. It was already almost 4pm and sunset was at 4:20.
We found the next two easily and then lost the path through a wood and ended up simply "following the arrow" out the other side. Not good as the kids had clearly had enough by this time and Jade was also complaining about her heel hurting. However we found the next two caches easily and then the next two by torchlight.
More bad news - we'd just found the penultimate cache and we were missing one coordinate that had been hidden in amongst the previous 44 caches. The final was a mystery and looked like remaining one. We headed back toward the car, not yet beaten and I hammered some figures into the GPS. The area it was coming up with approximately didn't include any mention of the hint item for the final cache, it looked bad but I wanted to go there anyway.
Walking in total darkness I left the kids behind so I could quickly, with failing hope, examine an area and lo and behold - the hint item was there. I called the kids over and 2 minutes later we had got the final cache! Such elation to finish an epic series on a high note.
We then headed back toward the car, again, with the kids finally realising their ordeal was coming to an end.
We had walked 13.7 miles, found 46 caches, solved two pre-puzzles, solved 4 on-site puzzles and only had one missing cache. It had taken us 7 hours 40 minutes - seemingly slow but if you consider let's say 4 minutes per cache to find it, sign it and replace it then you're looking at three hours in 'downtime'. We'd started early morning and finished in the dark. We'd been drizzled on for an hour and rained on for an hour and we'd met three new friends. The kids legs were 2/3 covered in mud - even inside Adam's waterproofs. We'd eaten our sandwiches, drunk all the water and tea and we were all hungry again. Happily I'd also coped with the rucksack however Jade's heel was a mess - it turns out she was wearing flipping training socks which didn't protect her heel from her walking boots.
They were both tired, aching and fed up but I was so proud of them.
Truly a Wentworth Monumental Walk. Thank you Mr Truffles for all your hard work and time in planning and arranging this series.
On Friday evening, whilst in my local club, I checked my emails and was baffled to see over 50 had come in on my Geocaching account. Closer inspection revealed that a new series had been published at Wentworth and I recalled that Mr Truffles had mentioned he was planning something special in that area when we met at the Christmas Corroboree. He wasn't kidding - here were 45 new caches placed over a 12 mile circular route.
I knew I couldn't do this on the Saturday, because of the time the kids arrive, so I spoke to Patrick to see about doing it Sunday. Patrick wasn't too keen; the weather forecast was putting him off.
However I was really keen, and for a few reasons. Firstly it's a new series so there's likely other people doing it. Secondly it's 45 caches, with 6 others on or almost on the route. Thirdly, and most importantly, it's 12 miles and would make perfect practice for me doing the Yorkshire Dales Way walk - especially if I do it more than once on consecutive days.
But things seemed to be against me doing this. The weather did look pretty bad with 40% chance of light rain, Adam had been sick on Saturday morning, and when logs started coming in on Saturday night from the first people who had done it they were speaking of having done 15 miles which I thought too much for the kids. (It turns out that this was from adding in extra caches.)
So my plan was thus: go to bed and see what time Adam wakes up. If he's up at 7am playing on the PC (as per usual on a Sunday) then he's well enough to go! We'll go to Wentworth and if the weather is dreadful we'll come home, if it's half and half we'll drive-by the Wentworth Wanders (WW) series that's dotted around and if it's good we'll go for it!
I prepared by copying and pasting all the helpful walking directions from each of the 45 pages and also the description of each cache - it's amazing how much easier it is to look for something when you know if it's a tube or a box or something so small there's no room for a pencil in it. I seperately also printed out a map, the on-site puzzle instructions, all the hints (time and therefore light would be an issue so I wanted all the help I could get) and finally details of the five WW caches. I also double-checked my workings on the two puzzles that you have to solve before setting off.
Up at 8am on Sunday I finished packing, made sandwiches and a flask of tea to go with my 2-litre 'platypus' water holder, and set off at about 8:45 with two highly unimpressed kids. I was a little worried about my overly heavy rucksack - with waterproof coats for the kids, and food & drinks for three it was very heavy - more so than I was used to carrying.
We arrived at 9:20 and immediately spotted some Geocachers just leaving their cars. I quick equip and we caught them up at the first cache, neatly hidden in the car park, introduced ourselves and set off the wrong way. Peter & Di and AldoCandy (and their dogs) headed off in front and it was about 50 metres before I looked at my GPS and wondered where they were going. I turned around just as they did the same and we went back in the correct direction with us now in front.
By this time I had already decided not to do the WW series, I knew I would be back shortly, and I didn't want to 'waste' time as I wanted to complete the entire WMW series in one go.
We set off on the route a good 100m or so in front of the other team, the weather was overcast but dry, the ground was good at this point although clearly wet.
By the 8th cache the two teams had joined forces and it was nice to chat with new friends and also all search for caches as a group. The 9th cache contained a devilish little trick of a puzzle to solve the coordinates for the 10th and I must have done it correctly (or at least accurate enough!) as we soon had that one in hand too.
The trouble with a route of this size and duration is that all the caches blur into one and it's pretty hard to remember any specifics.
After #11 the others headed off to do a WW and we went directly to 12 to solve an on-site puzzle. Quickly calculated and off to the actual cache we were hindered by a loitering dog-walker so we out-loitered him by having a sandwich, during which time the other team caught us back up.
We then remained together for about 20 caches, which did include a standalone cache by someone else and also WW 1 which was not a puzzle and we were walking directly past. Bonus.
Solving the next on-site puzzle the other team left to pick-up two unrelated caches, which I had done previously, whilst we headed for the actual cache. We said our goodbyes, just in case, even though I thought they'd likely catch us up later but this turned out not to be the case. It was lovely to meet them all and once again I have to thank AldoCandy for lending me his spare batteries after I went through 3 sets! (One set half used and eventually ran out, second set just dead, third set lasted 1 minute. Time to throw away and replace all my rechargeables!) I left his batteries under his car wipers later.
A couple of caches later we had our first disappointment of the day; I had miscalculated an on-site puzzle and it wasn't until we were at the supposed final location that I knew I had done it wrong. However time was pressing upon us and I resolved not to be too disappointed, I would recalculate and find it another time and we'd move on. It was already almost 4pm and sunset was at 4:20.
We found the next two easily and then lost the path through a wood and ended up simply "following the arrow" out the other side. Not good as the kids had clearly had enough by this time and Jade was also complaining about her heel hurting. However we found the next two caches easily and then the next two by torchlight.
More bad news - we'd just found the penultimate cache and we were missing one coordinate that had been hidden in amongst the previous 44 caches. The final was a mystery and looked like remaining one. We headed back toward the car, not yet beaten and I hammered some figures into the GPS. The area it was coming up with approximately didn't include any mention of the hint item for the final cache, it looked bad but I wanted to go there anyway.
Walking in total darkness I left the kids behind so I could quickly, with failing hope, examine an area and lo and behold - the hint item was there. I called the kids over and 2 minutes later we had got the final cache! Such elation to finish an epic series on a high note.
We then headed back toward the car, again, with the kids finally realising their ordeal was coming to an end.
We had walked 13.7 miles, found 46 caches, solved two pre-puzzles, solved 4 on-site puzzles and only had one missing cache. It had taken us 7 hours 40 minutes - seemingly slow but if you consider let's say 4 minutes per cache to find it, sign it and replace it then you're looking at three hours in 'downtime'. We'd started early morning and finished in the dark. We'd been drizzled on for an hour and rained on for an hour and we'd met three new friends. The kids legs were 2/3 covered in mud - even inside Adam's waterproofs. We'd eaten our sandwiches, drunk all the water and tea and we were all hungry again. Happily I'd also coped with the rucksack however Jade's heel was a mess - it turns out she was wearing flipping training socks which didn't protect her heel from her walking boots.
They were both tired, aching and fed up but I was so proud of them.
Truly a Wentworth Monumental Walk. Thank you Mr Truffles for all your hard work and time in planning and arranging this series.
Friday 14 January 2011
Bits n Bobs
Just a quick blog to keep things up to date.
Had a busy day today and it's only 4pm. Firstly I went back to Barber's Wood to find a cache I had a DNF on in July. It was one out of series of 7 and it's always bugged me. This time it was light and not raining so it was an easy find. Another reason why I did this today was to pickup my trackable which had been stuck in the series final for a few months. Now I can move it on myself.
Then I dashed over to Grimethorpe and did a series of 10 and an extra one nearby. This started off as a nice walk but the second half is in dire need of some TLC and it spoils the memories of the walk.
Finally, once home, I popped out to do maintenance on my Jeremy Creak cache and to pick up someone's trackable that's been stuck in there a month - as a hard and not often visited cache I thought I ought to rescue it.
So overall a nice busy day with a total of (1+11) = 12 caches and (1.5+3.4+0.6) = 5.5 miles.
I have to confess; after yesterday's 7 miles my back is aching. Odd because my legs are fine. I'm really going to have to stop carrying bricks in my backpack.
Had a busy day today and it's only 4pm. Firstly I went back to Barber's Wood to find a cache I had a DNF on in July. It was one out of series of 7 and it's always bugged me. This time it was light and not raining so it was an easy find. Another reason why I did this today was to pickup my trackable which had been stuck in the series final for a few months. Now I can move it on myself.
Then I dashed over to Grimethorpe and did a series of 10 and an extra one nearby. This started off as a nice walk but the second half is in dire need of some TLC and it spoils the memories of the walk.
Finally, once home, I popped out to do maintenance on my Jeremy Creak cache and to pick up someone's trackable that's been stuck in there a month - as a hard and not often visited cache I thought I ought to rescue it.
So overall a nice busy day with a total of (1+11) = 12 caches and (1.5+3.4+0.6) = 5.5 miles.
I have to confess; after yesterday's 7 miles my back is aching. Odd because my legs are fine. I'm really going to have to stop carrying bricks in my backpack.
Thursday 13 January 2011
Overton - take 2
Pushing to use up some unspent 2010 holidays I took today off and headed solo up to Overton once more. I came here, goodness me it's nearly a month ago, to do the Reindeer Roundabout Ramble series - it was sub-zero, windy and therefore bitterly cold.
Well what a difference a month has made - I might still have been taking two steps forwards and one step back but this time it was because of the mud and not the solid ice. It was +12 degrees centigrade (at 10:00 am, much more by midday) as opposed to -4 degrees last time.
I parked at the Reindeer Inn again, a favoured haunt of MikeG the series owner I believe, and set off on a 4.2 mile jaunt picking up 16 caches on the way. Most of the caches were quick and easy finds which, for me, makes the walk much more fun and this truly was a fabulous walk set in lovely countryside; sun, warm air, plenty of wildlife (squirrels, pigeons, grouse) and also domestic animals (dogs, cows, horses) and generally up hill and down dale through mud, mud and more mud.
Lots of mud. I've got home and I'm caked to my knees where it's splashed up both the front and back.
What a great day! And it's not even over...
I returned to the Reindeer, had a drink and some nice lunch in there then moved the car half a mile down the road and started another smaller series. I had a couple of frustrating did-not-finds on this walk, and the mud was unbelievably even worse, but I felt great after it - likely because of the walk up wet farmer's fields making me work hard.
This walk was 2.4 miles and bagged another 5 caches bring the day's total to 6.6 miles and 21 caches.
PS. I genuinely think that in the height of summer this first series "Denby Delights 2010" (plus a few extras en-route) will probably be one of the best cache walks there is. In the thick mud today, suitably equipped of course, I still rate it as one of my best ever. Thanks Mike.
Well what a difference a month has made - I might still have been taking two steps forwards and one step back but this time it was because of the mud and not the solid ice. It was +12 degrees centigrade (at 10:00 am, much more by midday) as opposed to -4 degrees last time.
I parked at the Reindeer Inn again, a favoured haunt of MikeG the series owner I believe, and set off on a 4.2 mile jaunt picking up 16 caches on the way. Most of the caches were quick and easy finds which, for me, makes the walk much more fun and this truly was a fabulous walk set in lovely countryside; sun, warm air, plenty of wildlife (squirrels, pigeons, grouse) and also domestic animals (dogs, cows, horses) and generally up hill and down dale through mud, mud and more mud.
Lots of mud. I've got home and I'm caked to my knees where it's splashed up both the front and back.
What a great day! And it's not even over...
I returned to the Reindeer, had a drink and some nice lunch in there then moved the car half a mile down the road and started another smaller series. I had a couple of frustrating did-not-finds on this walk, and the mud was unbelievably even worse, but I felt great after it - likely because of the walk up wet farmer's fields making me work hard.
This walk was 2.4 miles and bagged another 5 caches bring the day's total to 6.6 miles and 21 caches.
PS. I genuinely think that in the height of summer this first series "Denby Delights 2010" (plus a few extras en-route) will probably be one of the best cache walks there is. In the thick mud today, suitably equipped of course, I still rate it as one of my best ever. Thanks Mike.
Monday 10 January 2011
A quick catch-up
I know I've been remiss lately with regard to my blog, so apologies to me when I read this rather slack diary in the future.
Christmas and New Year have both been and gone, and I've worked pretty much through it solidly. I've been caching quite a few times but simply not had the chance, or really the motivation, to blog it.
So here is a summary:
29/12/2010 - Did 12 drive-by caches with Patrick. He was pushing to get his 1000 before his 12-month caching anniversary and as the weather was rubbish he decided to do these - they're pretty much ones you wouldn't want to do in nice weather. We only walked to a couple and the distance was under half a mile.
29/12/2010 - In the evening we popped out to get the last three Patrick needed for his 1000. The plan being that they'd be Mr Truffles as his very first cache was also one by him. Sadly one of the caches had been muggled so we left at 999 having walked 1.4 miles. (Patrick actually got a good result here - that very evening Mr T published a very tough puzzle which Patrick got the next morning for his 1000th cache with the bonus of also being the First-To-Find.)
02/01/2011 - Went to a BBQ(!) at Snoopyisboss's house. This was a small event with 15 fellow geocachers and a great time was had by all, Snoopy (Sarah) really did herself proud. No walking or caching but certainly lots of eating and drinking!
03/01/2011 - Went to do a Mr. Truffles series at Barnburgh, one we'd thought we might squeeze in at the Halloween event but ran out of time. This was a nice walk with Patrick & family who were just along for the walk as they'd found them all before. Four miles in total.
08/01/2011 - Did a series called 'Scooby Doo - Where are you?' near Hooton Pagnell. This is all reclaimed pit land and made for a nice, albeit very wet, four mile walk. It was also a good test for my new 'real' walking boots which I had treated myself to over the festive season and of which I am very proud. (There was a small footbridge which had flooded so I carried the kids across.)
And that's that. I'm hoping to get some good solo walks in this month as I have holiday days I need to use up. Fingers crossed I sort my act out and do it!
Christmas and New Year have both been and gone, and I've worked pretty much through it solidly. I've been caching quite a few times but simply not had the chance, or really the motivation, to blog it.
So here is a summary:
29/12/2010 - Did 12 drive-by caches with Patrick. He was pushing to get his 1000 before his 12-month caching anniversary and as the weather was rubbish he decided to do these - they're pretty much ones you wouldn't want to do in nice weather. We only walked to a couple and the distance was under half a mile.
29/12/2010 - In the evening we popped out to get the last three Patrick needed for his 1000. The plan being that they'd be Mr Truffles as his very first cache was also one by him. Sadly one of the caches had been muggled so we left at 999 having walked 1.4 miles. (Patrick actually got a good result here - that very evening Mr T published a very tough puzzle which Patrick got the next morning for his 1000th cache with the bonus of also being the First-To-Find.)
02/01/2011 - Went to a BBQ(!) at Snoopyisboss's house. This was a small event with 15 fellow geocachers and a great time was had by all, Snoopy (Sarah) really did herself proud. No walking or caching but certainly lots of eating and drinking!
03/01/2011 - Went to do a Mr. Truffles series at Barnburgh, one we'd thought we might squeeze in at the Halloween event but ran out of time. This was a nice walk with Patrick & family who were just along for the walk as they'd found them all before. Four miles in total.
08/01/2011 - Did a series called 'Scooby Doo - Where are you?' near Hooton Pagnell. This is all reclaimed pit land and made for a nice, albeit very wet, four mile walk. It was also a good test for my new 'real' walking boots which I had treated myself to over the festive season and of which I am very proud. (There was a small footbridge which had flooded so I carried the kids across.)
And that's that. I'm hoping to get some good solo walks in this month as I have holiday days I need to use up. Fingers crossed I sort my act out and do it!
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