I'd been studying my Geocaching maps recently and it struck me that of all the caches I've discovered I have seriously neglected the south-west direction from where I live. This is partially because it's headed towards Sheffield (and I don't enjoy urban caches) but also because that means there's a fair bit of travelling to get to any caches down that way ie. Derbyshire.
Specifically trying to amend this I came up with a plan to do a series called 'A Quarry Caper' around Stoney Middleton - a place I've never heard of. The owners of this series have another nearby called 'A Stoney Stroll' and I half thought to maybe get them both done in one day. (This didn't happen.)
I'd had my usual heavy Friday night out so I didn't rush as I made my pack-up and prepared for the walk. A steady drive behind plenty of Sunday morning drivers out 22 hours early and I was ready to start walking at 1pm.
It was a hot day, I was starting this walk already pretty dehydrated and I was soon to realise I'd not even thought about suncream. As the American's would say - My bad.
Starting to figure why this place is called Stoney Middleton.
This series is 13 caches, plus a bonus, but also recommends that you start with an unrelated one en-route.
Only ten minutes into the walk up the hill from the main road. A beautiful place.
My muscles still waking up and my breath highly laboured, as it always is at the start of a new walking day, I soon got to the first unrelated cache and signed that and moved on and out onto a path across a farmer's fields. It took me an age to find the next cache, the first of the series proper, and even after two phone-a-friend's I was no better off. Finally stepping back and re-evaluating the area I soon saw a clue and had it in hand.
Walking further across the fields, only stopping to let a farmer pass by making large circular bales and us both watching one slowly roll a long way down the field, I realised I was heading into some woodland and was already thankful of the approaching shade. The sun was seriously beating down and with no suncream or hat I knew I was running a risk. Still struggling to rehydrate too I was working through my water and it was only 13:45.
Waiting for Doggles to pass I soon found the second in the series but then got scared. A small fist-sized stone covering the cache rolled down the hill and suddenly it, and then I, were surrounded by 20-30 very angry sounding wasps. I'm not scared of insects or creepy-crawlies (except for being terrified of spiders, go figure) but I was seriously unnerved and I could sense this turning really nasty. I picked up the cache and moved a good distance away until the noise died down. I signed the log, took a Geocoin, and sealed it all back up before tentatively heading back to the cache location. Fortunately the area was clear and replacing the cache, along with a new stone, I was thankful things hadn't taken a turn for the worse.
Now into the woods I struggled at #3 (of this series), walked up a lane and passed by a group of hiker's who took a different route to me as I walked back out onto farm/moorland. A gentle climb up a hill to #4 and #5 and then up a track which passes by a large quarry to reach #6.
A long walk past the quarry to #7 and then out onto a B-Road for a drive-by #8 before turning over a stile and past a farm. This field looked down onto what I guess is a man-made lake on an old quarry judging by the colour of the water.
Not drinking water I hope!
I stopped at the bottom of this field for my late lunch (it's 15:30) and took an age to find #9 in all the overgrown undergrowth (overgrowth?) From here it was a short roll to the bottom of the hill before another long steady climb up a track, the sun beating down on me still. A quick find for #10 before travelling further along the track to #11. Unfortunately I spent 20 minutes here to no avail. I used my torch to look in all the nooks and crannies but didn't see a hint of anything. I guess it's still there but it's certainly beaten me and my worry now is that I might have missed a number required for the final.
A long long steady descent passing by another quarry to bag #12 before hitting the main road and then getting near to cache #13 called 'Elevation'
The quarry at #12
Goodness me, elevation indeed. The trail here was little more than a ghost of a path leading near vertical up the side of a steep woodland. It looks like it's never used, it's overgrown with plants including brambles and nettles and it's a lung killer. There's little wonder it looks hardly used.
Up and up I struggled, then along a level bit with rope handrails to some steep wooden steps, up those then along again and then out into an overgrown field before my GPS finally catches up with my location (having struggled with reception under heavy tree cover) and decides to helpfully inform me that the cache is 80 feet behind me. And 70 feet down. Sigh. Back down the track to a thankfully simple find whilst being eaten alive by flies and then up the hill again. Looking at my track logs I can see this section from road to top is an elevation of 70 metres!
The view from near #13
Thankfully I can now see that I do indeed have all the clues required for the final cache so I enter them into the GPS and follow another ghost path around another quarry. This path, between a wire fence and a stone wall was practically invisible and had to be walked with arms raised to avoid nettles - I was wary of tripping so took my time but in actuality was soon upon the final bonus cache, a nice big ammo can full of junk. (Why do cachers have the urge to leave such crap?) Anyway the cache itself was a fitting end to a fantastic series.
All that remained was the half mile walk back down a long steep road, killing the backs of my legs. I'd walked 7.9 miles in total but with all the hills it felt like 10. I'd run out of water having drunk my entire 2 litres ages before the end but thankfully I didn't feel too dehydrated.
All in all a fabulous day out; I'd thrown myself out into the big-wide-world and I had triumphed, the sun was still shining, I was hot and sweaty and my face felt sandblasted from all the quarry dust and pollen but I felt fabulous and to prove that fact to the world I sang along to Marillion the entire drive home :)
[edit to add: 14 caches total]
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