Marvellous May Day

Monday the 2nd of May and an early rise to get ready for a 10:30 start near Matlock. Patrick had put a shout-out on Facebook for anyone who would like to join him there to do the Alphabet Soup series. I'd mostly prepared the night before so set off easily at a reasonable time as prompted by my SatNav. I got there 40 minutes early; plenty of time for me to find the first cache before the rest arrived, and to fix the blummin' average speeds used by my SatNav.

Alphabet Soup was first brought to my attention by Mr. Truffles during his Coniston 10,000 outing. He raved about it and said I should do it ASAP. Indeed it is something to note that certain caches on this series have some of the highest 'favourite' counts I've seen.

In attendance we had Patdhill (Patrick, Donna, Christianna, Bethany, Jordan and Dizzy the Dog), Ea51ron (Ron and Honey the Dog), Snoopyisboss (Sarah and Megs the Dog) and myself (with an imaginary dog if it makes you, dear reader, happier.) We opted to sign the caches as Team SYMO - an acronym for South Yorkshire May Outing.

This series is based on the alphabet, so unsurprisingly there are 26 caches, but it is not just the quantity that makes this series so good, it is a combination of several things...

Firstly it is set in a beautiful area known as Darley Dale. If I may quote Smart451 the series owner "[Darley Dale] is in fact made up of several smaller settlements, namely Churchtown, Darley Bridge or South Darley, Darley Hillside (Hackney), Northwood and Two Dales."

These small settlements afford a good mix of terrain so although there is a little A-road walking there is also a good amount crossing fields, bridges, quiet B-roads and walking through fabulous unlittered and unspoiled woodlands.

Secondly each cache has a themed name related to its place in the alphabet and also to something near the location or failing that something related to the cache container. For example the second cache is called B - Alphabet Soup (Bridge) and is of course hidden near a bridge. The third cache is called C - Alphabet Soup (Cow) and is hidden near a field of cows inside a model cow.

This brings me nicely to the third point. Bucking the all-too-common trend nowadays of simply hiding 35mm film pots everywhere, the series owner here has taken a great deal of time and effort thinking about each cache. I don't want to give too much away for fear of writing spoilers but I'll give a few unnamed examples... One cache is an ammo can (a large waterproof metal tin) that once you open you are confronted with a padlock and a bundle of keys - only one of which works. Another has a four foot long camouflaged tube stuck vertically into the ground inside a bush in the woods. The cache is at the bottom of the tube and you're given two small tools to work the cache up the inside using small holes on the side of the tube. Another cache is inside a drilled out rock.

Overall I would estimate that of the 26 caches there were 18 that were innovative designs or just plain and simple great camouflage - none were difficult to find but I'd be surprised if they would be found by Muggles.

A great series - definitely one of the best, if not THE best, bettered by good company and yet again fabulous weather.

Huge thanks must go to Smart451 for all the time and effort in placing a well thought out and original series.

[Total was 28 caches (two randoms) and 8.8 miles.]

... and back home in time to watch the last session of the World Snooker Championship in its entirety.