Walla Crag

On Saturday 12/05/12 I joined a group of Geocachers for a "multiple milestones" day up in the Lakes.

I left the house at 6:15 to meet MikeG and Ska Face (Jon) up at M1 J38 and we then wellied it up the M1, A1 and A66 to Keswick.

Arriving in plenty of time for 9:00 (early it transpired) we hung around waiting for the others who were coming for the arranged 9:30.

Eventually we had Mr Truffles (Ernie, who had organised the outing), The Black Pigs (Dave, Sue and Brook the dog), JCB1705 (Charlie), StevieP, Patdhill (Patrick) and of course MikeG, Ska Face and myself.

I was well prepared having had my porridge, and being well packed with sandwiches, tea and emergency Mars bar, as well as multiple layers of clothes ready for whatever the weather could throw at us.

We set off up Walla Crag, after bagging an easy cache at the side of the layby we'd all used, and made good time ascending, picking up 4 caches in a series on the way up.

The cache Ernie had chosen as the multiple milestoner was BT4 just below the peak. The reason for this was the cache "Walla Crag" at the top had already been found previously by Ska Face so he wouldn't be able to claim it.

BT4 became Mr Truffles' 14,000th cache, StevieP's 12,000th cache and Ska Face's 8,000th cache! What an epic set of milestones!

We took a few photos and then quickly reached the top where MikeG hoisted the Yorkshire flag and we celebrated with photos, truffles and sparkling wine!

Ascent of Walla Crag

The Milestoners

Celebrations at the top

View from the peak looking over Derwent Water
with Basenthwaite Lake in the far distance

After the next cache we decided to alter our plans and head for Bleaberry Fell (to the strains of some terrible singing) and then onto High Seat as they were both "Wainwrights" a few members hadn't bagged.

We ascended from 340 to 450 metres quite gently but then the route from 450 to 590 was pretty steep and was really good exercise.

The sun was beating down and it was very warm when out of the wind so we stopped for a leisurely lunch here and a good old chinwag before a gentle 40m descent and re-ascent up to High Seat peaking at almost 610m

From here it was a long and steady descent for a while before hitting quite a steep descent down a long trail to Ashness Bridge which is supposedly famous for it's beauty and I'm told adorns many calendars and placemats. I wanted to take a photo but it was crowded with people so I left it alone.

Just above this spot was a fantastic little stream with a perfect picnic spot - I must return one day with the kids and a pretty woman! Unfortunately I didn't get a picture but Ernie took this one nearby...

From here we reclimbed the hill a little heading across to rejoin the original BT cache series we'd previously started, albeit now temporarily in reverse. We then descended via an alternative route all the way down to the original road stopping at another allegedly famous photo spot...

We then simply headed back along the road to the cars, changed out of our muddy boots and all met up in a pub on the A66 to celebrate a tiny bit more with a well-deserved pint (Thanks Jon, I owe you!)

Overall it really was a fantastic day, they don't get much better; 9 miles of excellent views, great weather and fabulous company. I felt fitter than I think I ever have with my muscles and stamina bristling with confidence and energy (the only hiccup was my right ankle which still isn't right.)

Somehow we also managed to get 19 caches which I thought really strange; I had guessed we'd only got about 10.

Thanks all for inviting me and here's looking forward to the 15,000th milestone trip!!

Helvellyn 10,000

Sunday 07/08/11 - 5am

Woken up from a fitful nights sleep by my phone alarm clock I set about making final preparations for the long day ahead. Four litres of water were stored in the backpack, sandwiches retrieved from the fridge, crisps, chocolate, celery and carrots added to the mix. I have to note that I'd already packed the suncream four days earlier after my last two long walks ended in sunburn.

I set off to meet StevieP near to where I work for 6am.

"Why the early start?" I hear you ask, "especially as you're typically a lazy sod on Sunday mornings."

"Well", says I, rising to defend myself and to stop this silly third-person speaking...

In similar style to the epic outing in March to Coniston, today we were all hoping to join StevieP as he bags his 10,000th cache atop Helvellyn in the Lake District. No small feat for him (over 9000 caches in front of me) and no small feat for me as Helvellyn is the second or third highest peak in England after Scafell Pike and Scafell - depending on your Marilyns and Hewitts. (See Wikipedia page on Helvellyn, also see Highest mountains in England.) It is approximately 500m taller than Coniston Old Man but more telling is it's prominence of 712m as opposed to 416m - this is a more accurate guide of how much work you have to put in to ascend to the summit.

6am
Pick up StevieP and drive up the M1 to Overton to meet MikeG. Get into his car and drive through Huddersfield to the M62 and pick up Paul 'Penfolio' at 7am.

7am-9am.
The long drive up to the Lake District was an enjoyable one swapping stories with the guys who I've not seen for a few months. We also picked up a couple of driveby caches on the motorway and then the A591 so that Steve had some leeway should we get any DNFs later in the day - it's a tricky business trying to ensure that your 10,000th cache is a specific one! As we then hit the smaller roads we also picked up another couple of caches on the A592 close to our destination - Glenridding which is on the south end of Ullswater.

9:30am - 160 metres - our starting altitude
Having now met up with Mr Truffles, KevW, and his two children 'The Penguin Boys', we set off west and I was soon wheezing away and feeling as though my heart wanted to go home already. The short steep climb to the first cache would originally have been a bad omen but I've now become used to the fact that each day my walking starts with tired legs, a pounding heart and lungs that seem painfully inadequate yet I know that this eases away after about 45 minutes as my body loosens up. My rucksack is extra heavy today with 2 litres of extra water (i.e. 2kg extra weight) and also enough food for two stops rather than the typical one. Thankfully I'm assisted by the cool damp weather. Incidently there had been terrible rain the day before and we were on rain alert today too - looks like I'm carrying the suncream for no reason!

The first cache was found quickly by main man StevieP but we notice that the puzzle coordinates inside are missing. Fortunately the cache these refer to is located after his planned 10,000th so missing it won't affect him.

We then headed along the hillside on a gentle climb before a quick 20m rise at the end (to 250m) to find another cache - Glenridding Saunter 1 - a puzzle nicely worked out the day before by KevW. A simple hide that stumped both Mr Truffles and StevieP before I walked up and instantly put my hand on it - just one of those strange random things but I was pleased I did as I think it was my only find of the day.

A long gentle walk up a track to arrive at Glenridding Saunter 2 (again pre-solved by KevW) for 10:30 at an altitude of 340m. This was the last cache of the day in any series - all the rest were unrelated standalone caches.

Following a path further up we stopped for another cache just where Red Tarn Beck joins with Glenridding Beck at about 420m before all splitting up while each planning a route across the stream so we could ascend Raise - our first major summit of the day.

I'd wandered off with MikeG and we found a good place to cross but I still managed to dunk my right leg in the water. A cold shock but in hindsight I think it was 95% temperature drop and only 5% water leakage over the top of my boots - thankfully. I'm no expert but I suspect wet feet would make for an highly unpleasant walk and blisters.

From the stream level of 400m we had a short, sharp and tough scramble up to 440m before joining a track and then a steady walk to 500m over the next 15 minutes and then the climb started in earnest.

Scrambling up the hillside in the absence of a path

11:30am
Over the next 45 minutes I zigzagged a walking mile up the hill, rising to a whopping 810m; I just put my head down and simply placed one foot in front of the other, keeping to my own pace, only stopping momentarily to drink water and to root out some celery from my backpack. I was feeling pretty good and 'all systems normal' so I made good time. StevieP and I then diverted off the path to head north towards the actual peak and another cache at 870m in a howling cold wind which we had become exposed to as we reached the summit edge.

Halfway up the tough path. If you look carefully you can see a car near the reservoir wall. Helvellyn is off to the right shrouded in mist.

Even further up (but still not the top) - the car is now a black dot

I was warm enough just wearing my usual t-shirt and walking coat except where I was exposed to the wind; it really was biting cold so I fastened my walking pole to my backpack, pulled my hands into my sleeves, pulled my hood on tight and gritted my teeth.

We then headed southwest for half a mile descending to 820m and re-ascending to 850m to the top of White Side where we regrouped with most members except MikeG who was determined to reach the Raise summit as it was one of the few he'd not visited previously.

12:30pm
Heading due south (briefly in light rain driven by the wind) we descended back down to a 'lowly' 780m and stopped for lunch under the shelter of a rock outcrop before climbing steadily back up to the summit of Helvellyn Lower Man at 900m (the fifth highest in England) and another cache entitled 'Wainwright's Missing Mountain?' Scrambling around the damp rocks here, still in howling wind, I was decidedly uneasy about my footing and was thankful when StevieP located it above me - I carefully extricated myself and wrapped up again before continuing.

A lunchtime photo. If you look just above-left from centre you can make out the snaking path we all complained about earlier.

Along the edge here and then a gentle climb up to the trig point at the top of Helvellyn, which is also a virtual cache, at a whopping altitude of 950m. A couple of pictures but no real time to stop as StevieP is excited... he's on 9,999 caches and the next one is something of a milestone!

A very brief walk, perhaps 200 feet, and we all stopped in a sheltered rest area - a stone wall in the shape of a cross, probably has a name I'm unaware of - to rest, assemble the flag and to leave Steve to find the next cache himself.

Still bitterly cold, Mr Truffles and I joined him to help in what turned out to be a really tricky hide amongst a cairn pile surrounding the monument to Charles Gough - an artist who had died there in 1805 and was found three months later still being guarded by his dog.

1:00pm
Cache finally in hand we all congratulated Steve on his epic milestone - much hand-shaking and back-slapping as we were all so chuffed for him. Finally we settled down for some photos before moving on to try and find somewhere warmer!

StevieP signing his 10,000th log!

Steve stood by the monument with his 10k cache

Group photo with the Yorkshire flag: The Penguin Boys, Penfolio, Mr Truffles, StevieP, KevW and MikeG

We headed south descending steadily to 890m to the peak of Nethermost Pike, a quick down and up to High Crag and further south, slowly descending to Dollywaggon Pike around 820m.

I'm not too hot on geography (I have to look at maps to get the names for my blog) but at some point I took some pictures of the staggering views. It was hard to get the exposure right - too much sky caused the furthest mountains to white-out of my picture - but honestly I thought to myself 'Here are the English Alps.'

Epic!

It was around this time I was also starting to feel the energy desert me. I poured away a litre of water because my lower back was aching (strange because that doesn't usually happen) and I also deliberately lost a little of my pace. Then things got tough...

Over the next 30 minutes we descended 270m down to 550m using crudely made stone steps (placed there to cut down erosion) and this damn near killed me. The steps made hard work with their random layout and random tread sizes but with my legs now tired the struggle against gravity was much harder than the ascent. I slowly got left behind with MikeG and Penfolio as none of us liked the descent.

15:25pm
We met up with the group at Grisedale Tarn and then continued the still long but less steep descent over the next 3 miles down to 200m.

Catching up with the group again we discussed our final leg to the car park. Opting to skip a planned cache we took another route to an 'easier' cache - it's all relative and 'easier' at this stage meant 'almost impossible' for me. I'm out of energy. I'm not running on reserves, I'm not using my spare tank, I'm not even running on fumes, I'm empty.

Still 1.5 miles to go to pick up a couple of roadside caches, the first of which I suspected (accurately it transpired) was my 900th cache. A bit of a shame because in all honesty it was a crap cache in a crap location.

The last one was much better, albeit tricky to find, and then it was back to the car park to change shoes, drop off backpacks and to head to the pub for a celebratory round of drinks proudly bought by the hero of the day Steve.

Not much else to report after this... drive blah blah blah and home for 9pm but I must give thanks and my appreciation to MikeG for driving the majority of the distance there and back.

Overall a fantastic day, enjoyed by all. We saw some incredible views even with the variable weather but once again camera pictures simply cannot do them justice.

Using my GPS I've got my walking total pegged in at 14.8 miles and I bagged 19 caches. We'd gone from an altitude of 170m to 950m but I estimate total walking ascent to be approximately 1,005m. I got this by simply adding up all the big UPs and not subtracting any DOWNs - that's just over one kilometre of vertical ascent!

Profile of our ascent mapping metres against miles

Most of all though it was a great day for us all and of course especially for StevieP - well done Steve!

A Google Earth image of our route. We started on the right (the green dot) and headed anti-clockwise. North is approximately at 2 o'clock.

Coniston 10,000 - Day 2

(Continued from here.)

Saturday morning 19/03/2011 Coniston.

After a drunken night's sleep and being repeatedly awoken through dehydration, toilet visits, headache tablets and a faulty B&B alarm clock, I finally awoke at the correct time of 7:30 and went downstairs for my English breakfast.

I felt surprisingly well, ate my food, booted up and walked the short distance into town to meet the forming flock at the tourist information car park.

Waiting there for people to arrive I quickly realised I was struggling to stand up straight without wobbling - the reason I was feeling reasonably OK was because I was still drunk. The merciless, and deserved, teasing started here and continued throughout the day and evening.

I then got a lift in Patrick's van up to the Walna Scar Road car park. Here we waited and met up with everyone else.

Roll call
(In no particular order and with Geocaching usernames.)
Ernie (Mr. Truffles) - his event, his soon-to-be 10,000th cache.
Mike (MikeG) - flag carrier (for the peak and for photos.)
Steve (StevieP)
Patrick and Donna (Patdhill) and Dizzy the dog.
Dave and Sue (The Black Pigs) and Brook the smelly caching dog (their words, not mine.)
Paul (Penfolio)
Gary (Bleaklow)
and me Mark (Aggrajag)

We started with a gentle walk along the Walna Scar Road heading towards the Boo Tarn path that we were going to take up to the summit of Coniston Old Man but tragically I remember very little of the first hour. My lungs felt like I was eighty, I was wheezing, my heart was pounding and I was perpetually thirsty. I'd taken tablets and had two litres of water on me for the day, so I was prepared - but my body wasn't.

Within twenty minutes I thought I would die here. I honestly couldn't cope, even taking it all one-foot-in-front-of-the-other I could see I'd not make it to the first plateau nevermind the summit. Why on Earth did I drink so much the previous night?

Ernie encouraged me and told me to take my time, along with another couple who were struggling, and to keep plodding on steadily each time the group stopped to find and sign a cache. I mostly did this and for this reason didn't even see the first five caches.

We headed up and up and up, in beautiful weather with clouds around the peaks, and slowly my body started to work. Like a seized up engine slowly easing free my lungs expanded and performed more quietly so my breathing was far less laboured, my joints loosened and my pounding heart slowed to a steady pace. Continually sipping water from my platypus I gradually felt better although I did take another couple of painkillers about 10:30am for a headache I could feel creeping in.

During one of my 'keep on walking' phases I missed a turning, or to quote someone I "zagged instead of zigged" and ended up a good way off course. Determined at all costs not to walk downhill and waste any energy already spent I mountain-goated it along a non-path towards a potential rendezvous point and consequently completely missed the third cache by about a 70 foot elevation.

Some distance up the mountain

Between the third and fifth cache I was fooled by a couple of false peaks. Maybe it was just delusional hope but it's soul destroying to come over the brow of a hill to see another three in front of it.

Further up the mountain and looking to Coniston Water

We all grouped up at the fifth cache (Geocache link: Peek a Boo 5) ready for the final push; the steepest part of the walk and the last leg before the summit. I was feeling even better so set off second behind Mr Truffles who had got a burst of 'Truffle power' because the next cache would be his 10,000th.

A really arduous walk to the top, I was easily overtaken by Bleaklow, but was pleased to eventually arrive third and joyously congratulated Mr T on his epic landmark - 10,000 caches! - it really puts my 700 into perspective.

It was now 10:50, only 100 minutes into the expedition yet amazingly 1,800 feet higher than the start with us now being at an altitude of 2,550 feet.

Everyone arrived and we celebrated with champagne and chocolate truffles from the main man himself, and also parkin provided by the Black Pigs. (Personally I would have sold my children at this point, had I got them with me, for a cup of coffee.) MikeG constructed his Yorkshire flag and we took many photos of the group and the fantastic views all around us - including 'Low Water' 700 feet directly below us. We even sang 'Happy 10,000 to you' to the tune of Happy Birthday. It was bitterly cold, now exposed to the wind, and there were even patches of snow around but we stopped for 30 minutes before heading off North towards Brim Fell.

Mr. Truffles bags his 10,000th cache
(Also note snowball made by Bleaklow)

Mr. Truffles being congratulated by flag carrier MikeG

A view from the peak down to Low Water - a deceiving 700 feet below

(Please note that my pictures today were taken by a simple point and shoot Kodak digital camera. Distance does not show itself in these pictures and the lighting is also pretty poor in some of them.)

A long flat walk, rising only 30 feet over the next half a mile we soon arrived at the highest point of our day at 2,587 feet - the peak of Brim Fell. Heading South-West we made a long descent to a dip between Brim Fell and Dow Crag and here we stopped for lunch in a lovely sheltered location affording us fantastic views towards the rocky mountaineering sides of Dow Crag. Time to eat, take some more pictures and also have a play with my binoculars.

Looking at Dow Crag

From this lower point of 2,100 feet we then walked steadily up to the peak of Dow Crag arriving at 12:30 and now at about 2,470 feet. Hard going again as I had food sitting uncomfortably inside me - nothing to do with alcohol or the side effects, just simply a lump of food in the way. Otherwise I was feeling fantastic.

Here some of us (not me I confess) found A Window on Dow Crag (Geocache link) which is a hard cache overlooking very steep cliffs. Here there is a stone rested on another stone leaving a 'window' in the mountain. All much too scary for me.

StevieP following Mr. Truffles to 'The Window'

From here a long gentle walk South through bitterly cold blowing fog towards Brown Pike peaking at 2,120 feet. The clouds were very strange for although you could see them blowing past you merely five feet away you could still see tremendously long distances. It was like fog in reverse.

By this point I was full of energy and feeling fit as a fiddle albeit, of course, with tired legs.

From here we headed South West on a long, but easy, dog leg to pick up a couple of unrelated caches. The first half was tricky, rocky paths but the second half was lovely flat grass and was a welcome relief on the ankles.

An about turn and most of the way back to Brown Pike stopping short and heading off East across the Southern face of it before turning North and heading along the East face towards a natural wonder (in my eyes) - Blind Tarn. This is a beautiful natural lake invisible from all sides except from Brown Pike above; crystal clear water fills a genuinely tranquil hidden oasis. We all stopped to admire it's beauty for fifteen minutes or so.

A view from above taken much earlier

A Mediterranean Oasis? Nah, it's near frozen

The same with the sun hiding

Back to the path on the South face of Brown Pike and then a long hard trek East along a stony and rocky path until we arrived, knees aching, at a stone bridge over a small beck. I found this rather strange as it was the first sight of civilisation we'd had for several hours and seemed rather at odds with the surroundings. From here we could also see through the reverse side of 'The Window' way, way up the hills back at Dow Crag to our North North West. Another peek through the binoculars to see it much closer.

The end now in sight we decided to divert once more to pick up another cache at a disused quarry south of the track we were on. Leaving rocky tracks we thankfully started walking on grass again and soon arrived at a man-made wonder. A beautiful waterfall hidden in what appears to be an abandoned slate quarry (I could be wrong.) The pictures do not do the light justice.

Abandoned quarry

A different view

Heading back North to the original track again (and having to regain lost height much to the chagrin of certain members) we soon arrived back at the track and then made the final push North East then East back towards the car park only stopping for a quick look at some rocks to fulfil the requirements of an Earthcache (and educate ourselves) and also a group photo for the same reason.

From L-R: Sue, Dave, Brook the Dog, MikeG, Bleaklow, StevieP, Penfolio, Yours truly, Patdhill, Dizzy the Dog and Mr. Truffles.
Thanks to Donna for taking the photo.

We arrived back at the cars, weary and aching, at 15:30 having been out for six and a half hours and having walked/climbed/struggled through nine miles of mountains atop five peaks - Old Man of Coniston, Brim Fell, Dow Crag, Brown Pike and White Maiden.

Elevation profile of the walk - it's got up and down bits!

The route as mapped by my GPSr

The route viewed in 3D using Google Earth.
The start and finish point is at the far right.
We worked anti-clockwise.

We drove back down to the village of Coniston and for a final flourish took a group photo for a webcam cache (our 20th cache and last of the day) before Mr. Truffles kindly bought us all a much needed celebratory pint. An hour's chatting, more shaking of hands and slaps of backs and then we all mostly went our own ways.

Webcache photo

Five of us remained for a further night. We met up for food at seven but I can tell you it was significantly more subdued than the previous evening and after food and a lemonade I was back at my B&B for 10pm watching TV and ready for a sleep!

All in all an absolutely fantastic weekend. I hope to do it more often and even now, three days later, I'm still buzzing from the experience.

Thank you to ALL that attended for making it the event it was.

Incredible.

Coniston 10,000 - The evening before the morning after

I'm breaking this weekend's events down into two blogs. This first one is going to have very little to do with actual Geocaching and an awful lot to do with Guinness...

Ernie 'Mr. Truffles' Roper has been planning for his 10,000th cache for a couple of months and wanted to do something special. He eventually settled upon the idea of walking up and around The Old Man of Coniston (aka Coniston Old Man, here's a link to some info about it on Wikipedia.) Essentially it is a mountain. A big mountain surrounded by other mountains and those mountains are surrounded by hills disguised as mountains or mountains pretending to be hills, I'm not sure, but that's how it seemed to me. However I digress, more of this in blog #2.

I had wanted to go on this walk since I'd heard about it but was worried about the logistics of work, having the kids at weekends, driving long distances and various other things I always seem to worry about.

However the Monday before the event I took the plunge and arranged with my ex-wife to have the kids over the weekend, booked two nights B&B in Coniston and set about preparing my packing list, my equipment and my mountain of technology - camera, GPS etc. I even ordered myself a quality pair of binoculars which I may or may not remember to mention later.

I was looking forward to it all week and as I'd already booked the Friday morning off for my son's guitar exam I extended this to the whole day and set off at 2pm for the ~3 hour drive to Coniston. Beautiful weather, very little traffic and the first five remastered Queen albums (for their 40th anniversary!) to entertain me on the journey. Things were looking good.

I arrived at 4:30, unpacked (well I'm a man - I opened my suitcase), and headed off into town for some food. I settled into the Crown Inn and ordered Steak and Kidney pie and a Guinness. Excellent food. From here I emailed Mr Truffles and asked him to forward my mobile number to anyone else who was already in the area. I'd not been clever enough to do this earlier in the week except for an email to two attendees that morning.

A quick reply and I see he's forwarded it to StevieP who he guesses may already be in the Sun Hotel. At the bar.

I trot up there and just as I arrive my phone rings. It's Paul 'Penfolio' (someone I'd emailed that morning) who is just arriving at the Crown so I return to meet him and also StevieP - I must have missed them by seconds just ten minutes earlier. It's good fortune Penfolio had read my email as StevieP had been given the wrong number for me. (Typing error.)

Introductions are made and a round is ordered. StevieP and his wife are regulars to Coniston and recommend elsewhere to eat so I follow them all to The Yewdale where they order food. A couple more drinks are ordered and then Dave and Sue 'The Black Pigs' arrive. More introductions and more beer.

It's only about 8pm, I'm on five pints and thinking hey, the night is young; there's loads of time to rest and sober up ready for the morning. It's the weekend, it's new friends, it's a holiday!

Penfolio expresses some concern about carrying on drinking but I can tell he likes a drink. I manage to pursuade him (after about 5 seconds) to have another - and anyway, StevieP, the local expert, has said Coniston Old Man is, and I quote, "A walk in the park", "Easier than Jagger's Clough" (on Kinder Scout) and "Nothing to worry about". Oh how we laughed through the tears at these comments the next day.

Moving up to StevieP's regular holiday drinking den, The Sun Hotel, we find it is a large hotel and bar full of Red Nose Day revellers and celebrations. There are darts and domino tournaments being arranged, quizzes and other such entertainment. The place is packed and loud but all good fun. Several of us get roped into events and somehow I end up becoming a domino referee - moving into another side of the pub full of boisterous women determined to win at dominoes for which no-one is actually sure of which rules are being played. As a referee I make some up and stick to them.

From this point on things are hazy; stories were swapped and arguments were had with the noisy gang of women. Penfolio and I had a good laugh and I did my best to circulate between both sets of new friends, buying and drinking rounds at both ends of the pub. The beer monster had well and truly kicked in.

By 10pm I do remember thinking that I would easily manage in the morning, after all it was only a walk in the park, nothing to worry about.

By 11pm my logic had turned to who cares, I'll probably be OK and so what if I'm not.

By midnight I was thinking I'm going to be ill tomorrow but as self-punishment I damned well WILL do this walk.

By 12:45 I was happily trying to find my B&B with 11 pints of Guinness sloshing around inside me and thinking about having to get up at 8am to be ready at the car park for 8:45...


Continued here.

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!

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.

Ghosties and Geocachers

Hannah's parents Julie and Martin (Geocaching name Fat Bloke) came down for the weekend to do a spot of local Geocaching and also to attend a Halloween Geocaching event with us.

After catching up on our geo-gossip we set off to Barnburgh, near Doncaster, about 11am on Saturday, arriving a little early for the Noon meet but not early enough to do any nearby series although we did pop off to do a single find just up the road.

There are quite a few series around this area almost all placed by Mr Truffles. He has a local Barnburgh 1-12 series, plus two small series (each with 4) placed specifically for last year's Halloween event and another series of 8 placed for this year's event. He also has two random single ones locally too.

It was really nice to meet so many Geocachers and to have a proper chat with Ea51ron and Mr Truffles, both of whom I have a lot of respect for. Ron has done several well planned series with nice hides and always manages to make really interesting walks. Mr Truffles has found over 9000 caches and has about 200 of his own hides; he almost single-handedly keeps Rotherham Geocachers busy. He kindly complemented me on my recent puzzle cache and container and pointed me towards two other infamous puzzles that I've since started work on solving.

I must thank Angellica for organising this event, the travel bug swap box and for scattering lots of horrid creatures around the tables, but I must also make a mental note to myself so that next time I do not do as many or even any caches and to invest the time in meeting and greeting and exchanging stories and tips with fellow Geocachers.

Anyway I had planned two routes to take in most of the local caches but by the time everyone had arrived and we'd met many familiar names (and put faces to them) and then eaten, time was pushing on so we decided to just do one of the circuits.

We set off with Patrick and family and planned to meet up with Yorkypudding & AgeingHippy later.

A few easy caches later we came across one of Mr Truffles epic hides. This was an off-set cache where the coordinates point to a location that has the coordinates to the actual cache. Nine of us spent 40 minutes hunting high and low for these coordinates all to no avail. It was one of those occasions where you've invested so much time it makes you less likely to quit but eventually we had to tear ourselves away and get on with the day.

We completed the part circuit and arrived back at the carpark far too late to meet YorkyPudding and AgeingHippy who I correctly presumed had gone on without us. We left Patrick at this stage and Hannah, myself and her parents decided to quickly do another nearby series of 4 before retiring for the day.

In total we did 5.4 miles and picked up another 11 caches - I ended the day (without realising at the time) on 399 finds.