Fairbrook Naze 1,000

Sunday 23/10/2011

Well aware that I've been creeping towards the thousand-cache marker for a few months I had given a fair bit of thought about where to do it. The "epic gang" that I walk with occasionally, for their 10k and 12k+ caches, had even asked me if I'd got anything in mind back when we did Helvellyn in August.

As it was only 1,000 caches, and with the seasons and weather rolling along, I didn't fancy a long drive up to the Lakes so I looked around for a decent series more local and came up with Fairbrook Naze which starts near the Snake Inn on the A57 and heads up Kinder Scout. I chose this for a few reasons but I think the main one being that I've been caching up there 3 times previously and always enjoyed it. A smaller reason is that the GeoGeriatrics (who I only met once and confess I wouldn't recognise if I met them again) laid down two of the previous series I did up there so I have some respect for their walks and efforts in laying them down.

I now had a dilemma. Well maybe that's too strong a word but my first problem is my kids; they hate Geocaching and they hate walking - they don't appreciate the views, the exercise, the fresh air and the day out. So I've come to an arrangement with them where they have a 'lazy' Saturday and then on Sunday they walk with me. I have to do this as I work five days a week. Anyway this weekend I couldn't leave them with their mother, not that I ever want to do that, but I also didn't want to drag them up a mountain if it was throwing it down. So my problem was this: if I invite people, and they attend, I can hardly abandon the event when I get there and it's raining - I decided not to run the risk. I didn't invite anyone.

I ran my proposed walking route by Patrick, as I know he's done the series very recently, and it turned out that this series and the additional caches I'd planned were exactly as he'd done them - and what's more he'd like to join me to do them again.

So on a dull, yet dry Sunday Patrick picked us up in his van, with Dizzy the dog, and drove us to the A57 where we parked up and set off. I needed 13 to get my 1,000 and hadn't really given much thought to which one it would specifically be as long as it was a Fairbrook Naze one on the way back down.

It was hard work from the off as I'd not warmed up, but also because my rucksack was a whopping 17Kg in weight - yes I'd even weighed it because I had realised it was much heavier than normal, and no wonder...

* 2 litres of water
* 2 small bottles of pop
* 1 flask of tea
* 1 bottle of champagne (!!)
* 4 glasses
* sandwiches for 3
* flapjack, boost bars, crisps
* gloves, hats
* first aid kit

We started with three quick caches, nicely on level terrain, before starting a long gentle climb along the River Ashop towards a couple of points where we needed to gather clues for a mystery cache further up. One of these clue points was at the site of two plane crashes from 1953 where two fighters came down together - presumably after a mid-air collision? There's still debris scattered around and quite rightly a small tribute to the pilots.

All the caches were easy finds because Patrick has done them before and I was quite happy for him to show me where they were and thereby not spoil the flow of the walk. (Yes I'm more of a walker than a Geocacher.)

After about 3.5 miles, 90 minutes from the start, we stopped for a quick cup of tea before starting the hard ascent straight up Kinder with no path - this took us over 20 minutes to get up 130 metres and I was cursing the rucksack I can tell you. (Adam did helpfully keep offering to carry it but I'm determined as I've always seen it as an aid to fitness.)

We stopped and watched the jumbo jets fly overhead - they circle here on the way to Manchester and they looked amazingly close.

Walking along the edge of the plateau for about 1.5 miles, in the freezing wind, we got to the mystery cache and stopped for a lazy lunch sheltered from the wind before getting to our first (actually the last) of the Fairbrook Naze caches - this was number 11 as they're actually numbered ascending up the river for people starting at the bottom.

Adam tucking into his lunch

Patrick and Jade do the same

Laying down to (unsuccessfully) get out of the wind

Dizzy in glorious 3d

Another standalone cache before hitting the actual top of the stream and starting the descent proper. The caches were now numbered simply Fairbrook Naze 10 through 1 and all were simple finds with rather forgettable containers - having said that, these types of walks are more about the walk and the location rather than a fancy box.

My 1,000th cache was actually Fairbrook Naze #5 and we stopped for a couple of pictures and I cracked open the champagne - OK - overpriced sparkling wine. We relaxed over a couple of glasses each before continuing our descent all the way back to the small woods and back up to the car.

My 1,000th cache!
(and a glorious case of hat-hair!)

So that was that. We did about 8.3 miles and bagged 17 caches. Jade was quiet the entire time; in her own world of music. Adam alternated between music, chatting and complaining about the cold. Patrick just boosted ahead and made me suffer from carrying all the excess weight! Only kidding, it was great to have him there for the company, his help and to help me celebrate my 1,000th when I guess he's been there for a good few hundred of the previous ones on the journey here.

Final thanks must go to the GeoGeriatrics for their time and effort in placing the series.

Only 996 to go to the next major milestone!

October update

Here's a VERY quick update to my sadly neglected blog:

On Sunday 02/10/2011 the kids and I did a great series starting at Hoylandswaine, circling through Penistone, Oxspring and back to the start. "Calmac's Canter" came in at 8.3 miles and 21 caches in total including a few unrelated odds and ends. A nice walk in an area I'm only partly familiar with.

On Sunday 09/10/2011 the same three of us did a series called "PAT'S 2K" which was laid down recently by my good Geocaching friend Patdhill to celebrate his 2000th find. A terrifically windy day, this series around Old Ravenfield came in at 6.4 miles and 12 finds. It was doubly nice for me as Pat's series celebrates some of his favourite finds and one of the caches was named after one of my caches! Thanks Patrick.

On Sunday 16/10/2011 we three again headed off to Wadsley Common (near Hillsborough) to do a quick-ish series before meeting Dad for lunch. "Wuff's Wadsley Wander" was 2.9 miles and included 13 finds, 1 of which was a nightmare to locate. I had to phone-a-friend to Patrick for this and then again at the end simply to rush to the final as we were late for our appointment. Some innovative hides in this series, especially the last one.

I'm now 13 short of 1000 so I'm hoping to do something nice next weekend to celebrate it. I have a good idea what I'd like to do but it depends a little on the weather plus, as Patrick teasingly says, it's hard to get people to join me when I've done "so few" and everyone else has done them all!


More news next week...

Glen Howe Dragons

Sunday 10/07/2011

Meeting up with The Hills (Patdhill & co) at Glen Howe Park near Wharncliffe Side, Sheffield, we were also introduced to the LongTailedKites, a family who I believe value their privacy so I'll say no more except that they were a very pleasant gang, still relatively new to Geocaching, and it was lovely to meet and walk with them.

I'm pretty familiar with Glen Howe Park as my mother and her parents lived at Wharncliffe Side and I recall spending several Christmas afternoons walking off lunch in this area and also playing ball games in the actual playground area in summer. Alas the playground is no more and is now just a field.

We parked at the recommended parking and set off up Storth Lane to do a newly published series called 'Tracking Dragons', a set of nine caches in and around the park.

I've never actually been up Storth Lane so it was new territory to me as we wandered up there before getting to our third cache in a field. We then headed back down past a farm and back into the wooded area.

The series seemed a little bizarre in that it crosses the park several times rather than being your typical circular route, however it made for a good walk only spoiled a little by the abundance of flies and midges that were out in force on this warm and humid morning. We steadily criss-crossed the woods picking up the eight caches required to find number nine, which again was in a non-typical location.

As we passed several times I was sad to note that the bandstand has gone, now replaced by a wooden shelter - probably more functional but of course less historical.

We left all the kids and Donna in the centre of the woods as we headed off to the final cache which took an age to find. As soon as it was in hand Patrick dashed off back down to his family who had called suspecting their dog was hurt - thankfully it wasn't, maybe just a temporary thorn. The LongTailedKites and I signed the book, did some swaps and headed back down on another route. We didn't know whether to laugh or cry when Mr LongTailedKite slipped in the river and landed on his posterior; it looked like a heavy fall but he seemed OK, if a little wet.

Back down through the woods, unable to find my kids but fortunately the phone was working and I told them where to meet us. While waiting I noted the name on a dedication on a bridge over the stream - 'Brearley' - surely some relation on my mother's side? I must ask her.

Now off to The Castle in Bolsterstone for a pub lunch with the Hills. Overall a nice morning out which set me up fresh for the day.

[9 caches, 2.7 miles]

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.

Silverwood Pit Top

This last weekend, thanks to some wedding or other, we had another 4-day weekend. I spent Friday doing housework in the morning and then socialising in the afternoon and evening. I had Saturday set aside for food shopping and then to lazily settle down and watch the semi-finals of the Snooker World Championship (which is held 5 miles down the road.)

Struggling to balance my weekend time with the children and their hatred of Geocaching, I decided to take them out early on Sunday for a quick walk aiming to get back in time to watch the first session of the snooker final and also giving the kids the afternoon free to do as they pleased.

I settled on the idea of doing Patdhill's nearby Silverwood Pit Top series. (You may recall Patrick as my good friend and a regular member of our Team PADS Geocaching group.) This series was published a while ago but I had deliberately put off doing it so that I would have a nice walk to do one evening after work.

I've since realised that I'm actually busy 6 nights a week so I scrapped that plan and stole the series as a perfect quick-fix for a Sunday morning.

We parked up near Wickersley and spent a steady 90 minutes doing the 3.5 mile circuit. It really is a lovely walk across regenerated land passing by woods, fledgling plantations and views down to a (presumably new) lake.

This was one of my ideal walks...

I've realised as time has passed that I'm not keen on the actual Geocaching side of Geocaching (yes I know that sounds odd) but I do like that it takes me to new places and presents me with walks I would never have found otherwise. The caches here were all easy to find so there were no frustrating delays and we could pretty much just enjoy the steady walk in the countryside listening to the birdsong, taking some pictures and chatting to the kids.

The kids seemed happy enough with this arrangement although I do think the anticipation of a nice slow-cooked stew waiting at home was the only thing on Adam's mind.

Many thanks to Patrick & Donna for the series.

[3.5 miles, 7 caches.]