We made the horrendous mistake last night of trying to get to Meersbrook Park when Sheffield United had a match at Bramall Lane, a fact I neither knew nor cared about, and it was a problem exacerbated by the SatNav desperately trying to route us directly into the traffic or alternatively the wrong way down one-way streets.
So by the time we arrived I was already worried about the dark drawing in. However, thankfully, it was a nice short route around the park picking up 4 caches of a series and 2 randoms nearby, a total of about 1.7 miles.
Nothing of real interest to note; the usual bramble scratches, I almost had to phone-a-friend (until Super-Spandannah spotted the nano) and a now-missing tree that one had been hidden under - it had been chopped down earlier that day but luckily the park keeper had left the cache there albeit in full view.
Otherwise a relatively quiet, Muggle-free walk around a new to us park.
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Monday, 13 September 2010
We Hope to go back
I took the kids to Hope in Derbyshire on Sunday to do one of the series there: Silver Train. This is a simple series of 10 (I think) caches which each have clues in them (alongside a sister series called Treasure Fleet) all leading to one final cache.
I'd not realised this when we set off, having prepared the caches at short notice, so of course I never got all the available clues to the final. Having said that, with the state of most of the logs, and the cracked laminate around some of the clues (making them wet and blurry), I doubt I'd have bothered anyway.
The walk led us east out of Hope towards the railway station and then north up (and up) a hill onto the tops. Unfortunately the walk wasn't circular at this point so once we'd got the uppermost cache we simply turned around and walked back down to a certain point where we diverted from our original path and re-entered Hope from a different direction.
It was a lovely walk of 5 miles and certainly got the thighs aching because of the steep hill. (Lowest elevation was approximately 535 feet, highest was about 1250 feet.)
Rain threatened several times which looked very ominous given that both kids had not brought their coats/macs as usual. When will they ever learn? Fortunately there was only slight drizzle for a few minutes about three times. No harm done.
The kids had been bribed at 50p per find again and it worked, they hardly even complained when I realised I'd walked a tenth of a mile past a cache, while chatting and telling jokes, and we had to go back!
Finally I must apologise for the dreadful blog title, but I really do hope to go back again and do the sister series.
I'd not realised this when we set off, having prepared the caches at short notice, so of course I never got all the available clues to the final. Having said that, with the state of most of the logs, and the cracked laminate around some of the clues (making them wet and blurry), I doubt I'd have bothered anyway.
The walk led us east out of Hope towards the railway station and then north up (and up) a hill onto the tops. Unfortunately the walk wasn't circular at this point so once we'd got the uppermost cache we simply turned around and walked back down to a certain point where we diverted from our original path and re-entered Hope from a different direction.
It was a lovely walk of 5 miles and certainly got the thighs aching because of the steep hill. (Lowest elevation was approximately 535 feet, highest was about 1250 feet.)
Rain threatened several times which looked very ominous given that both kids had not brought their coats/macs as usual. When will they ever learn? Fortunately there was only slight drizzle for a few minutes about three times. No harm done.
The kids had been bribed at 50p per find again and it worked, they hardly even complained when I realised I'd walked a tenth of a mile past a cache, while chatting and telling jokes, and we had to go back!
Finally I must apologise for the dreadful blog title, but I really do hope to go back again and do the sister series.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Damned nights
While Adam was at his guitar lesson last night I went off to Wath Woods to collate the clues for a cache - there's 4 points to visit from which you calculate the 5th and final location.
With limited time (an hour including driving) I set off hoping to get the 4 clues and leave the final point for next Wednesday when Adam is in his next lesson.
I parked up about 7:45 and it was already going dark. I walked down a huge long alley between two housing estates leading into the woods and as I entered the woods and it was now dark.
Bloody nights drawing in.
I got the first two locations easily but by the time I was setting off for the third it was so dark I was struggling to see the path; it was hard to tell whether the dark ground 10 metres in front of me was path or leaves or just a gaping hole. Fortunately most of the paths are of good quality so I walked reasonably quickly and safely to the third clue.
I say 'reasonably quickly' because by now I had spooked myself a little. Here I am, a grown man who's not particularly afraid of the dark, walking through unknown woods in pitch black with no torch and no idea where the surrounding population is. (Although I can always get back to the car using the GPS of course).
I might not be bothered about the dark, per se, but I am a little worried when there are huge CRACKing noises and things running and falling through the trees. Gulp.
I moved on to the 4th location which was on the outside edge of the woods, near a tarmac lane. Sanctuary. I got the clue and stopped to look at the GPS - the road route back to the car was over 2.5 miles long - I only had 20 minutes left and also needed 5 minutes driving time.
So, big deep breath, stop being silly Mark, I set off back through the woods up the fourth side, unknown territory again.
Walking quickly, using the GPS to the car, I was now hoping I wouldn't bump into anyone else, not for my sake, but for THEIR sake... the site of a 40+ year-old man walking alone in the dark and breathing heavily would probably be more than enough to spoil someone else's night!
Geocaching. It's all fun!
With limited time (an hour including driving) I set off hoping to get the 4 clues and leave the final point for next Wednesday when Adam is in his next lesson.
I parked up about 7:45 and it was already going dark. I walked down a huge long alley between two housing estates leading into the woods and as I entered the woods and it was now dark.
Bloody nights drawing in.
I got the first two locations easily but by the time I was setting off for the third it was so dark I was struggling to see the path; it was hard to tell whether the dark ground 10 metres in front of me was path or leaves or just a gaping hole. Fortunately most of the paths are of good quality so I walked reasonably quickly and safely to the third clue.
I say 'reasonably quickly' because by now I had spooked myself a little. Here I am, a grown man who's not particularly afraid of the dark, walking through unknown woods in pitch black with no torch and no idea where the surrounding population is. (Although I can always get back to the car using the GPS of course).
I might not be bothered about the dark, per se, but I am a little worried when there are huge CRACKing noises and things running and falling through the trees. Gulp.
I moved on to the 4th location which was on the outside edge of the woods, near a tarmac lane. Sanctuary. I got the clue and stopped to look at the GPS - the road route back to the car was over 2.5 miles long - I only had 20 minutes left and also needed 5 minutes driving time.
So, big deep breath, stop being silly Mark, I set off back through the woods up the fourth side, unknown territory again.
Walking quickly, using the GPS to the car, I was now hoping I wouldn't bump into anyone else, not for my sake, but for THEIR sake... the site of a 40+ year-old man walking alone in the dark and breathing heavily would probably be more than enough to spoil someone else's night!
Geocaching. It's all fun!
Tuesday, 7 September 2010
Not enough time...
We had already planned to pop down to 'Go Outdoors' last night to pick up a ticket for the new Geocaching competition and to also genuinely look at a new GPSr device. I'm toying with the idea of upgrading to an Oregon 450 for the paperless caching features.
As we'd be in that area we had also planned a quick 6 caches at Meersbrook Park but just as we were leaving work an email notification of a new cache came through and coincidentally it was only a couple of miles from where we were headed.
We went home, got changed and set off for the new cache. By the time we arrived, blindly following the GPS in road mode in an area I'd never been, it was raining steadily but after a short walk we successfully got another First-To-Find (FTF) only about 70 minutes after it was published.
We signed the log, turned around and then we saw a gentleman and two children approaching, all looking just as suspicious as we did. A quick chat and it turned out they were just a couple of minutes late for what would have been their very first FTF. For some reason I do love my FTFs but I felt bad that the kids hadn't got one. I'm really sorry. Good luck next time!
We went to 'Go Outdoors' as planned and spent some money on a decent backpack that's bigger, lighter, more ventilated and generally better on my back. I also got some more walking trousers and a water bag.
Yet more money - who would think walking would be so expensive!!
Going back to the title of today's blog, time... with other events coming up, and the nights drawing in, it really looks like the caching is going to take a hit and I'm not happy about it. It also looks like I'm going to have to bribe the kids again so I can do longer walks at the weekends...
As we'd be in that area we had also planned a quick 6 caches at Meersbrook Park but just as we were leaving work an email notification of a new cache came through and coincidentally it was only a couple of miles from where we were headed.
We went home, got changed and set off for the new cache. By the time we arrived, blindly following the GPS in road mode in an area I'd never been, it was raining steadily but after a short walk we successfully got another First-To-Find (FTF) only about 70 minutes after it was published.
We signed the log, turned around and then we saw a gentleman and two children approaching, all looking just as suspicious as we did. A quick chat and it turned out they were just a couple of minutes late for what would have been their very first FTF. For some reason I do love my FTFs but I felt bad that the kids hadn't got one. I'm really sorry. Good luck next time!
We went to 'Go Outdoors' as planned and spent some money on a decent backpack that's bigger, lighter, more ventilated and generally better on my back. I also got some more walking trousers and a water bag.
Yet more money - who would think walking would be so expensive!!
Going back to the title of today's blog, time... with other events coming up, and the nights drawing in, it really looks like the caching is going to take a hit and I'm not happy about it. It also looks like I'm going to have to bribe the kids again so I can do longer walks at the weekends...
Monday, 6 September 2010
Damflask
After my sister bravely completed the Sheffield 10k run on Sunday morning we met up with my Mother and set off for a short route around Damflask near Lower Bradfield on the outskirts of Sheffield. This was a nice easy stroll around a reservoir, put together once again by Mr. Truffles.
If anyone is after an easy Sunday afternoon's walk I do recommend this one - there's a total of 14 finds, 3 of which are puzzle caches but are simple to calculate en-route, the walk is all flat and the hides are pretty easy. We logged it in at 4.4 miles total and to top it off you can have an ice cream on the way to the bonus cache!
I tried to motivate the kids into getting involved by offering £5 to whichever of them got the most finds. This caused some squabbles in the last couple of seconds at several caches, but Adam soon became despondant when he was 4-0 down to Jade with 7 found and only 7 more to go. At this point, to motivate him YET AGAIN, I changed the rules to £1 per find each. Well blow me down if he didn't win 5-4 in the end.
Hopefully he might have learnt a lesson about not giving up.
Hopefully I might have learnt a lesson about not changing rules and losing an extra £4!
If anyone is after an easy Sunday afternoon's walk I do recommend this one - there's a total of 14 finds, 3 of which are puzzle caches but are simple to calculate en-route, the walk is all flat and the hides are pretty easy. We logged it in at 4.4 miles total and to top it off you can have an ice cream on the way to the bonus cache!
I tried to motivate the kids into getting involved by offering £5 to whichever of them got the most finds. This caused some squabbles in the last couple of seconds at several caches, but Adam soon became despondant when he was 4-0 down to Jade with 7 found and only 7 more to go. At this point, to motivate him YET AGAIN, I changed the rules to £1 per find each. Well blow me down if he didn't win 5-4 in the end.
Hopefully he might have learnt a lesson about not giving up.
Hopefully I might have learnt a lesson about not changing rules and losing an extra £4!
Saturday, 4 September 2010
UK GC Podcast
I've just been listening to the UK GC Podcast via iTunes (link on the right) and I got two mentions! Well one-and-a-half to be accurate.
I've emailed Collin (the host) several times in the last 6 weeks or so as he has the first UK based podcast about Geocaching and I was really impressed with him making the effort on our behalf.
However it transpires that his web-based contact form has been broken for ages and he only realised this week. I emailed him to ask how long it had been down and then based on his reply tried to remember everything I'd emailed him previously.
In this months show (episode #3) he gave me a simple shout-out (ie. a mention) and also gave out this blog's web address; I hadn't told him this so he must have done some research!
Then in his mention about the previous show's question-of-the-month, for which he'd misplaced all his email replies, he did say he had heard from someone, he couldn't remember who, who had said they were currently about 15 feet from their nearest Geocacher at work - but as it was also his girlfriend it was a little bit like cheating as he also lived with her. Well as you've guessed by reading this, that was also me. (I had mentioned that I also only live about 8 doors from Yorkypudding and Aginghippy but he must have forgotten that too.)
Anyway my other email gave him a possible question-of-the-month and he thinks he may use it next month.
Fame at last!
I've emailed Collin (the host) several times in the last 6 weeks or so as he has the first UK based podcast about Geocaching and I was really impressed with him making the effort on our behalf.
However it transpires that his web-based contact form has been broken for ages and he only realised this week. I emailed him to ask how long it had been down and then based on his reply tried to remember everything I'd emailed him previously.
In this months show (episode #3) he gave me a simple shout-out (ie. a mention) and also gave out this blog's web address; I hadn't told him this so he must have done some research!
Then in his mention about the previous show's question-of-the-month, for which he'd misplaced all his email replies, he did say he had heard from someone, he couldn't remember who, who had said they were currently about 15 feet from their nearest Geocacher at work - but as it was also his girlfriend it was a little bit like cheating as he also lived with her. Well as you've guessed by reading this, that was also me. (I had mentioned that I also only live about 8 doors from Yorkypudding and Aginghippy but he must have forgotten that too.)
Anyway my other email gave him a possible question-of-the-month and he thinks he may use it next month.
Fame at last!
Thursday, 2 September 2010
Return - and revenge
It's been a busy week with little time for Geocaching since our Bank Holiday but we have managed two quick runs...
On Tuesday, when we were supposedly having a night off, we had just finished watching a film when an email arrived at 20:55 reporting a new cache only 4 miles away. Well of course we couldn't resist and dashed off in the car, arriving and signing the log by 21:15! FTF of course, but more satisfyingly also our quickest to date. On the way home we detoured several miles and picked up a drive-by down at J31 of the M1. A nice easy 2 in the pitch black.
Tonight we planned a quick walk back to Rother Valley - firstly to get revenge on the one that eluded us on Monday and secondly to pick up another very close to it that was frustratingly published on Monday while we were already out.
The bridge was a doddle - it was a bit annoying we didn't get it before, but at least it's now done.
Two caches and two small miles.
On Tuesday, when we were supposedly having a night off, we had just finished watching a film when an email arrived at 20:55 reporting a new cache only 4 miles away. Well of course we couldn't resist and dashed off in the car, arriving and signing the log by 21:15! FTF of course, but more satisfyingly also our quickest to date. On the way home we detoured several miles and picked up a drive-by down at J31 of the M1. A nice easy 2 in the pitch black.
Tonight we planned a quick walk back to Rother Valley - firstly to get revenge on the one that eluded us on Monday and secondly to pick up another very close to it that was frustratingly published on Monday while we were already out.
The bridge was a doddle - it was a bit annoying we didn't get it before, but at least it's now done.
Two caches and two small miles.
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