14/04/13 - Its a numbers game

Caches - 27 out of 28
Distance - 5.1 Miles
First Cache

The Grafton Loop

There's been some top walks of late - managed to get in the coast, the mountains and the capital ring.  Last weeks walk may have been an epic, but it yielded a grand total of 1 cache.

Something needs to change.....

It was only a matter of time before I attempted this local loop.  Having already mined Grafton as recently as Feb 2013, there is now another 28 cache trail laid.

Try and round up a caching partner.  After last week's snow and mountains, Mrs Mappiman won't entertain the idea.  Ask a 14 year old.  He looks up from his iPad and snorts as though I have asked him to mow the lawns.  At least my 18 year old fun loving student daughter has contributed to the walk.  She has blinged up the dog.

I'm so not dressed for this

Quick 23 minute drive and park up at the Church.  No other cars... yet.  I am not sure if I have parked on someone's drive, but it appears to be part of the church grounds - there is a tombstone leaning against the other side of the house. 

Head off for the cheekiest cache of the round.

Let's go caching

The walk starts by taking us around a lonely, unaccessible Trig Point.  I make a mistake at cache 4, having taken a footpath that avoided cache 3.  Bit of double backing.  TB swap over at Cache 4.

 

First highlight of the walk comes as we climb up to Hill Court.  This is what I describe as a "Bill Bryson" moment.  You are quite happily minding your own business, gathering up bits of tupperware in bushes, when you meet a late 16th Century Farm house... still inhabited.  Not quite as ancient as when Bill finds his Roman mosiac in Winchcombe but you still have to love the accessible history of this country.

 

 

500 Years of Farming

The views behind are quite impressive as well, taking in Bredon Hill and the Malverns. Get my only DNF of the round on the way up. As the last two cachers also didnt find it, and one of them is the cache machine Lime Candy, I guess it has gone.

In Front of my favourite place in Worcestershire

Can't hang around for too long in this delightful spot, as I have set the dogs at the farm off.  Continue through the fields until we reach the next highlight of the walk, Grafton Woods.  The cache info explains that this is the last remaining part of Feckenham Forest.

Into the Woods

 

There are no caches actually in the woods - just strange chairs perched on top of ladders - but the CO has added some nice directional way points so that navigation is easy.

Work my way through and read the notice board on the other side of the woods, explaining how it is a sanctuary for butterflies.  I notice that the camera has a feature that takes a shot two seconds after it detects a face - so get it set up.  Smile at it.  It doesn't go off.  Get dead close to it and smile at it.  Bingo.  Then have to rush back into position.

Sony do not recognise Mappiman's Face as human

That's it for the walk - the church is ahead, with just a couple more to find. This has been a very nice walk. The paths are good, some excellent views, an architectural history lesson and a nice series of simple to find caches. Thanks to unowho67 for setting them up.