20/11/10 - Trying to get to 900 in Hopwood

Length of Walk - 6 Miles
Number of Caches -
First Cache - http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=0f1ed52f-5849-44f7-8fbb-ab9387259ddc

Horrible, foggy morning.  Its not raining but everytime there is a breeze, it blows great big drops from the trees - the sort that drop straight down the back of you jacket.

There are a load of caches in this area - a trail of Studio 16 - named after Stranglers albuns - a smattering of other in the Wast Hills.  I am 11 shy of my 900, so head out hoping for success.  I dont quite make it, thanks to 3 DNF!

Struggle to find somewhere to park down the narrow lane.  At one point, I am parked in the Autism Centre but then notice the private property sign and the fact that the barrier has a lock on it.  Move the car to a layby further north - which has a borders bag full of erotic fiction for ladies.  Bizarre.

The first cache is directly over a canal tunnel.  I dont realise this and am looking for a path on the ground.  Closer inspection reveals what the OS Markings on the map mean.  I am a duffus.  Find the cache and then drop off a TB.

Continue west for a find and then a DNF - I am looking for something at Waist Height but only spot barbed wire and brambles.  Continue on to a nice looking Pub called the Peacock, which has a cache over the road.

I then start on the Studio 16 Series, with 2 DNF.  The first at Yew Tree Farm.... next to the road, you think the passing motorists are mocking you and then down the world's muddiest lane - where a horse joins in the mocking of my futile attempts at searching.

At http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=526764d8-1f80-4fe8-b270-16760205851f i realise why I am having trouble finding the studio 16 caches... they are tiny!  This one has a decent clue, so I find it OK.

Before I know it, I am back at the peacock and make a pointless diversion across a muddy field to get a cache buried in the ground, but roped to a sign!  I have nice dirty boots with Pizza sized plates of mud in a circle around them!  Still, gets me one closer to the 900.

A bit of popping down lanes already walked, as I am walking back towards the car where the scenary takes a highlight as I walk down a wider expanse of greenery for two caches.  Couple of nice looking residences, I think one is Forhill House.  You wouldnt think you were a couple of miles out of BRM here.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=526764d8-1f80-4fe8-b270-16760205851f is the last of the walking today.... there is one more that I could have got but it would mean another muddy yomp through ploghed fields... I'll save it for the Summer!

Stop in the car at the m42 services for a cash and dash.

So found 9 which leaves me on 898!  I think I will get the 2 needed for 900 when I am in St Albans on Monday night... must remember my head torch!