19/3/11 - Furtive Caching in Dodford

Distance - 4 Miles
Number of Caches - 17
First Cache

Dodford HawkWalks at EveryTrail


I didn't realise quite how much I was following Delta68.... Not content to follow their caching blog - I have also inadvertantly followed them two days later on the same cache round.

To be expected on such a beautiful day, there were several teams out today.... We had the start of the round to ourselves but from Cache 13 out of 17, we started to bump into people. There is a bit of british reserve here - a polite hello is always shared but despite the fact that people are carrying GPS units and hanging around tree stumps in the middle of the woods - no one ever wants to make the first move to introduce themselves as cachers. I think I am going to look for a geocaching hat or something.

This walk will be truly splendid in a few weeks when the woods will be filled with Bluebells. Today, it was merely fantastic - gorgeous blue skies and a great walk into forests and some real off piste caches.

This series has been exceptionally well thought out - there were some surprises and some real effort into the cache containers. Start at Dodford Church - when we got there, we were the first car, when we got back, there were four. Head down a lane and around the back of a house where we set the dogs off barking. I bet the people here are wondering about the increased walking activity.

The cache trail take you around fields before entering the High Wood for the first time. This is spendid walking and the home of the first amazing cache - Fairy Door - which was worthy of a TB drop off.

High Wood

The walk took us on into Nutnall woods where we found another great cache - The Snake Pit - which made us laugh and was worthy if a photo opp.

Snakes

Carried on around until we got to number 13.  There are no paths here marked on the O/S Map or on the ground so moving around these caches was a bit of a wild hunt.  I spent around 30 mins looking for number 13 when it became apparent that someone else had found it.  The clicking of a tupperware box in the middle of the woods is an eerie sound indeed.  We moved on to number 14 and met up with another person emerging from the wild of the woods.  After having the first 12 to ourselves, we then met up with other people - some cachers, some not - at all the remaining ones in the series.  Always at the time when we hit GZ.

As this is so local and the light evenings are on the horizon - I will be back to complete the remainders on a nice evening soon.

A lovely walk and some top caches... Thanks to the bailey rangers for adding yet another series to the area.