29/4/11 - Wychbold - Curse of the Royal Wedding

Distance - 3 Miles
Geotrail
Number of Caches - Should have been 18
Number Attempted - 9
Number Found - 8

Wychbold Part 1 at EveryTrail


Needed to get out of the house this morning to avoid my daughter and mother in law having a royal love in on the TV. Things haven't got off to a great start as I was Mappiman the Taxi last night. When I should have been in bed at 10:30pm, I was instead there at 12:30 after having to pick her royal highness up from some school prom. Despite a giggle at the girls attempting to look elegant in heels that would put Lady Gaga to shame, but looking more like Bambi on ice, it meant that I was too wired from the journey back to sleep properly.

Up early to get to a new geotrail over at Wychbold. Things get off to a bad start when I realise that I haven't loaded the GPX file in and my Windows SmartPhone GPS must have turned itself off incorrectly as it is saying it has 0% battery left. This turns out to me a lie - but has me worried I won't have the juice to get around properly. God Damn Bill Gates.

Park up at the Church and then head out of a possibly the wrong footpath, as I am joining the trail at a funny point. I am concentrating that hard on finding the first cache that I haven't paid attention to where I should be going and have somehow managed to cut the walk almost completely in half.

Head through some sheep fields to the birdwatching cache. See evidence that quite a few cachers have been here before.

Overzealous searching

I am walking past the huge transmitters back to the main A38 road.  Notice that I probably should have gone over the railway line and picked up a wider loop.  Never mind, I can still navigate the increasingly difficult stiles that gives the dog a problem.  Eventually navigate the final padlocked gate, 5' stile to reach the A38 and go down the path to little gains farm.  Wonky stile on the left that we manage to get across and then into a field of ponies. 

This is turning into a dog agility show and at the 3rd stile, the three ponies on the other side of the fence will not move.  I climb over and attempt my best Rowdy Yates impression to yee-hah them out of the way but the stubborn mules will not go.  The Labradoodle refuse to leap this one, so I head back to the road to pick up a footpath a bit further down which will lead me to the caches. 

Guardian Keepers of the Cache

Back to the road and down the Paper Mill lane (another cache in the series at the end of here).  At the end of this track, I should be able to pick up a footpath going west.  It is there, but badly overgrown with stingers.

Get through that in Geodog

Manage to get over (dog under) a five bar gate to the side and then end up literally in someones back garden.  I am on a right of way but I can understand the owner's reluctance to maintain this path as you are in their garden.  Hence, an unavoidable wade through 3ft Stingers to get through.

A bit of backwards and forewards to pick up the caches that the Ponies so badly wanted me not to get (other cachers, bring sugerlumps or a French Recipe book to make passage).  I am then out on the A38 again, back up Church Lane for the last cache and the car.

Stop at McDonalds.... Realise that my grumpiness has probably been caused by a lack of decent coffee.  Get home and see the Wedding.... doesn't she look beautiful.  Not Kate, Elton.

On review, I have more or less exactly cut this trail in half... I shall return.... possibly without snoop dog.