09/02/13 - Wast Land

Distance - 5.3 Miles
Walk From - Village Walks in Worcestershire
Geocaches - 11 found, 2 not found, 1 did not look too hard!
Let Downs - The Weather, The Camera

I have a list of walks to do in the month.  They are all excellent, involve some driving and are of significant distance and natural beauty that they will make all the effort worth while.

I am not going to attempt them when the BBC weather website has a weekend full of big black raindrops.  In reality, its not exactly raining - more like the clouds have come down to take away any views and soak you through.

However, I still need my fresh air, so I look for a local route from my walks library and end up in Hopwood.  I last started a walk from the Hopwood House pub in the year that we got the labradoodle - 28/12/03.  Just where have 10 years gone?

Plot the route and there an unexpected number of caches on route.  Thats a bonus.

Its a bit early to park at the pub, so I park down a snowy lane and head off to the canal.

Canal Dreams

First cache is on the road at the top.  Soon found and then a drop down to the canal to make my way towards the Wast Hill Tunnel.  At 1.5 miles, its one of the longest tunnels still working in the UK, bargefans.  There's a cache at the bottom of the steps - one of Stranglers (band) series of caches, that I have found a few of in the past.

Tunnel of Love

Then its a climb to the top of the Wast hill.  The mist is down and the sheep think we have something for them as they come running on mass and start hassling the dog.  this is not the natural order of things.  Maybe the snow has made them hungry?

They were worrying my dog

And that's it from the camera.  If you have an Olympus Tough for the bad weather, beware, its is a liar.  It told me I had 2/3 battery when I left for the walk and bang, this is the last photo.  You can see by the mist that we are not going to miss too much.

Caches come thick and fast, as we plod up hill and pick up the North Worcester Path, after turing right past the Autism Centre.

Pretty foul walking, slopping through the mud and mist, as we work our way down to the Peacock Pub.  At least ther are plenty of caches to provide some entertainment.

I do have a minor brainwave about photographic evidence.  Having two teenagers should have made me realise sooner that my sat nav phone has a camera.

New Pro Pic?

Soon knock this idea on the head.... the weather makes it not worth recording.

Let's try again with the camera next week

I am back on familar territory as we pick up the Peacock Puba and have been caching around here before.

Get my first "Did not look", as the first muggle dog walkers are out in force down the lane.

More mud sloping down to Stonehill Farm, and surprisingly end up on a set of Rugby pitches. There are no games on but a couple of caches. One, I couldn't find but am fairly sure is still there. The second one had a very obvious clue but there was no cache that I could find. I did, however, find an old Rugby Ball and a CD, so not a wasted hunt.

A little bit of lane walking and we are at Hopwood house. There is of course, a cache. There is also a lorry from Macclesfield delivering all the home made food that make up their two main courses for a tenner offer. Wait for the fella to go before retrieving.

Back along the canal, one more cache and back up to the car. Pleased with myself to have not wasted a day, when a more normal reaction would have been to sit of the sofa and watch Sky Sports. With Biscuits.