09/03/13 - On the trail

Caches - 21 Found, 2 DNF
Distance - 4.3 Miles
First Cache

Sneachill Caching

The only good thing to say about the weather is that it is better than yesterday.  It is still not good enough to knock off one of my walks on the list.  There is no point in doing a walk from "Britain's best views" when we have low cloud and drizzle.

So what shall I do.  How about a relatively local cache trail?

This will be my first of the year..... but if I want to maintain my status as the 743rd best cacher in the UK, I am going to have to go out and get the numbers from somewhere.  I notice that Dr Solly has just logged his 30,000th.  OCD in action.

To be fair, my heart is not really in it.  Sonia is up for coming, but one look at my miserable face as I lace up my gaiters nearly talks her out of it.  She comes anyway.  I need access to her womanly hunting skills, honed after many years of finding Alex's shin pads and my work shoes.

We park up at the suggested layby and am pleased that there are no other cars here.  It's one thing hunting for tupperware, its another doing it with strangers.

We head up the road and turn right opposite the pub (nice food, been before) and head out into the fields.  The caches come thick and fast and you need to remember to look for the bonus letters in the lids and top of notebooks to grab a bonus.

We walk past the Ballast Hole (at least that is what it is called on the map) and get to number 4 which is an unusual multi stage puzzle cache.  Sonia asking if they are going to provide a baking tray, so I can lay all the bits on it.  We work out what we have to do and then find the biggest of the day to drop off a TB.

Frankly, Gaiters look ridiculous

Then across the railway line.... a great place to appreciate how fast cross country trains go.  The driver gave us a friendly toot, even though he was along way away.

We cross this twice

Turn left onto a very muddy path - finding a cache whislt the water laps up to the top of my gaiters.  Sonia asks if it is lucky to put your hand in bird poo.  It probably isn't.

Work our way through the slop to the aptly named Old House Farm.  It is rather ramshackle.  I wonder if they know what is stuffed in a hole in a tree in their grounds?

Double back on ourselves through the grounds of Spetchley Park, before reaching the great house.  This is the historical and architectual highlight of the walk.

Played a part in the English Civil War and the 2nd World War

We have our first do not find shortly before the house.  It proves that I cannot cache unless there is a clue.  All we know is that is somewhere on, or under, a bridge.  After nearly slipping in the drink, I ponder taking up a more suitable hobby.  Trainspotting comes up as an idea after we cross the railway line for the 2nd time and fail to find the second cache of the day.

 

Spirits low, we are faced with a terrible looking field to cross and decide to walk around.

 

 

Not going to bother with that

As if the cache owner can read my mood, we are then faced with a box full of decoys.  It had to be the last tweezer based extraction before I found the real log.

Then around the sewage works and back to the road.

Ellie phones Sonia for a lunch time chat and I work out how many of the letters we have for the bonus.  We have A, C, D, E and F.  No bloody B.

I plot the co-ords into the sat nav and use a bit of logic.  The bonus is soon found, to end on a high.

As we are caked in mud, there is no chance of a post walk pint in the Nightingale.  We could sit outside, but it has started raining.

We head home.

Unfortunately, my caching biorhythms are at a low ebb today.  The caches on this trail are well put together and some are unique.  Thanks to the Thejenks7 for putting it together.

Maybe I am not cut out for cache trails.