05/12/13 - Morning Storm

Distance - 5 Miles
Geocaches - 20 found.  7 DNF.  2 TB Drops.  1 TB Pick Up.
First Cache


For reasons that are not totally beyond my control, I am no longer required on the early morning train to London today.  Instead, I leave the alarm clock set for 5:45am and head out for some pre-work Geocaching.

Perhaps not one of my better ideas.  I should have predicted it would be too dark by the time I reach GZ.  It's less my fault that I failed to consider the gale force winds that hit the country.

Fortunately, the cache trail is superb.  I have been blessed recently, having just completed the round of the year at Broughton Hackett.  This one is more tricky but will no doubt have an equal number of favourites awarded.

Just when I was thinking that Geocaching was getting a touch stale, a couple of new rounds have reminded me of how good it can be.

The trail starts at a nice little car park outside of Callow End.  Its dark and grim as I pull up.

Cache number two is a multi.  My maths are not great at this time in the morning.  First attempt, I do not get the numbers to add up to the required total.  To get out of the wind, I have a brainwave and take a photo of the information sign and rework the clues in the comfort of the car.  The dog wonders just what is going on, and to be fair, needs the toilet.  2nd attempt at the co-ords and I get the right checksum digits.  Still manage to type in the co-ords wrong into the sat nav at first attempt.

Must need more than one cup of tea before my brain is engaged.

The good news is that the sun has come up and its light enough to hunt.  Dog out of boot, #1 grabbed and off we go. 

Old Hills at the break of dawn

On the way to my plotted cache, I stop off for nice little cache that is not related to the trail.  This will keep the smileys up.

Then I get to GZ and quickly spy what is required.  A superb example and surely a favourite to be awarded.

Another non trail related outlier and then back to the trail.  They are all tricky and the hints give you just enough information to get started but not enough to make it easy.  I end up with a higher than usual amount of DNF, but in my defence, I am a solo cacher, up too early and with a hoolie blowing of biblical proportions.

It makes my eyes water, blows me backwards and send debris of the trees that mean I should have been wearing a hard hat for health and safety reasons.

#3 is another multi - but reading the logs, I am sure that solving a puzzle is beyond me at this time of day.  Give it a miss, but this is a mistake, as I head off in the wrong direction and have to double back.

#4-10 go by.  Some unusual containers.  Some longer than usual hunts.

#11 becomes my first DNF.  Clue is magnetic and I am surrounded by metal at GZ.  No joy here.

The walking has been fine in the shadow of the Malverns.  Don't stop for photos much, as I am concentrating on getting round to get back in the warm.

This is the walking country - fields in the Malvern's Shadow

Having failed at 11, its less of a wretch to fail at 12.  But I am in good company.  Seven finders, four failures.  #13 Ok and #14 a fail.  From the logs, I think the CO is playing a little joke on us, but I will never know what that was.

#15-#18 are found with some nice containers, but #19 is on a rickety bridge (I think) and the dog is not too clever with the gaps.  Quickly move on.  To a failure at #20.

We then hit horses at #21.  And these are particularly frisky.  I find the cache - having checked this position at every other location on the round where there *could* be a cache.  The horses bother us and one wont let us over the stile, refusing to move. 

We get around by working like a bomb disposal expert.  The metal clip from the electric fence battery is removed and the fence is unhooked so we can skirt around the edges of the field.  Mappiman 1-0 Horses.

This does lead me to #22.  I am in deep hunt when a voice from nowhere goes "Can I help you?".  I say "No".  He says "Well, those are my horses and I want to know what you are doing".

Honestly, they were bothering me.  I am just looking for tupperware (or similar) and have no interest in your equines with asbos.

Skuttle off, like a 44 year old caught scrumping.  The trail takes me down green lanes and back onto Old Hill Common.  I get them all until #25 - the final 1, which is a shame.  And #24 was probably my favourite of the lot.

Mappiman (and Labradoodle) at the end of the trail.

Nice change from the usual and a super round.  Thanks to Thejenks7 for the imagination and the execution.

Now to log them!