16/05/16 - Miserden Part 3 - The SW Loop

Distance - 9 Miles
Caches - 40
First Cache
Pub - The Carpenters Arms, Miserden, Wye Valley HPA
Previous Loops - Northern, SE

I said I would be back in May to complete the third and final loop of the Monster 100 trail.  If you love geocaching, you simply must put this on your plans.  Superb walking and loads of pots, just waiting to be found.

It's a good job I didn't leave it much longer.  I watched the seasons change over these three monthly visits, the new born lambs arriving and the stingers growing.  Quite a few GZ are going to be swamped by nettles before long.

So out from the usual start and across fields of yellow rape seed.

Fields of Yellow

The early walking is merely fine on the early stretch, farmland and fields, with the odd green lane, with increasingly aggressive signs for the poachers.

Jail, I can understand

But Snipers?

A couple of navigational mistakes caused by the low evening sun making the GPS near unreadable before I arrive at Bilsey.  Looks a fine village, but we never quite enter the environs (pub) and I can't afford a detour because of the disappearing light.

Bilsey - Not quite investigated

The quality of the walking gets even better. Superb paths and then into the most wonderful wild garlic woodlands, complete with herds of deer rummaging around.

My sort of path

My sort of woodland

In typically perverse fashion, I am doing these anti-clockwise fashion - counting down from 35 to 1.  Get to number 7 and there's a previous DNF.  It's been taken - by what or by whom, I don't know.

I didn't have 99 problems, but this is one.

Never mind, there have been a number of outliers to add to the numbers, even if I do leave an unfound smiley on the map.

I know what to expect from the Carpenter's Arms now - added bonus is that its a cask marque pub and I have started to collect visits in the app.  I am spied by someone taking a photo and a full on conversation about CAMRA ensues.  By the end of the conversation, I have determined that the Birdlip viewpoint is a popular dogging location.  All knowledge is contained within.

Last visit to the Carpenters Arms for a while

Wye Valley HPA

So, not quite a member of the 100 club.  But what a round.  I've said it before and I'll say it again - many thanks to rupertmh for three super walks and all the smileys.

These pots will not be forgotten.

99 Pots