08/07/17 - Wilmcote Geocaching

Distance - 6 Miles
Geocaches - 22
First Cache

This is a walk that demonstrates why Geocaching is such a great hobby.

Mrs M needs to work in Alcester.  Its about 25 miles from home.   A quick peruse of the Geocaching Map shows that I can drop her off and in another 10 minutes be out on a 6 mile geocaching trail that should take me around the 3 hours needed before whisking her away from her toils and a pub lunch.

The cache trail starts in Wilmcote, a place I've never previously visited but like so many places in Britain with a story to tell.

It hosts Shakespeare's Mothers farmhouse.  Of course the pub is called the Mary Arden.  But that's a Greene King and the Mason's Arms looks far more interesting.

Mason's Arms - Prettier of the Two Wilmcote Pubs 

Shakespeare's Mom's Gaff

Pub Number 2 - The Mary Arden

The walking is through some delightful Warwickshire Countryside.  I enjoy it that much, I leave the first cache trail laid by Spunky Spider to add in a few from my most found CO (by 1 cache until these are logged) HKMHill.  Thanks very much for the hides Mike and er, Spunky.

Warwickshire Walking at the Start of the Walk

Sweeping down into Aston Cantlow

The caches were well maintained, well hidden and in one particular case, stunningly put together. You have to a) admire the ingenuity and b) wonder what a muggle would think on accidentally finding them.

I'll only put a photo of the cache container king on here but I will be tweeting the clever cache.

Ammo Cans - King of Cache Containers

The calls from Mrs M start coming in at 2 hours 30 minutes.  You don't want to get between Mrs M and her lunch, so I rush through the last four or five finds to head back to Roman Alcester.

We've been walking here twice before (walk 1, walk 2) and I was looking forward to a return to the Hollybush - easily the best of the Alcester pubs.   However, just like last time, on entry and asking about food availability we were met with the missive that they are between Chefs.  Exactly what they said when we went in 15 months ago.

The Bear Hotel wins the Mappiman Dollar on account of its lovely beer garden and the fact that it has had a major spruce up.   Disappointingly, the Hobsons was off and the alternative, Doom Bar, was served in a short measure.  Some would argue this is not a bad thing, but I find the ubiquitous bar OK if kept right.  Topped up after protest, this was as good an example as ever found.

And the sandwiches were lovely.

The Face of Man with only 3 DNF

The Bear Hotel, Alcester