16/03/19 - Geocaching the Rocks

Distance - 11.5 Miles
Geocaches - 40/42
First Cache
Good Beer Guide Tick # 374 - The Harewood End Inn


The good news is that the weather was not as bad as expected.   There was a smattering of heavy rain, that naturally stopped the minute I had struggled into my Berghaus Deluge over-trousers but little could protect me from the wind.   It blew a right old hooley.

I'm here because the cache count for March stood at 6.   Which meant that I had ticked more Good Beer Guide entries than found tupperware.  An imbalance that had to be addressed.

So I find myself in Little Dewchurch for the closest unworked major trail to home.   Parking at the Village Hall and thinking long and hard about whether I was brave enough to venture out.

The geocaches are named after films of Dwayne Johnson, AKA The Rock.   If it had come up in a pub quiz, I would never have guessed he had made so many films.   The walking is all along quiet lanes - so I was pleased to be out the mud.  I should have guessed the cache containers before heading out.   I can only assume that Wilko's offer multi purchase discount.

The Terrain

The Prizes

The lanes take us close to the River Wye on a couple of occasions.  Its in flood and has claimed Cache 33, which now resides at the bottom of Davy Jones Locker.   I was that desperate for the smiley, I immersed by arm into the water but alas, it has floated away.

River Wye is not meant to be this broad.

The route twice takes us into a hamlet called Carey.   On my OS Map, there is the Big Blue Cup of Joy but I never thought for a moment that the pub would still be a going concern.   I arrived at the Cottage of Content at 11:50am and could have waited ten minutes for the opening.   Looked a lovely little place and stickers on the door showed that it was a 2017 Good Beer Guide Entry.

Cottage of Content - surprisingly a going concern

Midday Opening and plenty of trophies

I'd completed my research for post walking refreshments - not noticing that Little Dewchurch has a pub, the Plough.   It made me chuckle that the new estate next to it has been called the Furrows.

Instead, I used lanes similar to those walked to get to the Harewood End Inn, an ancient coaching house on A49 Ross on Wye to Hereford Road.

After adding 40 caches to March's total, I can add another Good Beer Guide Tick.

Good Beer Guide Pub Tick #374

Functional

It's past is probably more interesting than its present - a two real ale pub, catering for the dining crowd and a couple of locals, camped at the bar and no doubt there for the day.

On the walls, you can read bills of sale, showing the pub was first documented in 1627, where the rent was a pair of capons at Christmas time.

In the present, you can choose between Tribute and Swan Gold, dine on tuna sandwiches served on a chopping board (We Want Plates!) and watch Palace lose to Watford in the FA Cup.

Thanks to GrumpyAlan getting my numbers up!