Rodington Ramble

Rodington Ramble, 58 caches, 11 miles, Rodington, Shropshire 


Hello,

Happy Easter! My dad and I celebrated by setting out to try and complete this new series of nearly 60 caches.

After some Easter celebrations at home, we decided to set off, though we got a little lost, and arrived at the late time of 12 noon. Glad that we'd decided to bring the bikes, yep again, as most of it seemed (and is) bikeable. Hoping to get out and do some proper walking later in the week though, finding what seems like a cracker of a series - more of that when I actually do it, but now back to this one.

What caches! Some superb camo on nearly all of them, four of which we had to DNF! The caches are what makes this series special - there is such a variety, from creative camo'd ones, all the way to big boxes stuffed to the brim with swag - perfect for families!

After whizzing around we got to #9 - spent forever searching, before we were joined by the Heidi Seekers, who were a little concerned about it, after meeting another cacher earlier reporting a DNF. Together, 6 pairs of eyes, we spent around half an hour searching - with no cache in sight.

We continued downhill by bike having a few more finds, not so quick, all taking quite a while, so we were joined by the Heidi Seekers for nearly all of these. Some lovely spots to put the caches, very pretty, though we're missing our usual dose of views...

Before too long we'd arrived at the road, and bid farewell to the Heidi Seekers, who'd started here. Off the footpaths now, meant we could whiz down the lanes bagging a cache every few seconds - coming thick and heavy here, still superbly put together caches, but finding things a little easier now.

Then, we met even more cachers! This new series really has brought everyone out and about this Easter, can't say the 58 caches doesn't help ;) They were called Lost and Found, and after a little chat we went our separate ways (they were walking it in reverse). They warned us that #40 was very tricky, and by the time we got there the time was hot on our heels - we had 18 caches left, the time was 17:00, had a 90 mile drive home, and a roast dinner waiting = not much time to spare. So, unfortunately, we had to move on after 10 minutes, making it the 4th (and final) DNF  of the day, also due to the silly time and fading daylight... but all was made better, as the caches continued to come one by one, as I found yet another amazing hide, after amazing hide.

I loved #53, best cache of the day, simply amazing. Never seen anything quite like it before.

And so was the end of another days caching. What a great series, though the walk was a bit samey, but all the wonderful caches made up for that! You never knew what to expect, and no cache was hidden in the same way - big hats off to the CO nozi parkez on a great set of hides! Hopefully the fact that there are a huge amount of caches, 58, many will come and experience them - just a shame on our DNFs, but they were all due to time. Hopefully not the last caching trip of the Easter holidays, but if it is, it was a great one.

But in this story there sadly isn't so much of a happy ending. We parked near #1, to do them in numeric order (even though no one had) outside a gate where there was another cachers car - the gate was rusty, heavily padlocked, had barbed wire, and the field was a wreck. We thought it was abandoned, and so off we went. When we came back, the kind farmer had left notes all over our car stating "PLEASE DO NOT BLOCK MY ACCESS TO MY FIELD - THIS IS NOT A CAR PARK". Reading the other cachers log, he also arrived to find the same notes. Funny thing is the field doesn't look like anything, as I said it looks abandoned. Just proves never  judge a book by its cover. Still, it was the end of a great day.

Griff Grof