Venturing Below Above

The 'Below Above' series of 5/5 underground caches, Nr Box, Wiltshire. 

I've been watching the Below Above caches for months and months, therefore I jumped at the opportunity to join some fellow Cotswold cachers (tarmacjohn, pigdogboyandgirls, Gackt and XJ) on a group trip to tackle several new ones today: The series has grown admirably over the past 12 months! Furthermore, I saw this trip as the perfect opportunity to bag my first 5/5! Months in the planning, it was an extra privilege to have the CO (Jesters Magpie) with us as our guide, pointing out sites of interest along the way, as well as outlining the history of the mines we were going through.

I've got to admit, I was a little nervous in the lead-up to today. I had to be, with no idea what to expect: of course, I could go by what others had told me, and by the cache gallery, to give me an image of the sort of challenges involved. But this, particularly the latter, made me more nervous - it's certainly not very encouraging to see people squeezing through tiny holes and crawling through square-metre tunnels! It was decided on the Cotswold Caching forum that we'd kick-off the day by navigating to Fallen Monarch and Ugly Ducking - the two easiest in the series. This made me feel better, knowing that we would begin with these as a taster, before deciding whether or not to continue on with everyone else to the newer, more challenging, ones.

The sun over us, we commenced our crawl underground. At first I was thinking 'Why am I doing this?!' but, soon accustomed to the circumstances, a brilliant feeling of excitement rushed through me as I joined the main, spacious passage - I would be finding my first 5/5 cache, and in great company, very soon! Water was dripping from the rocks above, adding to the puddles dotting the meandering path. It is definitely a weird feeling being underground, but there's something strangely good about it - with these first two caches, there was certainly plenty to see! For instance, there was graffiti on many of the walls, telling us stories about what the place was like when it was working!

Graffiti: A train, a child must've drawn this when at work in the mine!

The experience was fantastically enhanced by sightings like this; we also saw old workman's tools, and even and old crane! We reached the first cache, which boasts 125 favourite points and a 'Geocaching.com Cache of the Week' award, amongst a couple of others. And I can see why, that feeling when you find the cache - after all the navigation (I was leading the group as it's my first!), the amazing sights and the physical challenge... nothing can beat that feeling. I now couldn't wait to find the second cache!

More sightings: Crane

Although this cache is said to be the easiest, Jester led us to it along an unofficial shortcut - and, gosh, this was (for me) far more of a physical challenge, in comparison to what I had experienced so far! I went through the tight squeeze (not that bad, after all) and then through an even tighter one... Nevertheless, in hindsight, I enjoyed every moment of it! We were then rewarded by arriving at GZ, the advantage of taking the shortcut, and finding the cache, after overcoming the slight twist added to the recipe! Next, it was through the exit and back in to fresh air, after admiring some more of our surroundings.

We couldn't go home now - we had a brill time, so we decided to would continue to the next two caches, located in a different quarry altogether - 165 Eaton Place, The Drawing Room and 165 Eaton Place, Mr Hudson's Pantry. Now, these took Below Above to a whole new level - the entrance... how daunting! I just went with the flow, knowing I'd regret it otherwise - I overcame a steep, slippery shaft and tight squeeze to reach a larger passage below. The route to the first cache led us over some falls (nothing too major) but, again, there were some fascinating sights, including a huge air-shaft - Jester left us with an intriguing announcement here... ;) 

The second, well, I'm not sure I should describe this in too much detail: let's just say that the names of these caches instantly made sense, and there was a tight squeeze to get through down to GZ - cache soon found, I'll say it again - it's amazing how accomplished you feel... especially after the surprise challenge to get to this cache - you'll have to go and find it to fully understand what I'm on about! Then, all that was left was to ascend up the steep shaft - thankfully we had some sturdy rope - and squeeze back outside. These two caches were highlights for me, their greater physical challenge made them all the more exciting! 

Group Photo

We concluded that we simply couldn't part ways with the group, with just one more 5/5 to go - we decided that we would have a go! This final cache, The Holly and The Ivy, is Christmas themed, so it seemed a fitting time of year to find it. Contrary to the others, this quarry was considerably smaller - in fact, as soon as we had scrambled down the shaft it was strait to the cache... complete with some Christmassy trinkets inside! We explored this quarry a little after we had signed the log, and noted some graffiti regarding the Transval War, which took us on a short journey through history - 'The war has begun' to 'The war is over!' - brilliant. A scramble back up the shaft and we were back on the surface, bidding farewell to the underground world for today. 

So... five 5/5's in one day - wow, I am very pleased about that! Had a good time throughout the day, from exploring and learning about the mines, to overcoming the tight squeezes and finding the caches at the end, all in brilliant company. I'm not sure I'd call myself a caving enthusiast after this, but it was certainly a great, fun experience and I'm eager to return to the area to find more Below Above's very soon.

This series is a must do - go on, push yourself - you won't regret it! 

Griff Grof