New Year's Day caching in the rain

Oversly Trail Two, 8.2 miles, 41 caches. Alcester, Worcestershire. 

Caching in the rain seems to be becoming something of a habit lately - the CacheWalker walk on Monday, and, again, today. What can you do? - I mean, this is Britain I'm caching in!
I've had my eyes on the [first incarnation] of this series since I started caching back in 2010, and had solved all the puzzles and planned it all for today as a back up option, were the weather to be playing up, resulting in cancelling the intended trip to the Brecon Beacon's. It was a bonus to see the series archived and re-listed with three times as many caches... and, after waking up to heavy rainfall, we set off kitted up to brave the elements in Worcestershire, rather than Brecon.

We actually waited in the car for an hour once we had arrived, hoping that the rain would ease off. And what do you know, it was worth the wait, as we kicked-off the series in dry - but windy - conditions. Understandably, all the caches on this series were bison tubes... a shame, as there were some spots which could have housed a much larger container. The walk was muddy right from the start, and we got our first DNF (since October!) at #2: couldn't spot it quickly enough, and we were right at the end of someone's garden, and so we wanted to move on quickly, in order to not look too suspicious. I enjoyed the first stretch, despite the road noise, with open countryside around us.

And then came the rain - heavier than ever coupled with the wind. We were drenched by #15, but this didn't dampen our spirits, as we continued; at this point we were pretty certain that we would call it a day after the first loop (the series is set in a figure of eight). The day was delivering pretty much what I wanted, though - a good walk just CACHING - it's been a while since we've done this! By the time we were nearly at the car, it was dry again... obviously, we decided to go for the second half of the series, we were there and having a good time, with promising weather.

So, off we marched; we soon bumped in to another cacher who was also a member of the West Midlands Regional Geocaching Forum, Team Airtomoreira. We decided to team up as a three for the rest of the series. I was really glad that we'd chosen to continue as we were now walking across some really lovely countryside, with some nice views.

Open Countryside: Nice views 

There was a rather odd looking white tower (house,) which must've been constructed prior to planning laws, as we couldn't believe that the council would allow it these days. We continued with more easy, but well hidden, caches in the dry whilst enjoying the surrounding countryside around us. Then, we decided to divert to attempt a Church Micro. There was a very rare early 18th century structure in the churchyard, of hurdle and gorse walls with a thatched roof. It was constructed for the mounts of visiting clergy from neighbouring parishes... we found this very interesting! It was just a shame that the three of us couldn't find the actual cache - the third, and final, DNF of the day for us.

Very rare 18th century structure, originally for visiting clergy, in the churchyard. 

The final stretch was particularly muddy. The route effectively takes you around Oversley Wood, a pity that the CO's couldn't get permission to place some caches inside it - I'm sure it's lovely in there, though, and I'm sure the now-archived Wherigo would have showcased  it well. We saw quite a humorous sign near to one of the caches - you can see the bridleway mentioned to the right... yes, it is that narrow muddy path:

Duh! Who would even consider taking their lorry up a muddy path which is just one foot wide?!

With three caches to go, the heavens opened once again, so we rushed to the car. Despite the changeable weather (thankfully it was dry most of the time,) this was a most enjoyable morning's caching! The caches were quick and easy to find, and the walk was very pleasant, with some lovely open stretches and good views - I can't think of anything negative to say, and that's because this series has been executed extremely well. A must-do, perhaps save it for a sunny day -  you could enjoy your surroundings a little bit more!

That's 45 caches found today, less than 24 hours in to 2014 - I doubt I'll keep this find rate up! Happy New Year to all, and thank you for continuing to follow my blog through 2013!

Griff Grof

Caching al estilo español

Siempre me encanta buscar Geocaches en España, porque - no, don't worry, I won't write this post in Spanish - I may well disengage you all if I did!

So, let's start this again: I love going caching in Spain; since I started caching, we've found at least one  every time we've gone. Back then, in 2010, there were hardly any around! Just goes to show how much the times have changed... there must now be hundreds and hundreds within a two-mile radius of where we stay - and only three years have been and gone!

We always enjoy cycling up the various local paths, and so we welcomed the fact that a new linear series of caches had been published, covering a five mile stretch. Of course, we wouldn't be stupid enough to do all the caches on our doorstep in one go - so we only did a few (probably passing several    of the others) in order to save the rest until next time. If you're a real cacheaholic, then you must be thinking I'm crazy passing caches and not looking for them - what if they're archived come next year? Good point, I'll just have to hope that they're not! In all seriousness, though, perhaps the main reason for not doing them all in one go was the heat - the area was going through a particularly warm patch, and so we concluded that it wouldn't be wise to push ourselves too far.

Caches feel so much more rugged in Spain, if you know what I mean. It's as if they haven't caught up with the containers we tend to use here, for there are hardly any film canisters in sight, and most caches seem to be of a larger size. Of the four we found along this stretch of the route, there was one sneaky hide (which we chuckled at!) and the rest were generous regulars! Plus, you won't see a lizard if you turn over a rock here in the UK either - in Spain, we did see a couple in this scenario, makes caching feel a bit more exotic!

~

Our next caching trip, an early morning stroll along the beach, wasn't quite as successful and enjoyable. Gosh, there are some REALLY HARD caches in Spain!!! Of the eleven we attempted, we found one. Yes, ONE. Possibly the most unsuccessful day caching ever, for anyone, let alone for someone with nearly 1500 finds. In my defence, the caches were in a very high-muggle area. There were people all over the beach, even this early in the morning and there were people sat outside the restaurants and hotels which back on to the beach... as you can guess, it was, therefore, very stressful trying to find caches in between all this, the only possibility for their placement were palm trees, but their trunks were smooth-as-paper each time, no hidey-holes to be found. I've no idea where all these caches were or if they had been muggled, perhaps they were all archived after I loaded the PQ: but then why did we find one of them? It's all a mystery, and not the caching I enjoy, so next year I'll make sure to hit the trail each time, rather than the beach, when it comes to caching!

Hasta el año que viene,
Griff Grof

Quest for Ziggy

Ziggy Stardust, 6 miles, 4 caches. First cache: GC173RX

There cannot be a better choice of series to set out and complete than a Wrighty series. Long on the agenda, we chose our most local unfound, the Ziggy Stardust walk, to tackle on a chilly Easter Monday afternoon.

Bitter wind challenged us on the way to 'The man who sold the world' (#1,) but nothing could take away from the stunning scenery of the area, with GZ being in a good spot, in typical Wrighty style.

Unfortunately it was a DNF on the second cache (we were bitten by a dog on the way - maybe this sidetracked our search?!) and, so, as we continued, the question regarding whether we'd be able to deduce Ziggy's location missing a value began to (unfortunately) lure upon us.

The third cache, 'China Girl', was the highlight of the walk for me. The views were brilliant along this stretch, though we had to be very cautious walking along the lane, which was covered in ice! In fact, just to prove that I'm not exaggerating, have a look at what we spotted in a spiny to our right shortly before GZ:

Yes, that is a large piece of self-standing ice!!! :O 

When we did arrive at GZ we weren't disappointed. I couldn't have thought of a better place to put a cache, above a meandering valley! Despite the cold and the DNF, we were still enjoying the walk, and I was determined that we'd be able to find Ziggy! 

Did nearly slip on the ice along the same lane to #4 - it's outrageous the council don't place salt along these roads; we did see several cars drive by, thankfully they didn't seem to have a problem. So, the time had come to calculate the coordinates for Ziggy's location. Nope, we weren't going to get him. The strangest locations were produced as I substituted possible numbers into the coordinates! 

Nevertheless, we continued. I really didn't want to finish without collecting Ziggy, so by this point I was raiding the CacheWalker shoutbox and texting Wrighty himself for help. Unfortunately, no one on CacheWalker could remember exactly where GZ was, and Wrighty was working so never got to see the texts on time. 

We did enjoy the remainder of the walk, with more stunning views to supplement for the DNFs on two of the four caches. This did make up for that, and, at the end of the day, for me, it's the walk that counts, and not the caches: and this was a simply fantastic route. Furthermore, on the plus-side, it's a reason to return, perhaps with the whole family, to pick up the two we missed. 

A highly recommended series - hopefully you can top it off with finding Ziggy but, if not, you won't get back to your car feeling disappointed!

Griff Grof