Caching in South Gloucestershire

Hello!

This is my first post of 2016, so I'd like to wish everyone a Happy New Year!

I hadn't been caching since the CacheWalker Twinew event a couple of weeks ago. That was an enjoyable but wet experience, it's a shame that it's the second CacheWalker Twixmas/Twinew event to see the rain - the sun has shone for the others. Let's hope the weather's better for this year's event.

We fancied visiting a new area today; I noticed the 'Toy Story' series, which is in a part of South Gloucestershire we had not been to before.

Toy Story series, 10 miles, 39 caches, Tytherington, South Glos

It was unusually warm today due to the tropical air mass which was blown up to the UK. Unfortunately it wasn't sunny, but at least it was dry, unlike the day of the CacheWalker event! Our first find was a Church Micro; in fact, today was the day for finding caches from several nationwide series'. Overall, I found 5 Little Bridges, 2 Fine Pair's and 2 Church Micro's. Several of these were incorporated into the Toy Story series whilst a couple were extras.

St. James, Tytherington - opposite the first Church Micro of the day.

We were soon out on the trail; the footpaths were incredibly muddy and the ground was generally waterlogged, which meant that walking was difficult to begin with. However, we soon got used to it and some stretches were better than others. Luckily, we had good boots and gaters on - essential if you too decide to complete this series during the winter!

What I loved about it was the thought that went into the caches. There were hardly any Micros, and the Small/Regular caches were very well stocked. In fact, some were extremely generous in size whilst others were ingenious, with GC5ERP1 particularly coming to mind - it was one of those caches where you instantly decide they're deserving of a favourite point!

Everything was going well until #17, where the cache was quickly spotted at the base of an oak prior to a swarm of bees, or even wasps, emerging from the tree hollow. I was surprised that no one had mentioned the fact that there is a nest in any of the previous logs, so we reckon the cacher ahead of us must have unintentionally disturbed them earlier. I'm sure that you'll agree that it is odd to see bees/wasps at this time of year!

There were various Multi's to complete throughout the walk and none of these were too difficult, which was a relief. We were soon walking along some pleasant tracks and country lanes finding more caches before it was time to calculate the coordinates for the Bonus. We had missed a value in one of the caches and we tried our best but the coords we came up with weren't logical. After tweaking them we thought we had a more likely location, and the cache was found - it was huge, and the twist within was a great surprise!

Nice views on the way back to Tytherington

It was then back to Tytherington, concluding a pleasant walk through some quiet countryside, finding some good caches along the way. Overall, a nice series which was made even more fun by its theme. We reckon that a lot of the fields will be filled with livestock in the summer, but we only encountered one field, with sheep, today. Looking forward to doing more long walks this year; in fact, I've already got the next one planned.

Unfortunately, life continues to get in the way of Geocaching, so it might be a case of finding a couple of special caches closer to home over the next couple of weeks - which is just as good!

Griff Grof

TWW - The Worcestershire Whopper

TWW - The Worcestershire Whopper (GC5DERW)

Today we found a brilliant cache. In fact, I think it's amongst the top caches we've ever done.

Let's start by saying that it's Whopper by name, and whopper by nature - it's at least four times bigger than the second largest cache I've found. Sure, this made it special, but there's also so much more to it; in order to obtain the coordinates for the first part of the final cache,  you first had to find two fantastic feeder caches.

In this blog post I'll be running through the whole journey and experience of finding TWW, without revealing any spoilers. Enjoy...

Feeder cache 1 found on 13th December: 
GC5AWQ0 - Ashton Circular 1 - ABFTN Dog & Bone
Part of a series of 8 caches, 2 miles, Ashton-Under-Hill

For the first feeder cache, we arrived in Ashton for a walk along the lower slopes of Bredon Hill. We had high hopes for the series since we remember the hill fondly from previous caching trips.

It was straight on to the feeder cache as it was the first, and its initial stage had us chuckling since I had looked straight at it ten minutes earlier - absolutely fantastic, and very ABFTN.

We enjoyed some pleasant views as we progressed with the Multi whilst bagging some more caches. We'd recommend visiting the location for GC5GNJX, since the views up there were particularly stunning.

Super views from GC5GNJX on Bredon Hill

Have to admit finding the second stage of the Multi a little difficult, but we soon got our heads around it following a quick PAF (thanks TJ!) - it all suddenly made sense. The twist that followed was ingenious too... I never thought a Multi which already had so many unique and creative stages could keep on getting better and better. The container at the end was a welcome surprise too, and we were overjoyed to have half of the coords for the elusive TWW already!

We also found some more creative caches as the series came to an end, with the Church Micro particularly standing out.

Lovely church in Ashton-Under-Hill

Overall, it was a very enjoyable series in a lovely part of Worcestershire, which we'd recommend to all. Plus, it ups your appetite for TWW following such a brilliant feeder cache!

Feeder cache 2 found on 14th December: 
GC5H8M1 - Mile Drive Multi
You pass 3 other caches

The very next day we popped out to grab the second and final feeder cache in order to have all TWW details at hand. It's a Multi, by Wrighty... need I say more? It was great!

The Mile Drive is a stretch of the Cotswold Way, and it's one I know quite well. Plus, I found some of my first caches along here, so it brought back some good memories as we returned.

Nice views along the Mile Drive (photo by walktall on Geocaching.com gallery, we didn't have our camera) 

This was a real back to basics cache - a straight-forward two stage Multi, in a lovely location with some nice views, and a large, well-stocked cache at the end. Quite frankly, this is what all caches should be like!

After we had rummaged through the cache, we jotted down the remaining numbers for TWW's location,  and we were over the moon to be ready to find it!

THE WORCESTERSHIRE WHOPPER found on 18th January 

A month came and went and we finally pencilled in a visit to the main attraction. It was a beautiful, sunny day, albeit a little chilly, and we arrived at the coords early in the morning. Popped in to say hello to H and L of L8HNB, with H kindly offering to visit the cache with us.

I was surprised how quickly I spotted the required info at the first stage, and then it was on to GZ, which was a nice spot. Surprisingly, I walked straight past the cache - it was very well camouflaged for its size!

As I mentioned at the start of the post, it really was gigantic - so large that I could have jumped inside it! Plus, there was plenty inside, and I'm sure that if I'm passing by I'll drop some more stuff in such as larger swaps and TBs, in fact, I may even take something out too.

Overall, a brilliant experience in lovely countryside - from finding the fantastic feeder caches by sumadartson and Wrighty, to opening one of the best caches I've ever found. A truly memorable find; this is what caching is all about.

Griff Grof