Avening Circular Walk

Avening Circular Walk, 12 caches, 5 miles, Avening nr. Stroud, Gloucestershire 

Hello!

We were back out in the field today! We initially had another Wrighty series planned, but we noticed that a couple of the caches appeared to be missing, and so we chose to venture a little further today, instead.

Avening is an idyllic Cotswold village located in South Gloucestershire, a corner of the county which I absolutely love - you can be sure to enjoy sweeping hillsides and lush valley bottoms here!

We set off in the sunshine with Fizz, for what was promised to be a super series - I had been reading great things about it!

Cotswold cottage in the idyllic village of Avening

 The cache owner was very helpful in including detailed directions on the cache pages, which took away a lot of stress as we began to meet footpath junctions. Found a Church Micro en-route before embarking on the first cache of the series; this was an easy find. The second took longer than needed; I was expecting a really unique cache container and so I was a little surprised when we spotted the hide, nevertheless it certainly wasn't a common cache. The path opened out in to a valley meadow packed with an array of wildflowers, which were almost twinkling under the sunlight.

Fizz resting amongst the wildflowers between #2 and #3

We then walked past some long barrows thought to be around 5000 years old. We always like it when a walk takes you past somewhere with a story, and so we enjoyed admiring the barrows as we continued to ramble through the sweeping meadow.

Oh, guess what? I had forgotten what it was like to cache during summer. There were nettles which peaked at heights well above me, and I had to wade through them to grab a couple of caches. Shortly after this point, the nettles joined forces with other high-reaching plants to block a track needed to reach the GZ of another cache! Thankfully, I had long trousers and a light sweatshirt on, so they didn't really cause me a problem - I certainly wasn't expecting their presence in such a way, though! I was obviously still used to winter caching!

I thought the walk had an excellent variation in terrain. We were ambling through a lovely (ancient?) forest before too long, which was welcoming after roasting in the sun for an hour.

A walk in the woods

There was only one thing missing: views. The last series we did in this area was the Pinswell Loop, and so I was a little disappointed in their absence, to be honest. However, I guess they say not to speak too soon, as we were soon greeted with pleasant views; although not far reaching, they were stunning in their own right - sometimes these are the best of views.

Great views - follow the arrow!

We got lucky at #9! Just as we went through the gate, the farmer arrived and let in a herd of cattle from the next field - that would have been a disaster, especially with Fizz! The walk was completed with a descent back to Avening, where we found the final two caches of the series. 

To summarise: a fantastic walk, with a superb variation in terrain (from country lanes, to grassland, to meadows, to woodland, to hillsides) and good caches, each surviving well. I would definitely recommend this loop to anyone who hasn't already had the pleasure of completing it - I'll make a post on CacheWalker all about it tomorrow! 

Until next time... happy caching! 

Griff Grof

The CacheWalker Five

The CacheWalker Five, 6 caches, 5 miles, Willersey, Worcestershire. 

Hello, I'm back!

Have had a hectic few months sitting and preparing for exams... I even handed over administration of CacheWalker to walk tall until I had completely finished! So, apologies for my lack of updates on here.

Today we contemplated over where to go... we could locate a series with a healthy number of caches to boost my plummeting stats, or we could try an unfound Wrighty series near to home. Easy choice, then!

The CacheWalker Five was originally placed to coincide with the very first CacheWalker event back in 2007, and it's been on the To Do list since I started caching! When we were going to set-off and do it, we changed our minds upon noticing that the third cache was missing. It still was today but we thought: hey, you can't wait forever!

It was a brilliant walk. Starting in Willersey, the route took us gradually up-hill before we were met with an extremely steep climb in comparison. We were, however, rewarded with fabulous views over the Vale of Evesham:

The first cache took us a little longer than it should have, due to the fact that everything was so overgrown thanks to the time of year - the last time we went caching was January, after all! The second cache was Vale View, which existed before the series was placed, and the above photo was taken not far from it.

The third cache was, indeed, missing. I was hoping that this wouldn't prevent us finding the Bonus, as we approached the fourth cache and gathered more info for it. The views were still very pleasant here, and Fizz (accompanying us once again) was having the time of her life as she explored the area.

The fifth cache was excellently placed; I was a little concerned upon approach when I saw a beer bottle situated in an ideal hiding place! With the hint checked, however, I made the find - nice one! Decided to compile the Bonus details I had, but was very doubtful that we'd find the cache.

If you decide to do this series (which you should) take care choosing which path you take, as we turned left instead of carrying on past Farncombe Estate - this led us to a field of unfriendly cows, where we double-checked the route and realised that we had gone wrong.

Studying the photos on the Bonus cache's gallery gave me an idea of where it could be, and I was relieved when we approached a similar-looking location on the home stretch: and there it was! We were the first to find it since October 2012, meaning that we easily qualify to find GC2FPDY - hurray!

A great series which we, and Fizz, thoroughly enjoyed. No, it won't have bumped my numbers up much, but (as with all Wrighty walks) you take away far more than cache finds. I definitely recommend this one, if you haven't done it already!

Griff Grof

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

2013's caching in review

So, another year over; but it wouldn't be complete without my annual 'Caching In Review' post. This year, I set myself the goal to get 2000 finds, grab 100 more Wrighty caches and find more than 510 caches throughout the year, all whilst beating stats records along the way. How did I do? Quite frankly, not well. Firstly, though, let's take a look back on the caching year as a whole... 

It all started with an epic hike up two peaks in the Brecon Beacons, and finished with  a cracking CacheWalker. In between, I can firmly say that we did not complete a single poor series this year: each one was only selected if the series had a considerable amount of favourite points and/or I could see evidence of positive reviews. Consequently, I have thoroughly enjoyed every caching trip this year... Therefore, this year has been more quality-focussed, rather than quantity-focussed. I've found some very memorable caches, and the highlight, for me, was finding five 5/5s in a single day - previously, I had embarrassingly found none. No surprise, I can confirm that my Cache of the Year for 2013 is "Below Above - Fallen Monarch" ( GC2GAMT ) - It was difficult choosing just one of these caches, but I chose this one as there was more to see (workmen's tools, interesting graffiti, a crane etc) in comparison to the other caches. Also, your first 5/5 is always going to remain more memorable than those which follow after, this was also my reasoning behind selecting it. 

Now, back to those goals: I reached 1555 finds, meaning I found 229 caches throughout the year. I doubt I found even 20 Wrighty caches, let alone 100. I would say that the only stat-related thing I achieved was filling in more squares in my D/T grid thanks to more unique caches, such as the Below Above's. But don't think for one second that I'm disappointed! I've had a blast, and I feel even more welcome in the caching community as I've continued to help CacheWalker grow, and joined several other groups/forums, and attended their respective events. I have even been out in to the field with caching friends on several occasions, which, always, adds to the enjoyment. 

So, what does 2014 hold caching-wise for Griff Grof? Well, I'm going to push forward to 2000 as fast as I can (will probably kick off the year with a series of 46 caches,) and I might even push myself to find 1000 throughout year - it's been an ambition from mine from the start... little and often might to the trick - thankfully, I've got plenty of unfound local caches! However, I will NOT compromise on quality for quantity - choosing destinations by favourite points and positive reviews will continue - not sure how good the series of 46 is, though - it's only new! I'm also hoping to beat my current Geofrenzy by finding 100+ caches in a day, fill in more of my D/T grid and calendar and beat any other stats-related records set. Finally, I hope to attend as much events as I can... I haven't been to many this year! 

So, watch out! Griff is back, and he's here to stay - 2014 will be a good one. 

Happy New Year to you all!

Griff Grof

CacheWalker Twixmas Bash 2013

Adlestrop Amble,  4 miles, 11 caches. Adlestrop, Gloucestershire. 

Well, it certainly isn't very encouraging waking up to howling wind and rain smashing against your window, when you know there's a CacheWalker event to attend. The Twixmas event has become somewhat of an annual tradition, and we've braved the weather before (at least this time it's not a picnic!) - last year's event was memorable, and it was looking like this year's would be too - but for all the wrong reasons. Nevertheless, off we set; thankfully the rain wasn't so bad when we got to Adlestrop, but the forecast was telling us it'd be another 2 hours before the sun made an appearance.

A brillant turnout for the walk meet, considering the weather and the fact that it's a Monday! We all enjoyed a warm cup of tea whilst geochatting ahead of marching off in to the hills for the walk. By the time we had got to the first cache, some people were already drenched! The thing with these events is that, as much as I enjoy them, it's a rarity to actually witness the caches - therefore, I set myself the goal to try and see each cache in situ... so far, so good.

This first stretch of the walk was quite muddy, not a surprise walking through woodland in wet weather, however, I expect it would be fine during drier times (well, I have been here before). It was a pleasure chatting with everyone on the walk (all whilst trying to see each hide) which is what I love  most about caching en-masse - with good company on a good walk, how can you go wrong?! Just a shame about the weather! Now near the top of Adlestrop Hill, we were fully exposed to the elements (it started hailing!) as we unearthed the second incarnation of Cotswold Motel, the finest TB hotel I knew, which was archived back in 2010 - good to see it back, and now I know where to come when I have accumulated trackables!

Suddenly, whilst crossing some very deep mud, a strip of blue became apparent in the sky above us. Minutes later, out came the sun. Well, it wouldn't be a CacheWalker event without the sun shining, would it! Perfect timing too, as we began our descent back down in to Adlestrop, meaning that we could enjoy the stunning panoramic views all around us - such a shame I can't quite say the same about the rest of the walk, but this last mile made up for all of that! 11 caches done (I saw each of them!) we defragmented as some of us set off to complete the new Church Micro whilst others wished to dry off in the venue. I tagged along with the former lot.

A good walk and series, despite the weather, with stunning views at the end. I know that there are more great views on the route, having walked some of the paths before, therefore I highly recommend the series - but save it for a nice day, it can get windy up there! Or not, like us, you won't be disappointed - it is a Wrighty series, after all.

~

Then, it was time for the event! I counted 36 heads on the walk, and I believe that this tally rose to over 40 as others turned up who didn't dare brave the weather. As we were in a village hall this time (due to the fact that there's not a pub in the village) everyone brought their own food, which was nice as it saved us, as the organisers, the hassle and, moreover, people didn't have to pay for their meal and could bring whatever drinks and food they sought. 

Plenty more geochat was enjoyed, before we handed out Secret Santa presents, ran the raffle and issued the CacheWalker SuperBike Challenge 2013 prizes. This encouraged some others to sign up for next year, as the annual TB race transforms in to the CacheWalker Footballer's Challenge to coincide with the 2014 World Cup. 

With that, everyone went their separate ways; another CacheWalker event wrapped up successfully, and enjoyed by all. I had a great time, and perhaps that's it for caching in 2013 - although I hope that I can get out tomorrow. If not, I've ended in true style with a brilliant day's caching. 

Finally, sorry for the lack of photos: I didn't take any today :D But stay tuned as I may add some once others have uploaded them to the cache page(s). 

Griff Grof

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

A wander around Wilmcote

SS's Walk, 4.1 miles, 18 caches + 2 en-route, first cache: GC4FJ7E. 

This was another series that I missed being published, due to not being a premium-member for a while - discovered, once again, completely by chance whilst browsing the map. Wilmcote rang a bell... its a village Wacky races is very familiar with; I reckon he'd have loved to have come back to it with us today, shame he's living in a warmer climate now! Wilmcote, being the home of Shakespeare's mother, Mary Arden, was very picturesque as remembered, with some charming cottages lining the principle road passing through the village.

Pretty buildings like this one are found throughout Wilmcote

Couldn't wait to get going, as this series has enjoyed rave reviews; wasn't expecting too much from the walk at first, Warwickshire always seems to be very flat. The caches were nice and easy to start with (little did we know that was soon to change,) and the best thing - cow-less fields - I think, judging by peoples logs, that we're the first to not encounter any at all! Now we wished we had brought along Fizz, the puppy! It began to drizzle after the first few caches, and we caught a beautiful rainbow during this...

Rainbow 

And then there was #6 - with tons of favourite points, we knew this was going to be a special one. Spent an age searching, in the end we decided to resort to TAF (Text-a-friend... I've just made that up, let's see if it catches on,) but just as I tapped 'Send' I spotted something suspicious, and there it was - a good hide, and always nice to break a chain of DNFs on a cache. 

And so on we continued, getting well and truly muggled at #7 (let's hope he didn't take the cache!) Found #8, I admit, after a TAF - but this would be the only TAF of the day. The series also sees some good sized caches amongst the sneaky hides, including a 'Large', a very elusive size these days!

The series improved further at #11: the sun was out and there were pleasant views all round to enjoy - the cache is aptly named 'Take a Rest', and so we did! Descending back down in to flatland,  #12 was pure genius - have never seen one like this before, it made us chuckle and it got a whole lot better as we tried to retrieve the cache! I can now see why it already has 80 favourite points!

Nice views from GZ at #11

And the ingenuity didn't end there... #13, with 81 favourite points, was also very unique, and therefore memorable. The remaining caches weren't too sneaky, more of the norm, nice and quick to find. The series finished off with a stroll along the canal, by now it was starting to drizzle again. Then it was a case of picking up (not literally!) two existing caches en-route to the car; had a browse in their logbooks to see if I could spot Wacky races' name, but with no avail as each has been replaced fairly recently.

And so, it was the end to a nice series. Most caches took a while to find, you really need to think out of the box here! However, every find was worth the search: the sneaky caches were showstoppers whilst the larger caches were well stocked. Take this and add it to a pleasant walk with a good view along the way and I can safely suggest this is one to do, if you already haven't. An enjoyable morning's caching.

Griff Grof