Sunday 30 March 2014

Mother's Day Geocaching!

My mum (who caches as everyonesmum) and I had planned to go Geocaching for Mothers Day, so this morning I headed over to South Linconshire to celebrate with her.

As part of my Mother's Day plans, I had intended on buying her Premium membership, but recent problems with her mobile phone have put me off (it appears her GPS has stopped working entirely... :( ) Regardless, we decided we would head out to Bourne and walk Bourne and Back.

It was a beautiful day, and after a few false starts trying to find somewhere to park, we started at #14, and the easy find set the tone for the day. Approached #1, we watched a few suspected muggles who we ascertained were where we wanted to be, prompting a discussion about whether they were fellow cachers or not. By the time we reached GZ they had moved on, and after another easy find with nothing signed today on the log, we figured they were muggles and continued to follow them up the road...

.. Until they had stopped at the next GZ! As we approached we introduced ourselves, discovering they were not local cachers and after a conversation about the previous cache (which they had failed to find, hence no log!) and GPS devices, they decided to turn back and try the previous again, and we headed onwards.

A beautiful walk through a local village and a conversation about our desires to own beautiful, large houses before turning across the field and working our way back towards the A14, and over it. So far, all the caches have been really lovely with a 100% success rate and a variety of hides - This is such a lovely trail! After a scary hide at #9 (it made me jump, until I realized what it was!), we paused and watched the cows in the field opposite. The sign warns of a bull in the field, and from the amount of calves skipping around, it's definitely been busy! (Unfortunately, my camera photos weren't the best here!)
These are three of six (that we counted) calves!
We bypassed off the trail slightly to visit the Church Micro in Dyke, a tiny church that we have driven past several times and totally missed each time!
The puzzle element was a nice addition here and we quickly found GZ, with a confusing sign about sheep...
Sheep... problems? Sheep... for sale??
The cache took a fair bit of finding here, and I think given a few more weeks, it'll be too overgrown to find. :(

Moving on, we picked up #10 (covered in ants!) and begun hunting for #11, but I fear this is already a muggled one. There's only a certain number of places it can be given the hint, and there's a spot that looked perfect and recently prepared, but no find here. :( We passed the same cachers we discovered earlier between #11 and #12 (they had doubled back to find their DNF, then started the circuit in reverse) and then finished off.

Disappointingly, now I'm home, I've discovered my Pocket Query managed to omit a few results, which means we walked straight past 2 caches along the footpath we were on. At least we can collect them once we are sure #11 is in place.

After stopping for a cup of tea and a slice of cake in Bourne, we decided we would attempt to clear up the town in terms of caches, so we set off to pick up an easy find near Bourne Woods - a little too easy, I suspect! GC1G2W3 - Puzzler 2 - By George You've Got It was out in the open, but I suspect that the normal location for it is inside the flood underneath the stile, so I tried to hide it as best I could. :(

From here we headed into the centre of town, but we didn't have any luck on any of the caches - although I don't think my phone managed to save the waypoints for GC1NQCX What a Load of Baldocks, because I couldn't find them!! :(

We finished up with one last traditional cache, and a small multi that helped us explore the Elsea Park (more houses I would love!) then headed home.

It was a really lovely day, and something we really must do more often!

-RFF
-Finds today - 18 each
- Finds total: RFF - 383, Everyonesmum - 43

Sunday 23 March 2014

Back to Manea!

The sun is shining, my Geocar is back on the road properly and I've got my GPS running again. Time to finish off the Manea Meander that I started last weekend.

Taking El-Woodio with me (although Pip_Squeek is away in Lincoln!) and my OH, we decided to do most of the remaining series by car.

The first stop was GC4AM6X - Church Micro 1718 Manea Methodist. I'm a fan of Church Micros, and although this church doesn't look impressive, it does have an interesting history. After a quick find for El-Woodio, we moved on, parking the car around the corner and picking up the Manea Meander at #10, which was a slightly trickier hide, but by combining the hint and Google we found the cache, and aiming to do Manea Lakes and Woods too, except this one appears completely missing! :(

"I'm a tree!"

Back in the car, we discover the fishing lakes in Manea but don't attempt the cache here as there were lots of fishing folk around, but we did pick up #10 down "Straight Road" (exactly as described!).

We finished up with the last of the caches - all hits - and then doubled back to pick up #17, my only DNF last week. With the help of Hill Hiker's hint in their log, we were able to grab the cache (although not literally, had to leave the container in place!) and explore the abandoned houses some more, before heading back for some lunch.

I meant to collect the cache and dash series that is nearby, leading down to Chatteris, but we were so busy discussing lunch that I forgot all about it! I'll watch the two DNF's in the village and do that mini series when I return for them. :)

-RFF
-Finds today: RFF & EW - 6 each
-Finds total - RFF; 364, EW; Goodness only knows - he needs to catch up with his logging!

Sunday 16 March 2014

Manea Meander

I've been out of the loop a little recently, the Geocar broke down and having retrieved every local cache, it left me totally stranded. This weekend, I have managed to obtain a new car (Woohoo!) and once we get past a few teething problems, I'm back on the road completely. So, we took it out today.

Pip_Squeek is ill and El-Woodio working, so I collected the Geodog and took my Anticaching OH off to seek out the Manea Meander. It's glorious weather, so it would be rude not to!

I had no idea that the RSPB was out here, and Welches' Dam is very pretty! The first find was easy and set a good tone for the trail, obtaining each cache quickly as we went around. Even though the wind was strong, the sunshine was glorious and the Geodog really enjoyed being somewhere different.

We collected #1, #2, #3 and #4 and then the reservoir  around the corner caught out attention. We set by the bank a while and ate a snack, and the Geodog spend a while trying to get to the water to drink (The clean water we provide is clearly sub-standard!)
At the next cache, we found a beautiful memorial garden, as promised by the cache description. It's such an odd place to find something like this, but it was still stunning. With the Geodog on a very tight lead, we spent some time here before moving on.

At #8, I discover a new trackable which I collect as I'm not travelling with any at the moment and I feel I can definitely help this one! We discuss our plan of action, and decide that fatigue will win us over and we cut the loop short as suggested by the CO, heading back towards Welshes' Dam. This is where I strike my first DNF of the day, which is always disappointing, but I wasn't able to update my PQ before I left, and it's about 3 weeks old, so it's possible this is MIA. (Having gone back and checked, this one has been archived. Glad I didn't spend too long here!)

Coming back up to Purl's Bridge, we pause outside the (unfortunately closed) Ship Inn and regather ourselves, before the other half spots something very unusual. Along the road back to the Dam, there are 6 abandoned houses in various stages of being built. One has just the foundation struts in place, but another further down has half the cladding around the outside, and had windows until they were smashed. We spent some time wandering through them, and wondering what their story was. At home, I can't find any information about them but I can only assume the recession hit them too hard. It's a shame, they had stunning views across the Fens - I wonder if someone will give me one and finish it off for me!!




On the way back to the car we hit another DNF but I was tired and didn't really put a lot of effort in. We spent some time exploring the RSPB visitors centre, then headed home. It was a really nice day. :)

-RFF
-Finds Today: 11
-Total Finds: 358