Geocache Finds 2015-07-11

Geocache Finds 2015-07-11

Geocache Finds 2015-07-11

Walkern Multis

Multi Multis

Someone, somewhere, once said there was a geocaching challenge that requires you to find 10 or more multi-caches in a day. That sounds like something that needs to be achieved. However it obviously requires a location that actually has a sufficient number of appropriate caches within close proximity. Ideally, there was a series of Multis over at Walkern that fitted the bill.

The series has 19 multi-caches, and all can be solved by decoding of just a single piece of information. There’s a yellow fire hydrant at the entrance to the recommended parking spot that has some numbers on it. The good news was that a previous finder had given me the necessary information. I’d therefore got the final locations for all 19 happily plugged into the GPS when we arrived. That saved an eternity in working stuff out.

I had both kids with me and also was accompanied by Happy_Hunter_HP20 and Rachelle from Pat&Roch. That made for a bit of a squeeze on the back seat of my car, as the kids take up a disproportionate amount of room. Happy_Hunter got the passenger seat in the front on the basis of him being taller than Tall Jack McTall. And he got in before Rachelle.

Back at the plot, if ever there was one, it was quite a warm day but supposedly not a very long walk, as there were only 19 caches to find. Most were fairly easy and we got to walk around a bit of pleasant Hertfordshire countryside. One of them was on the distinctly unpleasant side. It was buried under the side of a massive fallen tree trunk that was completely surrounded by neck-high nettles. HHHP20 attacked one side and I attacked the other, but I’d forgotten to take my machete with me, so we had to try to sort it out with a whacking stick (aka rambler’s walking pole) and the soles of our (thankfully very sturdy and nettleproof) boots. It took ages, did that one.

Job Done

When we were done we retired to the only pub in the village for some cold drinks, a bit of late lunch (or early dinner) and a rest. The girls rested by playing in the play park.

After we’d finished we went for a single puzzle on the outskirts of Walkern and then allowed HHHP20 to lead us around to a handful of nearby puzzles he’d solved and wanted to collect.

Not a bad afternoon out. 26 finds in total without having to strain particularly. As well as the Walkern Multis we found two others, making 21 multis, plus four puzzles and a traditional. I’ve no idea where the challenge cache is though. The finds on the day were :


Geocache Finds 2015-07-05

Geocache Finds 2015-07-05

Geocache Finds 2015-07-05

Grafham Grabs

Easy Walking

This was a Sunday jaunt over towards Grafham Water for a few grabs from circuits that I’d failed to finish previously. The series in question were the Woolley Mammoth and the S2E2.

The area I needed to go to lay between the villages of Grafham and Ellington. Some of the parts of the two series that I was missing were caused by a previous failure, at the end of 2013. That wasn’t a failure because of my inability to find caches. It was the failure of the battery failed in my phone (see Ellington Expedition). It was that event that prompted me to switch to use of a “proper” handheld GPS. Maybe an extreme reaction, but I guess my mind had been moving that way anyway. Breaking the battery in my phone just pushed me into making the decision. It was nearly Christmas, anyway.

Back at the plot, it was a fairly easy walk around. I parked on the road between Ellington and Grafham and walked a figure-of-eight shape. The east part was across fields and was fast walking because it was summer, and mainly dry. The west part of the figure-of-eight circled a wood.

When I’d finished I decided I’d go to do a few more around the village of Grafham. I didn’t spend long there though, because I had a couple of fruitless searches and a couple of unpleasant locations. Those convinced me to stop and go home. M’eh! I’d found 30 or so in three hours.
Never mind, they can’t all be brilliant days, I guess.

The grabs I made around Grafham on the day were :