The beginning of a six month long journey to complete one of the biggest series of caches in the area – the Chiltern Hundred series near Chesham.
It was a cold February day and I had the day to myself, so I planned to go and have a crack at as many as possible. The Chiltern Hundred series consists of three loops which interlink at a couple of points to the north of the town. The total length of walking on the three loops is about 20 miles and there are about 110 caches to collect, as well as a a bonus cache that has a very high Difficulty/Terrain rating. To get the bonus you have to gather at least 100 of the 110 caches (and the bonus codes within them) and then type these into a web page to reveal the coordinates. It’s a bit of an epic.
Anyway, on my first day I parked up at Chesham Tube Station, which happens to be the host for the first cache in the series, and began my walk. I lose track of how many miles I walked on this day but it was a lot. Estimates made retrospectively using my favourite mapping software indicate that I walked about 13 miles. It was only just light when I started walking and it was completely dark when I got back. I set a new personal best for number of caches found in one day – 60 finds – although, had I found all of those on the route I walked it would have been well over 70. There were certain stretches where I was missing caches more often than finding them, and had I been closer to home and closer to my car at the time I might well have just given up on the day, but seeing as I was miles out in the middle of nowhere I decided I might as well keep looking. I had to do the walking anyway, as I was miles from the car for most of the day.
The caches I found on the day were:
- ch001 – Chiltern Hundred, Chesham Station
- ch002 – Chiltern Hundred, bridge
- ch003 – Chiltern Hundred, Chesham heights
- ch004 – Chiltern Hundred, Chesham view
- ch006 – Chiltern Hundred, at the junction
- ch007 – Chiltern Hundred, gnarly
- ch008 – Chiltern Hundred, bridleway
- ch009 – Chiltern Hundred, up and in
- ch010 – Chiltern Hundred, up the junction
- ch011 – Chiltern Hundred, Botley
- ch012 – Chiltern Hundred, Lee farm
- ch014 – Chiltern Hundred, passing Codmore
- ch016 – Chiltern Hundred, Hilltop view
- ch017 – Chiltern Hundred, Lyegreen farm
- ch018 – Chiltern Hundred, Lye Green
- ch019 – Chiltern Hundred, Nashleigh farm
- ch020 – Chiltern Hundred, wine tree
- ch021 – Chiltern Hundred, A 416
- ch024 – Chiltern Hundred, Little Pressmore farm
- ch025 – Chiltern Hundred, Chesham Vale
- ch026 – Chiltern Hundred, Bower farm
- ch027 – Chiltern Hundred, ostrich farm
- ch028 – Chiltern Hundred, Ramscoat Wood
- ch029 – Chiltern Hundred, leaving Ramscoat
- ch030 – Chiltern Hundred, swing high
- ch031 – Chiltern Hundred, Great Hivings
- ch032 – Chiltern Hundred, Mount Nugent Farm
- ch033 – Chiltern Hundred, Captain’s Wood
- ch035 – Chiltern Hundred, Asheridge Road
- ch036 – Chiltern Hundred, Asheridge Road East
- ch037 – Chiltern Hundred, Asheridge view
- ch038 – Chiltern Hundred, Chartridge
- ch040 – Chiltern Hundred, Pednor road view
- ch041 – Chiltern Hundred, Pednor Mead farm view
- ch042 – Chiltern Hundred, Rose Acre view
- ch043 – Chiltern Hundred, single tree
- ch045 – Chiltern Hundred, mound view
- ch046 – Chiltern Hundred, Bury
- ch049 – Chiltern Hundred, the backs
- ch084 – Chiltern Hundred, Cogdells Farm
- ch086 – Chiltern Hundred, Bellows Wood
- ch087 – Chiltern Hundred, Great Pednor Farm
- ch089 – Chiltern Hundred, Herberts Hole
- ch090 – Chiltern Hundred, Little Hundridge Lane
- ch091 – Chiltern Hundred, The Gate
- ch092 – Chiltern Hundred, electric fence?
- ch093 – Chiltern Hundred, ad astra
- ch094 – Chiltern Hundred, The Highlands
- ch095 – Chiltern Hundred, older tree
- ch096 – Chiltern Hundred, Pednor Mead Farm
- ch097 – Chiltern Hundred, Drydell Lane
- ch098 – Chiltern Hundred, Chesham Ring link
- ch099 – Chiltern Hundred, Pednor Road
- ch100 – Chiltern Hundred, Great Friar’s Hill
- ch101 – Chiltern Hundred, Wych Elm Farm view
- ch103 – Chiltern Hundred, Westdean Lane view
- ch105 – Chiltern Hundred, Pednor Vale Farm
- ch107 – Chiltern Hundred, Pednor Bottom
- ch108 – Chiltern Hundred, Pednor Bottom West
- ch109 – Chiltern Hundred, towards The Bell