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The Gruesome Twosome
The MKBW Magenta Section ran from just to the east of Salcey Forest through the village of Ravenstone and then on into Weston Underwood. In comparison to the Blue section at least this section had a couple of villages with pubs in them, not that I ever stopped. It was still a bit out in the middle of nowhere though, and I have to say that the start point was the least accessible of any, given that there is absolutely no parking whatsoever. In fact, there’s hardly even anywhere to set someone down.
Back at the plot though, Ami came with me for the first part of the setting exercise. She was only 8 so she did well, but it was fun to have her along for a part of the walk.
On the first part (west of Ravenstone) we were greeted by a lot of fairly open agricultural land, mainly arable in persuasion except for a field full of cows at the start. At that same start point the landowner had completely blocked the entrance to the footpath across the field and had removed any signage. This lead to my initial placement of the first cache on land that was private, and wasn’t appropriate for caching.
Moving ever onwards, we set about 10 caches before we got into Ravenstone, and in that village we also put the bonus for the section. By this time though, Ami had had enough, so I gave Kas a call and she came to collect. She then took the kids to a pub in Olney for a bit of a sit-down and a rest while I finished the leg into Weston Underwood.
All By Myself
I set a further 8 or so to leave the MKBW Magenta section with 18 caches plus the bonus. The walk from Ravenstone to Weston was also arable and agricultural. On this stretch I was greeted by a selection of face-high crops in full croppage. It was August, I guess, so the crops were getting to the “ready” stage. Some of the fields there were barely passable.
Not a bad afternoon’s walking all-in-all, despite the difficult terrain and the long gaps at some points.