This was a day for finishing off a few small loops that remained on the Hatley Heart Attack. “At last” I hear you say, “you’ve been doing them since last year”.
I had three loops to complete. The first was on the north side Toft. I’d done a massive loop around the south side in February (see “Will This Heart Attack Ever End“) but had run out of time on that particular day. At least I’d left myself a convenient set of 25 or so still to do. The walk around them was 6.9km long.
The second loop was to the west of the Wimpole Estate, and was a straightforward looking loop of about 30 caches, packed closely together. These went well except for the last stretch of about 10, which all seemed to be hidden in hedges with a ditch to cross. I failed to find one of them. This loop was 8.3km long.
To finish off I had to do the loop to the west of Wrestlingworth. This section was one I’d been putting off for several months. Previous visits had included caches from this loop as a result of sections that form part of two different loops. This section was 10.9km long.
On these parts I made a habit of finding every other cache, but leaving the others so that there was something worth coming back for (i.e. I didn’t leave any gaps more than 500 metres). Nearly half of this loop was composed of bits I’d walked before, and the result was that finishing this section looked quite unappealing as there were some pretty large gaps.
I have to admit also that I’d had previous experiences in this village where I couldn’t find anywhere to park and where I got the distinct impression they weren’t much used to people from out of town. Someone once shouted at me for not walking on the public footpath into a particular field, even though it was very clearly marked as a footpath. It was kind of a slow walk round this bit, but I found all the caches.
On this loop I also found the final code needed to solve the Bonus, having all but given up and assumed I’d missed it somewhere. I was in the process of texting the owner when I started this loop, because it was the last chance saloon, but as it happened I managed to find the code before he replied.
The Bonus was a massive affair up near Hatley ( I suppose it had to be there ), and I decided to go fetch it while I was out and about. I’ve no reason to go back that way unless and until the big series is removed and replaced by another. I had just about enough light left. I was hobbling a bit as I went, though, having walked 26.1km during the day ( that’s 16.2 miles in old money ).
Imagine my disappointment when I got there and found the coordinates for the Bonus Bonus, and discovered it was all the way back near Toft, and a good mile walk away from any roads. Bum to that, it was nearly dark. So that means I won’t be finding the Bonus Bonus ever, because just I’m not motivated to drive an hour to find one cache.
It looks quite impressive on the smiley chart when you’ve done them all though. It’s miles and miles of little yellow smilies, charting several very long days worth of wandering round the countryside, mainly in the depths of winter.
Caches found on this day were :
- 010 Hatley Heart Attack – The Elder
- 011 Hatley Heart Attack – This Way
- 011/3 Hatley Heart Attack Link – E Z Top
- 011/6 Hatley Heart Attack Link – Moat-a-head
- 012 Hatley Heart Attack – First Past The Post
- 012.5 Hatley Heart Attack – V for Victory
- 014 Hatley Heart Attack – You’re Dead
- 015 Hatley Heart Attack – Ren
- 016 Hatley Heart Attack – Funghio
- 017 Hatley Heart Attack – The First Troll
- 018 Hatley Heart Attack – Div
- 020 Hatley Heart Attack – Not The Ivy!
- 021 Hatley Heart Attack – Killer Ivy
- 022 Hatley Heart Attack – Baby Brother
- 023 Hatley Heart Attack – My Only Friend …
- 024 Hatley Heart Attack – Jeb?
- 025 Hatley Heart Attack – Quarter Century
- 060 Hatley Heart Attack – Beachy Hut
- 062 Hatley Heart Attack – A Trad? How Novel?
- 064 Hatley Heart Attack – Woody Wonder
- 065 Hatley Heart Attack – Copse and Robbers
- 066 Hatley Heart Attack – At The Junction
- 067 Hatley Heart Attack – Don’t Cry For Me …
- 068 Hatley Heart Attack – Cry Baby Bunting …
- 070 Hatley Heart Attack – Frogs Hall
- 071 Hatley Heart Attack – Bye Bye Froggy
- 072 Hatley Heart Attack – Hedge Your Breast!
- 073 Hatley Heart Attack – No Footpath?
- 074 Hatley Heart Attack – Penelope Pitstop
- 075 Hatley Heart Attack – Tree Tree Tree Cache
- 076 Hatley Heart Attack – Footpath Post?
- 077 Hatley Heart Attack – Tiny Tree
- 078 Hatley Heart Attack – Stephen IV
- 079 Hatley Heart Attack – Hedera
- 080 Hatley Heart Attack – People’s Hall
- 081 Hatley Heart Attack – Agate
- 144 Hatley Heart Attack – Wimpole Estate Puzzle
- 153 Hatley Heart Attack – A1198
- 154 Hatley Heart Attack – BOP
- 155 Hatley Heart Attack – Treemendous
- 156 Hatley Heart Attack – Base How Low Can You Go!
- 157 Hatley Heart Attack – A Large Tree
- 158 Hatley Heart Attack – Head Height Hanger
- 159 Hatley Heart Attack – Gerr
- 160 Hatley Heart Attack – Hedge Your Bets
- 161 Hatley Heart Attack – Footpath Sign
- 162 Hatley Heart Attack – A Big Tree
- 164 Hatley Heart Attack – Wooden Structure
- 229 Hatley Heart Attack – GPSSAnderson
- 229/2 Hatley Heart Attack Link – Hanging Around
- 229/4 Hatley Heart Attack Link – Bridge II
- 230 Hatley Heart Attack – You’re Doing Well!
- 231 Hatley Heart Attack – Another Letterbox
- 232 Hatley Heart Attack – Just Another Tree
- 233 Hatley Heart Attack – Dialing Code Puzzle
- 234 Hatley Heart Attack – Hanging Hanger
- 235 Hatley Heart Attack – Concrete Post
- 236 Hatley Heart Attack – Just A Gate Post
- 237 Hatley Heart Attack – A Turning Point
- 238 Hatley Heart Attack – Heading To Eyeworth
- 239 Hatley Heart Attack – Black Cage
- 240 Hatley Heart Attack – Micro
- 241 Hatley Heart Attack – Bush
- 242 Hatley Heart Attack – Old Stumpy
- 243 Hatley Heart Attack – Getting Nearer Eyeworth
- 244 Hatley Heart Attack – Footbridge
- 247 Hatley Heart Attack – Departing Eyeworth
- 406 Hatley Heart Attack – Romania
- 408/4 Hatley Heart Attack Link – FTCheat – MsK etc
- 408/5 Hatley Heart Attack Link – FTBonus – Beanies
- 410 Hatley Heart Attack – Vietnam
- 411 Hatley Heart Attack – Western Samoa
- 412 Hatley Heart Attack – Xray Romeo Alpha Yankee
- 413 Hatley Heart Attack – Yemen
- 414 Hatley Heart Attack – Zimbabwe
- 415 Hatley Heart Attack – Antimony
- 416 Hatley Heart Attack – Beryllium
- 417 Hatley Heart Attack – Carbon
- 472 Hatley Heart Attack – The Final!
- Frogger
- Sticky Toftee Pudding
- Top of the World (or just Toft)
- VS #370 – Toft