2013 Caching Diary

The Gardners » Caching Progress » 2013 Caching Diary

 Objectives

My 2013 Caching Diary is dominated by one key objective. I wanted to fill up my “Days I’ve Been Caching” matrix on the stats page. Or maybe the “Finds by Date Placed” or the “Finds by Month Placed”, but mainly the first one.

This may sound relatively easy, and in Milton Keynes it would be ridiculously easy if you were a beginner. We’ve got about 500 just in the town. A newbie could therefore do one a day for over a year without ever having to travel outside MK.

For me, however, it’s a bit more tricky. As the year started I had about 130 days left to fill. But I had less than 20 caches I could reach in under 20 minutes. The “20 minutes” is a practical constraint. I have to work during the week, and there’s no light in the evenings for much of the year. So odd ones and twos have to be done at lunchtime. Towards the end of the year, though, I started using my remaining holiday time.

Sure, a few weekdays could be safely filled with business trips and with evening events. But I’d still need about 70 or 80 on weekdays. From that perspective, maybe allowing 2 years would have made more sense than just 1.

But “Bum to it !” I had a go anyway. And there’s a whole new world of caches in the “Challenge” category that become eligible if you fill these things up.

So here’s a day-by-day diary of days I went caching, and places I went.

January (61 finds)

• 3^rd January – An afternoon dash around Buckingham to pick up some of the Buckingham Crossing series and some of the Stowe Safari, such as they were this early in the year (see Stowe Maintenance) – 11 finds
• 7^th and 8^th January – A single find each in Milton Keynes – 2 finds
• 10^th January – The first BBH event of the year, in St Albans – 9 finds
• 11^th January – A quick dash to Derby with work – 2 finds
• 11^th January – A quick dash up to Bradville for Train Spotting! – 1 find
• 13^th January – A return to Buckingham for more of the Stowe Safari and Buckingham Crossing series – 10 finds



• 14^th January – A business trip up to Blackpool – 10 finds
• 16^th January – A stop at keele TB HOTEL north on the way home – 1 find
• The 17^th and 19^th January – Single caches in Milton Keynes, done in the snow – 2 finds
• 20^th January – A quickie in Donisthorpe that was nearly a disaster due to snow in the car park – 1 find
• 23^rd and 24^th January – More onesies in Milton Keynes – 2 finds
• 25^th January – A Friday night trip down to Aylesbury without Ami, who was away somewhere on a Brownie Camp – 2 finds
• 27^th January – A bunch of random caches in Sherington – 6 finds
• 29^th and 30^th January – Single caches near home – 2 finds

February (134 finds)

• 1^st February – A lunchtime trip to get MKBW : Orange 17 – The Lodge
• 2^nd February – A Saturday night trip to Irchester to do some night caches with Ami, BingBongLong, N12 and Wavvy – 8 finds
• 3^rd February – A Sunday afternoon in Stoke Bruerne (see Route Canal) – 7 finds
• 5^th February – A busy night in Blackpool – 9 finds
• 8^th February – I nearly failed. I had no car at lunchtime and Kas was out exercising until after 8pm. Bucks Series A-Z….L was only 6km away though – 1 find
• 9^th February – An afternoon round Ampthill and Houghton Conquest (see Ampthill Amble) – 6 finds
• 10^th February – An afternoon round Cardington with BingBongLong (see Shocott) – 12 finds
• 14^th February – Everyone remembers their first…… – 1 find
• 16^th February – A few in Bedford while Kas did parkrun – 4 finds
• 17^th February – Around Olney – 8 finds
• 19^th February – Oh yes ! Still going strong (see Donisthorpe Cycle Trails) – 2 finds
• 20^th February – A dash up to Donisthorpe for Grizzly’s Silver Wedding Anniversary – 1 find
• 22^nd February – Monster day around East Midlands Airport with Ami, which was significantly aided by the discovery of the Ultra-xtreme-adventurers-travel-goggles (see East Midlands Airport) – 29 finds
• 24^th February – An afternoon out at Sherington – 7 finds
• 25^th, 26^th and 28^th February – A business trip to Dublin (see Dublin Jaunt) – 37 finds

March (127 finds)

March looked tricky, with a run of 8 days out of 9 to fill between the 19^th and 27^th. It proved to be too much. I failed on the 26^th.

• 1^st March – My first ever YOSM in Great Linford – 2 finds
• 2^nd March – A dash to College Wood for one – 1 find
• 3^rd March – A mixed afternoon near Billing Aquadrome with BingBongLong – 18 finds
• 4^th March – a quick dash to Nash – 1 find
• 7^th March – I resuscitated A Bridge Two Far  – 1 find
• 8^th March – A domestic disaster nearly stopped me, but then Keyne-O Series – 1 Howe Park Wood popped up – 1 find
• 12^th March – A BBH event near Tring – 5 finds
• 16^th March – Up to Sawtry and Alconbury with Wavvy for my best day ever (see Sawtry Splurge)- 75 finds
• 19^th March – A couple in Preston – 2 finds
• 20^th March – A lunchtime trip for BUCKS RESUSCITATOR – CHALLENGE CACHE – 1 find
• 21^st March – A lunchtime onesie – 1 find
• 22^nd March – Completed Post Haste – Bancroft – site of two previous failures – 1 find
• 24^th March – A trip to Towcester in the snow with Ami – 5 finds
• 25^th March – Completed MKBW VIOLET 8 [a ] Weir am I ? – A short-lived cache – 1 find
• 26^th March – Disaster. Failed on two targets, and then had to get Ami home and couldn’t be bothered to go out afterwards
• 27^th March – A evening event in Roade – 7 finds
• 29^th March – Driving to the North East – 2 finds
• 30^th March – Walking around Newcastle with the family (see Newcastle) – 3 finds

April (54 finds)

April had only 8 days to fill on the grid. I went caching on 14 of those 8 days.

• 1^st April – Still in the North East. Kas and I grabbed a few South Shields before fetching the kids back – 5 finds
• 3^rd April – Close to the Bone saw me right  – 1 find
• 5^th April – Welcome to Appleby Magna completed on the way up to folks’ house  – 1 find
• 8^th April – Five around Ashby de la Zouch on a driving lunch break – 5 finds
• 9^th April – A business trip to Sheffield completed – 3 finds
• 10^th April – Another dash around Ashby – 6 finds
• 12^th April – Another BBH event in Milton Keynes – 1 find
• 14^th April – Kas had a run in Flitwick which we all went to – 5 finds
• 16^th April – I had an excellent evening caching around Fleetwood in gorgeous weather (see Fleetwood Flurry) – 15 finds
• 17^th April – A return to Fleetwood for a YOSM that I couldn’t find the previous evening – 1 find
• 18^th and 19^th April – I did a couple of quick grabs north of MK – 3 finds
• 23^rd April – I scooted out to Heath and Reach at lunchtime – 5 finds
• 26^th April – A Friday night trip to Wing with Izzy – 3 finds

May (155 finds)

• 1^st May – Two new caches a couple of miles from home – 2 finds
• 2^nd May – I dashed around the north of Milton Keynes while Ami was at Aerial Extreme with her Brownie pack – 4 finds
• 4^th May – “Star Wars” Day, obviously, but also World Wide Flash Mob day, so so we went to Aylesbury to attend a flash mob (see World Wide Flash Mob X) – 16 finds
• 11^th May – Up north a bit (see The Giddings) – 44 finds
• 13^th May – I was up in Blackpool and grabbed a few on the seafront near the Tower – 5 finds
• 17^th May – A drive round to Deanshanger in the evening – 2 finds
• 18^th May – Cranfield on a Saturday afternoon – 9 finds
• 19^th May – Towcester with Izzy for another handful – 11 finds
• 20^th May – A BBH event near Aylesbury – 8 finds
• 23^rd May – I grabbed a few MKBW Orange caches near Woburn Sands – 4 finds
• 26^th May – A trip to Emberton with Izzy – 4 finds
• 27^th May – The Austrey Amble series near Tamworth (see Austrey Amble) – 31 finds
• 28^th and 29^th May – Blackpool again with 3 finds on each day, and a quick YOSM in Derbyshire on the way home – 7 finds
• 30^th May – I took the kids down to London so Kas could get some work done – 7 finds
• 31^st May – The final Stowe Safari cache whilst doing maintenance over at Stowe – 1 find

June (183 finds)

June proved to be a productive month from the numbers perspective. It was annoying in that I simply forgot about one of the matrix days. I thought I had to do a 3 day run on a Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. However,  on Wednesday morning I realised it was supposed to have been Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, so I missed the Monday. Bum !

• June began with a couple of quick onesies in Milton Keynes on the 1^st and the 4^th and a couple of quick ones on a Saturday lunchtime dash to Buckingham on the 8^th to keep the numbers rolling, followed by a lunchtime bike ride along the park outside our house for a single find on the 11^th. So far, so slow – 5 finds
• 15^th June – A long planned day out with Alibags and Wavvy over to NorthBedCambshire which resulted in an unprecedented number of finds in 10 hours caching (see Ton Up) – 102 finds
• 17^th June – I simply forgot to go out
• 18^th June – I dashed up to the north of MK for a couple of finds while Ami was at athletics – 2 finds
• 19^th June – A BBH event down in Little Gaddesdon – I decided to take the afternoon off an ended up with a lot of finds (see Dunstable Dash) – 40 finds
• 22^nd June – I negotiated a couple of hours to go and walk the bottom end of Wavvy’s MK Boundary Walk: Grey stretch from Cranfield (see MKBW Grey – The Bottom) – 15 finds
• There were simple ones in MK on the 24^th, 28^th and 29^th punctuated by a further trip to Blackpool on the 27^th – 19 finds

July (137 finds)

• July started slowly with only 3 finds in the first couple of weeks – onesies in Milton Keynes on the 1^{st, 7th} and 8^th – 3 finds



• 13^th July – I went over to Haynes Church End and Houghton Conquest with BingBongLong on a very hot afternoon to grab a new series – 14 finds
• 20^th July – I went caching with BingBongLong again, and with Ami, over to the Little Staughton Sortie series – This trip included Ami’s 500th find (see Little Staughton Sortie) – 34 finds
• 24^th and 26^th July – I did onesies in Milton Keynes to keep the calendar ticking over – 2 finds
• 27^th July – I had a “monster” day out with Wavvy doing the Kimbolton Krunch and Shelton Scooby-Doo series (see Kimbolton & Shelton) – 81 finds
• I finished the month off with a couple of quickies up north Milton Keynes on the 30^th and a BBH event on the 31^st – 3 finds

August – 31 Days of Souvenirs (114 finds)

At some point in June/July a new target raised its head. Groundspeak published their intention to give a souvenir image for every day of caching in August – a 31-day streak. For some pros 31 days isn’t a long streak, but for me it is very long. I’ve had neither the time, the inclination nor the available caches to keep going for that long. So how did I think I could possibly achieve this one then?

• 1^st and 2^nd August – A few simple Milton Keynes caches – 3 finds
• 3^rd August – The UK Mega Event near Warwick – 1 find
• 4^th August – A onesie in Little Horwood – 1 find
• 5^th August – A drive-by in Newport Pagnell on the way home from running – 1 find
• 6^th August – A onesie over at Stantonbury – 1 find
• 7^th August – A lunchtime dash to Winslow – 2 finds
• 8^th August – A run-by at the Coach Station before running club – 1 find
• 9^th August – Working in the office instead of at home allowed a lunchtime trip to Woburn Sands – 1 find



• 10^th August – Parkrun in Bedford – Kas ran there from home and I filled a slot – 1 find
• 11^th August – The start of our quick holiday to Dorset – a single cache on the M27 (see Down to Dorchester) – 1 find
• 12^th August – On the Isle of Portland (see Portland Bill) – 5 finds
• 13^th August – A long day out at the Osmington White Horse, Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove (see Geography Lesson) – 17 finds
• 14^th August – A very wet day on the south coast (see Not What We Planned) – 2 finds
• 15^th August – A handful in Weymouth (see Weymouth) – 9 finds
• 16^th August – A drive-by in Dorset on our way home – 1 find
• 17^th August – A quick dash from my folks’ house in Measham – 1 find
• 18^th August – A few near Measham  – 5 finds
• 19^th August – I ran down to running club via a single cache in Netherfield – 1 find
• 20^th August – A couple up in Wolverton – 2 finds
• 21^st August – A couple more in Great Linford – 2 finds
• 22^nd August – A day off work and a trip Northampton plus a BBH event in Harpenden – 35 finds
• 23^rd August – A crafty onesie whilst driving back to Measham to fetch the kids – 1 find
• 24^th August – A new series in Seale Wood – 5 finds
• 25^th August – A onesie near Measham – 1 find
• 26^th August – Two events at the same place – a cake munching BBH event and a CITO – 2 finds
• 27^th August – I scooted down to Winslow for another one of N0hope’s – 1 find
• 28^th August – Paying a one-year membership at Bletchley Park to grab Station X – 1 find
• 29^th August – A single find at Willen Lake but I had to phone the CO – They replaced it while I was out running – 1 find
• For the last two days, Happy_Hunter_HP20 set an event spanning midnight at Coombe Hill. We split our finds between the 30^th and the 31^st – 9 finds

All of which means that I actually did it. It was a  struggle for motivation on some days, especially when I was working. But I got there in the end.

September (140 finds)

• 1^st September – Kas was running a half marathon in Kenilworth (see Kenilworth Half 2013) – 6 finds
• 4^th September – A quick dash up to MK city centre for a onesie – 1 find
• 8^th September -A long walk around my old caches at Stowe – 21 finds
• 10^th September – I had a professional exam to do in Northampton with time for a few while I was there (I passed the exam) – 3 finds
• 12^th September – A Northants Natters event just outside home – 5 finds
• 13^th September – A trivial cache in south Milton Keynes that had been really bugging me – 1 find
• 14^th September – We drove to Llandudno to fetch Kas’s new car – 1 find
• 15^th September – Ami and I went for a walk round a new series near Stoke Bruerne (see Stoke Bruerne) – 19 finds
• 21^st September – Ami and me met up with Wavvy and BingBongLong for a walk near Huntingdon (see Low Road Loops) – 55 finds
• 22^nd and 23^rd September – I did 3 of chas49’s MK Artwalks caches – 3 finds
• On the weekend of the 28^th, 29^th and 30^th Kas and I were in Berlin for the marathon – Kas ran, I went caching (see Berlin Marathon) – 25 finds

October (84 finds)

• October had a very slow start with nothing but onesies local to Milton Keynes on the 1^st, 5^th, 7^th, 8^th, 11^th, 13^th and 15^th – 8 finds
• 19^th October – I had a bit of a splurge afternoon with Ami when we went to do the top and middle sections of the MK Boundary Walk Grey Section (see MKBW Grey, The Top) – 31 finds
• 21^st October – I popped out for 20 minutes after work to grab a nearby puzzle that had been on the to-do list for a while but I’d not been to fetch as lots of others had reported it some way away from the calculated location – 1 find
• 26^th October – We popped up to Nottinghamshire for my brother’s 50^th birthday celebrations and I took the opportunity to grab 10 or so caches while the girls were doing a Saturday afternoon chiilout in his flat (see Big Bro’s 50^th Birthday). We followed this up with a swift Church Micro on the 27^th – 13 finds
• 31^st October – It was school half-term still and I took Ami over to Salcey Forest to do a bunch of the new caches placed for this year’s Halloween Hides & Creepy Caches Mega event, which we were unable to attend (see Not Quite Halloween) – 31 finds

Nutty November (121 finds)

After the kids’ autumn half-term I still had 9 matrix days to fill on weekdays. However, I was rapidly running out of local caches. I’d already booked one of the days as a holiday and had 4 holidays left unbooked. That meant 8 half-day holidays would be enough, so long as the boss signed them off.

• 1^st November – Four in Woburn Sands from the MK Boundary Walk Orange Series, including its Bonus – 4 finds
• 4^th November – A onesie in Central Milton Keynes – 1 find
• 6^th November – An evening event in Ampthill to celebrate an astronaut taking a trackable to the cache in the International Space Station – 1 find
• 8^th November – Back to Salcey Forest with wavvy, Norfolk12, Little Fair Bear and BingBongLong to do the night cache – 1 find
• 10^th November – Back to Salcey Forest again to do the southern and eastern edge (see Not Quite Halloween) – 17 finds
• 12^th November – A BBH event in Wendover – 1 find
• 15^th November – A morning off at to Salcey Forest to finish off the few from the Mega Event (see Not Quite Halloween) – 19 finds
• 16^th November – A drive-by in Milton Keynes on the way home from parkrun – 1 find
• 22^nd November – Another morning off, spent at Hockeridge Wood near Chesham – 20 finds
• 25^th November – A disappointing morning off in Houghton Conquest – 17 finds
• 29^th November – A full day off with Kas being at a conference in London. I set off really early to drive to Hemel Hempstead to do smokeypugs Ms Meander series, ShadyLady’s Solve & Search series, and a few others (see Meandering) – 39 finds

December (215 finds)

December looked like a bit of a challenge. I had 5 weekdays to do and 4 weekend days. The holidays meant the numbers wouldn’t be a problem, but motivation was, what with Christmas approaching. In the end, the “hard work” resulted in my most prolific month ever.

• 1^st December – West of Buckingham to finish my old caches at Stowe – 11 finds
• 2^nd December – A morning off around Mursley, Swanbourne and eventually Whitchurch – 13 finds
• 4^th December – Another morning off, spent in Brackmills Country Park – 18 finds
• 8^th December – I went with BingBongLong and Brew-a-Cache towards Riseley (see Riseley) – 51 finds
• 11^th December – A BBH event in Milton Keynes for the novelty date 11-12-13 – 1 find
• 14^th December – A Saturday and a matrix day – I went over to Fringford – 17 finds
• 17^th December – A morning off and a return to Fringford (see Shelswell Loop) – 20 finds
• 18^th December – Cache fatigue meant I stayed in Milton Keynes – 4 finds
• 19^th December – The final morning off, which I spent in Pavenham (see Pavenham Plod) – 22 finds
• 22^nd December – My final matrix day of the year, including a near disaster that made me buy a proper GPS (see Ellington Expedition) – 34 finds
• 29^th December – I went with Ami, Wavvy and Norfolk12 down to an event in Imber (see Imbibing Imber) – 20 finds
• 31^st December – My new toy had arrived from Garmin so I had to go out around Milton Keynes and pick up a few new caches, just to test it out – 4 finds

Summary

I made 1,525 finds on 186 different days, which is 4.18 caches a day, or 8.2 caches per caching day.

Matrix days to do at start of year = 130ish. Matrix days left at end of year = 2.

Five days with more than 50 finds, including one with 102 finds.

So, that’s the end of the 2013 Caching Diary. Filling the matrix should be easy in 2014, because I only had two days to get done. I’d already booked them as holidays.

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