Objectives

As another year ends it’s time to write my 2019 Caching Diary. I didn’t really plan anything for this year, because if I’m really honest I was running quite low on enthusiasm. It proved to be my slowest year ever with the exception of the very first (see 2010 Caching Diary).

I enjoyed the caches that I found and the days out that I had, so maybe the slow year wasn’t all bad. I returned a little bit to thinking about why I enjoy caching in the first place. So, no targets, no ambitions, no regrets. Just a bit of caching when the mood took me.

January (No finds)

  • For the first time in several years, I didn’t go caching at all in January. Not once.

Solifluction at it's best

February (20 finds)

  • On February 4th I was on a business trip to Edinburgh and there happened to be an event nearby on the night I arrived – 3 finds
  • On February 23rd we were on a weekend trip to Brighton and spent a sunny afternoon on the South Downs at the rather beautiful Devil’s Dyke (see Devil’s Dyke) – 17 finds

March (1 find)

  • On March 28th there was a “Roundabout MK” event in the evening – 1 find

April (149 finds)

  • On April 14th I headed for Titchmarsh and got my year going (see Titchmarsh) – 83 finds
  • We made a couple of incidental finds whilst up in Sunderland visiting Kas’s folks on April 20th and 22nd – 4 finds
  • On April 28th I headed over towards Cambridge with the Happy Hunter to complete a series shaped like a cartoon rodent’s head (see Mickey’s Mystery Tour) – 62 finds

May (15 finds)

  • On May 13th there was a “Roundabout MK” event in the evening – 1 find
  • Between May 28th and 31st we had a family holiday in the Lake District – 14 finds

June (103 finds)

July (84 finds)

  • July 6th saw an event in the park right outside our house – 1 find
  • On July 21st I headed over towards Cambridge for a big day out (see Eltisley & Caxton) – 79 finds
  • On July 22nd I went for a run in the evening, accompanied by the ladies of the house on their bikes – 2 finds
  • July 29th had another caching event, this time in central Milton Keynes – 2 finds

The Kelpies

August (223 finds)

  • On August 8th to 11th I travelled up Aberdeen for the 2019 UK Mega (see Aberdeenshire Mega). I was trying to colour in as many Scottish regions and administrative units as possible – 144 finds
  • From August 16th onwards we were on our family holiday in France (see The French Connection) – 79 finds

September (48 finds)

  • On September 1st we were driving home from Grenoble and there was a cache at one of the places we stopped (see Long Way Home) – 1 find
  • September 11th and 12th were days I spent on a business training course in London and grabbed a few caches on the way there – 5 finds
  • On September 17th I drove around Milton Keynes finding a few local caches – 17 finds
  • September 20th gave me a nearby puzzle that had been solved but unfound for some time – 1 find
  • On September 22nd I hit a load more local caches – 23 finds
  • On September 23rd there was an event in Milton Keynes – 1 find

October (No finds)

  • October was a stressful month at work which overflowed into the weekends, and as a result I made no finds at all.

November (4 finds)

  • On November 16th I was on my lads’ weekend away in the Brecon Beacons and made my only finds of the month – 4 finds

December (2 finds)

  • December saw very few finds also – just a couple of finds on puzzles out in the sticks, that I found whilst walking a part of my series Flags of All Nations and doing some maintenance – 2 finds

Summary

So there we have it, the end of my 2019 Caching Diary. A year of very little caching, by recent standards. There were really only a handful of days when I went out caching. There were a few days with an odd few, but not many biggies.