This is definitely my new favourite spot! Pictured below are the best and most unusual pieces from today’s haul.
Tag Archives: England
Action Stations at The Bridge–Geocache 146
Just a quick pop in to this event to meet some cachers and grab the souvenir for the Geocaching 2015 Road Trip! (GC60D65). My first souvenir of the road trip.
“A Souvenir by: Geocaching HQ
Additional Information:It’s an old geocaching saying: “Sometimes the best finds are other people.” And where better to find more geocaching friends than at an event? You earned this souvenir during the Geocaching Road Trip ‘15 by attending a Geocaching Event. Learn more about the Geocaching Road Trip ‘15 at geocaching.com/roadtrip”
Churches, Red Houses and 15 Years – Geocaches 138 – 140
After a gloriously lazy morning finishing off my book, it was time to geocache!
The weather was absolutely horrible! So why cache today? 15 years ago to the day, Geocaching was born! As such, there was a new souvenir to collect on Geocaching.com, and who can resist a new .jpg for their profile?
Terri and I headed out to pick up some local caches that have sprung up over the winter. We started off with Attention Defici… oooooh shiny (GC5PJNQ), which is nearby the National Glass Centre. When we got to the parking place we were surprised to see this:
HMS Ocean is staying in Sunderland this weekend. It’s a really huge boat. We walked up onto the glass roof of the centre to get a better look. This is the weird view you get up on the roof – the gift shop many floors below.
Terri hoped that these designs weren’t covering up the cracks!
Back to the geocaching though. We found the cache near the Red House, a sculpture nearby the National Glass Centre.
Quite a view from the living room.
After a short drive up in the hideous weather, we ended up on top of the cliffs at Roker. The picture below doesn’t do justice to the wind and rain we were enduring by this point! Traditional Bank Holiday weather.
Next up, Top Bombing (GC5NM3R). Continuing the military theme we headed for a multicache set near an old Sea Mine.
We solved the clues from the nearby information board, and ran along the clifftops to the final location to keep warm. The elements didn’t want us outside today. Once we got to the final location, we quickly hunted out the cache and signed the log.
On the way back to the car, I picked up Church Micro 6343…Roker (GC5CCZ7) – which Terri had already found. Still freezing, we ran back to the car.
From one church micro to another, the next one on the list today was Church Micro 7369…Whitburn (GC5NA9Y). In our own traditional style we headed straight for the church in Whitburn. Except it was the wrong church. Whoops. Still a nice church though.
Nearby Whitburn Parish Church is this other red house The Red Cottage, which has cricket-themed decorations.
Anyway, we were in exactly the wrong place for the church micro. We walked back through the village towards W.M.#62 We Shall remember them ~ Whitburn (GC5NEB8). The War Memorials series is a relatively new one, and you complete them by reading information on the monuments which reveals the final location of the caches. The church micro series has really taken off, with at least 7000 in the UK. I wonder if the W.M. Series will do the same.
Before going to the final location for this cache, we went to the Methodist Church in Whitburn (the correct location this time) but were unable to unearth the cache. We had similar luck with the final location of the war memorial cache. We should have quit while we were ahead!
At the end of the adventure, we were left with a couple of new DNFs in the area as well as our finds – it’s been a while since we’ve had some local DNFs to grab! The souvenir unlocked itself and presented us with a new mission of finding various types of cache on various days throughout the summer. I wonder if we’ll manage it!
Pi Day–Geocaches 135 and 136
In what is now a two-week long tradition, Terri and I grabbed a couple of local caches before heading to the gym. Our first one was Church Micro 7370…Fulwell (GC5NYCA) and after withdrawing last week due to dog walkers, we had to have another go this weekend. The coast was clear, and we went straight to it – a real cache and dash!
Because of Pi day, there was a special souvenir to be unlocked on Geocaching.com. Finding a ? (puzzle) cache would do the trick. As we had already got a puzzle cache ready to find, we went for the final part of the BTB Cleadon series – BTB – Cleadon C (GC32XAH). We had found the 4 feeder caches ages ago, and thought today would be the day to grab the final cache!
It was a fairly quick find somewhere in the vicinity of the church, which we had suspected all along given the cache owner… you’ll know what I’m talking about it you’re from around here! Souvenir bagged, we went off to the gym!
“A Souvenir by: Geocaching HQ
Additional Information:Computing more and more digits of pi has been a goal of some mathematicians throughout the years. It’s almost like solving a very complex puzzle, which is why this souvenir was awarded to those who found a Mystery Cache on Pi Day, March 14, 2015 (aka 3.14.15).”
Church Micro – Geocache 134
Terri and I tried to get close to Church Micro 7370…Fulwell (GC5NYCA) first, but there were too many dog walkers about… we resolved to come back later.
Terri and I thought we might be first to find Church Micro 7373…Seaburn (GC5NM4V)… but we weren’t. We hung around the wrong clue item for a little too long and waited for a man and a dog to walk by. Unfortunately for us, they went more or less straight to the coordinates and stood there! Happily, he broke the silence and told us we looked suspicious. He was right! We quickly found the cache and signed the log, and had a nice chat too. Not bad for our first run out of 2015!
Once Brewed, Sun and Geocaches 130-133
Today I went to Once Brewed with my dad, who does lots of work with public engagement in astronomy. Once Brewed is near a section of Hadrian’s Wall, which provided a theme for the day as we travelled along various points on its route. My main task was to photograph him setting up his equipment and I also took some pictures of people looking at the sun through the specially designed solar telescope. I had lots of fun with the camera!
Happily, this being Northumberland National Park, there was a fair smattering of geocaches about! I managed to find three different types today – two traditional, a letterbox hybrid and an earthcache.
The first cache, Once Brewed and the Sill (GC5226C) was very easy. It had been placed at the visitor centre by Northumberland National Park – a very quick find hidden in a very traditional style. Still, a find is a find!
The second was the earthcache, Cawfields Great Whin Sill, (GC1YH9E), which was at Cawfield quarry.
Very close by, there was a letterbox hybrid cache, Cawfields Quarry (GCXWCE) with a brilliant container, the first of its type I’ve found. Alison and I spent a few minutes searching in the wrong place. There we uncovered a milk bottle half-dug into the ground, but closer inspection revealed it was not the cache.
After relocating slightly, we got our hands on it! This was Alison’s first physical find, so I explained about letterboxing and how the logging works by collecting stamps in a book rather than by writing your name in the cache logbooks.
After a short drive, we found ourselves by another interesting geological feature at Walltown with a cache nearby, Walltown Quarry (GCK29D). On the way up the hill from the car park we were heard a pack of hunting dogs and dad spotted a deer. We found the cache quickly at the top of a small hill and signed the log.
At the end of the day as the sun was going down, we headed off to Twice Brewed, a very warm and cosy pub. There was a good pub menu and I really enjoyed my sausage and chips after a long afternoon in the cold! On the way out the barman told us they had the biggest rum collection in the North of England, and the next biggest collection is in Manchester. It seemed an odd accolade for a rural Northumbrian pub!
I was really happy to get back in the warm after such a chilly day.
Ice Cream and Chips
We started the day by heading to Roskilly’s, a working dairy farm and cafe! Before we got as far as the ice cream we had a look around the farm. The first piece of entertainment occurred almost as soon as we got out of the car, as a goat we were looking at casually jumped the fence keeping it in. It stood happily grazing just outside its enclosure as if to say “because I can”. We went into the cafe to let someone know, and upon reporting the goat’s antics were told that it was a regular occurrence and someone would come around and stick it back behind its fence soon. We were also asked if we would like a goat.
We moved on to the chickens and other fowl, and clearly inspired similar thoughts of escape. These fancy chickens lined up along the fence to pose for us.
We went back down to the cafe and had some delicious ice cream outside in the sunshine. There weren’t many people around, but it was nice that the place was open given it’s November. After we’d finished, it was back in the car.
I snapped a quick picture of Goonhilly as we went by. The huge satellite dishes just appear over the brow of a hill – very impressive.
The next stop was Perranporth. Perranporth is named for the patron saint of Cornwall, St Piran, who apparently arrived here from Ireland. It’s a popular seaside holiday destination because of it’s beautiful beach. Something about the place rung a bell for me…
There was another reason for visiting Perranporth, as if you needed one. Pieces of Lego have been washing up on Cornish beaches for a long time, and I had read about this recently in a BBC news article. It would be interesting to find some Lego washed up here.
We walked along the beach for a while and had a quick hunt around the more stony areas but to no avail. But what a gorgeous beach! It was when I saw these pools that I was certain – I came on holiday here when I was about eight.
By this stage I’m really starting to think that Jon’s stories of Cornish bad weather are purely a fabrication.
We left the beach to go on a hunt for fish and chips – an ultimately fruitless search! Lots of cafes and chippies about, but none of them open when we were hungry. Happily, we managed to get our hands on some when we got to Truro, and they disappeared very quickly when we got back to Jon’s.
Moonrock and Geocache 114
Jon had mentioned that parts of Cornwall look like the Moon from above, and sure enough if you look at satellite images, you can see vast expanses of white with the odd bright blue/teal lake scattered around. Who would turn down a trip to the Moon?
I can’t take credit for the first picture below – it has been borrowed from Wikipedia – click on the picture to go to the article about St Dennis. This image shows St Dennis parish church in the centre on a hill, surrounded by trees. You can also see the modern houses of the village of St Dennis. The two pointed hills near the top right of the image, and the strangely coloured lake, are the result of china clay mining in the area, which supported the village.
I’m getting ahead of myself. We started the day not on the moon, but on top of the hill by St Dennis Parish church, pictured below. We walked around the church yard and Jon spotted a headstone dedicated to a Mr Kent – a clue for a geocache but we couldn’t find the cache itself. The hill provided a fantastic view of the area.
We came down from the church and parked in the village. It was fairly quiet – let’s just say it is the kind of place where everyone knows everyone. We headed off up the path towards the two big heaps. It wasn’t far into the climb before my boots were smeared with plenty of wet white clay. We dodged the biggest puddles and somehow avoided most of the mud to discover this alien landscape. The weather was quite changeable and damp, and the strange light led to some quite unearthly colours.
As we walked around the lake there was another fruitless geocache search, and we met a nice dog who quickly detected where we’d stored our sandwiches. The odd works vehicle rumbled by on the road. The hill below looks a bit less moonlike, but still far too pointy!
Elsewhere on the tops we came across some rare Cornish Mangroves, complete with water lillies. You can see a pointy hill in the background too. I’m really not sure what exactly the landscape is going for here. I think it has just picked all of its favourite things and combined them.
We came out of the other side of the moonscape onto a road, and walked alongside it when what should appear but a geocache! Water Hole (GC4FFK0) was a nano cache right on our walking route, and didn’t take too long to fish out.
We eventually ended up back in civilisation – can you spot the Cornish flag?
Next up was the village of Roche – pronounced to rhyme with coach. I thought that it seemed like quite a French name for a place in Cornwall, especially if that place had a big rock in it. So why did we go to Roche? There’s a very cool big rock there. And on top of the rock, there is a ruined chapel.
A very muddy path led up to the base of the rock, and we avoided most of the puddles again to get to the foot of this ladder. We climbed right up to the top for a lovely view of… well, Roche.
Jon bravely ventured outside of the chapel walls on the top, but I stayed by a doorway and tried not to think about the wind and the drop… It’s a very dramatic place to put a building, and was made even more so by the wind and drizzle.
That was a really fun way to get mucky boots.
Caching in Leeds – Geocaches 102 and 103
I was in Leeds for work, and managed to squeeze in a few caches – along with a few DNFs! It was quite busy though, so I didn’t search too long or too conspicuously for the ones I missed.
I started at Roger Stevens’ Nano (GC3KQ9Y) but there were far too many people around to have a good search. I checked the obvious places as discreetly as possible, but came up with nothing.
I moved on down the hill to Leeds Web-Cam Cache (GC24CD) and Jon helped by taking the webcam picture. It was a bit tricky to spot me as it’s not exactly high resolution, but by following instructions on where to stand and by making myself into two dots with my bag, Jon managed to spot me and take the picture. There’s something very fun about these ones! I was happy to see this was the oldest webcam in the world, having been placed in 2001!
Next was a short multi, GGS3 (GC15QCW),which involved reading some information and working out some coordinates.
I managed to solve it fairly quickly thanks to the clear clues, and soon had the final cache in my hand. I was really happy to be able to bag a multi in the short time I had, as well as a webcam.
I had a very quick glance at Park Square Cache (GC11KQE) and That was then this is now 6-7-8 or 3-4-1 (GC2QPX2), but in the end decided I’d better get my train!
Meeting fellow cachers, DNF knockout and Geocaches 96-99
Today was the day of our very informal geocaching meetup – Amphitheatre (GC5AGWM). We were looking forward to this, and ticking off the Event souvenir for the Seven Souvenirs of August as well as meeting some local cachers. We got to the coordinates right on time and set out our coats to sit on. It was really windy, and we hoped it wouldn’t put too many people off. I had backed the logbook in gold paper to make it stand out and catch the light. We saw a few potential attendees hovering around the area and were discussing whether any of them would approach us. Just then, Jesmond Lynam strode towards us from across the amphitheatre asking “Are you geocachers?”. The direct approach scored him the invented honour of “First to Approach”…
We had a great time meeting fellow cachers, swapping stories about caches we’d done, caches we’d DNFd, puzzle solving and more. Some people stayed for the full two hours, and others only made a flying visit. Ice cream was eaten, tips were shared and it was great fun putting faces to names. It was the first event for both of us, so we were really chuffed people had got into the spirit of it and come along.
After the event, and buoyed up by others’ stories of finding caches that we’d previously DNFd, Terri and I headed back to Whitburn Colliery (GC32WNP) which we had both (separately) DNFd in the past. Inside the clump of trees we spotted the cache half exposed and full of slimy water…not great! Terri signed the log for us and we hefted up the rock to replace it.
Now you know what it’s like – you find one cache that had previously eluded you and then you just have to find another. We went to the site of Aunty Claire’s Birthday Cache (GC3TVH1) which has had us frustrated many times! It was a lot less green than on previous attempts. Within about two minute we had found it! It’s a disguised one, so I didn’t photograph the container…. but we were very pleased to finally get it!
Two nemesis caches in one day? We definitely needed to make it three… so this time it was Freddie’s Birthday Cache’s (GC3TV59) turn. We must have racked up a good few visits to this one in the past, leaving no stone unturned.
Once again, this time, the cache was in our hands in the first place we looked! Given what was around in the area, I was absolutely certain I’d tried this particular spot before. Maybe it had been away for maintenance or someone was signing it on our previous attempts?! In any case, we were very pleased to find it!
Sun and Cake 