#A lovely (lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, love-ly day)#

Up early to make sure we got to Winchcombe in time to meet Wrighty & JimJinks for the inaugural CacheWalker Group Walk! The car was bleating for petrol, but as Morrisons was shut it had to make do! Managed to find the car park, just as Wrighty (and Mrs Wrighty, thank goodness - now we knew it wouldn't be a route march!) pulled up!

Had a lovely walk round the route of the "Many steps through old times" series - made particularly special by having the owner to guide us :D It was lovely to meet JimJinks too (who is back up to 100%, bah!) especially as he brought chocolate to share :D

The walk was fantastic, the Caches were great (and JJ & W pointed us in the direction of another that was near the route that we hadn't stuck in the GPS!) and we had a really great time!!! Having Wrighty there with his local and historical knowledge (the surprise at Cache 4 was incredible!) brought a whole new aspect to Caching & walking, and I hope it's the first of many (though bless the poor chap I know how he feels visiting loads of your own Caches can be frustrating as everyone else's counts increase and yours stays put!!!)

Collapsing at home now, logging the Caches and watching the rugby! Thanks for a fab day guys, we had a great time!!!

Finally, another FTF!

It's been a fair old while since we had a FTF - July in fact, Cache number 40! Various things have prevented us grabbing any others recently (not too many being placed nearby, being at work while other people are on holiday etc etc!) Wrighty let on a while ago that he'd hidden another but not published, so we've been watching out for it.

I checked first thing this morning, and still nothing. schnarff got up and was on the computer while I sorted the washing and other boring weekend stuff. "New Wrighty!!! It's there!" "Where?" I asked, knowing Wrighty's penchant for the Gloucestershire countryside..."Bretforton, wherever that is!" "Just beyond Badsey, can't be 10 miles away"

schnarff logged in (as the stupid site had logged her out - something it seems to enjoy doing at the moment) and it said 5.5 miles! Well, we couldn't resist, despite lots of jobs needing doing! Grabbed all our kit and set off. As we got to the village (and went wrong) we spotted a couple wandering down the road....looking suspiciously like Cachers! Turned round and found the Church where we were meant to park. schnarff decided that if they were Cachers, they'd either completed the Cache already, or were very lost!

Trotted off down the footpath in search of the first micro. Kai disappeared into the hedge, sniffing, and the GPS was convinced the Cache was there too. Spotted it after a few minutes. Opened it to find a log...unusual for a midway micro...but no signatures...does this mean we're first, or someone is ahead and hasn't signed?

While schnarff is busy signing, I'm plugging in the final co-ords. "1.3 mile on down the footpath". We carry on, hoping we're first! It's not too far - we pass the barn where the murderer was hanged. Getting close to 'bip' point and the footpath is changing direction, but the GPS still says it's ahead. Spot a brilliant hiding place, but have a quick look and looks empty. schnarff says "'10 foot" so I dump the rucksack to have a closer look. Cacher's instinct was spot on then - there it was!

Passed it to schnarff to open. She checks the log - ALL BLANK! Yay, our first FTF in ages!!! Got muggled by cyclists, but too happy to care! Went back to the car along a different footpath. All in all a lovely walk on a lovely day (looked miserable first thing!), with a FTF to boot - brill!

Mr W has adopted all the Philosopher's Stone Caches, so he's suddenly at 76...booo! Now we've only done 21 - 28%.

Success! (Fair damsels? :O)

Managed to pop into the new Cache location on the way to work. Eventually found a hiding place for it (had to become a micro though, sorry folks!) Placed the new co-ords and dashed off to work, hoping bones1 would be successful!

Didn't find out until this evening - and no-one found the cache in the meantime! Logged onto the PC to discover a coin I was watching had been collected....by bones1!! Spent the next hours tracking their day's progress as they logged their Caches!

Here's their log for MMM40J15:
"11.50am.we came from hemel to belbroughton to the bell as pat had a meeting there.now we are on the way back caching as we go.i had chatted with schnarff about this one so it had been reset especially for the dame and i,(yes really)and the dame bit!.anther neat little out of the way place to park then a short search while pat did biz on the mobile.a neat little hide then a surprise but were unable to do any thing about it,i will look it up at home.so thanks for all your efforts on this one,it must have been local knowledge to find this spot thanks again.sltn.patandjeff=bones1." :D

Didn't read it properly and proceeded to email them and tell them which Cache they'd found, only to discover cheeky ole JJ had FTFd the new one!!! His log had me rolling around :D Looking forward to meeting the devil in person on Sunday!

"FTF at 18:00
Made an educated guess as to where I might find the co-ords, which proved to be correct, and I thereafter proceeded directly to GZ whereupon the container was found promptly, forsooth.
Thank you fair damsels for another FTF."

Granted!

Recced a new location for Jn 15 this morning - and failed miserably! Tried again on the way home and found somewhere for the MM Cache, but unfortunately not the other one I was going to hide :(

Still, the chaps from Hemel Hemstead will be happy - something to do ont he way up for a Keynote Speech!

Also recced the puzzle location, only to find the Cache I had put together didn't fit - DOH!

Requests?!?!

Got an e-mail today asking if we could enable MMM40J15 as someone was coming up on Friday! *lol* Well, I must say it's nice to get requests!!!

Wanted to move the darn thing as it keeps disappearing, but not had time to recce a new hiding place yet :(

New coin, and new Cache

Spotted something which prompted me to think about hiding another Cache! It really lent itself to a good puzzle, so popped out at lunch to study more closely. Perfect place for a hide. Created a listing for it and got schnarff to check it over.

Managed to hide the Cache today and sort out the listing. Sent it off for review at lunchtime, but it still hasn't been published. Keep your eyes peeled, and sharpen your brains!!!

Recce'd another interesting location on the way home too, another meanie puzzle coming up!

Got home to find my new coin has arrived, rather appropriate for the new Cache!

Clearzone zooms out!

Convinced schnarff we should go for a 'short walk' to work off lunch...oops! Had a few options but went for our current closest. Halfway along the Cache route she asked if the Cache was a Wrighty because of the steep slopes!

Ah well, she was the one to find it, so forgave me! Felt quite smug reading the log book as everyone seems to have visited this Cache in the rain. Stupid me, of course it tipped down as we left the wood, and I didn't have a waterproof on (unlike schnarff!)

Lovely views on the way, Kai had a swim in the stream, and our latest nearest Cache is struck off the list! Our clearzone has zoomed out to 3.9 miles, and we've now completed 14 of our nearest 20 Caches! In fact the 3.9 miler has actually been disabled by the Reviewers, as the owner seems to have abandoned it (despite replying to an e-mail a few weeks ago saying he'd sort it at the weekend) so our nearest enabled Cache is 4.4 miles - not bad!

Had an amusing e-mail from Scab C (who yesterday said Scab A had a PDA so Paperless Caching might be on!) to say their PDA wasn't a Palm so she'd put in a last minute bid for a Palm on eBay! Think they have about 10 days before they go to Portugal, and they are hoping to be Paperless in time for that - cool! Looking forward to the Palm arriving and helping them out with going Paperless - it seemed easy enough to sort out, so hopefully my 'Tech Support' by e-mail and phone will be up to scratch :D

A spot of Poledancing :O

Had lots to do today, but managed to squeeze in some Caching! Had to go shopping in the morning, but came back via Welford to grab the two Pole Dance Caches. Went to the location indicated to get the final co-ordinates for Sunset, only to be foiled by an event - bah!

Continued through the village and parked up for Sunrise. Had a lovely wander through the village and along the banks of the Avon. Took us a while to find it (disturbed twice by boating muggles too!) but got there eventually! Left A Ship for Dad to start its journey as it's so near the river!

Back to the car and went up to Binton to grab Scott's Cache as well, which we did easily. Suppose 2/3 isn't bad for a busy day!

Fun, funny, funnier!

Hmmm, what a day! Got two 'DNF' notifications on our Caches, both of which said 'may still be there, didn't get much chance to look' *sigh* Fortunately both are (sort of) on my way home, so I popped in to check. First up was MMM40J15. Pulled up on the bike and couldn't spot it. Was about to put the bike on its stand, and spotted it on the floor! Now someone a few weeks ago said 'almost ran it over', well this time it happened! :( In the words of the icon that is Pam Ayres (no comments about my Dad dressing up as her when I was a kid...and people wonder why I'm so odd!) "squashed, and dead, and flat". Ah.

Dreaded to think what I'd find at Cache number 2, but happily it was still there quite safely! Phew!

Knew I'd be home before schnarff, so decided to go and work out some of the clues to a pair of Caches which will very soon be our closest to home. I'm not entirely sure what the locals must have thought of me wandering around in full bike gear staring at local landmarks! Got all the answers (well, almost!) and took a pic of the tricky part of one of them for later calculation, as well as another pic of the Scab's Best of British 2007 coin (as our Uncle lives in the village!)

Decided to grab another pic of the coin with our Parish coat of arms, so popped to one of our Caches which is near a sign with the arms on. Unfortunately it seems the last Cacher decided to demolish the sign in the search for the Cache, removing BOTH caps off the posts before realising they don't go back on :(. Will have to go down with a screwdriver and try to fix them to save the Parish Council some money!

Continued home, only to get there to find I didn't have my house keys! DOH! Still, I sat and worked out the rest of the Cache info (but were there 101, 102 or 103 studs?!?) and happily had some PodCacher shows on my MuVo to keep me amused. schnarff arrived home about 15 minutes later, chatted for a while and then said 'Why are you sitting outside anyway...Oh my god!' She'd found my keys earlier, and hidden them outside, knowing I'd get home first, but by the time she'd got to work, had totally forgotten to tell me *lol*

Ah well, at least it wasn't raining, and at least I'd whiled away half an hour or so Caching, otherwise I might not have found it quite so funny!

Norra lotta Caching!

So instead I've been busy blogging retrospectively :D April & May should be pretty complete now - our early Caching days - including some FTFs!, and our first Geocoin purchases!

I've tried out a GPX file conversion for CacheMate (thanks Scab C!) and it worked perfectly! Forked out the (massive sum of!) 8 bucks for the CacheMate license to allow me more than 10 Cache listings on the PDA at a time. I guess it's now only limited by the memory of the PDA, though when I figure out how to do the whole memory card thing (if I can FIND the memory cards for it...they seem to have vanished along with it's little leather case...) that should be no problem!

Hi-tech hi-tech treasure hunting here we come!!!

2 more under the belt - and both Paperless!

schnarff was happy to meet up on the way home from work yesterday to do the new Cache. It had been logged earlier by Butttercup, who had also bagged some of our Caches :D Her log said she'd turned down the road the Cache was on, so I did a little investigating, and realised there was another Cache there! It was one of those ones that was just far enough away from home to not really get looked at, but I plugged it into the GPS and the Palm and set off with Kai!

We passed a lost looking person a mile or so back, and so I wondered if it was a Cacher, and seeing as we were still on a TTF possibility we sat on the bench near the Cache instead of waiting in the car! And we sat there, and sat there (at least the rain had stopped)...Kai for once was being very good and kept just sitting down (though the sighs got louder and the grunts and growls got longer!) After about quarter of an hour a silver and yellow Thundercat finally came into view...but why on earth does she have a pillion? Not her!!!

Eventually after about half an hour she turned up, and parked up in the (18" wide) bus stop....only for a blinkin bus to pull up to let someone off *lol* Only one had passed in the half hour, and he hadn't stopped! Ah well, we did the 'it's broken down' routine, and he didn't seem to mind too much!

Whipped out the Palm to show how clever I'd been and schnarff fiddled with that while I sorted out the GPS (not that we really needed it, the Cross was pretty obvious!) Grabbed the Cache nice and easy, and then set off for the other one. Brought it up on the GPS only for it to show in the middle of a river :O yet the Cache listing (on the Palm hehe!) said I didn't need to get wet. As we went down the lane we came across a sign which read 'Road impassable at times of flood' :O

Continued along gingerly, as despite there apparently being parking, it's pretty tricky to turn a bike round in narrow lanes, especially when they're as potholey as this one! Saw the huge parking area, which was unfortunately gravel, so schnarff had to stay on the bike lest it sink...

Happily there was a useful tool which indeed allowed me to get to the Cache location without getting my feet wet. Cheated and used the clue as the GPS was a bit squiffy and schnarff needed the loo. Even with the clue it took some searching, it was pretty dark under the tree cover but I spotted the little blighter eventually!

Tried to convince schnarff it would be fun to do a ride through and get wet, but she wasn't up for it after the bike had been a little skittish earlier (hell, there's a sign that says 'slippery, bicycles use OEVQTR' so I don't think I'd risk it on a bike with plastics!) Maybe we'll have a go on the XJs if we ever get a hot summer *lol*

So there we are. Half hour Caching, two grabbed, all done Paperlessly, and one TTF to boot! Hurrah!

Paperless Caching here we come!

Well, we didn't get out Caching last night either! schnarff just wasn't in the mood!

The landfill near work has been on fire since Sunday, and today the wind changed direction, so we all got sent home as the smoke was acrid and horrible! Riding home I was listening to some of the very first PodCacher shows - yep, I'm addicted!

One of them was all about Paperless Caching - which apparently someone had been trying to convince Scab C about at the Swindon Event. I had imagined that one needed a LIVE PDA or PocketPC, and actually went online to the Geocaching.com website! After listening to the show it became obvious it was simply a matter of having an electronic copy of the Cache details instead of a hard copy on paper!

Having an eTrex Vista Cx, I already upload waypoints directly, rather than typing them in, but I had been copying out the Cache details into Word, rather than just printing out page after page - to save some trees! The next step was to get the Cache details electronically too! schnarff has an old Palm that someone at work gave her (in exchange for one of our spare pairs of motorbike gloves for his wife!) but it's never been setup to download e-mails and all the really funcky stuff PDA's can do! I hauled it out and got it connected to the laptop.

Popped onto the PodCacher site for the details of the Palm program they use - CacheMate. It said it was $8, and I wasn't even sure it would work, but it turned out I could download it for free, with limited functionality - perfect! Now to upload some Caches! To get it all automatically, you gotta be a Premium Member, and we're not, so I asked Scab C to do a Pocket Query and send it to me.

Meantime I converted & uploaded a .loc file (what Geocaching.com uploads onto my GPS). This worked fine, but all it gives is the details you get on the GPS - name, waypoint & co-ords. I had spotted a 'memo template' on the CacheMate site and spent a while finding out what this was all about.

Turns out you can create Memos on the PC, HotSync to the Palm and then import into CacheMate - Bingo! Now I can get an electronic copy of the Cache details as easily as I could create the Word docs I was previously using!

This is awesome! Not only does it save paper (and ink, and therefore £!), but it also means we can take encrypted clues with us, as CacheMate has a funky little app to decrypt on the trail! Additionally it can search its own database for nearest Caches - awesome!

The only downside I can see is that we have the same battery issue out in the field with the Palm as we do with the GPS...but no spares for the Palm! :(

Still want to try out the Premium GPX files, I may finally be convinced to fork out for membership! Also need to learn how to store Cache details on a memory card, as the hard drive of the Palm is pretty limited!

Can't wait to try out Paperless Caching for real! Aren't we just the techy queens!!! In reality we should be able to store as many sets of details on the Palm as we can Cache waypoints in the GPS - no more need to decide which Caches we want to print off in advance - just upload the closest 100!!!

Foiled again!

Well, Orphan's Mum & Dad spoiled all our plans! They're on hols so bagged both FTFs AND the Portugal coin! We decided to stay at home rather than go out for STFs, but maybe we'll go tonight (schnarff almost grabbed hers on the way home, but sailed past it before she spotted the turning!)

Still, I wasn't too sad, having spent the day creating CacheWalker's new logo:

Busy evening ahead!

A Portuguese coin has turned up in a local TB Exchange that we've not bagged yet, so we figured we could grab a new icon and send it to Portugal via The Swindon Scabs in a few weeks!

Popped in to check on the listings, only to discover some local Cachers have been busy hiding and we have two new Caches on our 'nearest 20 I've not yet found' list! Amusingly one is on my way home, and the other on schnarff's way home, but the GPS is sat at home, so sounds like an evening Caching trip after a day of hoping no-one beats us to it *lol* The TB Exchange is kind of in between the two, so that's cool!

Also been listening to the new Podcacher show - Yarrrrrr!

Cream Crackered!

Aching all over, and only one Cache to show for it - bah! Had a lovely day out wandering Worcestershire with a bunch of girls, then very civilised tea on the lawn at the walk leader's house. Amusingly she noticed my GPS as we were out a-walking and asked about it. The she said 'I've been thinking of getting one! Have you heard of that, what's it called...?' 'Geocaching?' I asked 'That's it!' so we ended up having a long discussion about it as she had been thinking about doing it with her sons for a year! Hopefully we've talked her into it - I even had to show them the biz on the website *lol*

Absolutely exhausted afterwards, but stopped off for a quick Piddle (in more ways than one!) on the way home! 84 it is then!

Two finds today, but our score stays at 83!

We were visited today by The Scabs :D (well 3/4 of them, Scab A is busy grabbing Caches in the ole US of A!) We were informed that if the English contigent could grab two today the Scabs could hit the big 5-0, unless A managed to drag his sorry a$$ out of bed in the States and beat us to #50!

Well, bikermel76 hates to lose a race, so we went to lunch at Hillers via The Salford Series #2. After a quick find, and a not so quick lunch, we popped off to #3. Having grabbed the Cache and avoided any snakes, Scab C rang Scab A to check if we had won the race. The lazy so-and-so was in a bagel bar having brekkie, so no worries there!

Having worked so hard to help the Scabs reach 50, we were treated to a cream tea...which after lunch we just squeezed in...so much for the discussions about what to have for tea - neither of us can move!!! Still - we should walk it off tomorrow, as we've pencilled in a 7 mile walk round a park in Worcester with a walking group. Of course afterwards we will be forced to get a few more Caches under our belts, though we seem to have done a few of the closest ones already, but we should be able to get a foot on Tgirls Elgar's Enigma Series ladder!

Norfolk-in-chance!

OMG! schnarff got an e-mail yesterday evening from Ascenders saying they were visiting Redditch soon and had spotted SideTracked and thought it was a great idea and had hidden some SideTracked Caches and hoped that was OK?

So we logged onto Geocaching.com quick smart...and....... :O :O :O :O :O :O .......

SEVEN new SideTrackeds!!!

Wow! :D Suddenly we're at 12 (and we're no longer the biggest hiders *lol*)

Awesome! We hoped it would take off, but hadn't expected it to go quite like that!!!

I've also had word that someone closer to home might hide one, so fingers crossed :D

Hurrah!

SideTracked hits 5!

The Fifth SideTracked Cache was published last night, and Orphan's Dad popped out to grab it in the dark! Ha - JimJinks foiled again! Didn't have time to go and look for a better hiding place this morning, but may pop in on the way home form work later...

Easy Peasy!

I told you it was too easy (provided you follow my twisted logic!) A bit of lateral thinking and local knowledge and JimJinks has it nailed within 24 hours!

Darn - now he's up to 100% again...for a while!

Recce'd Leamington Spa this afternoon. Found a decent hiding place which should also be wheelchair accessible and returned after work to set the Cache. Unfortunately a train must have been due as it was really busy. Waited for a quieter spell and hid the Cache, but the cover wasn't quite as dense as I'd thought. It's also quite open to taxis and people just dropping off. :( Am going to activate it anyway, as it's in place but I might go on the bike tomorrow for a better recce early morning.

Trouble with a capital T?

Sounds like Spurs is already causing some consternation in the local Caching world!

Hi Bikermel
Just looked at your "spurs" cache and I'm wondering if there is anything missing from the text. I don't seem to find any puzzle references in it.
Could you enlighten me a little please.
Or is that the puzzle in itself? "doh"
Cheers

*lol* I am so mean! I can guarantee nothing is missing!

Number 16 away!

Managed to recce and hide our 16th Cache at lunchtime! schnarff thinks it's a real stumper, but I reckon with a bit of local knowledge it's easy peasy, so it's set at Diff 3 for now!


Got home to find my new geocoin had arrived! Anyone who knows me knows I'm never far from a nice cup of joe, so I couldn't resist this beauty!

To foil JimJinks?

Mr JJ grabbed his final bm76 & schnarff Cache last night, and now has the dubious honour of being the only Cacher to have found all 15 of our Caches!

Happily bikermel has come up with a sneaky Puzzle Cache, which might keep him quiet for a bit!

Watch this space!

Playing Silly Bu**ers!

Well, it just had to be done!

We finally bagged our Cache, Another Bloomin Hill. Unfortunately it was a little dark by the time we got there, on account of getting totally lost. Hurrah for the chap who managed to avoid running into the back of us as we sat lost at the crossroads in Snowshill, and then pointed us in the direction of Temple Guiting!

I'll not bore you with the details - read it all in my log on the Cache page - but suffice to say I think a return visit will be required, as the whole place looked gorgeous in the gloom so definitely need to check out the views (and maybe even climb the hill one day if schnarff's back allows!)

A new Wrighty had also appeared just before we left home, but we decided to stick to Plan A and not detour on the way as the light was already failing. It was so dark we couldn't go for it on the way home, and actually went home via Stow (cos at least I know the roads), so we didn't pass it anyway - would have been a nice consolation after missing out on the FTF on the Hill, but then, who cares? We've got our own Cache - TEE HEE :D

Hah, bumbug!

Just after 1pm the bad news arrives. Someone has FTF’d our Cache :(

Not gonna Bloomin Happen!

Get home from work and get beefburgers ready so we can set off as soon as schnarff gets home & eat them in the car. Get the Cache sack ready with drink, appropriate map etc and download the waypoint to the GPS. Suddenly, the phone rings.

“It’s me. Can you come and get me?” Panic! Happily the bike just wont start, rather than another off, but with an hour drive into Brum, and an hour back, it’s gonna be dark again before we can get to the Cache.

Get home at 7:30 and already need lights on, so no way we can make the 30 minute drive and still have enough light to see L Make the call to abandon it for today too. Boot up the laptop to find still no-one has bagged it, and wonder if everyone is being polite? I log a note on the Cache to say we can’t get there again, and thank everyone for their politeness (or maybe it’s just the Bloomin Hill putting them all off???)

Another Bloomin Hill!

It’s dark and schnarff is surfing while bikermel cooks dinner. “Quick, get in the car” I hear – this can mean only one thing – a FTF oppo! “Where is it” I ask “Come and see!!” No amount of ‘I’m busy, cooking, where is it?’ does the trick, so I give in and go to read the Cache description which is displayed on the screen

“A cache dedicated to two new geocaching friends of mine,Bikermel76 and Schnarff, the name of the cache coming from a quote by Bikermel76 in her log for one of my caches (GC13WM5).”

OMG! How many people get their own Cache? This is so cool! Obviously it’s too dark to grab a Wrighty, but we check it out for tomorrow and pray no-one finds it meantime! Looks like about 30 minute drive, and with any luck we can bypass the Bloomin Hill with a dash from Salperton (good for schnarff’s back)

Webcam, bagged!

We only meant to bag 1 Cache today, but somehow it became 6…

An abortive shopping trip to Leamington Spa provided us with opportunity #1. We were practically passing Orphan’s Mum & Dad’s Gallows Hill on the way home, and it seemed rude not to bag it AND bad our first Trig AND help out with the geodrift.com project! So we did! :D

Next up, a trip to Cardiff. Wanted to visit the Army Surplus store on the way, so decided we could bag GC135TW with a slight detour. Unfortunately we ended up leaving so late we couldn’t go to the store, but still went via the Cache – especially as we’d driven past the hidey hole so many times when house hunting & moving, and I had always thought it a good place for a Cache!

And so onto the next! When we planned the trip a few weeks ago we checked out the M50. Not a Motorway Mayhem in sight! Cunning then that scottandsam should choose last night to publish 3! When we left home 2 & 3 were still showing as unfound, but when we arrived at 1 WalkTall had beaten us to it, so we figured he would have bagged the other two. We were proved right, but these are our first ST and TTF in ages, so happy anyway!

Finally we arrived in Cardiff to watch Germany v Wales (booo to the result!) PAF (thanks Dad!) and got our pic snapped on the Webcam. Chuffed to have grabbed a Webcam Cache as they are getting rarer with the type grandfathered!

And so we find ourselves suddenly at 82, without really trying! Also discovered my WAAS is not enabled, as I was logging the GeoDrift info – perhaps we’ll find the Caches easier now *lol*

Oh Deer!

Somehow I convinced schnarff we should go for the other 3.1 miler, Weethley Wood, especially as it’s a Wrighty and promises deer. We’ve never yet spotted deer when Caching, despite Wrighty seeing a deer between #1 and 2 of the Salford Seven!

For once this was a Wrighty without a hill! Enjoyed a lovely walk beside the wood, and Kai had a great time on a new walk. Thought we were going to be disappointed again, only to walk round a corner and see a whole herd of deer! Took a few pics while they all wandered back into the wood (we must have looked dodgy!) and then continued, only for a pair to leap out of the wood beside us and nearly give us a heart attack!

Continued on toward the Cache, only to round another corner and spot them all again! This time they didn’t spot us for a while and stayed still! Once they’d disappeared again we continued to the Cache site. Could we find anywhere a Cache might be hidden? Nope. Wandered around for about 15 minutes, feeling right wallies and knowing it had only been found a few days before, then tried slightly further along the path and spotted a likely suspect, and there it was!

Clearzone = 3.2 miles, and 11 of nearest 20 complete!

Clearzone

Decided it’s about time we got rid of some of those ‘closest to home’ Caches and moved our ‘clearzone’ out a bit! Found a cunningly close parking space for GCVT7M, to give schnarff a fair chance of getting up the hill without hurting her back even more. Got out of the car to discover we’d left the dog’s lead at home, but the Cache Sack fortunately contains some string. Just about held onto Kai until we got to the footpath by the woods!

A lovely stroll through the countryside, and nice, if limited, views of the Folly. Bikermel was definitely barking up the wrong tree, but found a beautiful jay’s feather while schnarff was sniffing out the Cache due to the giveaway Cacher’s trail!

Spent some time reading the logs, swapping stash, taking pics and enjoying the sunset, before replacing the Cache and retiring home! Used our new stamp to celebrate our 75th Cahce!

Clearzone actually remains 3.1 miles as there is another Cache the same distance from us in the opposite direction!

Get home to find that as we were out finding this one, the owners, Stag Ramblers, were finding our Quercus Cache, and their log refers back to the clue for Prinny’s Folly!

STAMP!

Being a lazy cow, and seeing lots of other people have them, we've had a stamp made! So, if you spot this in a Cache logbbok, you know you've crossed our path! It came from Vistaprint, who always do free stamps, but this is a pocket stamp - so carries its own ink neatly tucked inside!

Get your own free at: www.vistaprint.biz/freeoffers1!