We were staying in Sidari first off and I had a good haul of caches around Arillas yesterday so I am going a little further afield this morning. The first one on my list was “The Night Owl” NY01. I drove down to Afionas and parked as carefully as I could on the bend near a taverna, strangely called the Night Owl. 🤔 The cache was very cunningly placed but I soon had it in hand. The next one on my list was Pirates Bay - Corfu. I parked near the church at the top of the village. and started on this multi. Stages 1 and 2 were quickly completed but the blackboard at Stage 3 seems to be missing. Ok, I could work with that but having got many hundreds of feet down to the beach I could only see 1/2 islands, nothing like the numbers in the multi choice answers. At this point I gave up. I don’t know how other cachers were solving this one as not all the information is availabl.☹️ I wanted one for a multi in Greece. That’s unlikely to happen now. ☹️ Now for the long drag back up the hill. After resting back at the top, I drove down to Agios Georgios to collect the trads, Hectors House Waste Disposal and then the well placed Agios Georgios - North. I had run out of time so had to get back to Sidari as we were moving on to Paleokastritsa this morning.😀 We decided to the scenic route over the Troumpetta Pass to Paleo and we would go past some trads and I had special dispensation to look for them.😀 All three were situated near vistas and we had spectacular views when finding Troumpettas Viewpoint, Sky Bar Lostspace and Agia Anna Viewpoint. This brought us to the outskirts of Paleo so it was time to look for our hotel. After unpacking and then relaxing by the pool, we made our way down to the harbour to see what was what. I knew that there was a 2/5 Earthcache - The Caves of Paleokastritsa here but I didn’t think that I had much of a chance as a boat or snorkelling equipment was a requirement. Imagine my excitement when I found that there were boat trips out to the caves including the one with the Blue Eye cave which was the subject of the EC. Well my wife was up for it and I thought about it for a nanosecond.😀 We paid our €10 each and had a fantastic experience getting close up to the caves. I also gathered all the information to claim the cache.👍🏻 Once we were back on dry land, it was time to find a restaurant for our dinner. Geocaching was over for the day.🙁 1 Earthcache 6 Traditional #8068

We had come to Corfu to celebrate our thirtieth wedding anniversary in one of our favourite places. There are so many “off the track” places in Corfu that I would not have been able to visit unless I was looking for geocaches. We were having a three centre holiday and had hired a car so I hoped to pick up a few more Greek cache icons while we are on the island. We were staying in Sidari first off and I wanted to do the circular series in nearby Arrillas. On the way was another short series set amongst the olive groves. I parked up just off the road near the search area, walked down the track and soon found the well hidden Olive Tree and Olive Trail. I drove down into the delightful coastal village of Arillas on the north east of the Island. The series was about three miles long and to be honest, there was nothing taxing here. I got the impression that the COs were not local and the caches were maintained by cachers. I replaced #6 as it was MIA. All the caches were achieved by cache and dash, and I can only remember one of any interest.🙁 One that was interesting was Arillas Cache.😀 I parked up in a space across the road from the search area. I wasn’t sure if I could but it was early and the place was quiet. Reading the cache description, I knew the task in front of me. It would have been a much more difficult cache if it had been later in the day. I entrees the search area and there was one chap sitting at a table. I spoke to him in Greek but he turned out to be Barry from Yorkshire. 😀 I explained to Barry what I was doing and he said that he had stayed here two or three times a year for years and didn’t know there was something hidden here. I quickly found the well concealed cache and showed it to Barry. I then replaced the cache exactly as I had found it. I asked Barry to thank the owners for me and he said that he would.👍🏻 The last cache of the morning was San Stef Stroll just up the coast in Agios Stefanos. I drove up here from Arillas and struggled to get up the road to the viewpoint from the hairpin bend. In fact, I revved the hire car too much and slid all over the road. Still I got up there and parked the car up at the top. The scenery was fantastic but now the wind had got up it was a bit exposed to stay too long. This was one of the better caches of the day so far. 18 Traditional #8050

I needed a cache for today as I knew that I wouldn’t have an opportunity for a couple of days. I saw that a couple of caches had been published near the site of the old Runwell Hospital. This brought back memories of so many great evenings at the Runwell Hospital Social Club. On the other side of the coin, I had to visit a family member in the hospital once and that’s not such a good memory. The hospital opened in 1937 as the County Asylum and over years gained much information on the treatment of Alzeimer’s and similar conditions. The facility closed in 2010. It has changed so much over here. Most of the hospital buildings have gone and there is now a huge housing estate in its place. I know that the sports ground is still there, including the pitches of Runwell Hospital FC. In fact, I spoke to their manager recently and the club is getting the proceeds of the 4G masts erected nearby so they will hope to get out of the Olympian League soon. Anyway both of the trads were cleverly hidden but quickly found. I expect more caches to be placed over here soon. 😀 2 Traditional #8048

When I saw this event published, I put it straight into my diary. I didn’t want to miss out on congratulating Frantica on her fantastic achievement of caching for 1000 consecutive day.👍🏻 I got to 184 days on the trot and then dipped out so I don’t know how you had the stamina to achieve what you did. 🤔 Many thanks for organising the event, Max, and providing those great cakes. It’s a pity that the rain turned up but it brought us all together huddling under the umbrellas.☔️ 1 Event #8046

We’ve come down to Brighton for a couple of night to chill and enjoy ourselves. As we are also here with friends, the opportunities for caching are going to be limited so I’m going to have to take my chances. We arrived in town and set off for the the pier. Unfortunately the winds were high and none of the rides were open which was a big disappointment. The knock on effect of that was that the crowds were not as I had expected. However there was a trad, Brighton Rocks - Brighton Pier here and I took the opportunity to grab it.😀 The next day I had a bit of a head 😨 but managed to get an hour to myself to take in some of the “sights.” I used the time well finding, B&H Monopoly- Queens Road, Brighton- Alley Nano, ST Brighton, Trainspotting, CM Prestonville - St Luke, ST LondonRoadBrighton and finally Twit Round The Hill. This last one was interesting as it was in one of the local alleys called Twittens. The cache was so clever that I had it in my hand, examined it and still didn’t realise what it was. 🙁 I had hoped to get a few more this afternoon but my iPhone battery died. We were off home today and although we had a “bit of a night” last night, I was up early and out picking off three more trads. These were B&H Cinemas, Past and Present, Astoria/Coronation, CM Brighton - St Peter’s, a cunningly placed cache in full view and finally Balamory Street. I had only been here a couple of days, picking my moments to cache and I don’t think that I did too badly.😀 11 Traditional #8045

I am trying to qualify for a challenge cache in Kent that needs me to find at least one hundred and fifty caches per month for twelve consecutive months. I am travelling abroad a lot during September, I am not sure that I can get the required number this month. So when I do get out caching, I need numbers. I have come up this way to tackle the rest what of the Essex & Suffolk Border Cycle Ride series. Add to the mix, the fact that I need to find a multi for my eight thousand cache to meet the qualification of another challenge cache. I started off in Middleton at #25 of the Essex/Suffolk Border Cycle Ride Series and quickly found the well placed trad. Nearby was a splendid “wagon wheel“ G5R lamp box, a very rare sight these days. The next three caches were multis including the well worked out one at Lamarsh Village Hall. The trads #28 to #31 were also soon sorted out. I was now on seven thousand nine hundred and ninety nine caches found and I needed a multi to reach the magic eight thousand! Luckily #32 was a multi and if I get this one, I qualify for a challenge cache. This is to reach six geocaching milestones with a different caching icons. I didn’t know about this challenge until I was approaching seven thousand. Luckily I had already found four different icons at milestones before.😀 My luck was in, as I found the multi but I didn’t hear any cacophony of sound to celebrate. I‘d finished my business in this neck of the woods and I set off towards Little Cornard to pick up #41 of the series that was MIA last week. I sorted this one and continued on with the series to get the trads #59 and #60. Nearby was another trad, the first one of the Baxter’s Trail series that I had my eye on for some time but only had this one on my list for today. I was now in Great Cornard, I sorted out the multi at the Village Hall, the trad CM and then Gourd Blimey. This was a special cache in that it was in the front garden of the sister of the other half of the OG&B combo, Mary. As I was doing the admin having found the clever cache when the sister came over and introduced herself.👋 Next up was #61, the final one of this series and this was a clever hide. I had to drive over to the VS and finally found the multi. I can see why others had had problems here before. I was almost in Sudbury by now so decided to find a cafe. Luckily, there was a large supermarket down the road and I took the opportunity to take coffee and a blueberry muffin. As I was resting, I sorted out a plan of action for some nearby caches. I had two hours free parking here so decided to use it as a base for a while. I walked down the road from the supermarket and quickly found the trad Birthday Bungalow Bliss nestling in the COs front garden. After that, I worked my way over the railway lines and meadows to get to the multi #1 of the Cycle Ride series. The coords were some way off so I got back to the car and made my way into town to find a free car park. I struck lucky near the CM Sudbury - URC and quickly found this multi and set off for CM Sudbury - St Gregory. This had been enabled in the past few days and I now know that I got the right coords but I couldn’t find the cache. I had another failure at the CM Sudbury- All Saints but was in the right place to continue the Cycle Ride series. I found #2 to #7, all trads apart from the multi #6, picking up #1 on the way. I was on a roll and collected #8 down to #16, inexplicably forgetting the trad at #11. The run of trads continued after the multi at #17, finally working my way down to #24 and I was very pleased to complete this fine series. I was nacked and set off for home. However on the way, I was reminded that 068 : SEBC - Wormingford 3 was back in action so I had to go for it as I was passing very near to the track. I had a little bit of a tree climb but quickly had the trad in hand and another one of this series bites the dust. Another great day! 😀 11 Multi 32 Traditional #8034

I am trying to qualify for a challenge cache in Kent that needs me to find at least one hundred and fifty caches per month for twelve consecutive months. I am travelling abroad a lot during September, I am not sure that I can get the required number this month. So when I do get out caching, I need numbers.🤔 As usual, I pop down into Kent for a couple of early hours caching and today I reckon that I have enough time to do this five mile circular walk around Cobham. I pulled into Cobham at first light and quickly gathered the answers to the multi at 01. However at GZ, I didn’t have any luck at all so I wasn‘t off to a great start. Luckily, I got back on track with 02 and worked my way up to 09, picking up two multis with the remainders being trads. Unfortunately, I then suffered a complete mobile signal blackout. ☹️ It’s never happened to me before and I hope that it never happens again. I had apple maps but absolutely no signal hence no loading of the app details. The terrain was undulating and I almost got enough signal going up hills but no chance in the valley.🤔 I followed the path of the series and at 12d, I struck lucky despite no signal. 😀 When I got to 13, I gained enough signal to get details on the cache so had a quick find. I then gathered enough info to go back and find 12e. To be safe, I gathered info on the next few caches too in case I lost signal again. I found the 14 multi and then all the trads up to 21.😀 I had a go at the CM Cobham - St Mary Magdalene but obviously made the same mistake as many other cachers here and ended up getting the wrong set of coords. I had to go back and check out where I went wrong. I then found the well placed cache. I then came back to Earth with a failure of the Cobham Historic Water Pump which I now know was MIA. I walked back through the High Street to the motor. I just had to have another go at 01 of the series but still no joy. Time was getting on and in the end I had to give up. I need to come back to the village armed with all the details to get the caches that I missed out on in the series. 😀 4 Multi 16 Traditional #7991

The well I am trying to qualify for a challenge cache in Kent that needs me to find at least one hundred and fifty caches per month for twelve consecutive months. I am travelling abroad a lot during September, I am not sure that I can get the required number this month. So when I do get out caching, I need numbers. I have come up this way to tackle what I can of the Essex and Suffolk Border Cycle Ride series. These were all trads plus a few multis and should be all doable.🤔 I started off the day with the SideTracked Bures trad. I worked out the coords for the multi #35 of the series and set about finding some local trads and multis. First up was Clarinet (“Music Cache“ No.2), a trad that I’d failed on before. This time, I had a lucky spot.😀 I then found #33 and #35, followed by the multis, CM Bures - Baptist and A Stroll Around the Green. After finishing up in the village, I set off for some of Beastmarsta’s trads set at local vistas - A Bures Viewpoint and Another Bures Viewpoint. I found these and returned to the series, collecting #36 to #45, all trads except for the #42 multi. Breaking off for Gone Digital - Again, a trad near the television repeater station, I was back on track with #48 to #48. Some months ago, I did the circular Forage Around Little Cornard series but couldn’t get to the bonus because some numbers were missing from the caches. The CO had kindly provided enough for me to work out the coords but I hadn’t the time to retrieve the bonus. However, as I was nearby, It was now time. The cache was very well hidden but I finally came up with the goods. I continued on with #49 onto #53, interspersed with 7 Bars and The Big Apple. There was a cache to be resuscitated on a footpath from #53. There were orchards along here and I was hoping to find some edible apples somewhere.😀 There were so many varieties of apples here but sadly the orchards didn’t look like they had been maintained. I found out later that they had been abandoned.☹️ Why? All the imported apples in the shops and here are all these just going to drop and rot. I got to GZ and realised where the cache was. There were nearby two years of untended brambles here to get through before I could tackle the four foot chicken wire fence. All I’ll say is was that I managed to grab the cache, eventually. ☹️ Back on the series, I found #54 to #57 and had a special cache in mind for the next one on the list. The local cachers, OG&B had set the Essex & Suffolk Border Cycle Ride series but they had set some mystery caches, WHTS MSSNG #1 to #4. #1 had been in my solved book for quite a while but I’ve never been this close to GZ so I have to have a look. My feeling is that the cache is near to the COs house but I didn’t have a clue where that was so was following the GPS. I pulled up at GZ and saw one of the COs (Mick), talking to another man. As I approached them, amazingly Mick was showing the cache to the other man.😀 After our hellos, Mick gave me the cache. It seems that he had been following my progress all day and reckoned that I would turn up here at some point today. Mick invited me in for tea and cake and after some time chewing the fat, we went off to look for #58. Mick took me via a local shortcut to GZ. Now this was a cunningly placed cache but well in keeping with the spot on hint. It was a bit disconcerting looking for the cache with Mick looking on but luckily I had a reasonably quick find here and didn’t show myself up. We parted company here as I had to walk to some nearby caches that I had failed to find a few months ago. I‘d DNFed two of the GC Circular series a few of months ago and was back to clear up. This series had been set up by Mick’s son, JAM&F. I soon found #9 - Bamley’s Retreat and #10 - Round The Bend, both trads to finish off a memorable day. 2 Mystery 4 Multi 33 Traditional #7971

I attended the Essex Meet #52 tonight at the George and Dragon in Mountnessing. This was another great meeting with lots of old friends and some new ones. I was so busy chatting, I didn’t get to see and talk to everybody.🤔 Some plots were hatched for days out and I gathered a number of travel bugs for moving on. 1 Event #7932

It’s my birthday and I can go where I want to.😀 I’ve been wanting to visit the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich Park for so long now and today is the day. I had a couple of virtual caches lined up for the day but as I sat in a cafe near the Cutty Sark, enjoying my lunch, I fired up the app to see which other caches were around. I picked up a couple of clever trads on the way from the DLR station and after walking up the hill, we were soon at the entrance to the Observatory for the Royal Observatory Greenwich Cache virtual. I found my way around to the meridian line outside the Observatory walls and my wife took a photo of me for my proof of visit. I was surprised to see a statue for General Wolfe of Quebec fame here. What is the significance? Now it was time to visit the National Maritime Museum and spent a pleasant couple of hours looking around the Nelson exhibition in the National Maritime Museum. I had hoped to see some Harrison maritime timepieces here but I was told that they were on display up at the Royal Observatory.🤔 We were now going to Greenwich Pier to get a river boat up west and I gathered the answers to the Whiskey Galore virtual. All I had to do now was get the boat up to the London Eye landing stage. 2 Traditional 2 Virtual #3931