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After the disappointing washout last week, I had a bit of a count up and I only needed 76 caches in Herts to reach the 1k. I was also getting a bit bored with schlepping up the A10.🤔 It would be good to get all the caches in one hit.
I had previously done some work on Pootle’s Penguins, a circular series of 66 mystery caches over 12 miles around Welwyn Garden City. So I decided to finish all the puzzles about penguins and use this as the basis for a long day.
The suggested parking place for the series was near to #50 and I was parked and ready to go just after seven. There were no problems working my way up to #59 where the trad cache at the Mill Green Museum broke the sequence.
Back on the Pootle, I did a couple more and then the On t’way t’Mill trad appeared. After a quick find, I pootled on to #63 and the Abridged by the Lakes trad which straddled the path. Once I had worked out the clever hint, I broke off to get over to the Waterfall View trad. Now this was clever! The only hint was a photo of the waterfall from the cache. I eventually stood in the right place to find the cache.😀
I walked underneath the railway viaduct into Stanborough Park and pppicked up another penguin and then started to look for the only non-series mystery of the day - It‘s About Ducking Time. It was a bit slug central at the final stage but the clever container was soon spotted.
As I was walking through the park, I noticed signs for a cafe so I was hoping that I could get breakfast there. The cafe was open but the best I could get at ten in the morning was a cornish pasty which was a first for me. Washed down with a hot coffee though it solved the hunger problem.
Once breakfast was done, I backtracked to collect #65 and #66 and then started on the series proper. I got up to maybe #4 or #5 when I had to walk underneath the Great North Road next to a river but the path was under water. Luckily there were a few stepping stones so I didn’t get too wet.
I carried on with the series until I reached the next trad on the list - Any sign of a Kingfisher. After a quick find of the 1/1 by the mill race, I followed the series path through a golf course collecting penguins. On the way to the May 2002 A Bridge 2 Far trad, I saw a gate sign to Brockett Hall. I sure that the lord of the manor did time for an elaborate stolen classic car scam.🥴
I continued picking penguins into Ayots Green and up the Great North Road again. At #15 it started to pour down and I was really hoping that it wasn’t going to be a wash out like last week. However the rain didn’t last for long and I carried on up the road until I had to turn off into Monks Wood. I had time to deviate off route for the excellent Golden Guardian and the Monks Fae trads.
For the next two and a half hours, it was a head down and onwards Hunt for cleverly placed penguins. I reached #49 and the last in the series just after three but I was still two short of my total needed. Luckily there were two trads, Eddies Walk 1 and 2 on the route back to the car.😀
So I had done it, I‘d reached the one thousand mark so I was qualified to claim the 5/1.5 Hertfordshire 1000 Challenge. Now I had mistakenly thought that this one was in Bucks but it turned out to be just over the border in Herts. One thousand and one.😀😀
10 Traditional 67 Mystery
#15234