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The area around Harlow is virgin geocaching territory for me. So my plan was to intersperse this ocean of green with a number of small yellow islands. The plan was to find caches around Old Harlow and Potter Street rather than in the New Town. I'd worked out a list of possible caches to get but as usual the list was longer than I could possibly manage. As I had to get to Harlow via the A128 and A414, I'd also planned to pick up some orphans on the way. 😉
The first cache of the day was just after dawn at A Bridge Too Far No. 2 in Marden Ash just outside Ongar. A cunning cache to get me going but there was better to come.😀 Next stop was A Fine Pair in Moreton. Now this was difficult but once I'd spotted the fiendish little sod, a piece of plastic grass stuck in the ground, the hint proved to be inspired! A bit of trivia for you, Steve Marriott, the lead singer and guitarist in The Small Faces and later Humble Pie lived in the village during the 1970s.
After a couple more trads in Magdalen Laver including the excellent Bridging the Gap, I got into the target area making an easy find at the CM in Potter Street. I spent a couple of hours ticking off caches near to the M11 but came unstuck at Wood you believe it. I had a couple of goes at this one on the way to and from Splash and Dash but still no joy. I continued turning the map yellow until the last one that I wanted - the CM in Old Harlow. I knew where I'd have placed it and a PAF confirmed my thoughts but the cache was a DNF. 🙁
I now set about the seven trad series in the Old Harlow Loop. There's a lot of history around here and I was pleasantly surprised. I had based my thoughts of Harlow on what had happened to Old Basildon. Anything of any antiquity was destroyed or mysteriously burnt down except for churches and there weren't many of those. On route, I found an old Ambulance Station next to an equally ancient Fire Station. Vange had those too but sadly long gone. I found all the caches plus one of the Stumped series that I found on a very pleasant walk around the town.
Time was getting on and I had one thing left to do. I had to check out a Royal Mail meter box for the LBSG. After I'd got the necessary details I quickly found the nearby Roman Temple cache. Unfortunately the temple was destroyed long before the creation of the New Town.
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