Being Back in Battersea

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Thursday 7th March 2024

I got into town early and jumped a 15 bus over to Ye Old Cheshire Cheese in Fleet Street. I was after a new multi A Very Fine Cat Indeed which was logged at 0735. From here, I dropped down to the bonus cache of the G'Day London! AL series. I mentioned a problem with the cache in my log. 

I walked along the Embankment and over Westminster Bridge to St Thomas's Hospital for the start of the Lambeth Bridge AL series. I worked my way through the bases down to the conclusion and then added one of the new Harry Potter's London 3 AL series to the tally. I set off down Millbank and across Vauxhall Bridge for the For the HAL of it trad. The log sheet was missing here so I put a replacement in.

I decided to catch a bus down the Wandsworth Road to Lavender Hill and then walk up Queenstown Road to the recently replaced CM Battersea ~ St Philip. I had a quick find at 0912 and the continued up the road to ST Queenstown which had thwarted me last week. It was wedged in and difficult to extract but I wasn't going to let it beat me.😀

It wasn't far to Battersea Power Station so I hotfooted it over there and picked up the TUBE ST mystery at 0934 before moving on to the Animals  virtual. This was more like an AL than a virtual but I visited all the bases. I eventually tumbled how the revertive check worked and could then claim the prize.😀 I set off for Battersea Park and soon had some coords sorted for the WM Anzac Memorial multi. Unfortunately the final stage was a bit of a backtrack but I logged it at 1040.

As I was deciding where to go for brunch, I received a message from Wombatwandering, the owner of the G'Day London bonus, in ... Manila.😱 She was asking about the problem with her cache and we finalised a plan to resolve the issue rather than disable it.😀 I found somewhere to eat and then jumped a bus down Battersea Park Road alighting at the junction with York Road. I headed north to the CM Battersea ~ Sacred Heart trad and carried to the 3/1 Power Station View. This trad was jammed vertically at the end of the opening 🥴 I tried to remove it with a telescopic magnetic wand but no joy so I sent a photo of the cache as proof of finding.

It was time to turn and head south. I added the Battersea Boy? trad to the tally and then the Imperial Park View. As I continued down the Thames Pathway it was interesting seeing the comings and going at the London Heliport. I hadn't seen this before and it was quite popular with plane spotters. I remember caching outside an Eddie Stobart depot in the East Riding of Yorkshire on the way to the Yorkshire Mega. There were a couple of lads sitting on deck chairs with binoculars so I asked if they were plane spotters.🤔 They were collecting the girls names on the Stobart cabs. I thought at the time, they were as sad as me.🤣🤣

I continued down with the river on my right to the View of Wandsworth Bridge trad. I headed into Wandsworth and picked up a couple of trads including the ST Wandsworth Town. I took the opportunity to have a coffee and then went back to the river for the Bridge View trad. I threaded my way through the industrial area past the Waste Centre and found the Fairfield multi. I continued along the Causeway and crossed over the River Wandle, stopping for the Wandle Delta trad. This one had a string of DNFs and blimey, it was very well hidden but the hint and coords were spot on.

I carried on through the back streets and into Wandsworth Park. There was a 1.5/1.5 trad, A Walk in the Park, causing all sorts of problems to cachers but the very cunningly concealed cache was eventually discovered. In the diagonally opposite corner of the park was Wandsworth Park II and this turned out to be my only DNF of the way.🙁 I walked to Putney Bridge Tube crossing the Thames and got on a District Line going to the City.

I decided to jump off at Parsons Green for another pair of trads - the TUBE ST where I left a travel bug and Parson Green. I then got back on Tube to Westminster walk up to Trafalgar Square. I was after the Nelson at Trafalar AL series here. It was so compact that it took me about five minutes to complete which must be some sort of record.

It was time to head for home but I had one more task to fulfil. Outside Charing Cross Station, I caught a 15 bus down to the Law Courts and then  dropped down to the Embankment to the G'Day AL Bonus. I did some running repairs and the cache was as good as new. Once I had given Wombatwandering the good news, I set off for Fenchurch Street.

1 Virtual 2 Mystery 3 Multi 11 AdLab 15 Traditional

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