Bike Ride Without A Bike

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

‍