Cambridge

I’m always looking out for a CITO especially when it’s on a day when I’m out caching especially when I can get there. So when a CITO popped up in Cambridge on a Wednesday morning, I was all over it.😀 I planned a morning‘s worth of caching which would take me up to the start of the event and then an afternoon pottering around Impington. However things didn’t go exactly to plan . Here’s how it went.🥴

I started off just inside the Cambridgeshire border in the small village of Little Shelford a few minutes before eight. The VHs mystery was a quick find as was the trad CM. However the VS multi was a no find but there have been a couple of failures since I went for it.🤔

I moved on up the road to Great Shelford for the CM and I think that I chatted to the vicar for the while about the hobby. Well, a chap did turn up on a bike and said that it was his church and if he could help. I couldn’t see a dog collar but he did say that he had geocached before. I had seen a coffee shop up the road but it didn’t open until ten.🥴

Next up was the ST at the station serving both the villages. I had failed here before and luckily there was nobody in the bus shelter to hinder my quick find this time. I was doing ok for time as the CITO didn’t start until eleven so I headed off for the LB ~ Shepreth Branch Junction trad.

Although it was a bit of a walk from the road, I reckoned that it would be a swift spot. The hint said that it was under the first plank. However it wasn’t and I had to get under the bridge to see where the cache was. It was halfway down the bank. ☹️ I managed to get to the cache and after carrying out the admin duties, I replaced the cache where it should be.

Back in the car, I checked my time and then set off to Grantchester for the VHs multi. As I drove through the village, I spotted a gin distillery on my left and a sandwich board for coffee.😀 I parked up and walked back collecting the info for the multi on the way. The board was for a mobile coffee shop next to the gin shop and the chap running the coffee shop was just opening up.

I had coffee and cake whilst chatting about Geocaching and working out the coords for the VHs. It must be a popular place as many people turned so I said goodbye and headed off for the VHs final stage for a quick find. I had time for one more cache, the CM Chesterton ~ Methodist trad before the CITO but no time for the nearby tree climb unfortunately.🙁

I drove up to the CITO but as I got close to the parking area, I could see a dozen people in hazard jackets carrying full rubbish bags. Unfortunately I got the time wrong and arrived just as the event was winding up. I did pose in the group photos and chatted to Rory, the host, Hanoosh the reviewer. The GCZ Team from Burwell introduced themselves as well as many new faces.

As the event broke up, I managed to grab a bag from the Council chap and wandered around the area picking up rubbish. There was a car park just around the corner that acts like a dumping ground for late night fast food addicts so I found plenty to pick up - good job that I had my gardening gloves with me.🥴 Once I had filled my bag, I dumped it in the Council general waste bin and called it a day.

I drove over the A14 and parked up in Impington. This village is closely linked to Histon and I wandered around collecting CMs, VSs, even an RST  before setting off for the centre of Histon. I started on the Histon Stroll AdLab series which took me around some off the places I had visited earlier but still gave me the opportunity to collect a WM and another CM. Once I had visited all the bases, I had enough info for the bonus. This had been placed in Homefield Park and there was a fine selection of metal sculptures here. The cache was quickly found so I headed back into town.

As I sat in a coffee shop in Histon with a celebratory coffee and cake, I remembered my conversation with Hanoosh earlier regarding a circular walk in Girton, a couple of miles up the road. I checked it out on the app and knew that I wouldn’t have time for all of it but I did notice a CM, a FP and a VS there.😀

Up in Girton, I quickly added the CM Girton ~ St Andrew trad to the list, followed by the VS trad and the FP multi. I had enough time to get three of the Girton Corner series of trads before it was time to call it a day. Luckily Girton is nicely situated close to an M11 junction so I had an easy run home.😀

1 CITO 2 Mystery 4 Multi 5 AdLab 19 Traditional

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