CITO

Last year, I signed the log of the 4.5/1.5 Four Counties- A CITO Challenge in Cambridgeshire but I had qualified. I needed to have attended four CITO events in different counties. I only had three - Essex, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire so when a mid-week CITO turned up in High Wycombe in Bucks, it didn’t take long to work out that I would attend.😀 I checked up on all the challenges that I had qualified for in the area so I could make it a good day’s caching.

I started off early and arrived north west of Marlow near Marlow Bottom. There was a linear set of seven Challenges here that I had qualified for. I tackled 4.5/2 CC - Fantasy Favourites first and worked my way up to the 4/2 CC - Do You Know Other Cachers. I signed the CC - 100 Club abroad solo but then realised that to qualify for this one I would have to find 100 caches in a day abroad on my own. I can’t see me doing this any time soon.🥴

I made my way up to Castlefield Woods in High Wycombe in time for the Green Thursday Spring Clean. It was really a community event and I seemed to be the only cacher. I was kitted out with a black bag and a litter picker and I set off for a wander through the woods collecting litter. Somehow I found myself in the vicinity of the Mount Skippet trad and duly signed the log. I carried on collecting the stuff that picnicers refused to take home and bumped into a lady looking for the CITO.😀 I pointed sheep aka Karen to the starting point and I headed towards the vicinity of the Desborough Castle trad. The castle was really an Iron Age fort though but I soon found the cache hidden in a tree. I made my way back to the start point in time for the end of the CITO. I thanked the organisers, said goodbye to Karen and set off towards the next cache on my list.

I was after a Large golden oldie trad placed in January 2004. Overlooking his manors (Bucks) was a quick find so I headed north to the village of Cholesbury on the Bucks/Herts border. I soon found the CM and VHs multis taking note of the old sign in the church porch. After finding the nearby Cholesbury Tree trad, I moved on to Hughenden for the VHs trad.

Time was getting on and I had fulfilled most of my targets for today but there were still a few CCs nearby. First up was the 4/2 Unlucky for some! - Challenge Cache. I knew it was something to do with the number 13 so I have posted the requirements.

You must find at least 6 different types of caches within the 13 counties (as some counties seem to have a wider variety of caches than others you may claim one additional cache in each county to reach the 6 types but must still have found caches in 13 counties within the 13 consecutive days).
You must also find at least one cache with a difficulty rating of at least 3 and one with a terrain rating of at least 3.

I quickly found this cache and moved on to my final two CCs of the day, both of which were close by. I haven’t qualified for the Buckinghamshire 1000 or the Hertfordshire 1000 challenges but as I was so near, I had to go for them.

I used to be of the opinion that I couldn’t sign a Challenge log unless I had actually qualified. However after a few that I could have signed were archived 🥴 I thought, sod it, once it’s signed I can always claim it.

1 CITO 2 Multi 5 Traditional 8 Mystery

#15085

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