Learn More
The trouble with a B&B near an A road is that traffic starts early. I was awoken by a lorry at 0545 and breakfast wasn't until 0700. What shall I do in the meantime? Yes, you've guessed it.🤔
Just down the road in the village was Jan's Cache:Wilmington Youth Club. A trad which was quickly found due to the smart hint. I drove down to CM Widworthy for a quick find but I spent some time at the nearby GVR wall box which had my first view of a snail guard.🐌 It was now time to get back for a full english.
After a plate of local fare, I then went on a bit of a drive by CM hunt. I took in the fine churches of Dalwood, Farway, Sidbury and Sidford on the way down to the Mega.
The Mega was very busy and the first people that I saw were Beastmarsta and Boxteddies. They gave me the lie of the land and then I went off to register. The main stalls were in the former stately home but it was very busy and claustrophobic for some. I gave it a quick circuit and went outside for air. Having found out where the TB drop was, I wandered down to the marquee, meeting Vanguard3 on the way. Bob and I went down to get rid of our TBs and pick up some more for Eastern England dispersal.
After wandering around, bumping into NathanJHunt and chatting for a while, I made the decision to make a move. I'd have a good look around, couldn't be bothered with the Labcache series so I might as well be working my way home picking up a few caches. I'd met all my county objectives yesterday but I had one or two Jasmers to look at.😎
I was just signing the log sheet after working out the multi at CM Colaton Raleigh and Bob arrived.😀 We arranged to meet at CM Newton Poppleford and after a joint signing we went our seperate ways. Bob went off to Honiton and I set off for CM Venn Ottery. After a quick find, I was off across to CM Talaton.
This was a bit of an eventful cache. The satnav took me down this little lane but I could see the church so parked up near it. As I got to the churchyard, I could see a large carpark with plenty of room, doh! It was a multi but as I worked out the coords, the signal died so I drove the car to the carpark hoping for a signal.
With signal restored, I was able to see where GZ and set off. Now here we are in the heat of August and the route that I have to take is a slurry filled, wet lane. Luckily I could see a cachers trail in the hedge where I found the fine custom built cache in the form of a church. It took me ages to wipe the "mud" off my trainers but the smell lasted for hours.🐄
Time was starting to pass quicker than I'd hoped so I decided to be frugal with my caches. I set off for CM Upottery as I needed CMs starting with AEIOU for a CM challenge cache. After solving the multi, I had a quick find of the cache tucked behind a very old mileage stone.
Horton in Somerset was my next stop. At the CM, Bob had already visited here. I quickly took in the Fine Pair at the Post Office and set off for Mere where there were four CMs. Two were trads and two, multis. After about 40 mins and a pleasant walk around town, St Michael the Archangel, St Mary's, Methodist and URC were bagged and signed.⛪️
The CM at Upton Lovell was too good to miss and then I was off to my last cache of the day in Andover, Hampshire. After dodging, getting stuck in and dodging traffic around the A303 and Stonehenge, I got to Rooksbury Mill Park. Placed in 12/03, it was originally a trad but is now a virtual due to tree work in the park. After gleaning the required info, I was off on my way home, without too much hold-up as it turned out.
So summing up, this was a profitable weekend in a geocaching sense. Five new counties, six new Jasmers and 35 CMs. That's moved me along a bit.😀