Harry

I had been over to East and West Tilbury a couple of weeks ago to have a try at Archer Phoenix’s Scout Stroll series and to try out my new electric bike. I hadn’t found all of them so it was time to come back and hopefully clean up. There wasn’t the opportunity to use the bike this time.

I was out really early and had found #18 and signed the log by 0541. There was no traffic around so I did this one and the #19 trads as drive bys. I drove down the one way Love Lane and walked back to the #17 trad but it started to chuck it down so I ran back to the motor.

I also dipped out at #7 and thought to myself that if the cache is there, “I’m a Chinaman” so I was pleased to hear that it was MIA. I redressed the balance at the #8 trad when I found the cache that I couldn’t find last time.

I drove over the level crossing and up the hill to the bottom of Low Street Lane. There is a traffic barrier here so I had to walk up to #10 and this time found the 3.5/1.5 trad in the dense ivy. I retraced my steps and then drove up into West Tilbury. I soon found the WTW1 : West Tilbury Village Sign multi that I had missed out on the last time I was over here. It‘s a pity that this is not part of the Village Sign series.🤔 I also noted that the WTW2 multi at the Village Hall was not part of that associated series.🙁

I solved the WTW3 : Pat’s Stamp multi but would have to save that for later on. I drove down to WTW4 :  Blue Anchor Lane Tyres and had to be really stealthy to collect this trad as it was opposite the kitchen window of the house across the road. Further along the lane at the junction of Linford Road was WTW5 : Jess’s Stamp. There was a parking space right next to this trad and once I had carried out the admin duties, I walked down Coal Lane.

There were two more trads down this ancient track but at WTW6 : Poultry Prize, there were two dog walkers havingthe  a chat and this was still silly o’clock. I carried on past them to WTW7 : Whose Leg Is It? for a quickish find and then backtracked to the chicken.🤔

With this series almost finished, I decided to go into East Tilbury for the WM multi. I chose a route  that would take enable me to find WTW3 and then parked up near to the magnificent War Memorial in Bata Town. This is dedicated to the Bata Shoe Company employees who died in WW2. The company made sure that it employed the wives of those away fighting also ensuring that food parcels and company newsletters made their way overseas too.

I solved the cunning multi and set of to the final stage for a quick find. You would never know that the nearby overgrown field was once a top notch sports ground that hosted World Cup football stars. Here’s what Harry Redknapp said in a recent interview.

“In my early days at West Ham, there was one game everyone wanted to play in. Obviously we dreamed of playing in the FA Cup final, a title decider, or in front of a packed Upton Park against Manchester United, Spurs or the like.

But what we were just as excited about was the pre-season match against a Essex Business Houses League team. The Bata Shoes factory team had beautiful pitches and played them in warm-up games every year … and got a pair of brown and black respectively.

Bobby Moore, Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, the lot, they all wanted to play because they knew we would get new shoes from it. Anyone who gets injured will say, “Look if you can get me a pair, Harry, and Size Nine, and hopefully slip-ons.” It was really big and was one of the biggest games of the year!”

After this trip down memory lane, it was back to business. I drove into Little Thurrock to the WW1  memorial to sort out the CM multi. I then dropped further down into Little Thurrock, a place that I had seldom visited. I was after a 4/2 trad In The Bog 2. This was a lipstick case hidden in a tree and hadn’t been found for ages. The nettles were head high but I got into the search area but no joy. In the blurb, the CO said that he was always available so I took a chance at eight o’clock on a Sunday morning. He came straight back and I had hoped for a hint but he said that he was going to disable it and look into it.🥴

I mad my way out of the nettles and picked up a few more trads in the area including the 1.5/2.5 The Drain. The time was getting on so Imdecided to call it a day and head home for breakfast.

4 Multi 12 Traditional  

#12785

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