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As you know I have been limbering up for a couple of 100+ days caching for some challenge caches. Over the lockdown period I have been working of some of the GeoArt series in West Cambridgeshire which I could use as the basis for these power days. However with the publication of the Essex & Herts Border super power trail of trads and the possibility of me getting an electric bike, I can just attack these GeoArt series as ordinary caching days.
One of these series was the It‘s Music To My Ears series of Unknowns starting in Knapwell. The series covers the whole spectrum of music, through Primitive, Mozart and even Bowie. I had solved most of the puzzles but many of those with musical notation caused me a brain block. So although I hadn’t solved the whole series, I was going to go with what I had.
So as the local cock started to crow, I parked up in the secluded car park of Knapwell Church. I found the well hidden CM trad and set off down the track to #1 of the series. I was off to a great start as I couldn’t find the cache. 🤔 I decided to leave it and give it a whirl later.
I set off down the path and found the multi LB Knapwell (2) and carried on making music picking up #3 to #6. The multi VS Boxworth came next and on the way into the village I gathered #7 to #9. When I reached the village centre I found the CM and VHs trads.
The tunes started again and I found #10, #11 missing (sounds like the Dentist😬) plus #12 to #18. I actually couldn’t find #16, which was a cache under a pile of stones on a track through a field. Whilst checking why, when writing this, I found that the CO had allowed subsequent non finders to claim the cache. So why shouldn’t I? I did check on other DNFs that day to see if something similar had happened.
I had reached the pretty village of Lolworth. I could see from the plaques on the village hall that it had won many Best Village in Cambridgeshire awards. There were four multis here , a CM, VS, VHs and a FP so I worked them all out before deciding my route. At the church, I found the unfortunate Dead End trad just inside the graveyard and then had a circular walk successfully collecting three of the multis. I found the other one later on the route.
I then had a run of seven “musics” until I reached the multi LB at Bar Hill. I worked out the coords for this and looked for it on route to one of the previous “musics” but no joy. I came back for another look, tramped around to the other side of the babbling brook, no joy, traversed said brook and there was the cache staring me in the face.🥴 How did I not spot in the first time.🤯
The band started playing again and I picked up another eight “musics” before I got to the trad CM Childerley Chapel. I had Knapwell Church in sight in the distance and picked up two more of the series before finding the trads, Childerley Haul (Cambs) and one of the Knapwell Navigation series.
I found #40 and #41 before finding the trad Childerley Pathfinder. #43 and #43 came next and these were the last of the “musics” that I had solved. On the way to the outskirts of the village, I added four more of the Knapwell Navigation series to the tally. The multi LB Knapwell took me on a path to the centre of the village and I made a bee-line for the church as I was tired and hungry.
After lunch, I wandered down to Music #1 but I couldn’t see it. 🙁 On checking back, I see that subsequent finders have had quick finds so gawd knows what I was doing wrong. To save my legs, I drove down to the centre of the village and parked in front of the BT van at the telephone box. To my amazement, this was a working (well, not exactly as it was being repaired) telephone box and not housing books or a defibrillator.
Now this have been could be tricky as I was after the multi FP here. Fortunately I didn’t need to get into the box but I would have to postpone the trad Call Me (Blondie) for another day. There was another multi here, the VS, so I worked out the coords for this too. I then set off to gather the pair of them. It was now time to put the baton away and head for home.
However, on the way, I stopped off at the U.S.A War Cemetery just before the M11 to try for the AdLab series. As I walked through the gateway into the cemetery, tears immediately came into my eyes. I was so moved by rows of gleaming white headstones. Behind me on the Wall of the Missing were carved over five thousand names listing those who had no graves. These included the bandleader Glenn Miller and Joe Kennedy who was being groomed as a future U.S. president. His brother John F took his place.
One of my film star heroes, James (Jimmy) Stewart, who could have dodged the draft, served over here as the pilot of a B24 Liberator. I wonder where he was based? I now see that he was based at RAF Old Buckenham in Norfolk. It is interesting that another Hollywood actor Walter Matthau served at the same station.
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