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I’m still trying to get to 100 Wherigos found and as usual, I‘m casting my over the Kentish town of Ashford which to me is Wherigo City, thanks to the efforts of local cacher mankybadger. In between Challock and Ashford, in Kings Woods, managed by the Forestry Commission, I noticed a series of 46 mystery caches which had four Wherigo caches attached to it. This looked right up my street. I solved all the mysteries and selected the day to go.
The only problem was the weather.🤔 The Met Office had issued a Weather Warning for Kent of heavy rain and high winds. I scanned the forecasts and noted that the main storm would have passed through by 07:00. This wasn’t a problem because dawn was thirty minutes later.😀 There looked to be a worrying rain cloud appearing about one but it looked as if Kings Wood would be on the outer edge.
I reckoned I could get away with it so set off at 06:20. However, the storm slowed everything down although it was going away from me towards the channel. I didn’t get to the designated car park for Kings Wood until 0830 but at least it wasn’t raining.😀 I reckoned that wellies would be a necessity but decided to leave my cagoule behind.
There were two wherigos to be sorted out in the car park which I did. I set off, estimating four hours for the walk, and started picking up the caches. The paths were excellent as they were also used by the Forestry vehicles. Most of the hints were “base of tree” or “have a root around” so fairly straightforward but I could see that there could be a problem with leaves. The Forest was made up of conifers and hornbeam and we were in autumn.🥴
I came unstuck at #5 and after twenty minutes of leaf turning, I moved on. The cache was supposedly hidden under bark but I couldn’t find any. I made good progress up to #31 and then there were two trads before #32. I quickly found Kings Wood Wander #8 and then started looking for the golden oldie Kings Crater. I soon found this well hidden cache which had been hiding since June 2005.
I found #32 but had no joy at #33 but I am sure that this is MIA or even hidden in action. It was in a coniferous area and there was a huge pile of chippings next to the tree. I took a slight detour to look for the Kings Wood - Groundhog Day wherigo. This was a quick find but I was joined by an inquisitive hound out for its morning constitutional.😀
I trudged back up the hill collecting the caches up to #37. It was here that I would be in the starting zone for the next two Wherigo caches. I had one that I had solved earlier to find first and Kings Wood - Rock Scissors Paper was a quick find. I timed this one as 12:51 and almost on time the heavens opened and the rain dropped in buckets.
I sheltered for a while but decided that I had to move. I had made the fundamental mistake of leaving food and water in the car as I didn’t think that I would be this long.🤫 I made a start on the two wherigo, Kings Wood - Conundrum and Kings Wood - The GeoDooDah. As soon as I opened the latter, I got a projection of 1275.36862930 metres so I put that one on hold.
The Conundrum was a real conundrum. I had to move a Tiger, a pint of beer and a Random Geocacher about 30 metres to another point. However both points were under shelter but I have to go out into the torrential rain to get to both points. So back and forth I went getting messages that the Tiger has ate the Geocacher or the Geocache has drunk the beer so go to the Tardis and go back five minutes in time and start again.
I was getting wet and fed up,so decided to use the shelter of the coniferous forest to continue the mysteries. Then the rain stopped so I went back to the Conundrum. I thought that I had worked out the sequence so I reloaded the cartridge and started again. I reckoned that moving the beer first would be the best move so I did and got a message that the Geocacher has drunk the beer and go to the Tardis.🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 Then the heavens opened again and I said enough is enough.🥴
Using the tree cover, I worked my way down to #42 where I was beaten by the accumulation of leaves. Thankfully the rain stopped and I was able to get out onto the Forestry track. I was getting closer to The GeoDooDah and when I was signing the log for #44, I checked distance again and the coords popped up on the screen.😀
However by this time I was feeling pretty knackered and whether it was tiredness or lack of food, I didn’t know and I thought that going for the GeoDooDah would be a few too many steps too far. I had to turn off of the track down a muddy footpath but I got to #46 👏👏 and made my way back to the carpark.
However after some food and water, I felt a lot better so decided to try for the Wherigo. It was on the track leading from the car park so I trudged up there to collect my 72nd Wherigo.😀
Now it was time to head for home.A quick check of traffic showed a 30 minute delay at the tunnel due to a lorry breaking down in the Eastern bore. Oh, Happy Days 🎶 🎶 🎶
2 Traditional 3 Wherigo 43 Mystery
#13729