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There are still so many caches left in Colchester to find! I set out a plan to walk around Lexden picking up as many as I could. The plan included a ST, a VS and very hopefully a 4/5 tree climb!
I started off with a gentle trad at Colchester's Divine supermarket before driving down the Lexden Road to walk around part of the Gathering Grounds reserve for the first three of the series. I then moved across to the other part with was woodland and picking up the rest. On the last one, I got confused, seeing gravel as grave. The trouble was that I found part of a memorial stone which confused me even more.
In these woods was a high rating cache called VERTIGO, a 4/5 which would fill a nice gap in my D/T grid. It was difficult but I achieved it. They said that you shouldn't tackle it alone but I got on with it. I'd rather leave this mortal coil by falling out of a tree than wasting away in a bed!
I then picked up a VS after waiting for the mayor to complete a photo shoot. It was just a short walk to the car where I set off for another two trad, Lessendon and the Lexden Tumulus. Both were quick finds but the tumulus deserved some viewing time.
My next port of call was a small series of caches called the CM Farm trail. However, I spotted an odd post box on the way and stopped the car. It turned out to be an E8R box produced briefly in 1937. It was the first E8R box that I'd ever seen.
The Farm Trail was a great walk over the meadows. I found 6 of the 7 in the series and added a multi, a few more trads then deviating off to find the SideTracked cache at Colchester Station. This was a cunning cache, so cunning that it some way away from where it should have been.
After that it was back to the car for a late lunch and planning what was next. It turned out to be a short walk through woods in Braiswick which I know is an Essex Wildlife Trust reserve but I can't recall the name. I worked out a multi based on an area called Keepers Green but decided to leave the cache for another day.
I had to get some shopping on the way home so went to the big Sainsbury's in Stanway. I knew that I could get all my wants there plus there was an elusive cache nearby! At the cache, I looked in many places and decoded that it could only be in one place. So I prised out the plastic end and there it was, complete with a weapons grade magnet that I could just about prise away from the steel frame. Good job I don't have a pacemaker as the magnet would have done it some damage.
Another great day, 27 caches including the 4/5 tree climb, some multis, a ST, and decent weather. what more could you want? More caches and no DNFs!