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Tuesday 6th June 2023
I set the alarm for silly o'clock and caught an early train into town. I took the Northern Line from Bank and alighted at Arsenal, formerly Gillespie Road tube station. I headed round to Gillespie Park to look for the Arsenal 816 trad, a rare Large cache in these parts. This was huge and contained a suitcase in a locked box. I did the paperwork at 0719 and put everything back in place. It has had a few visitors since me but now I read that the cache has been trashed and in danger of being archived.🥴
The 4/1.5 TUBE ST Arsenal was in the park so I set off to the search area only to find that I was at the wrong level.🤔 I worked my way down and set about looking for the cache. I could see from the previous logs that this one causes problems and I was no different. Over forty minutes, I peered at log photos trying to get a fix on the location. I narrowed down the spot but I just couldn't find the cache. It was a magnetic cache with no metal in sight.🥴 On about the tenth, just one last look, I found the fiendishly clever placement. I had earned this one.🤣
I started on the Wherigoon wherigo cache and tried to fit that in with the nearby AL series - Arsenal Stadium. I couldn't get started on the wherigo so retired to a nearby cafe for breakfast and to seek advice from the CO. I had tried almost every mathematic possibility except the one that the CO was after.🥴
I finished breakfast and set off back to the Clock End of the stadium and started off on the wherigo and AL series in tandem. There were a number of famous Arsenal players adorning the walls of the stadium. I was very pleased to see David Jack highlighted. Back in the 1920s, he was the first player to score at Wembley Stadium, the first player to be transferred for over £10,000, the first player to win FA Cup winners medals for two different teams but his main claim to fame was surely managing my team, Southend United between 1934 and 1940.🤣
I worked my way clockwise around the stadium finding all the info for the wherigo but I could'nt fathom base four of the AL series, Tony Adams so I gave up on the ALs at this point. I had gathered all the ifo for the wherigo so I set off for the final stage. I could see that the cache had been compromised as the lid was off and the log was missing. I contacted the CO who agreed that I was in the right place. So I put a new log sheet in, replaced the lid and claimed the cache.
On the way back to the Tube, I found the Goal! - Arsenal trad and then hit the Northern Line going north. I realised that I had missed the ST TUBE - Turnpike Lane mystery but lost signal before I could check it out. Alighting here, I remembered that I couldn't understand the puzzle so had ignored this one.🥴 I jumped a bus up to Wood Green and walked up to the ST TUBE mystery here. I was pleased to see that the former Eastern National bus garage was still there but now in London Transport livery. I found the cache and continued up the High Road to the 2.5/1 Wood Green Drinking Fountain EC. I gathered some info at the trough and fountain plus some more back down the road at St Michael's church. Alas there wasn't a CM here.🥴
I got on a bus going up to Bounds Green and found the easy ST TUBE trad and then dropped down to the multi at ST - Bowes Park. I continued walking south until I reached Finsbury Gardens to look for The Hidden River letterbox here. The spot on coords and hint made this an easy find. It was a bit of a trek down to the next cache as I couldn't find a bus route. Still the RST - Alexandra Palace Gates multi made it all worthwhile. The nearby Ally pally railway trad was tricky to get to but I had the right tool in the bag. Just down the road was the ST - Alexandra Palace mystery which was very near a bus route.
The first bus took me back to Turnpike Lane bus station. I enquired at the Information Booth where the nice lady told me which bus would take me to Crouch End. By the way, from when I reached London this morning, all this was previously uncharted territory for me.🤔 I got off the bus opposite the former railway station but unfortunately this wasn't an ST. There was a mystery here though.😀 I had solved Crouch End railway station previously but wasn't prepared for the field puzzle at this very well hidden custom locked box. I quickly sussed the code though and was soon signing the log sheet. On the way back along the disused line, I also wasn't prepared for the devil jumping out of the wall.😱
There was an italian cafe back on the road and it turned out that this was formerly the station buffet. Now a grade two listed building, it did a splendid coffee and a fantastic frittata which served as lunch.😀 After I was finished, I set off on a fruitless walk up Shepherd's Hill to fail to find the Shepherd's Algebra mystery. I carried on towards Highgate where I eventally found the ST - Highgate underground station trad. I tried to sort out the RST - Highgate (Northern Heights) mystery and got some coords which took me into Highgate Woods. Looking at previous photos, I could see that I was in the right place. Unfortunately there was a chap sitting on a log reading a book so I decided to exit stage left. Forturnately, I didn't see any of the rats frequently reported in the logs.👏
Time was getting on, so I decided to head back to the tube. I travelled south but alighted at Old Street to see if I could round off the day with the 2D or not 2D, that is the question mystery. I quickly found this one and set off for Fenchurch Street. This is when the transport network shuddered to a halt but I won't bore you with those problems.🤔
1 Earthcache 1 Wherigo 2 Letterbox 2 Multi 3 AdLab 4 Mystery 5 Traditional
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