Orbiting Orwell

After my numbers took a beating in September, recording my lowest monthly total since I started this hobby, I need to get back on track sharpish. I looked for a decent circular walk and came up with the Orwell Orbit not that far from the M11 near Cambridge.

I started off early and had breakfast just after dawn in a cafe at Wimpole and then found my first cache of the day, the mystery Congratulations fordyceteam. On my way into Orwell, I found another mystery Congratulations Lorri-Ann & Kev.

I parked up in Orwell and collected the 2 trad CMs and a multi VS before climbing on a footpath out of the village up to the Clunch Pit where I gathered the information to claim the Earthcache. I now started on the Orbit, a circular walk of 51 trads just over 8 miles in distance.

I travelled along tracks, bridleways and footpaths crossing a couple of roads. I found all of the Orbit caches up to Harlton, collecting a couple more of the Congratulations mysteries and then the multi VS and CM in the village. Something strange happened in Harlton when the postman stopped his van and asked me where the nearest post box was!!🤔 I supposed the expression on my face was the same as the gargoyle’s in the nearby church.

I carried on to #28 and then broke the series to look for a linear line of 6 trads leading up to the Trigtastic on Chapel Hill. I then retraced my steps back to #29, breaking off again at #31 for the trads, A Great View, Another Great View and the letterbox Little Bridges Barrington (3).

After walking half a mile to get back on track, I found everything up to #43 and the mystery Little Bridges Barrington (4) before having my first and only DNF of the day at #44. The hint couldn’t have been clearer but I’m sure the cache is gone.🙁 Despite this setback, I completed the series adding the trad Little Bridges Orwell to the tally. There was one more cache in town that I was after and that was the multi FYI Orwell Clunch Pit. I hadn’t come across the FYI series before but it’s based on notice boards. The final to the clever cache took me back to the Clunch Pit where I’d been earlier.🤔

After some lunch in the car, I spent the rest of the afternoon with a few drive-bys taking some more Congratulations mysteries, some CMs, a VS, a few isolated trads and finishes off in Barton with a almost full set of VS, VHS and 2 CMs. It would have a full set if there had been a ST cache. I even collected one of the Mickey’s Mystery Tour caches that had been replaced.😀

1 Earthcache 1 Letterbox 4 Multi 9 Mystery 70 Traditional

#10224

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