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A couple of blogs ago, I alluded to a plan to give Ashford a miss for a while and find another Wherigo rich area. I saw that There were a few around Paddock Wood and Tonbridge so I drafted a rough bag of caches.
I started off in Mereworth, hoping to get the CM multi. I haven’t mentioned before that I have had my eye on CM131 (Bonus) in Leigh (the Kent one) for some time now. It’s a Mystery but it needs a number from ten other CMs to get the coords. I have been making plans for this one for a while. However some of the caches are disabled.🤔 Unfortunately this multi was very confusing needing dates for names but there were multiple names. I sort of got some coords but it was at a bus shelter filled with school bound kids so it became a non starter as did my plans for CM131. I made do with two Letterbox caches, one at the VS and then Letterbox Mereworth.
I drove back down the Mereworth Road to the outskirts of West Peckham. I was about to start on the West Peckham Wander, a series of trads and letterboxes stretching about a mile, allegedly up to the A26 and back again.
I made good progress up to #3 and took a break at the Kent Oast Houses #22 multi. Near to the Oast House was a cottage which a nice selection of agricultural implements in the front garden. I had to make way for a chap making a delivery.🤫
I crossed the busy A26 to collect a couple of caches from the GSW Yalding to West Peckham series along the pedestrianised Old Church Road. Having safely made it back across the Maidstone Road, I carried on with the Wander, picking up the elusive #4 Letterbox and then the Oast House multi.
The #5 was an easy find but my luck ran out at #6 multi, the final one of the series. I just couldn’t find the thing so moved on and back to the car. I picked up another letterbox from the GSW Yalding to West Peckham series on my way into the village.
Now there was a dust cart operating on the one road in and out of the village so I parked the car and set. Now how the locals haven’t complained about the dustmen effing and blinding all the time I do not know, and there’s a school nearby too.🥴
I worked out the coords to yet another Letterbox at the CM and saved it for later. I walked down to the Kent Oast Houses #21 multi and worked out the coords for this one too. I could only see a round the houses footpath route down to this one but once I got to the final stage, I couldn’t get close to the cache. I realised that there must be another path on the other side of the bank of hedge so climbed over a locked farm gate hoping that I wouldn’t get seen. Once I was on the other side, I saw a notice board showing that there was a bridleway through the estate.🤔
I quickly located the cache and followed the path. Lo and behold it brought me back to the Oast House. I thought that this was a private road to the farm and there wasn’t a sign for a bridleway or footpath.🥴 All I had to do now was walk back to the car and go and collect the CM cache, which I did.😀
I was after some more of the COE series now. I had spotted a trio of caches just off the A26 so I drove down and found a very handy lay-by. I soon collected the couple of Letterbox caches and the trad and headed back to the car. There was a BMW in the lay-by sans a front wheel. I hope that owner gets it repaired swiftly otherwise it will start to get stripped.🤫
There was another COE cache down the road, #157, a 4.5/2.5 mystery based on pop history. I was pleased to have solved this one last night and the find was easier than the puzzle. Moving on, I found the Frogs II Wherigo on the way into Paddock and then the Kent 2015 Mega Crossroad mystery. I didn’t solve all of the crossword, just enough to get me the coords.🙂
I pulled into Paddock Wood and spotted a supermarket with two hours free parking.😀 I started on the Paddock Wood Stroll AdLab series and had a decent walk around town. I stopped for lunch in the Costa that I encountered on my travels and after that continued on. I passed the 21 Character Challenge Cache, a 3.5/1, on the way and collected that too. Soon I had enough info for the bonus cache which again was a quick find.
There was a Wherigo in town, Paddock Wood Perambulation and I just had to try for that one. 😀 I found myself walking on part of the AdLab route but I covered all the bases and was very pleased to add another Wherigo to the tally and get closer to my century target.
It was time to leave town. I am reminded of an incident in Benidorm about fifty years ago when a mate suggested that we leave town. Alledgedly, he had run a road block (and other things) out near Fuente del Algar and he thought that La Garda were after him. It did become a bit of a squeaky bottom time at the border though. 🥴 However, today was an orderly exit but only to the outskirts of town.
I wanted to pick up a couple more of the Kent 2015 Mega series. I could only drive so far though so parked up and walked down the track to the #16 multi and the recently DNFed #15 Letterbox. Luckily the latter had only been covered by some animal excavations.😀
I had to start considering the time now as I had the weekday traffic t the tunnel to contend with. However there was one cache that I had to find today and on the way to it, I found yet another Letterbox ~ Letterbox Hadlow.
Now I have been working on the 5/2 The Ton Challenge Cache for some time now. The qualifying stats are to find any six of the following seven “tons” - earthcaches, letterboxes, multis, trads, mysteries, events and wherigos. I have five and at present have 99 events. So while I was nearby, it would be silly not to find it and write a note. The cache was quickly located so I could go home reasonably happy.😀
2 Traditional 2 Wherigo 4 Mystery 5 AdLab 5 Multi 13 Letterbox
#13868