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I’m heading back to Danson Park this morning hoping to clear a few more from the wants list. However, I had a mission to complete before I got to the park. I had solved the Black Prince mystery a couple of years ago and as it was sorta on the way, I decided to go for it, especially as a mystery today would help with a challenge.
The cache was down an embankment off the A2 but it was a bit of a convoluted route to get there. I parked up at the designated parking spot (where I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the dark) just before dawn and set off. This was nowhere near the Black Prince pub where I had seen Slade perform once.
I found the well hidden cache and retraced my steps. Now there was another cache on the way back that I would have to look at and that was the 3/4 out on a limb trad. The D/T would be very useful but was it dangerous? Imagine two parallel, thick horizontal branches with the lower one perhaps twelve feet off the ground from the base of the tree but over a steep slope.🤔
Anyway, I had to go for it and got up and out to the cache. It was a bit of a stretch to reach it and sign the log which was not helped by the sudden gusts of wind that were conjured up. It was a bit hairy for a few seconds but I made it down in the one piece.👏
So the next stop was Danson Park. I was most keen to look for the 4.5/2 WM - Danson Park trad. This memorial was set in a corpse of oak trees and placed by the Far East Prisoner of War Association (London).
“These oak trees are dedicated to the memory of all those who died fighting against Japan and of our comrades who died as a result of their captivity in the Japanese prison camps.“
My dad’s uncle John died in one of these camps so this memorial had a special meaning for me. Many of us are aware of how these poor souls suffered and some of the inscriptions on the Remembrance Day wreaths pulled no punches regarding their treatment.
I spent some time here contemplating before moving on to look for the cache. I had no luck but perhaps my head wasn’t in the right place. I walked on to the DP - this little piggy went to market trad where I had a quick find. I had to go back past the memorial and as I did, I quickly spotted the fiendishly placed cache.
I had done some groundwork for the 4.5/4 DP - Lake view and clamber multi so I carried on collecting information until I had some coords. I had to leave the park to get to the final stage and when I got there, I soon spotted the cache dangling up a tall tree. I knew that I could get to it and I did.🤫
I had realised that I had passed the DP - Lake View Letterbox when gathering the info for the previous cache so I walked back down to collect this one. As I was signing the log sheet, I noticed a pai of Egyptian Geese paddling nearby. I set off for the DP - View to Danson House and soon spotted the 2/2 trad.
I was going to try for one more cache before heading back to the car and that was the 1/4 DP - Clamber trad. This climb was the easiest of today’s trio so I’m not doing bad, am I? Suddenly, I have another musical memory, one of Nick Lowe’s albums - At My Age? 😀😀
There was a multi at the St John the Evangelist Church on the way out of the park but the church grounds were always closed when I had visited previously. This time it was open and I quickly gathered the info so I could find the WM - Welling another time.
1 Letterbox 1 Multi 1 Mystery 5 Traditional
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