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Thursday 29th June 2023
I wanted to carry on where I intended to go last week after the rain caused me to alter my plans drastically. Here's how the day went.
I was up early again! I made my way into London and then used the tube to get up to Finchley Central on the Northern line. Right outside the door was the ST - Finchley Central multi and once I had found the right info source, I plugged the coords into the app for later. I was interested in the AL series here - The Hidden History of Finchely Central (Church End) so I set off on the long walk up to Harry Beck's house. Harry designed the London Underground map in 1933. I had to pass the Where Lovers Walk trad so I added that one to the basket.
I had to walk a long way back to get to the multi and this took me about twenty minutes to find.🥴 It was in what was probably Old Man's Beard foliage and the overnight rain only worsened the experience. But find it I did 😀 and then I crossed over the bridge over the tube line. I turned back into the centre and down to another base of the AL series. The subject was an Edward VIII cipher.
I walked down to St Mary's church for the CM multi which I quickly worked out. At this point, I realised that I had walked away from the third base of the AL series so I decided to abandon it. 🤔 I had solved the CM... Finchley ~ St Phillip mystery in anticipation of today's visit and the quick find of this one gave me the mystery that I needed for the day.😀 As I walked towards the nearby bus stop, I exchanged pleasantries with a rabbi standing outside a Jewish School.
The bus took me down the Finchley Road and I alighted at the Hoop Lane Cemetery. It was a short walk up the road to the 1/1 Meadway Gate trad. There had been a few DNFs recently but I had a quick find here.🤔 I was in the neighbourhood because there were two CMs. It was an easy find at the Hampstead ~ St Jude trad so I headed off to the multi at the Hampstead ~ Free Church multi which was swiftly sorted. I needed to get down to Hampstead Heath and realised that it would be quickest to walk it. Luckily my route took me past the Setting Boundaries trad.
I had never set foot on Hampstead Heath before.😀 I was after the 2/2 trad Seven Sisters Ponds ~ Hampstead Heath trad and I was expecting a problem which didn't materialise. I followed the paths and ended up at the exotically named Upper Weild Pightle - HH trad. This was another quick find so I left the shelter of the heath and stepped it out up hill to the RST North End (Bull & Bush) multi. I quickly sorted out the cache but was intrigued to discover that the station was never built. It is termed a ghost station. This was very interesting to me as I'm looking for an excuse for putting a cache at the site of a station near me that was planned and partially built but abandoned for somewhere else.😀😀
I was at North End and I wanted to get down to Hampstead Station. I jumped a bus and ended up going in a different direction to the one I wanted.🤬 I jumped off at The Spaniards Inn, another supposed haunt of the legendary highwayman Dick Turpin. I have visited the cell in York Castle where he awaited exection so I have been closer to somewhere where he actually was than most.🤣 There was a trad nearby that I hadn't expected to look for and the aptly named STAND & DELIVER ! was soon added to the list.
I made my way back towards Hampstead, changing buses at Whitestone Pond. I got off the next bus at the station and set about the Historic Hampstead multi. It was at this point, I realised that there were a few places to visit back near the Pond so I abandoned this one. Just down the road was the tricky AFP ~ Hampstead multi. I worked out the final destination but broke off for lunch in the nearby Cafe Nero.😀
The coffee and cake hit the spot so I then snaffled up the multi and headed off towards the Parliament Hill virtual. This became a route march but I eventually reached the fabulous view shown in the main photo.😀 The info to claim the virtual was swiftly spotted so I sat and enjoyed the view, recharging my body's battery for a while.😀
I dropped down the hill and made my way down to Gospel Oak Station for the ST multi. Once this was in the bag, I started to plan how to get over to Swiss Cottage. Luckily I found that a bus from here made the journey so I jumped it and about ten minutes later I got off. The ST ~ Swiss Cottage mystery was soon located and I decided to go for the nearby Photosynthesis trad. This turned out to be a plastic red rose in a communal garden and it didn't take long to spot.😀
On checking the time, I found that it was 1430 so I'd better think about winding up the day. I jumped yet another bus, good job, I have a seniors bus pass 🤣 and headed back up the Finchley Road to the 1/1 ST ~ Finchley Road & Frognal trad. Despite the D/T, the CO has had to put explicit instructions for finders due to poor GPS conditions. I quickly found the cache but it wasn't as per the hint but I put it back where I found it just in case. I walked back down the Finchley Road for the ST multi. I worked out the coords and headed off to the final stage. Unfortunately the cache was missing with a string of other loggers since to prove.😀🤔
1 Virtual 2 AdLab 2 Mystery 6 Multi 9 Traditional
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