The Bells of Belbroughton - GC1Z9KQ
And so we returned to where we began, and back to the cache that we'd first been looking for.
This time I found it straight away, in a 35mm film container-sized holder, hanging behind a tree at the corner of the field.
So, with 11 new finds to our name, we called it a day well spent. As an extra bonus for Niknik, our route home took us past the Church Avenue cache on the Bromsgrove Feeder loop, so we stopped so she could make it 12 finds in two-and-a-half hours.
Showing posts with label Found it. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Found it. Show all posts
Saturday, 10 October 2009
And now, the end is near
Out In The Fields - GC1Z9NV
Theoretically this was the last cache, but we still had to go back and find the first one!
As we entered the field containing ground zero, we could see a couple of people peering into the hedge in the distance - in the direction that our GPSr was pointing. We'd found our second hunters of the day - gibbon22.
We followed the public footpath signs, but these lead us to the wrong side of the hedge for the cache, so Dr Cath and Niknik bravely crawled through the hedge to get to the cache, which was hidden under a suspicious plank of wood!
Theoretically this was the last cache, but we still had to go back and find the first one!
As we entered the field containing ground zero, we could see a couple of people peering into the hedge in the distance - in the direction that our GPSr was pointing. We'd found our second hunters of the day - gibbon22.
We followed the public footpath signs, but these lead us to the wrong side of the hedge for the cache, so Dr Cath and Niknik bravely crawled through the hedge to get to the cache, which was hidden under a suspicious plank of wood!
I *heart* caches
Baz and Tina Love Cache No2 - GC1M356
Taking a break from the Bimble for a moment, this cache is just a 100 yard deviation from the route, so it had to be done.
The cache descriptions suggests gloves to gain easy access - and we had a pair with us - but Dr Cath elected not to use them to get at the log in the hedge that the cache was hidden in.
"Ow. OW!"
Perhaps the gloves would have been a good idea after all?
We took the Dark Side Of The Moon geocoin, and left one of the wooden "Art of Geocaching" tokens.
Taking a break from the Bimble for a moment, this cache is just a 100 yard deviation from the route, so it had to be done.
The cache descriptions suggests gloves to gain easy access - and we had a pair with us - but Dr Cath elected not to use them to get at the log in the hedge that the cache was hidden in.
"Ow. OW!"
Perhaps the gloves would have been a good idea after all?
We took the Dark Side Of The Moon geocoin, and left one of the wooden "Art of Geocaching" tokens.
We don't need no education
All In All, Its Just Another..... - GC1Z9NE
This was another excellent - and easy to find - hide. As the path splits into four directions, there's a brick pillar - probably part of an original wall - lurking on the right. On top of this was another brick. This had been partly chiselled out, and the cache was hidden inside it.
This was another excellent - and easy to find - hide. As the path splits into four directions, there's a brick pillar - probably part of an original wall - lurking on the right. On top of this was another brick. This had been partly chiselled out, and the cache was hidden inside it.
Nay
Horsing Around - GC1Z9NA
After finding the previous cache we were passed by our first horse of the day. After finding this one - which is just off the bridleway next to a field with a couple of horses in it - we were passed by another.
This one was located by Niknik, hidden below a holly-covered tree root.
After finding the previous cache we were passed by our first horse of the day. After finding this one - which is just off the bridleway next to a field with a couple of horses in it - we were passed by another.
This one was located by Niknik, hidden below a holly-covered tree root.
Just let your feet go...
Clippety Clop - GC1Z9N2
Another very simple on, hidden at the base of a post to the right of the bridleway, found pretty much instantly by Niknik.
Another very simple on, hidden at the base of a post to the right of the bridleway, found pretty much instantly by Niknik.
I can see the hill from here
Walton View - GC1Z9MF
This was the best hide of the day. At ground zero there are four new metal gates, and we knew from the clue that the cache was hidden on or near one of them, and was a micro.
There was a suspicious pile of wood next to the first gate on the left, but we had no luck in that. Because the gates were metal, we checked for magnetic holders, but no joy.
Dr Cath had noticed there was a hole in the top-outide frame of each gate, and had checked inside each one to see if there was anything obvious. There wasn't, but when I re-checked the first gate on the right, I noticed a very thin metal cord tied around the top hinge leading into this hole. Lo and behold, pulling this up lead to us finding the cache - a bison on the end of the cord. Cracking!
This was the best hide of the day. At ground zero there are four new metal gates, and we knew from the clue that the cache was hidden on or near one of them, and was a micro.
There was a suspicious pile of wood next to the first gate on the left, but we had no luck in that. Because the gates were metal, we checked for magnetic holders, but no joy.
Dr Cath had noticed there was a hole in the top-outide frame of each gate, and had checked inside each one to see if there was anything obvious. There wasn't, but when I re-checked the first gate on the right, I noticed a very thin metal cord tied around the top hinge leading into this hole. Lo and behold, pulling this up lead to us finding the cache - a bison on the end of the cord. Cracking!
We're cracking up
Crazy Paving - GC1Z9ME
Another simple one spotted by both Dr Cath and Niknik. At ground zero there was a suspicious-looking hollow in the right-hand hedge, and the cache was within. It was looking a little empty, so we left a golf tee and a Frankenstein sticker.
Just as we were about to leave, a fellow hunter appeared - Stokesy. He logged his find, and then we let him and his cachehound pass us; he was clearly a cache-and-dash kind of fellow!
Another simple one spotted by both Dr Cath and Niknik. At ground zero there was a suspicious-looking hollow in the right-hand hedge, and the cache was within. It was looking a little empty, so we left a golf tee and a Frankenstein sticker.
Just as we were about to leave, a fellow hunter appeared - Stokesy. He logged his find, and then we let him and his cachehound pass us; he was clearly a cache-and-dash kind of fellow!
Where's my honey?
Pooh Sticks - GC1Z9M1
Another easy one, this was hidden at chest height in the cleft of a tree - and the tree in question was the first one I looked at.
We took another wooden "Art of Geocaching" token, and left a "Mystery Machine" sticker.
Another easy one, this was hidden at chest height in the cleft of a tree - and the tree in question was the first one I looked at.
We took another wooden "Art of Geocaching" token, and left a "Mystery Machine" sticker.
Ding dong merrily
This weekend we were visited by good friend and fellow box hunter Niknik, so we decided to spend a day searching for more. Conveniently enough, yesterday evening my weekly Geocaching.com update email arrived - informing me that there had recently been a new loop of 10 boxes on a three mile walk around the nearby village of Belbroughton, called the Belbroughton Bimble 2 or BB2 for short. This seemed like an excellent idea, especially as a very nearby cache that is part of a different circuit meant we could collect 11 caches in one go.
We parked near to the church in Belbroughton, and were soon at the location of the first cache. However, a two groups of muggles decided to stop for a chat about 10 yards away, so we were forced to abandon our search - we would come back and find part 1 at the end. So, we headed off to start at part 2...
Was That You?? - GC1Z9KX
This was a very straightforward find by Niknik at the base of the left-hand post of a stile - a stile that was now disused because you could walk right round it!
We left our Templar Geocoin, and took a wooden token advertising the "Art of Geocaching" event.
We parked near to the church in Belbroughton, and were soon at the location of the first cache. However, a two groups of muggles decided to stop for a chat about 10 yards away, so we were forced to abandon our search - we would come back and find part 1 at the end. So, we headed off to start at part 2...
Was That You?? - GC1Z9KX
This was a very straightforward find by Niknik at the base of the left-hand post of a stile - a stile that was now disused because you could walk right round it!
We left our Templar Geocoin, and took a wooden token advertising the "Art of Geocaching" event.
Saturday, 12 September 2009
A pat on the head
Smelly Cows - GC1GC8Q
This was the last cache we had a chance to find today - light was fading fast and we didn't think we'd safely negotiate fields and paths we'd never been to before in the dark.
The cache info warned about cows in the field, but these were nowhere in sight today. The cache was hidden about 10 yards after the stile into the field, against the right-hand fence, and it was hidden in a fake plastic cow pat! A fantastic box to find to end our day of hunting.
This was the last cache we had a chance to find today - light was fading fast and we didn't think we'd safely negotiate fields and paths we'd never been to before in the dark.
The cache info warned about cows in the field, but these were nowhere in sight today. The cache was hidden about 10 yards after the stile into the field, against the right-hand fence, and it was hidden in a fake plastic cow pat! A fantastic box to find to end our day of hunting.
A sign of the times
Sign Up @ Astwood Locks - GC1GC8M
This cache is part of both the Pipershill and the Worcester-Birmingham Canal series, because it's a magnetic nano on the Astwood Locks sign just at the side of the towpath.
This cache is part of both the Pipershill and the Worcester-Birmingham Canal series, because it's a magnetic nano on the Astwood Locks sign just at the side of the towpath.
Under the bridge
Bridge the Gap - GC1GC7X
This was really easy - there was a metal bridge at ground zero, and a large plastic container was soon located underneath it.
This was really easy - there was a metal bridge at ground zero, and a large plastic container was soon located underneath it.
Electric...
Avenue - GC1GC7A
Because we'd deviated from the main Pipershill route for the previous find, it took a bit of working out with regard to where to go to get to a footpath that would lead to this cache. In the end, we probably took a slightly longer route than we should have, but were soon entering National Trust land, where we found the tree-lined avenue easily enough.
We also found the tree stump containing the cache easily, but the cache itself was very well hidden and took a lot of searching - in fact, this is probably where we lost the time that would mean this series would not be completed today.
Because we'd deviated from the main Pipershill route for the previous find, it took a bit of working out with regard to where to go to get to a footpath that would lead to this cache. In the end, we probably took a slightly longer route than we should have, but were soon entering National Trust land, where we found the tree-lined avenue easily enough.
We also found the tree stump containing the cache easily, but the cache itself was very well hidden and took a lot of searching - in fact, this is probably where we lost the time that would mean this series would not be completed today.
Mushroom, mushroom!
Badger Hill - GC4A62
There were muggles on the benches at Hanbury Churchyard, so we had to be a little stealthy and stay on the main footpath until we dropped down the hill and out of sight of them. The field you have to go through is very deep in bramble and thistle, so it's just as well neither of us were wearing shorts.
After a short search we found the cache, at the foot of a large tree. We took a Geocaching Logo tag and left a rubber surfer tag.
There were muggles on the benches at Hanbury Churchyard, so we had to be a little stealthy and stay on the main footpath until we dropped down the hill and out of sight of them. The field you have to go through is very deep in bramble and thistle, so it's just as well neither of us were wearing shorts.
After a short search we found the cache, at the foot of a large tree. We took a Geocaching Logo tag and left a rubber surfer tag.
There were bells on the hill
Hanbury Church - GC1GC6W
Working out exactly which way to walk from the car park through the woods was tricky, but some inspired guesswork lead us to the correct path. This was a simple find by a gate that separated the farm access road from a field with a public footpath in it, and it's also a waypoint on the "Badger Tree" cache route. Although this cache isn't part of the Pipershill series, it's en-route so we decided to hunt for it next.
Working out exactly which way to walk from the car park through the woods was tricky, but some inspired guesswork lead us to the correct path. This was a simple find by a gate that separated the farm access road from a field with a public footpath in it, and it's also a waypoint on the "Badger Tree" cache route. Although this cache isn't part of the Pipershill series, it's en-route so we decided to hunt for it next.
Who pays the Pipershill?
After a morning and afternoon of serious decorating, we decided to do some box hunting. We chose a five-mile circuit called the Pipershill Series, but should have perhaps realised that we'd struggle to do the whole thing in one go because it was 5:30pm before we started!
No Gratuities - GC1GC6M
We drove to the car park mentioned in the cache info, and were intrigued to note that the first cache was at pretty much the exact same location. In fact, it was a magnetic nano clamped to to bottom of the metal car park information board, and the largest sign on said board was "NO TIPPING", hence the cache name.
No Gratuities - GC1GC6M
We drove to the car park mentioned in the cache info, and were intrigued to note that the first cache was at pretty much the exact same location. In fact, it was a magnetic nano clamped to to bottom of the metal car park information board, and the largest sign on said board was "NO TIPPING", hence the cache name.
Thursday, 10 September 2009
Up hill, down hill, up hill...
Rednal Hill - GCRDMN
What happens when your GPSr plays silly beggers? You get to walk up a steep hill, walk straight past ground zero, walk down a steep hill, then turn 'round and walk back up it again - and then you find the cache and have to walk back down the hill to get to your car!
That's what happened here. No knowing where to park, we drove into Eachway Lane and spotted a layby on the left with a path leading up the hill away from it. The path seemed to be leading towards where the GPSr was indicating, so off we went.
After climbing the hill, we were walking along a path when we spotted a man and a young girl ahead of us. Suddenly, we heard a rustling in the undergrowth to our left, and a dog emerged! It then decided that it wanted to walk back the way we'd just come, which would have been fine if it hadn't belonged to the bloke who was up the path ahead of us! He turned around, and I noticed that he had a blue GPSr hanging 'round his neck. Was he a fellow box hunter?
We carried on for about a third of a mile, and our GPSr couldn't make up its mind where to send us. Evenutally, we went down a very steep hill, until we could see the Old Birmingham Road to our left and Lickey Hills Golf Club to our right. A quick look at the map and we could see were were in completely the wrong place! Dr Cath reprogrammed the GPSr, and it changed its mind again and pointed back in the direction of the car along another path - a path that steadily climbed the same hill we'd just walked down.
At the top of this part of the hill, we realised that we were at the point at which the bloke and girl had been when they realised that their dog was going the wrong way. Following the GPSr, we ended up retracing our own steps, until it pointed us away from the main track... straight towards the holly bush that we'd earlier seen the dog emerge from. And there, underneath the bush, was the cache - and yes, it had been found by someone else that day.
We were right, we'd kind-of met our second fellow hunter - Novalew. Hello there!
What happens when your GPSr plays silly beggers? You get to walk up a steep hill, walk straight past ground zero, walk down a steep hill, then turn 'round and walk back up it again - and then you find the cache and have to walk back down the hill to get to your car!
That's what happened here. No knowing where to park, we drove into Eachway Lane and spotted a layby on the left with a path leading up the hill away from it. The path seemed to be leading towards where the GPSr was indicating, so off we went.
After climbing the hill, we were walking along a path when we spotted a man and a young girl ahead of us. Suddenly, we heard a rustling in the undergrowth to our left, and a dog emerged! It then decided that it wanted to walk back the way we'd just come, which would have been fine if it hadn't belonged to the bloke who was up the path ahead of us! He turned around, and I noticed that he had a blue GPSr hanging 'round his neck. Was he a fellow box hunter?
We carried on for about a third of a mile, and our GPSr couldn't make up its mind where to send us. Evenutally, we went down a very steep hill, until we could see the Old Birmingham Road to our left and Lickey Hills Golf Club to our right. A quick look at the map and we could see were were in completely the wrong place! Dr Cath reprogrammed the GPSr, and it changed its mind again and pointed back in the direction of the car along another path - a path that steadily climbed the same hill we'd just walked down.
At the top of this part of the hill, we realised that we were at the point at which the bloke and girl had been when they realised that their dog was going the wrong way. Following the GPSr, we ended up retracing our own steps, until it pointed us away from the main track... straight towards the holly bush that we'd earlier seen the dog emerge from. And there, underneath the bush, was the cache - and yes, it had been found by someone else that day.
We were right, we'd kind-of met our second fellow hunter - Novalew. Hello there!
We're not stumped just yet
Bluebell Woods - GC19EBT
A short car ride took us to the Lickey Hills Visitor Centre car park, and a very short walk from there took us to the cache. On the way, we spotted a tree which looked a little like it had been used as a maypole, with bunting connecting it to 12 other trees that surrounded it. A closer look told us that the "maypole" decoration on the centre tree was, in actuality, a collection of "free Tibet"-related goodwill messages, and these were repeated on the bunting flags. Nice, but a bloomin' odd thing to find at the back of Longbridge (or maybe not, considering the remainder of the car plant is now owned by the Chinese).
This cache was hidden in the hollow at the rear of a tree stump, partly obscured by a rock. This stump is right by one of the main paths, so muggle spotting was the order of the day. After retreiving the box, we had to pretend that we were looking at the large number of brightly-painted bird boxes that were attached to the trees in this part of the woods!
To better hide the cache, considering how near muggles regularly pass it, we covered the box with the rock and a clump of fern leaves.
A short car ride took us to the Lickey Hills Visitor Centre car park, and a very short walk from there took us to the cache. On the way, we spotted a tree which looked a little like it had been used as a maypole, with bunting connecting it to 12 other trees that surrounded it. A closer look told us that the "maypole" decoration on the centre tree was, in actuality, a collection of "free Tibet"-related goodwill messages, and these were repeated on the bunting flags. Nice, but a bloomin' odd thing to find at the back of Longbridge (or maybe not, considering the remainder of the car plant is now owned by the Chinese).
This cache was hidden in the hollow at the rear of a tree stump, partly obscured by a rock. This stump is right by one of the main paths, so muggle spotting was the order of the day. After retreiving the box, we had to pretend that we were looking at the large number of brightly-painted bird boxes that were attached to the trees in this part of the woods!
To better hide the cache, considering how near muggles regularly pass it, we covered the box with the rock and a clump of fern leaves.
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