Dan Q
This checkin to GC98N4G Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #9 James Bond reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Cycling back to Stanton Harcourt from Witney I thought I’d try for just one more cache, while the light’s still in the sky. But try as I might, I couldn’t find this troublesome little blighter. Given the recent logs, I worry it might have been muggled.
This checkin to GC98N40 Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #8 E.T. reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
My last cache before I pedal on to Witney for my pizza supper! I soon found the hiding place but it still took me a long while to find exactly where the cache was hidden… and even longer to extract it from the depths of its narrow hiding place. In the end I needed to manufacture a tool – a loop of metal made from a paperclip, taped to the tip of a pin – to snag it. Managed in the end, and felt like I’d earned my pizza. (Attached pic is of me about a quarter hour later enjoying my picnic!)
This checkin to GC98N3F Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #7 Elisabeth Moss reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Spotting the geotrail here was easy. Avoiding the spiky plants was harder, and for the first time today I regretted having dressed so lightly. Found the cache without difficulty, but returned from its hiding place with my shins covered in sticky-grass. Yet more picking away flora was needed before I could press on on my bike.
This trail’s been fantastic so far; I wish I’d brought the kids – they’d have loved it! Well, actually I’m glad I didn’t because it’s their bedtime, but under different circumstances I’d totally come back again and bring them!
This checkin to GC98N2V Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #6 Treebeard reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
The combine harvesters have been out in force today – a small flotilla of them passed my house earlier this afternoon – and I soon found evidence that they’d been here before me. Fresh cut rows of corn, the straw piled up and ready for baling, dominated the golden fields. There are two major landmarks in sight here that made my ‘cacher brain tingle, but one of them isn’t on the path. I zipped over to the other and soon found the cache: nice to see a more-regular-sized one after so many smaller ones today.
Stopped for a drink break here because the heat was starting to get to me and – as the picture shows! – I was turning into a sweaty mess. But I was glad of the view, while I did so.
This checkin to GC98N1P Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #5 LOST reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Like all the other caches on this trail, the coordinates for this were spot on and I was delighted and surprised to find a most-excellent themed cache. The container was a little hard to open: perhaps there’s an emergency lever somewhere on the inside that I just couldn’t see? ;-) FP awarded. TFTC.
This checkin to GC98N15 Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #4 You've Got Mail reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
At this point the path reached its worst point, and the long summer grass was beginning to tangle around the spokes of my bike wheel. I used stopping to find this easy-to-spot cache as my excuse to stop and tidy up my transport before pressing on to – fortunately – easier cycling conditions ahead.
This checkin to GC98N0D Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #3 Turbo reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Honed right in on the hiding place and discovered that the cache was being attacked by a slug! Peeled off the little critter and retrieved the cache. TFTC.
This checkin to GC98MZC Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #2 Four Weddings reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
I spent a long time looking in all the wrong places before I finally… swung around… to the right way of thinking. Brilliant hiding place, FP awarded.
I’d figured that this path, being listed as a bridleway, would be suitable for my bike: i.e. relatively broad and flat, no stiles, etc. I was partially right, and the path soon became a little bumpy for my mostly road-going bike, but it worked out.
This checkin to GC98MY7 Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #1 Baywatch reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
I decided this evening to get out into the (cooling, but still quite hot!) air and cycle to Witney for a pizza picnic. And if I was going to do that, I figured, then it’s not much of a diversion of my route from Stanton Harcourt to go via the first half of the Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop while I’m out.
I started by cycling up the old West Oxfordshire Cycleway/Tar Lane to this car park. I’ve walked around the lakes previously and noticed the position of the object referenced in the hint, and so as soon as I was in the vicinity I knew where I’d be looking. Soon the cache was in hand!
I made a graph to show how the number of large hand tools stored in our garage has changed this last year…
…but I forgot to label the axes.