After seeking (and finding, surprisingly) the 2026-09-13 51 -1 geohashpoint down in the Brook Hill nature reserve, the
geohound and I came to try to find this cache, too. After finding the correct way into the nature reserve (access from Verinia Court now being disallowed, apparently) we quickly found
the relevant board and, after pushing some plants aside, found the requisite six digit number.
A short walk later we found a solid candidate hiding spot that matched the hint, but an extended search in and around it yielded nothing. Possibly my geosense is off this morning (in my
defence, I got stung in the crotch by a wasp about 20 minutes ago!) or maybe this cache is missing. Either way, a DNF from the pupper and I today.
I woke early after a series of nightmares about having to move house yet again (I’ve done that a
lot, this year, on account of the flood that rendered my house uninhabitable in February), except this
time the house we moved into was occupied by some kind of bear-like monster that chased me around the place.
Anyway: having woken up I decided to take the dog out for a walk, and I noticed that the hashpoint up here in Woodstock might be accessible. The maps show it as being not in
the nature reserve but in what could be the gardens of the nearby houses, so this might all come to naught.
Expedition
The dog and I parked at Union Street Car Park and set out on our walk. I’d originally anticipated entering the nature reserve via a footpath marked from Brook Hill, but when we got
there I discovered a “danger – no entry” sign. I decided to ignore it – it was probably there back from when this valley flooded, and wasn’t relevant any more. Tempting fate, I moved to
walk past it, snapping a photo of the sign on the way.
This is all I managed to capture of the sign, though, because something distracted me…
That’s when I noticed the wasps. Lots of them, buzzing around a nearby tree. Probably their nest was nearby and they were coming over to investigate me and decide whether or not I was a
threat (I don’t think they were the reason for the danger sign!). In any case, this is where the next problem began: I have a hole in the crotch of the trousers I’m wearing.
It’s not a big hole, but it turns out that it didn’t need to be.
It turns out that a wasp had managed to fly up inside the groin area of my trousers and I didn’t notice until… it got partially-squished between the sensitive parts on the
inside of my inner thigh… and the even-more-sensitive parts next to them! I became aware of a sharp stinging sensation, and then another, and it quickly became a burning sensation as I
swatted at my legs to try to liberate, or else kill, the monster. Meanwhile, all of the wasp’s friends were now heading my way, providing reinforcements for their companion.
So I ran.
The doggo had a great time and couldn’t tell what I was complaining about.
The dog and I had to sprint deep into the woods before we were sure that none of the little bastards were still following us. I’d been working on adrenaline (and the dog had been
working on her general desire to run around and be crazy), and hadn’t noticed until I was able to slow down quite how unpleasant my sore and swollen parts were as they rubbed against
one another. Ugh.
Do not recommend.
We regrouped by a stream and found our bearings. We’d come some way from our intended course, but I plotted a series of paths that would take us close, and the pupper and I
bravely pressed on.
Refilling the tanks.
Soon we were close to the hashpoint and I observed to my delight that it lay in what seemed to be a no-mans-land; a deeply-overgrown patch between the nature reserve and the nearby
housing estate. The undergrowth would be too much for the doggo’s little legs, so I left her behind and pushed on alone for the final hundred metres, stomping through swampy conditions
and brambles as I approached the coordinates.
The hashpoint is somewhere near the centre of this image, next to a tree.
After some stomping around, Geohashdroid was able to draw a small circle of uncertainty within which the hashpoint clearly lay.
I can’t manage a silly grin. Will a silly grimace do?
I hacked my way back to the dog (who was happily living her best life, pretending to be a wild wolf, living in the forest) and we made our way home via an attempt at a nearby geocache and checking and updating some OpenBenches data.
Proof, thanks to Geohashdroid.
A success, but not one without a significant amount of pain. I can’t believe I’m saying this but: from personal experience, I do not recommend using your genitals to crush
wasps.
Tracklog
My primary GPSr’s been missing since… my house flood, I think. But I was able to use the fitness tracker in my watch for a decent GPS tracklog.
