Blog

Dan Q found GC98N1P Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #5 LOST

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.

Dan Q found GC98N15 Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #4 You’ve Got Mail

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.

Dan Q found GC98MZC Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #2 Four Weddings

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.

Dan Q found GC98MY7 Tar Lakes/South Leigh Loop #1 Baywatch

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!

Note #19021

I made a graph to show how the number of large hand tools stored in our garage has changed this last year…

Graph showing, over time, the number of large tools increasing as a rake, midi-spade, post holer, rake and others are acquired. Each acquired tool is labelled with what it is. However: a hatchet, a pickaxe and two log splitting axes are not labelled.

…but I forgot to label the axes.

×

Lichfield

We took a family trip up to Lichfield this weekend. I don’t know if I can give a “review” of a city-break as a whole, but if I can: I give you five stars, Lichfield.

Dan in front of Lichfield Cathedral, early on Sunday morning.
It’s got a cathedral, which is quite pretty.

Maybe it’s just because we’ve none of us had a night away from The Green… pretty-much since we moved in, last year. But there was something magical about doing things reminiscent of the “old normal”.

Dan and the kids in a bed at a hotel.
“I’m so excited! We get to stay… at a Premier Inn!” At first I rolled my eyes at this joyous line from our 4-year-old (I mean… it’s just a Premier Inn…), but it did feel good to go somewhere and do something.

It’s not that like wasn’t plenty of mask-wearing and social distancing and hand sanitiser and everything that we’ve gotten used to now: there certainly was. The magic, though, came from getting to do an expedition further away from home than we’re used to. And, perhaps, with that happening to coincide with glorious weather and fun times.

A balloon artist wearing a unicorn on her head makes sculptures for children.
Socially-distanced balloon modelling turns out to work, not least because you can hand one of those long balloons to somebody without getting anywhere near them.

We spent an unimaginably hot summer’s day watching an outdoor interpretation of Peter and the Wolf, which each of the little ones has learned about in reasonable depth, at some point or another, as part of the (fantastic) “Monkey Music” classes of which they’re now both graduates.

Ruth and John sit on a picnic blanket in a painted circle; the maquee for the band is behind them.
So long as you weren’t staring at the painted circles on the grass – for corralling families apart from one another – you’d easily forget how unusual things are, right now.

And maybe it’s that they’ve been out-of-action for so long and are only just beginning to once again ramp up… or maybe I’ve just forgotten what the hospitality industry is like?… but man, we felt well-looked after.

From the staff at the hotel who despite the clear challenges of running their establishment under the necessary restrictions still went the extra mile to make the kids feel special to the restaurant we went to that pulled out all the stops to give us all a great evening, I basically came out of the thing with the impression of Lichfield as a really nice place.

Dan in Lichfield city centre, deserted early on a Sunday morning.
Take social distancing to the next level: do your urban geocaching at the crack of dawn.

I’m not saying that it was perfect. A combination of the intolerable heat (or else the desiccating effect of the air conditioner) and a mattress that sagged with two adults on it meant that I didn’t sleep much on Saturday night (although that did mean I could get up at 5am for a geocaching expedition around the city before it got too hot later on). And an hour and a half of driving to get to a place where you’re going to see a one-hour show feels long, especially in this age where I don’t really travel anywhere, ever.

But that’s not the point.

Ruth and the kids eat breakfast
The buffet was closed, of course, but these kids were made for an “all you can eat” breakfast.

The point is that Lichfield made me happy, this weekend. And I don’t know how much of that is that it’s just a nice place and how much is that I’ve missed going anywhere or doing anything, but either way, it lead to a delightful weekend.

× × × × × ×

Dan Q found GC84Q4F Sam’s Cache

This checkin to GC84Q4F Sam's Cache reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

As the attached picture shows, there was not a soul to be seen out here this morning but that didn’t stop me from feeling like I had to use stealth as I mooched suspiciously around this exposed corner. Went straight past the correct location and spent an embarrassing amount of time looking at exactly the wrong pieces of metal before returning to what turned out to be the right place. TFTC!

Dan near the corner of the Samuel Johnson Birthplace Museum in Lichfield, in a deserted public square early in the morning.

×

Dan Q couldn’t find GC8CXVF Wiggly Windings

This checkin to GC8CXVF Wiggly Windings reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

DNF but that’s probably on me: I need to complete my morning’s geocircuit and get back to my hotel before the rest of my party get up and go to breakfast, so I was short on time to perform a more thorough search.

Dan Q found GC7B9HC Church Micro 11050…Lichfield Cathedral

This checkin to GC7B9HC Church Micro 11050...Lichfield Cathedral reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

TFTC. Answers already sent to CO, except the photo which is attached to this log!

Out for an early morning caching expedition because my hotel bed was uncomfortable so I woke up early and with a need to stretch and move. Delighted to find this wonderfully-placed virtual; thanks for sharing. Greetings from Oxfordshire!

Dan in froint of Lichfield Cathedral, waving

×

Dan Q found GC93KP4 Lichfield TB Resort & Spa

This checkin to GC93KP4 Lichfield TB Resort & Spa reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Spent a frankly embarrassing amount of time hunting in all the wrong places before spotting the obvious difference between this hotel and the other (non travel bug) ones nearby. Excellent container, FP awarded.

Greetings from Oxfordshire! I’m up for a show and to visit family and woke early this morning for a spot of caching before breakfast. I’d perhaps not have woken so early if my hotel were as nice as this one! (I may have to deploy something like this in my neck of the woods…)

Dan hunting for a geocache in Lichfield.

×

Dan Q couldn’t find GC4KHZ4 One in a Million – Festival Gardens

This checkin to GC4KHZ4 One in a Million - Festival Gardens reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

No luck for me this morning. Based on recent logs and photos I suspect the object to which the hint relates was repaired recently and the cache muggled at the same time.