Thought I’d get up early and cycle up to the hashpoint and back this morning.
Expedition
Unfortunately I forgot to bring a bike lock, and so when I reached the cycle-inaccessible path across the heath and couldn’t find somewhere to safely leave my bike, I had to give up.
Still a nice ride, though.
Managed to answer the questions about the pub, war memorial, and village hall, but the church was locked up tight this morning and I couldn’t find the final clue. :-(
Dropped by while out for a walk and discovered that “Gina + Kylie”, a pair of presumably non-geocachers, found the cache on Tue 8 June and left a note in the logbook! This is cool, not
just because it’s always nice to find a friendly muggle but also because it proves that this path isn’t exclusively used by me (and by geocachers following in my footsteps) as I’d
thought. Awesome!
The rain finally stopped this afternoon so I figured I’d take my next Zoom meeting outdoors with me and stretch my legs while I talked to work colleagues. And so I went, selfie-stick
ahead of me and chatting to teammates in New York and Florence (what a world we live in!), out for a ramble and soon remembered that I was carrying Duck Race / Mustache Pink, a travel
bug I’d picked up near Lands End this weekend. So I diverted my walk to come and check up on this cache (it’s looking fine!) and drop off the TB for the next leg of its journey!
Coordinates brought me exactly to a tree that would match the hint… except for the fact that it’s been recently felled! (Picture attached.) No sign of cache, and anything else nearby
that would fit the hint is on very-clearly-private land, so I’m concerned this cache might have vanished. :-(
Cheered myself up with a quick game of pooh sticks. I won, but that’s to be expected when you play solo.
Stopped at the nearby services on a long journey from dropping my partner’s brother and his boat off Lands End (I can just about see my
car from near the GZ: photo attached) for a hot drink and to remotely participate in a work meeting. Meeting’s not starting yet so I walked
out the services’ staff exit and came up here to find this cache. Easy find, TFTC.
Stopped at the services on my way back to Oxford from Lands End, where I was dropping my partner’s brother and his skiff into the sea to begin
his attempt to row the length of the UK! The boat trailer is wobbling in a curious way
so I’ve been driving extra carefully, so it’s been a long journey so far (and I’ve still got the A40 to tackle!) so the opportunity for a break is a welcome one.
Cache was easy to sight – with the hint – and stealthing around the nearby truckers wasn’t hard, but prickly plants made retrieving the container a little challenging. Wish I’d brought
gloves! SL, TFTC.
I just launched my partner’s brother – shown in free attached picture – out in his rowboat to begin his attempt to row from Land’s End to John O’ Groats. Naturally this first involves rowing South, around the headland and past the lighthouse, to
get to Land’s End! So I came up the hill to watch him get started. And while I was at it, I figured I’d find this cache! Took travel bug. TFTC!
I arrived yesterday at nearby Raftra Farm for a weekend, mostly to launch my partner’s brother into the sea to begin his attempt to row from Land’s End to John O’ Groats (making use of inland waterways as much as possible). After a bit of a lie-in this morning,
I came out for a brief walk and to find this geocache. Probably this’ll be a highlight of my day, as much of the rest of it will be dominated by catching up on the work I didn’t get
done yesterday (during the drive down here from Oxford), at least until the afternoon tide turns which is when we’re doing the first launch!
Easy to find cache hidden in the most likely location – I maintain one just like this near my old house North of Oxford! TFTC.
A quick and easy find (though I was glad of the hint when I approached the obstacle at the GZ) while travelling from Oxford to Cornwall to
dump my partner’s brother in the sea for the start of his personal challenge to row the length
of the UK. (Photo of our boat in tow attached!)
I was in the area anyway so, following a recent DNF, I checked up on this cache. It’s in perfect condition (though I did have to empty a woodlouse out of the outer cache container) and ready to find
(previous logger was probably looking in the wrong place: there’s no risk of touching a stinging plant to get this cache!).
Had to search for an embarrassingly long time before finding this one. The coordinates and the hint agreed with the (obvious) location I was looking, but I just couldn’t see it. I
expanded my search to nearby candidates too before giving up and moving on with my walk.
On the way back, I decided to have another quick search before calling it a DNF… and found it straight away. I was kicking myself to not
have seen it before, especially given that I’d looked at past log photos and knew exactly what I was looking for! I’ll tell you what; if either of my kids had been here today they’d
have spotted it instantly! (But then… they’re about the perfect height for it…)
Thanks for the distraction while I waited to collect from the river my partner’s brother, who’s been rowing down from Bablock Hythe since yesterday.
Field behind Hill Barn, near the Gom’s Hole public footpath, in the valley beneath the hamlet of Clapton-on-the-Hill. About 4km outside the village of Bourton-on-the-Water,
Gloucestershire.
(Retro) Participants
Dan Q (as a retrohash on the same date but 19 years later, on 2021-02-19)
(Retro)Plans
On the second anniversary of the death of my father, a man who loved to get out into the world and get lost, I undertook my
first geohashing expedition. As this seemed to be a good way to remember him I decided to repeat the experience on this, the ninth anniversary of his death, but the actual
hashpoints for the day didn’t look interesting… so I opted to make my way to what would have been my nearest hashpoint on the day he died.
(Retro)Expedition
The weather looked horrible and the COVID lockdown (and working from home in general in recent years) has put me out of practice at
cycling, so I thought a 40-50 mile round trip through the rolling hills of the Cotswolds was just the thing. This may have been a mistake, as my aching legs were able to testify for
several days.
Cycling through Witney, over the hills behind Burford, and then across the Windrush valley and into Gloucestershire was a long, arduous, and damp journey, but what really got me was the
wind picking up in the afternoon and giving me a headwind to fight against all the way back home.
Near the hashpoint I was able to lock my bike up at the junction between Sherbourne Street and Bourton Hill – a place shown on my map as “Gom’s Hole” which sounds exactly like what a
D&D dungeon master would have a goblin would name his bar. From there I followed the footpath towards Farringdon. As the hashpoint drew closer I began to suspect that it would be
unreachable: tall walls, fences, and hedges stood on both sides of the (flooded) footpath, but at the last minute they gave way to wide meadows. I turned off the path and crossed a dyke
to the hashpoint, where I had a great view of hares and deer in the valley below. Minutes later, the owner of Hill Barn came over with her dog and asked what I was doing around the back
of her land and why I was taking pictures, so I explained that I’d strayed from the footpath (true) because my GPS had told me too (technically true) but I was heading back down to what
I could see was the path, now (true, if misleading).
She continued to watch me all the way back to my bike, so I changed my plans (which had been to eat a sandwich lunch and drink a pint of Guinness: my dad’s beer of choice) near the
hashpoint and instead I cycled away to a nearby layby to have my lunch.
After a 48.3 mile round trip I got back home aching and exhausted, but pleased to have made it to this damp hashpoint.
Checked up following a recent DNF. Cache had been re-hidden in a slightly different spot but is otherwise okay. Returned to the correct
location. Good to go!
