Dan Q found GC5TF25 Mystic Abbey

This checkin to GC5TF25 Mystic Abbey reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Out for a walk on my 43rd birthday, left the kids playing with their other parents in the (beautiful) ruins of the abbey or I hacked my way around to the GZ. Started searching at my evaluation of the target point and spiralled outwards, eventually finding the cache about 10m away (downhill and further from the abbey) after interpreting the hint. Good sized container in a great location, TFTC and greetings from Oxfordshire!

Dan, with his thumb up, in front of the ruin of an abbey.

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Dan Q found GC2HDCZ Tom Burts Cache 4

This checkin to GC2HDCZ Tom Burts Cache 4 reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Found while walking into High Wycombe to work after dropping my canine caching-companion (pictured) off at the nearby veterinary hospital for an operation. Didn’t need her help with this easy find, luckily! Shame about all the fly tipping littering this otherwise pleasant path. Greetings from Oxfordshire!

A champagne-coloured French Bulldog snuggles up against a human's leg, wearing blue jeans.

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Dan Q found GC54E29 WAG 16 – Elvendon Valley

This checkin to GC54E29 WAG 16 - Elvendon Valley reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

The poor little geopup’s only got tiny legs, and the 8km we’ve walked so-far has got her pretty tired-out, so this’ll be the last cache of the series before we go and find ourselves some lunch and go home. It’s been a very enjoyable series so far, and I fully intend to return to complete it (and perhaps find some of those earlier caches that I failed to spot).

For this final cache of the morning (well, afternoon: barely!), I found the likely spot straightaway and picked up something that looked out of place. Nope, no sign of the cache though; that’s strange. It took a few seconds to realise that yes, the cache was hidden behind the thing I’d picked up… it was just also covered with leaf little and detritus. Soon had it retrieved in the end, though.

A huge number of butterflies flocked in the field to our right: it was quite impressive. I’ve snapped a picture showing just one, so that I can later look up what kind of butterfly it is!

Close-up photograph showing a butterfly atop a purple flower in a grassy meadow.

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Dan Q found GC54E1W WAG 15 – Action!

This checkin to GC54E1W WAG 15 - Action! reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Sometimes the geo-sense “just works”. This was one of those moments. I was approaching the area and checking the distance. Then I walked straight to a likely location. Then I picked up the cache. Done and done.

Dan Q found GC72TZ5 WAG 14 – Wander through Wroxhills

This checkin to GC72TZ5 WAG 14 - Wander through Wroxhills reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Turning South and crossing our own path, the sun came out at last and we were bathed in glorious warm light. Between that, and the familiarity of the trail we passed, the geopup and I completely forgot for a moment that we were out to look for this next cache and overshot it: we had to turn back to get to the coordinates and find the cache. TFTC!

Dan Q found GC54DR7 WAG 9 – Sausages & Bacon!

This checkin to GC54DR7 WAG 9 - Sausages & Bacon! reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Worra lorra porkers! The geopup is a huge fan of sausages but I don’t think she understood that the cornucopia she was looking at across the field was the same thing, just a few years off being ripe. Great cache container too. TFTC, and let’s chuck an FP in because this series as a whole has definitely earned another one in my mind by now…

A French Bulldog looks out over a field which contains many pigsties and pigs.

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Dan Q couldn’t find OK00F7 Pig City Vista

This checkin to OK00F7 Pig City Vista reflects an opencache.uk log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Came by this location while doing the nearby WAG series. Was delighted to see that an OpenCache was on the route too so the geopup and I dedicated the time to a decent search. We think we found what was once the hiding place, but the cache itself was sadly nowhere to be seen.

Dan Q couldn’t find GC54DW0 WAG 11 – Panorama

This checkin to GC54DW0 WAG 11 - Panorama reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Between nearby GC7QC7R, which acts as a spur to this series, and OK00F7, which sits on (and predates) this series, I was feeling confident of a find here… but after an extended search the geopup and I had to admit defeat. To be honest, she was willing to give up and press on immediately, having seen a muddy puddle up ahead that she wanted to play about it, and her persistent lead-pulling in that direction might have reduced both my patience and the efficacy of my search! But we found a few things that might match the hint and didn’t see success, soo… 🤷‍♂️

Dan Q found GC7QC7R Lothal

This checkin to GC7QC7R Lothal reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

As a quick diversion from the nearby WAG series, the geopup and I meandered out this way to find this cache. Once I was in the vicinity of the cache something stood out to me as unusual, so we went to pick it up… it turned out to be a chunk of wraught iron, but finding it soon pointed me in the direction of the cache. TFTC.

Dan, wearing a white t-shirt and with a red dog lead hanging over his shoulder, stands in a forest, gesturing down a path to a small French Bulldog following him.

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Dan Q found GC610PB WAG 12 – Wroxhills Wood

This checkin to GC610PB WAG 12 - Wroxhills Wood reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

A quick and easy find: we walked straight to where the coordinates said and there it was. My phone, having been rebooted during the last leg, was now behaving much better at narrowing down a satellite fix!

These woods are really quite amazingly beautiful and serene. It’s quiet and calm here, and both the geopup and I really appreciate the excuse to have come here.

Next, it’s time for a quick diversion from the series to find nearby GC7QC7R!

Dan Q found GC54DXQ WAG 13 – Oh deer!

This checkin to GC54DXQ WAG 13 - Oh deer! reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Took several attempts to find the correct hiding place and the poor geopup – who didn’t like the tight-knit undergrowth here except when it suited her (when she wanted to chase after a pheasant!) – eventually had to be tied to a tree while I pressed-on without her to get the cache in hand. Phew! TFTC.

A French Bulldog on a forest path pulls against her lead.

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Dan Q couldn’t find GC78WN6 WAG 8 – Battle Farm

This checkin to GC78WN6 WAG 8 - Battle Farm reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

This was the moment when I found myself wishing that my dedicated GPSr unit was with me and working, as my phone’s GPS fix started jumping all over the place. The geopup and I made a few valiant attempts to search in the obvious places, criss-crossing our way through some quite fierce brambles as we did so, but without success. Eventually, we had to move on and chalk this one up as a DNF. I’ve no reason to believe it’s not out there somewhere, but it’ll be a job for somebody whose satellite navigation kit is playing ball.

Boot stepping into long bramble undergrowth.

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Dan Q found GC54DF1 WAG 7 – Fuming!

This checkin to GC54DF1 WAG 7 - Fuming! reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

The geopup made herself useful for this cache, running straight to the cache location. (I suspect that some prior canine visitor may have left their mark somewhere very near to the cache, and she was more interested in smelling that than she was at helping me find the container, but I can dream of a dog who’s a useful geocaching assistant, can’t I?) TFTC.

A French Bulldog standing by a rural "gas pipeline" warning sign.

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Dan Q posted a note for GC54DEF WAG 6 – Water Break

This checkin to GC54DEF WAG 6 - Water Break reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Working our way through the first part of the WAG series, we unfortunately had to skip this one without an adequate search: the area was crawling with ramblers, consulting their maps and chatting with one another, and I didn’t have a good excuse to stop and search. Maybe next time!