The geokid asked to go find a cache this morning while his big sister went off to a playdate. We opted to tackle this one, which I’d failed to find a long while ago when it was missing.
This time we had no such difficulty, and the geokid put his hands right on it! Nice, TFTC.
Out for a walk with the 5-y/o geokid we decided to check up on this cache to ensure it was still accessible in spite of the ongoing work to rearrange
the footpaths around here. Yup, it’s still accessible (and as devious as ever!).
0/2 for the geokids and I this morning. Hunted a long while on and around the obvious place, later reassured by the hint, but eventually expanded our search based on recent logs (which
suggest the hint is wrong). Interrupted by a suspicious local we decided to make an excuse to leave. Hint, possibly coordinates, maybe more needs looking at by CO.
I’m hoping to find the 2022-02-19 52 -2 hashpoint one day earlier and one graticule over, and
I think I can stretch the range on the electric car enough to be able to return home via this hashpoint too.
Update: managed to change the car after finding the 2022-02-19 52 -2 point, so I can make
this. Probably be there about midday, weather-permitting.
I didn’t expect much of this hashpoint, but I wanted the excuse to recharge the car before going for another leg of my journey – either a trip up to visit a friend in Lichfield or else
a hashing expedition one graticule further East where today’s hashpoint seemed to be in a graveyard! But more on that later.
I parked at the Morrisons car park at (52.757778, -1.752222) at 14:48 and hooked up to the charger there (once I eventually found it). I had some difficulty making it work, but it
seemed to get started eventually. Then I began my walk to the hashpoint. This was far from the picturesque walk of yesterday, taking me through a series of housing estates that were
nondescript at best, unpleasantly scuzzy at worst. Shooting video as I walked, I was at one point loudly mocked by a group of young men passing in an artificially-loud car, but it was
an activity that soon had to end anyway as the rain began to pour down. At around 15:11 my GPSr ran out of battery power (I’d failed to
find its charging cable the night before) and there’s a clear gap in my tracklog: fortunately I was also equipped with not one but two backup devices (my phone, of course, and my
watch), so I was able to continue heading in the right direction, and when I found a convenience store near (52.739167, -1.998333) I bought some AA batteries (my GPSr can have its rechargeable battery removed and 3 × AA batteries put in its place to allow it to continue) and pressed on to the hashpoint.
As anticipated, the hashpoint was on a road dividing a light industrial park from a housing estate, right outside a plant specialising in bending plate aluminium; I reached it at
15:23:48. I walked back the same route as the rain began to fall more and more heavily: by the time I reached the car it had become torrential. The dubious charging point I’d used had
taken £16 from my bank card but provided only enough charge to take the car from 66% to 67% battery, which – combined with the rapidly-worsening weather – made me rethink my plans to
visit Lichfield or explore further East and I instead used my remaining distance to take a long (slow, wet, diversion-filled) drive home. Ugh.
Tracklog
My GPSr kept a tracklog of my entire two-day expedition:
A hard walk to an easy find, but this cache has definitely caught the worst of the stormy conditions. Its hiding place has flooded and the container is drenched. Dried as best I could,
but it needs CO attention. TFTC.
Getting down the muddy bank (picture attached) to this one was a bit spicy! Like those before me, I found the cache wedged tight into its hiding space. But unlike them, I was able to
construct a crude lever with which to set it free! SL, TFTC.
Hard to believe any cache could survive the gale force winds ripping over those hilltop. Hunted for some time, including getting a view as per the hint, without luck.
Found after an extended hunt, not where the hint would suggest. Looks like it blew quite a way away! Returned to pave specified by coordinates and hint. Log extremely wet, hard to sign.
You were right about the views from up here, though!
Don’t want to be a grass, but I don’t think that’s legal tinder. End of this road for me, need to loop a different direction now to stay on schedule for my planned
arrival at the 2022-02-20 52 -1 geohashpoint!
Found, but only thanks to the hint! My GPSr had me on the wrong side of the road. In case anybody else is similarly affected, I found the
cache about 11m away from where I expected to, at N 52 23.698, W 002 10.330. TFTC!