This checkin to GC9EXXC Shady Seat on The Green reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Doing my rounds, checked in on this new geocache. All looking good.
Dipped TB.
Kind: Checkins
Dan Q performed maintenance for GC9EXX4 The Bisected Footpath of Blackditch Fields
This checkin to GC9EXX4 The Bisected Footpath of Blackditch Fields reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Dropped by to check in on this new cache (always worth checking that a new cache is settling in alright!) and to dip a TB. All is well. Also discovered that through the kissing gate on the opposite side of the road there’s a crop of the plumpest and brightest sloes I’ve seen in years. So if you’re in the vicinity and fancy a lip-curling snack (or you’ve plans to adulterate some gin!) take a look!
Geohashing expedition 2021-08-19 51 -1
This checkin to geohash 2020-08-19 51 -1 reflects a geohashing expedition. See more of Dan's hash logs.
Location
Field alongside Cote Ditch, West Oxfordshire.
Participants
Plans
If I get out early, before I start work, I (Dan Q) might be able to make it to the hashpoint by bike before about 9am. Most of the fields round here have already been harvested and so nobody’s likely to object if I step into this one for a couple of minutes (it looks like there’s a promising looking gate at N 51°43.2′, W 1°29.722′).
Expedition
I was out and about anwyay, dropping my kids off at rehearsals for a play they’re in later this week, so I figured it’d do no harm to swing by Cote – the settlement nearest the hashpoint – this morning. Cote turns out to be a delightful and quaint little hamlet, and when I passed through everybody and their dog seemed to be out on a morning constitutional and I got a few odd looks from the locals who are, on account of their hamlet’s location, probably unused to “through” traffic and so may well have been wondering who exactly I was visiting!
Round here most of the farms grow wheat, and it’s harvest season. I had to pull aside on one of the narrow roads that criss-cross this part of Oxfordshire to allow a combine harvester – fully the width of the entire road! – to pass in the opposite direction. It was followed closely by a line of impatient drivers crawling along behind the enormous mechanical beast, and I was glad to be going the other way! When I first saw that the hashpoint appeared to be in a field I was optimistic that it might be one that had been recently harvested, like all the ones near my house, or else left fallow, and I’d be able to get close to the hashpoint without causing any disruption.
Unfortunately, the field with the hashpoint was very-much still growing, full of corn for harvesting later in the season, so my expedition ended abruptly at the gate. I took a sad-face photo and attached a “The Internet Was Here” sign to the gate, for good measure (and perhaps as an explanation to the locals who looked at me curiously as I passed!), then continued my journey home.
Tracklog
My GPSr keeps a tracklog:
Photos
Dan Q archived GC8YZKJ Sunken Bunker
This checkin to GC8YZKJ Sunken Bunker reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
When I first placed this cache I failed to accommodate for how high the river might get during summer floods. I’d chained it to the bridge to help stop it from disappearing, but that instead introduced a new problem: after a flood it’d be left hanging in a highly-visible spot and attract muggle vandalism. The net result is I’ve had to retire this cache.
Dan Q performed maintenance for GC86M6V Grove Farm
This checkin to GC86M6V Grove Farm reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Checked in and dipped a TB while I was in the area. Looks good!
Dan Q archived GC86MHH Top of the Footpath
This checkin to GC86MHH Top of the Footpath reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Visited to check on this container and can confirm that it’s completely seized and unopenable. The end cap that used to provide it with cover (and a hiding place for a pencil) is gone, too, and this (combined with the fact that I no longer live around the corner) feels like a sign that this one needs archiving.
Dan Q archived GC86MTH Yarnton Lane
This checkin to GC86MTH Yarnton Lane reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Following a run of DNFs I drove over here to check on this cache but it is indeed missing. As this location is no longer in walking distance of my home I’m retiring it to free up what is a pretty convenient hook for some other cacher!
Dan Q archived GC7QG1Z Oxford’s Wild Wolf Three
This checkin to GC7QG1Z Oxford’s Wild Wolf Three reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
One final visit to retrieve the container from this increasingly inaccessible multi. Braved copious nettle stings to get there and back the “short way”, then began a quick tour of Kidlington to retrieve any surviving clue stages. Sad to see this one go, but the epic container will live on in a future cache, someday!
Dan Q found GC95GZY Fairhaven South 2
This checkin to GC95GZY Fairhaven South 2 reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Nice easy find for fleeblewidget and I while on the way to pick up our kids from my mother’s house and take them home to Oxfordshire. A beautiful day for an explore around the dunes but sadly we can’t stop, we’ve places to be! Nice to see the lake, though. TFTC.
Dan Q found GC56XWR Pendle 12
This checkin to GC56XWR Pendle 12 reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
Coming back down from our walk, this was fleeblewidget and I’s last cache of the morning. The shadow of the hill disrupted my GNSS signals and threw us off by a few metres, but fleeblewidget soon spotted the right hiding place and we had the cache in hand. TFTC.
Dan Q found GC1BQK0 Pendle Summit
This checkin to GC1BQK0 Pendle Summit reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
A very easy find (with spot-on coordinates fed good sky views to ensure a solid lock) for fleeblewidget and I late this morning, after a hot hit satisfying ascent up the Big End. TFTC.
Shortly afterwards we met Steve Taylor (pictured) carrying a bathtub up the hill! Turns out he’s planning to do this 45+ times over the course of the next few weeks in order to raise money to fight Cystic Fibrosis! We promised to sponsor a couple of rubber ducks for hours bathtub upon our return to our accommodation.
Dan Q found GC1HW0N Penhul Hyll
This checkin to GC1HW0N Penhul Hyll reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
My partner fleeblewidget and I are celebrating 14 years together as a couple with a glamping holiday near Sawley and took the opportunity to climb up Pendle Hill this morning. I’ve many fond memories of taking this route with my father, when he was alive, and it’s interesting to be able to see how, just on the timescales of my own life, the shape of this hillside has changed owing to smaller landslides. Lower down, for example, human-caused erosion (picture attached) has damaged our destroyed paths I used to take, and new fences encourage climbers onto alternative routes. We also observed evidence (picture attached) of an older landslide, with a cliff of relatively new earth exposed where there clearly used to be a grassy/rocky slope.
Views were very good today and we could just about make out what we assume is the Ribble estuary in the distance from near the summit. A great and enjoyable expedition. Picture of the two of us at the trig point attached. TFTC.
Dan Q couldn’t find GC1WRDD You take the high road….
This checkin to GC1WRDD You take the high road.... reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
fleeblewidget and I were on the “high road” and so I had to scramble down to the GZ. The coordinates and the hint both point to a very obvious specific place (pictured) but no cache in sight: strongly suspect this one might be missing.
Dan Q found GC56V1D U P 6
This checkin to GC56V1D U P 6 reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
My partner fleeblewidget and I are glamping up near Sawley to celebrate our 14th anniversary and came out today for a walk up Pendle Hill. Cache container was in the third place we looked; a nice easy find! Log a little damp but usable. TFTC.
Dan Q found GC46ZR0 B-by-B 3 feet and rising
This checkin to GC46ZR0 B-by-B 3 feet and rising reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.
My partner fleeblewidget and I are staying at nearby Calder Farm to celebrate our anniversary and took a walk this afternoon to find this cache. Only around 300m as the crow flies from the GZ we figured this would be a quick expedition, but there’s no convenient path down to the riverside from where we are. Our first attempt at an approach took us to the North end of the footpath, but this seems to be through a garden centre/nursery that’s closed, and we couldn’t confirm whether or not the public footpath was open “through” or despite this, so we doubled go past our accommodation and approached from the South instead, ultimately resulting in a ~2km walk to and from the GZ!
Coordinates seemed off by about 5m based on my GPSr and phone, but the hint pointed us towards the obvious candidate and the cache was easily visible (although a bit of a stretch to reach!). Log had been inserted deep into the tube rather than the lid of the container and we struggled to extract it but got there in the end (we put it back in the lid for the benefit of the next cacher). TFTC.