Finally got around to spending a lunchtime hunting for this cache, and I’m glad I did: what a wonderful tour of some great backstreets, that I already thought I knew so well. Was slowed
down by some scaffolding partially-covering one of the clues, but a helpful man working on the site was able to show me what I’d missed (and to be fair, if I’d been paying more
attention I’d have found it myself eventually!).
Came out to investigate missing lid. Found lid a short distance away – possibly muggled. Cleaned cache contents, checked silica gel still doing its job, replaced lid. Game on!
Thanks, Go catch; I’ll try to get
out there for some maintenance at or before the weekend. If you’re having difficulty with the overlays, it’s worth checking that your printout is the right size (after talking to some
‘cachers, I’ve discovered that some computers are printing it a tiny bit smaller: users of these computers need to ensure that the “resize to fit page” or similar checkbox is NOT
checked, when printing). So long as your name appears in the log when I get there, though, you’re welcome to PM me and I’ll send you the number you’re missing. Thanks!
With a difficulty rating of 2/5 I thought this would be a reasonably easy puzzle, but I guess my poor heat-addled brain isn’t up to the task. I thought that perhaps visiting the Bate
Collection early this afternoon might help, but it turns out that they only open at 2pm in the afternoon (by which point I had to get back to work), so I’ve not had any luck yet! Some
day, perhaps!
But be warned: if you plan to visit the collection, they don’t open until 2pm on weekdays.
Paced around for a bit and, I confess, needed the hint before I found this cache. Left the “Signal Football! Tag” travel bug, which just barely fits into the container alongside the log
(apologies to anybody who wants to sign the log but NOT take the TB; you’ll probably need to remove the TB before you can get to the log!).
I’m out in Aylesbury today, so I’ll probably swing by the hashpoint late-morning/early afternoon, by car. Hopefully it’s possible to get to it without climbing through any hedges!
Expedition
I was in Aylesbury this morning for an interview, and I’d discovered last night that a hashpoint had appeared pretty-much right between my home and the place I was
visiting. It was off the major roads by a little way, but the day was beautiful and I relished the opportunity to go for an explore, by ZipCar and on foot. And that’s exactly what I
got.
After driving through the village of Ford, I came to the end of a road and the beginning of a private driveway, and found a place to park. The locals looked at me strangely as I found
my bearings and set off up a bridleway. Suddenly, I realised that the hashpoint was off to my right somewhere, so I hacked my way through some trees to get closer to it. The hashpoint
turned out to be pretty-much exactly on the spot of a tree, at the edge of a field. Sadly, the tree was on the otherside of a barbed wire fence, covered in vines, but I was (with some
effort) able to lean far over to “touch” the hashpoint-tree, as shown in the photos.
Later, I got stuck in traffic and almost delivered the ZipCar back late, but just barely made it, vacating the car just as the (very prompt) next occupiers turned up. Phew!
Photos
ZipCar “Seashell”, my trusty ride for today’s expedition
I parked as close as I could before the start of a private road, and took a nearby footpath
“Turn right here”, my GPSr advised, to my horror
It wasn’t as overgrown as I’d thought, until I got close to the fence
Leaning forwards and reaching over at full stretch, I could just-about reach the hashpoint
Almost… just a few… more…
…there! A full stretch through some awfully prickly bushes, but I made it.
Found without difficulty, because the gods of GPS were shining upon me today and I was directed right to the spot. However… there was no log in there: the entire cache was empty!
Muggled, perhaps? Will attach a picture both as proof that I was there and so you can see that I’m not kidding when I claim that this cache is completely empty!
I’d hoped to collect all of the caches in this series today, but alas I was called away while on my way to the second. Great area, though: shall have to come back another time. TFTC!
