My evening just freed up, so – weather-permitting – I might brave the sleet and cold and cycle out to this hashpoint this evening.
Expedition
Our dog had surgery at the start of the week and has now recovered enough to want a short walk, so I changed my plan to cycle for one to drive (with the dog) out to somewhere near the hashpoint and take her for a walk to and around it. Amazingly, I might have been faster to cycle: a crash on the A40 had lead to lots of traffic being re-routed along the exact same back roads that was to be my most-direct route, and on the local rat run through South Leigh I got trapped behind a line of folks who weren’t familiar with this particular unlit and twisty road and took the entire derestricted section at an average of 25mph. Ah well.
Out of laziness, I didn’t bring my GPSr or make a tracklog; I just used the Geohashdroid app and took a screenshot when I got there. South Leigh Common is pleasant, but it was dark, and my photos are all a little bit hard to make out! But the stars were beautiful tonight, and the dog loved one of her first outings since her surgery and enjoying running around in the long wet grass and sticking her head into rabbit holes. At 19:00 precisely I got within about a metre and a half of the hashpoint – well within the circle of uncertainty – and turned to head home.
I also took the time while there to update OpenStreetMap by drawing in the boundaries of the common, replacing the nondescript “point” that had marked it before.
Photos
Proof from Geohashdroid
Silly grins in the dark from a man and his dog
Long exposure, with flashlight on, showing the hashpoint and the Common beyond
Out on a walk with the dog along the footpath nearby I elected to drop in on this cache for routine maintenance. But as I approached the GZ I learned that the footbridge that provided this cache with its home clearly wasn’t as “forgotten” as I’d thought! The council have been up here again and rather than just signing the log as they did last time they were on a mission to replace the entire bridge!
When they did this with the bridge that hosted GC90RH3 they gave me enough notice to remove the cache, but not this time: by the time the geopup and I discovered the “new” bridge the cache container was long gone. (It was a modified ammo can, so I might reach out and see if they happened to retrieve it during the demolition and can give it back!)
I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it to this one, but if I can I’ll cycle over there on my lunch break or right after work.
Expedition
The dog was making an attention-seeking nuisance of herself while I was trying to work today, so I wrapped up all the critical things I needed to do so I could take her our for a walk this afternoon to try to wear her out. I’m moderately familiar with Appleton – I have a regular cycle circuit that comes right through it! – but I’ve never been out to the cricket club and sports field, so I pointed the hashing hound in the right direction and let her lead the way.
At first it looked like this was going to be a successful expedition: the needle on my GPSr pointed almost directly ahead as I walked up the lane towards Appleton Sports Field. But as I got closer, I realised to my disappointment that the hashpoint was going to be about 25 metres into the adjacant field, guarded by a trio of bullocks. At 15:00 I declared the expedition a failure. The doggo and I completed an exploration of the lane and had a look around the sports field, spotted a pair of muntjack deer ambling around, and then headed back home.
I’ll be back in Appleton later today to buy a Christmas tree, so I’ll wave at the cattle as I go past, again.
Tracklog
My GPSr kept a tracklog; note that this was an “on the way” stopoff so the start and end point isn’t the same!
I don’t often get an FTF, so I figured I’d have a go at this one while I was out walking the dog anyway. Approaching the GZ I saw a man standing around looking suspicious and immediately realised I’d been pipped to the post. He recognised me and introduced himself as runmc (whose local logs I’m familiar with), and indeed he’d just logged the FTF. Ah well! We had a nice walk anyway and got to meet slight cacher, which is something that happens very rarely to me nowadays! Good cache container camouflage, nice work. SL, TNLN, TFTC!
You can just about make out runmc retreating from the GZ after scoring his FTF.
Had to stand around looking inconspicuous for a while before the geopup and I could retrieve this cache from its hiding place. There’s a lot going on this morning, presumably in anticipation of a Remembrance Sunday service at the church later. The bench across the road provided us with a place to sit and sign while we waited for an opportunity to return it. Amazingly picturesque spot for a lovely cache. FP awarded. TFTC!
Found the GZ without difficulty and a plethora of great hiding spots, but no luck for me nor the geopup here this morning. The hound enjoyed a quick paddle in the stream at this lovely spot, though, so it’s not a complete failure!
Could have been expected to get the FTF for this one, given that it’s (a) literally 20 seconds walk from my front door and (b) the CO had indicated that one would be hidden around here, but unfortunately I contracted covid last weekend and any walk longer tab my garden was quickly leaving me exhausted. This evening I felt a little better and so the geohound and I (pictured) braved a couple of minutes in the rain to come and sign the logbook.
Note to future cachers planning to park and grab: the “layby” indicated is a working bus stop, albeit with an infrequent (every 2 hours, weekday daytimes) schedule, so remember to be a polite cacher and try not to park in it at times that it’ll be needed by the minibus!
I might need to find a new home for my replacement to GC90RH3, whose bridge hiding place is only 100m or so (less than the requisite 0.1 miles!) from this new cache! Ah well, that’ll teach me to be a slow CO!
TFTC, and for getting me out of the house for a walk for the first time since I got sick almost a week ago.
Based on the description and the hint this one should have been easy. Perhaps a longer search might have been fruitful but the geopup was anxious to keep moving.
After I found the right hiding place, this one was pretty easy, though I was initially hesitant to put my hand into it after I mistook the cache’s unusual container for (a very large version of) something else that could be laid in a place like this. TFTC.
Geopup and I found quite easily while out on a walk. The excitable doggo isn’t so keen on stopping and searching for caches when there are so many new and exciting smells just over her visual horizon, so today’s expedition might only give me a couple of minutes to hunt for each: we’ll have to see if that’s enough to log any further finds this morning.
The geopup and I took a slightly inelegant route down to the valley bottom after she insisted we try a steep route atop a carpet of dry, dusty leaves. Made it down intact, though, and found this cache in the very second hiding place we tried. TFTC!
A pair of walkers who’d stopped at the GZ for a snack made searching difficult, plus the geodog isn’t very good at stealth, so we had to give up on our search for this one. Maybe on the way back. (Although as I write this I see they’re coming the same direction as us; might need stealth again yet!)
