My family and I are on holiday, staying a couple of villages away. I came out this morning to see if I could find a couple of local caches before the day’s activities. This was the
first.
A great container in good condition. I love it when a cache can be hidden “in sight”. FP awarded. SL, TFTC, and greetings from Oxfordshire, UK!
I had to work hard to find this one! In the end, my selfie-csmers helped me a lot, but what also helped was that I’ve seen (and hidden) containers of this type before. SL, TFTC, and
greetings from Oxfordshire, UK!
I wouldn’t see it until a little later, but I really enjoyed the church at Vistabella.
I startled a lizard while retrieving this good-sized cache. My trouser legs are now covered with burrs, from all the sticky plants underfoot. TFTC, and for this leg of the series; now
it’s time to explore Vistabella!
Another quick and easy find on this delightful trail. TFTC.
My original plan had been to turn around at this point and head back to La Secuita, but two things have changed my mind: 1. How great this cache series is, and 2. The curious shape of
the steeple ahead in Vistabella. So I think I’ll walk on a little further before I head back to where I parked in La Secuita!
I took this picture of the church at Vistabella later, once I got there.
A little further along this slightly-overgrown path and another quick find. Logbook has clearly been soaked and then dried out and is very hard to write on. TFTC, and greetings from
Oxfordshire, UK!
I walked down the path from La Secuita to #30 but was unable to attempt it while a man and his dog were loitering there. So I pressed on to #31, and quickly found it. The cache
container must be very attractive to snails, because they were mobbing it! TFTC, and greetings from Oxfordshire, UK!
Great cache, excellent container and hiding spot! After feeling around a few other places I soon worked out what I was looking for, and stealthily stretched to retrieve the cache. Two
nearby men in a van and a lady walking her dog meant that I had to sit around and wait for a long time to return the cache to its hiding place, though! I’m glad I came early in the
morning; the required stealth must become impossible later in the day.
Really cool cache, thanks for setting. FP awarded. SL, TFTC/GPA. Greetings from Oxfordshire, UK!
This week, I’m living in a villa on a vineyard about 9km North of Tarragona, on the East coast of Spain.
Gotta say, it’s a pretty place to walk the grounds of.
A large part of our choice of location for this trip was, of course, the total solar eclipse that’s expected
this evening, whose path of totality just barely passes over this spot before disappearing somewhere over the Mediterranean.
We tested by watching a couple of sunsets that, at the time of day the eclipse will occur, the sun will still be visible over the horizon.1
26 years ago, almost to the day, I blogged about witnessing the 1999 solar eclipse from Paris, where we were fortunate enough that Europe’s cloudy conditions on that day broke just
in time for a midday totality and a proper “diamond ring” occlusion. I’m not confident I’ll ever see an eclipse quite so spectacular again in my lifetime, but I’m hopeful!
Obviously the eclipse is a primary deciding factor in our location this summer, but this family holiday’s about more than just seeing the sun vanish and hoping that it comes
back out again.
For example, we’ve also braved the August heat for a variety of outings around the area, such as to the beautiful botanic gardens of Parc Samà where
we met this curious little turtle.
I’ve been out geocaching a lot on the mornings, for example, as is my way when visiting any foreign country! I’ve enjoyed taking advantage of being a
naturally earlier-riser than most of my family, coupled with the cooler morning temperatures, to explore the hills and forests of this region. And look: I found my thousandth ever geocache!2
The one downside3 of our accommodation is the lack of connectivity. There’s no wired
Internet here, and the hilly location and stone walls make acquiring a reasonable cellular signal… challenging.
To look into a Three Rings issue this morning, I first needed to drive down the hill and around the valley a short way to get
line-of-sight to a cellular tower, in order to get more than one bar of 5G signal and tether myself a reasonable Internet connection!
Anyway: it’s beautiful and bright (and scorchingly hot!) out here, and I’ve got my fingers crossed for clear skies in eight hours’ time. Here’s hoping!
Footnotes
1 Without clouds in the way, the prettiest pictures of sunsets occurs just after
this point, of course. I’ve spared you seeing a photo of an unoccluded sun, which – depending on the brightness fidelity of your screen – you’d possibly need to wear special shades to
look at anyway?
2 I know, I know: I’ve been geocaching for sixteen
years – I “should” have found more than that by now. Well, I’m pretty laid-back about the sport, and often only target caches with a reasonable number of positive reviews or that
are otherwise interesting to me. I’m not so-interested in making the “number go up” as I am in exploring interesting places and seeing cool things.
3 Or is it an upside? It’s certainly keeping my focus on the world around me and away from
screens!
I spent a while looking at the obvious host, then checked the hint and moved to a series of alternate candidates. It’s probably there, but not somewhere I could find! Eventually I felt
too hot and too visible to passers-by and decided to quit. Maybe another time!
I’ve been doing what remains of the Ruta Pels Volants del Mars De Salort series of took a diversion to find this cache. The impressive host didn’t need a hint – she’s pretty easy to
find!
The cache container is absolutely excellent. Amazing camouflage! It’s a shame this is my 1001st find and not my 1000th because I’d have loved to make this great container my milestone! FP awarded.
Signed log and returned to its hiding place. TFTC/GPA, and greetings from Oxfordshire, UK!