Last Cache Finally Found on The Wrekin

Every time we go up The Wrekin you can almost guarantee that a few days later, a new cache will be published up there. It's happened a few times in the past now, which is really uncanny and almost if someone is watching over us (which of course they are not).

Anyway, the last time this happened we decided to leave the cache as we knew as part of the first week at Isaac's new school the whole school goes on a walk up The Wrekin. Families are encouraged to come along too so I knew it would be a great time to bag the last cache we have to do up there.

We had a lovely walk up the hill, chatting away to lots of new parents. As we got to the summit, you could see the whole school gathered round the new Year 7 pupils cheering them and getting their photos taken. They then all set off down the hill to the waiting coaches and back to school, so myself and Mrs Bolas Heathens headed off the short distance to the cache.

I'd seen it was an unusual container and that the cache was set for someone's 30th birthday, so was expecting a fake cake or something like that. I thus nearly passed the cache over as it was in fact something very different. I won't say any more here as I don't want to spoil it for future finders.

We then headed off down the hill, chatting away to more parents and drove round to the school for refreshments. As we arrived, we realised we had forgotten there was a charity event on and quite a few celebrities were taking part. Off we went to see who we could spot, which should be interesting as I never usually take any notice as to who is who on TV.

We managed to spot Chris Tarrant, Nick Hancock and Robert Powell from Casualty. There were a few other faces that looked familiar but I've no idea who they were.

Cheshire Railings / Crewe & Nantwich Circular Walk

Isaac has started secondary school this week and so we decided to go for an easier day out caching this weekend. Starting next week, he'll be doing Saturday activities at school so won't be able to come caching as often as we'd like. Hopefully this is not the end of an era and he'll still have enough energy (and time!) left to come out caching on Sunday's, even if it's every couple of weeks.

We've been watching all the new caches build up in the Sandbach, Congleton and Holmes Chapel areas for the last few months, so decided today was the day to go and find them as they often appear on our closest to home not found front page.

We were not sure what to expect as a series based on metal railings does not sound that inspiring. Needless to say our fears were right and they were all in very generic locations by road junctions. The downside was quite a few of them seemed to be in very thorny areas too - lots of hawthorn bushes and other prickly things near railings to scratch your hands and arms with.

Having said that, I know the cache owners have taken time and money to put these caches out so we don't want to sound unduly negative as we do appreciate the smileys.

There was not really much to report other than what I've said above. In between the railing caches, we did some Post Haste ones, which were even easier as they are all hide a key's on the back of red post boxes. Caching really does not get much easier as they were all instant finds :-).

On the way, we did do a really nice cache on the South Cheshire Way part way up the north side of Mow Cop and in a really nice spot with views over the whole of Cheshire. Easily the best cache of the morning.

By lunchtime we were getting a bit bored so stopped off for lunch and an ice cream at Brereton Country Park near Holmes Chapel. Suitably fortified, we headed off towards Sandbach to try some different caches (via one or two remaining railing caches - well, we can't just drive past them if we know they are there can we?).

We were soon starting on the Crewe & Nantwich (C&N) circular walk caches, which were much more our thing. Some decent walks, nice locations and generally caching as it should be. Our only grumble would be there are too many micros in places that could hold a larger cache, but that's not a great problem.

In between the C&N caches, we stopped to do a cache at a great location where the farmer builds a sculpture out of bales of straw every year. In the past they have done a rocket, Jodrell Bank and a windmill. This year it's a HUGE Big Ben, complete with working clocks. Very impressive indeed!

I'll shut up now as I'm beginning to sound like a right moaner and that's not my intention at all. Not the best day out caching we've had, but definitely not the worst either. At least most of the caches were really easy and thus quick finds.

On the upside, we did get 40 finds for the day and did clear quite a few caches off the closest to home not found list.

A walk around Buntingsdale Hall

I was up early this morning and as it was such a glorious day I thought I'd go out and get our closest not found to home - BEE about Buntingsdale Hall, which is just by Market Drayton and set round a lovely old country house.

We'd actually scouted the location out for a possible hide ourselves ages ago but never quite got round to taking it further so it's great to see a cache here now. The cache was a multi, with a sneaky first stage leading to a nice big ammo box.

I parked the Jeep in the same place I'd used for the nearby Drayton Daytona cache and set off on foot. I was soon at stage 1 and had a very quick find of the sneaky nano as the co-ords were bang on.

A short walk later and I was at GZ for the final cache for an easy find. Loved the woods by the final cache and the interesting old buildings strewn round the fields - obviously part of the old Tern Hill WW2 airfield.

Granville Country Park series and some closest to home Not Founds

Isaac does not start his new school until Wednesday so I thought I'd take his mind off it by going out to clear up some of our closest to home not founds today (Monday). We were going to start with the 14 new Granville Country Park caches and I'd arranged to meet up with the cache owners, Wild Goosey and Nozi Parkers, so we could all go round together.

We arrived at the parking spot to a call from the cache owners, who were going to be slightly delayed. We agreed myself and Isaac would make a start on the caches and then we could speak again when the cache owners arrived to arrange for somewhere to meet up.

Off we set along a very familiar path as I came down here to a FTF on a cache that got muggled after about 4 finds ages ago. The first cache was up a bank and a lovely big ammo box. This was to set the tone for the nice big caches we would find all the way round the old mining area that makes up the Country Park.

Several quick finds ensued before we got a call off the cache owners - they had just parked behind our Jeep. We arranged to meet up at the next cache and off we set. We got there first so I sent Isaac into the bushes to find the cache. We'd just put it back when everyone came round the corner - great to see you all again.

We're glad we had the cache owners with us for the next two caches as they were both deep in bushes (150ft or more) and pretty hard to get to. The easiest ways in were pointed out to us, which made for slightly easier going :-). On the way we also bumped into Allun from the Shropshire Seekers - great to see you again too.

A few more quick finds were had, whilst chatting away about caching as we went. We'd then finished the caches in this area so said our goodbye's to the cache owners and headed off in the Jeep for the final 4 caches in the series, which are easier to get to by driving a bit closer.

On the way to the last caches in the series we passed the local Naturist Camp so I had to explain to Isaac what went on there. He looked at me blankly as he could not understand why someone would want to wander round with no clothes on :-).

The final 4 caches were easy finds and with the series completed, we decided to head off for some sandwiches at Isaac's Grandparents who live in nearby Blymhill.

After dinner we picked up a quick drive-by in Bishops Wood (where Mrs Bolas Heathens went to primary school) and then headed off for a few more caches. Nothing too taxing here apart from one in Lilleshall which was almost certainly on private land, which made us feel very uncomfortable going for it (but not that uncomfortable we did not find it!).

Some time during the day (I won't say when as I don't want to give any clues as to the location), we also went for the final of the Big Farmer Giles series. We'd worked out the necessary co-ords surprisingly easily last night - again, I won't say how as that would ruin it for others. We arrived at the location and soon had the two sets of numbers we needed to get found. A handy bench was nearby so we stopped to try and work out the final twist in the cache.

After a while we had some co-ords which looked half plausible and were not too far away. We were not that confident they were the right ones but we thought we'd have a look anyway. As we arrived, plenty of hint items were there, so it looked promising. Indeed it was and we soon pulled the ammo box out of it's hidey hole :-).

A nice few hours out caching, some really nice caches and some of them done in great company too. Perfect!

More Big Cats Trail and Jeep Safari caches

On Sunday it looked a nice day and I had a few hours to kill so I decided to head over and finish off the Big Farmer Giles caches so we then had all the details to work out where the final bonus cache was. We'd then have to tackle the bonus cache on another day.

I started off on another Puzzle cache, which was in essence a Multi as you had to find a micro which then lead you to an ammo box. The co-ords for the micro were in another cache in the series and hence the fact it's classified as Puzzle / Unknown cache type. The micro was an instant find as we used to have a stage of one of our multi's hidden exactly like this. The final cache then took a bit of finding as it was hidden in a very unusual way for an ammo box. I can't say any more here as it would spoil it for those who have not done the cache.

Next, it was off to find the final of another multi. We'd found the first two stages of this yesterday but run out of time to find the final cache. Today it was like doing a Traditional as I went straight to the final cache location. I saw a very obvious (but sneaky) place for a cache but discounted it as I did not think anyone would hide a cache in that sort of place. After exhausting all other possibilities, I thought I'd take a sneaky peek anyway and there the cache was! Great when you see a new hide as you don't get to see them that often once you've found a few caches.

Lastly, it was a quick multi along a quiet lane. We'd found stage 1 yesterday but I'd forgotten my notes today so could not remember the co-ords that were in stage 1. Not a problem as it was easy to start the cache from the beginning again and I was soon searching for the final cache. I'd seen a note about bees coming out of a hole in the hedge (the cache is in a hole in the hedge) so after a quick and nervous check of various places, I opted for the sensible route of calling the cache owner for more detailed instructions as I did not want to accidentally disturb the bees. A quick find then ensued.

Now back home in time for dinner and some pondering over what to do with the 64 individual clues we have collected in order to work out where the bonus cache is!

Big Cats Trail and Jeep Safari Series

We only got back from holiday on Thursday afternoon so were still jet-lagged and did not fancy the usual Saturday caching trip. Whilst we'd been away, quite a few new caches had come out near to home so we decided to have an easier day and try and clear up some of the newest caches.

The nearest group was two interlinked series by Big Farmer Giles (BFG) stretching from Stanton upon Hine Heath to Lee Brockhurst. Knowing BFG the hides were going to be creative and sneaky as experience has taught us to expect anything when doing a BFG cache. We were not disappointed!

We started the caches off with the nearest to home, which was an easy drive-by ammo box with the words "Homeward Bound" in the cache name. Trust us to do the last cache as the first one!

Next, we started off on a 4 stage multi, whilst also looking out for the first stage on a Puzzle cache and the first stage on another multi. Our heads were spinning with all this as we're not quite on UK time yet. Needless to say we totally missed the first stage of the Puzzle cache (we were not sure what we were looking for anyway) and failed to find the first stage of the second multi. We did find all 4 stages of the first multi and located the final ammo box with no problems.

Next, we carried on to two relatively easy traditionals before backtracking with a better of idea of what we should be looking for on the Puzzle cache. The puzzle actually ended up with 3 solutions, all along the same lane and as is typical with these things, it was the third and last location that yielded the first stage of the multi! We plotted the final box location and realised we'd only just parked right next to it - doh! A quick find then ensued :-).

We then re-located to the top end of the series and set off on foot again for some more traditionals along the Shropshire Way. Two quick finds were then had, although it took us ages to bushwhack in to the second cache as it's well of a PF and I think we came in from a direction it was not intended for us to use. Not to worry as we got there in the end.

Next, we started on another multi, which was along Papermill Bank - the only Byway Open To All Traffic that now exists in North Shropshire. The micro was in the last place we looked (it would be wouldn't it ;-)). The final cache was then an easy find and was fun to get as we had to scale the sides of the sandstone canyon that the Byway goes through.

We moved the Jeep back to the start of the Byway and set off along another PF to do a Traditional and a Multi. The first stage of the multi was right by where we'd parked and a quick find. We then had a quick find of the Traditional before heading off to stage 2 of the multi. I can't really say much about the rest of the multi here as it would give it away but take it from us, it's a belter of a cache and a must do if you are in the area. A very sneaky container, a twist on the hide, a great hidden gem of a location further on in the multi and yet another twist in the plot all make this a fabulous cache.

A few quick traditionals finished us off for the day as time was getting on and we were starting to flag. There are another 4 caches to do in the series but they will have to wait for another day.

13 finds in total, which is well below our normal find rate but we don't normally do multi's and quite a few of the 13 were very involved multi's. We've really enjoyed a complete change to our normal caching day.

Stranded in the Mojave Desert and a broken GPSr

I was not going to blog on holiday but just had to post the following story that happened to us yesterday (taken from our log on GCH97A):

Oh how we laughed on this one.

We were on our way from Vegas to LA and our minivan was having big problems going up the huge incline to the top of the pass. First I noticed the temperature gauge was showing a little hot, then the engine started rough running, then the temperature gauge swung to max and a few warning lights came on.

We pulled over to read the rental car manual to see what the lights on the dash meant. It looked like an electrical problem and said we would be ok to continue but that performance of the vehicle might be downgraded.

Off we set, but the car was being really slow and started marking a clanking sound. After a very short time the engine cut out totally and we had to stop at the side of the road and call Dollar for assistance. They said they would send a tow truck and replacement van out from Vegas but that it would be a 2 hour wait.

Hmmm... 2 hours in the desert at 113 degrees with no air-con. This is going to be fun. At least there is a nice breeze to make things seem not quite as hot as they were and we'd had the sense to bring tons of cold drinks for the journey.

Out of boredom I turned on my GPSr and could not believe it when I saw a cache 0.4 miles away. I did a double take when I saw the name of the cache - how very appropriate (the cache was called "Blown Engine Cache").

Off I set along the side of the road, up off the Freeway and along to the cache. I spotted the potential hide as I walked up and sure enough there the lovely big ammo box was.

As I was putting the cache back, my Oregon 550t swung unexpectedly on it's lanyard and made contact with one of the cache hiding rocks. I heard the horrible crack sound and knew the screen had gone. Sure enough it had. Luckily I know Garmin are really good at replacing them, but it will cost me about $120 for the privilege.

Could the day get any worse - stranded in the desert and a broken GPS. At least we found the cache though.

Just short of two hours after we stopped, a tow truck arrived with a replacement van and we were soon back on our way.