A quick trip to Birmingham

I had to pop to the Apple Store in the Bullring in Birmingham as one of our wireless routers in the house packed up suddenly last night. As I was driving down the M6 I was thinking there are no city centre caches left for us to do. I then realised that the Cole Challenge cache we could not find on Sunday was no more than 2 miles from the Bullring (or thereabouts) so took the 'scenic' route via the cache.

I parked up close to the cache and walked the 0.15 to GZ. I'd had a hint on the cache after our DNF so this narrowed down our search area. It still took an age to find the cache and when I finally did find it, I kicked myself as it was on the only tree in the whole wooded area we'd not already checked.

I was thinking I better get to the Apple Store and then back home as I'm supposed to be working today but could not resist bagging the other loose end from Sunday's caching - the Ward End Park Bonus cache.

A short drive later and I was parking up for the bonus cache. I did not have a GPSr with me but did have my iPhone. The only problem being I only have the co-ords for the bonus cache on a scrap of paper in my pocket and I don't know how you can input co-ords into the iPhone. I thus checked the approximate direction and distance of the cache off TomTom before I jumped out of the Jeep and set off for a quick bit of naked caching.

I need not have worried as it was a really easy find in the obvious place and I did not need the GPS at all.

Now, to try and work out how to get from here to the Bullring using minimal TomTom as it's more fun that way. I set off in what I imagined was the direction of the city centre and was not far wrong as I was soon parking up by the lovely Selfridges building and heading off on foot.

On a final note, I did not have a pen with me for either cache and as they did not have pens in themselves, I had to sign both logs with a smudge of mud and add photos of this to my logs to prove my find.

Cole Challenge Series, Ward End Park and Bescot

We'd switched our normal day out caching to Sunday and were looking forward to trying the Cole Challenge, a new set of 16 caches along the banks of the River Cole in E/NE Birmingham. They looked to have lots of sneaky hides and something a bit more of a challenge - just the kind of thing we enjoy.

We set off and had intended to come off the M6 to the north of the caches near The Fort but as we drove along the M6 it was clear that the motorway exit we thought was here did not seem to exist. We ended up having to carry on to the M42 and then coming off by the NEC. Quite a bit of a detour but it was still early and the roads were quiet, so not a great problem.

We parked up not far from #4 in the series and got the bikes out of the Jeep. We had intended to do the series in sections, moving the Jeep round as we go and picking off caches near to where we park before moving on to the next section. As it turned out, it was easier to just do the whole series plus a few others in one go by bike.

The first cache was a quick find, although you'd struggle to get it if you were short. The next one we could not find so decided to have another look on the way back. We had just found the third cache when someone cycled up and said hello. It was Luke, who caches as m3vvb and whom I'd been chatting to on Facebook last night trying to work out the best way of tackling the series. We joined forces and did the rest of the caches with Luke, even though he'd already found some of them so just stood back to watch us search.

When we returned to the one we had just DNF'd, Isaac spotted it after a short search. A really nice hide which blends in perfectly. The rest of the series was uneventful apart from one DNF (at cache #8) and quite a few sneaky hides, which I won't go into detail about here as I don't want to spoil it for anyone who has not done the series.

At the end of the series, we did three other caches that were by the River and were on the way anyway. One, Bridge over the River Cole, we'd DNF'd the last time we were in the area (it had been muggled at the time I think) but was a quick find today.

We then made the long ride back to #8 for another look. After quite a long search (well, 10-15 minutes anyway) we still could not spot it. A micro in the woods with a hint that meant it could be anywhere is never going to be easy. It's a shame we could not get this one as it would have meant we'd finished the series, but never mind, that's life sometimes.

We said our goodbye's to Luke and headed off to the Jeep for our sandwiches. After this, we decided to go to the Ward End Park series - a set of 5 caches plus a bonus cache around a nice looking park not too far from the M6. We set off on our bikes and soon had all 5 caches bagged. We did a double take when we plotted the co-ords of the bonus cache as it was about a mile away and nowhere near the park. Hmmm, we're not going that way so that one will have to wait for a future visit.

We'd planned to finish the day with the new set of caches near Bescot - that's just by the RAC Building where the M6 and M5 meet, if you don't know the area. Isaac planned a route over to there, via a few quick and easy caches.

Two quick Sidetracked caches followed, then one called A Piece Of Cake, which was anything but the cache name and totally eluded us. We gave up after a short search as we did not like all the rubbish at GZ. We also had another DNF on a micro behind one of those horrible metal fences with bars everywhere. The cache could have been literally anywhere and as is usual with this kind of hide, we got bored and moved on. Not sure we'll be back to be honest as we don't like this kind of hide at all as it's not fun to look for.

Next on the list was one in the Grub Grab series. We'd seen this mentioned on one of the forums (or was it Facebook?) when the series came out and did not have high hopes for it but were pleasantly surprised. The cache was quite near a McDonalnds admittedly, but it was in a nice looking park just out of sight of McDonalnds and was a Regular sized box with some decent swaps in. Not bad at all for an urban cache and certainly much better than the usual nano you get in these situations.

We had yet another DNF at Sidetracked Tame Bridge - the cache was nowhere to be seen in the guard rail it was supposed to be in. It turns out someone must have muggled the cache and thrown it over a nearby fence as another cacher had spotted it there.

Finally it was time for the 4 caches along the wildlife area at the side of the Bescot railway depot. The first was a quick find, then we spotted a group of 20+lads racing motorbikes around the circular area where the remaining three caches were. There seemed to be quite a few bushes to hide the cache finding from them so we pressed on to see if it was possible to get the caches undetected. It was and all were nice quick finds.

Just time for a few more caches before we get back on the M6 northbound for home. A nano by a Kebab shop (why is there a cache here?), followed by another Grub Grab cache, this time outside a Pizza Hut. We then went off to find a quick drive-by near where one of the Walsall Cacher Meets had taken place.

We can squeeze one final cache in, just about, so headed off for an interesting one which was on top of what is probably the highest point in this part of Birmingham. The cache was clearly by the side of a church but all the church helpers were shutting up for the day and stood outside chatting before going some. Luckily there were some information boards nearby so we stopped to read these while we waited out the muggles. This made it worse as they then came over to tell us all about the history of the area and even popped into the church to get us some leaflets about it! All we wanted to do was find the cache, but we're glad they did stop to tell us about things as it was really interesting and really added to the cache and why we had been brought here.

38 finds for the day. We'd have loved to get 2 more to make it a round 40 but our Sunday Roast was going to be on the table by the time we got home and it was just too tempting.

Crewe and Nantwich Circular and a few other caches

On Saturday, Isaac was at school so we'd planned our main day out caching for Sunday instead. It looked like it was going to be a nice day on Saturday so I decided to head off and try and complete the Crewe and Nantwich Circular series as some of it was on our closest to home Not Found page.

I dropped Isaac off at school and headed off towards the first cache, which was the southernmost one in the series. I parked up at the end of a dead end road and walked down the track and over the fields to GZ. A quick scout around soon revealed the cache in a nice spot by a small stream.

Next I headed off to clear up a DNF from a few weeks ago. It was a micro in ivy in an area covered in ivy. Thankfully I'd had a small pointer from the cache owner so was able to narrow down my search to a smaller area and soon spotted the cache. How the heck I'd missed it last time I don't know, but I seem to be in good company with the DNF as several other high finders have failed on it too.

The next few caches were up the west side of Nantwich and were all nice and easy with some decent length walks to get to them. The last of these was down as a multi cache but had a logbook in each stage. I could not decide if it should really be two separate Traditional caches, but I guess it does not really matter.

Another previous DNF was next on the list and sure enough I soon had the cache in hand. I'd been looking on the other side of the bridge last time as that was where the GPSr was trying to take me. I then set off over the fields for the next cache in this circular walk but the farmer had recently trimmed the hedge and the cache was nowhere to be seen. The wind was whipping a gale over the flat, open fields and I was not enjoying myself so decided to leave the rest of this walk for a nicer day and move on to a new area.

I could not resist popping up to Shakerley Mere, just north of Holmes Chapel as we'd totally missed two new caches there the last time we were in the area. We'd literally driven right past the woods they are in on the way to other caches, blissfully un-aware that they were there. Two nice quick finds were had - what a lovely spot for a cache too. I had a lovely walk around the Mere in between the two caches.

More DNF clearup's followed with a trip into Holmes Chapel for one we did not have time for last time and then the final three Cheshire Railings caches that we'd not done last time - or rather we'd DNF'd the first two and totally missed going for the third.

By this time I'd done a grand circle round the Holmes Chapel area and was back in Sandbach. Lots of new caches in this area so what a bit of fortuitous planning, even if I do say so myself ;-).

A quick one on the Wheelock Rail Trail (an old railway line that is now a lovely cycleway) was followed by a DNF at Sandbach Station. The cache was in a laurel bush at the side of some playing fields in a park. As I arrived, the coast was clear so off I went to look through the bushes. As I was searching some young lads arrived to play football right by the laurel bush I was behind. Hmmmm - only a matter of time before I start getting strange looks as a lone male in some bushes appearing to be watching young lads. Time for a hasty exit methinks... (I'm pretty sure the cache was not there anyway).

I opted to get out of the urban areas now and head off for the nearby Missing Pieces series. Not much to report here apart from lots of easy finds, a quick rainshower and then a DNF at the last one. The hint said "leave no stone unturned" and I didn't leave any stones unturned. I also did not find the cache and can't think where it is, unless it's missing.

Time was getting on by now and I still had the 5 Crewe and Nantwich Circular caches down the east side of Crewe to do so off I headed.

The first was a lovely walk through a field of HUGE maize which was great fun. I nearly missed the cache as I was expecting it to be magnetic given where it was hidden, but it was just lying on the ground under the item at GZ.

I then walked down the PF on the other side of the road from this cache and onward to the Little End and Big End caches. I think the cache owner had intended Little End to be the last one in the series but then decided to put out a bigger cache for the final cache. You have to find Little End to get the co-ords for Big End, which is then a short walk away. Highlight of the walk was catching a glimpse of the lovely Haslingden Hall - a fantastic timber framed building.

Just two more for the series now. The first was a longer walk along the edge of a railway line, first through woodland and then on a boardwalk over some lovely wetlands. The cache was a nano (not sure why it's not a much bigger container in such a rural location, but hey, it's a smiley).

The final cache of the day was a DNF from last time as the cache was missing (or was it - read on!). The hint mentioned a Beech tree so I'd swatted up on my leaves so I knew which trees to look at in the woods. Little did I know virtually every tree there was a beech - doh! A systematic search around GZ soon paid dividends though and I had the cache in hand. The odd thing was I think it must have been the original cache as the logbook was signed by all sorts of people. The cache owner had checked the old cache was missing and placed a temporary micro for now in it's place. The cache I found was a small and not a micro so I suspect there is now two caches in the woods.

That's the Crewe and Nantwich Circular series finished now and it's just about teatime so I'll head off home to get set up for the day out with Isaac tomorrow.

24 finds in total and some great walking.

Canal caching on the Warwickshire border

Isaac had a day off Saturday school this weekend so we both were looking forward to a great day out caching together. The weather was looking good due to the high pressure system that is sat over the UK at the moment so we settled on a set of caches along the Oxford Canal right by the border of Warwickshire with Northampton.

We soon arrived at the first cache in the hamlet of Marston Doles. As we drove up, we spotted some handy parking right by the canal bridge - perfect! We got our bikes out of the Jeep and off we set.

The first cache was a nice easy one to get us started. There was only one place it could be and indeed that's where it was. We then headed off along the canal towpath picking up caches as we went. All nice easy finds and all nice sized boxes, just the way we like them.

We'd planned the first part of the day to be a circular bike ride, coming off the canal near Priors Hardwick and then up to the village and back to where we started via footpaths across the fields. We were not sure if we'd manage to get the bikes down the paths on the return leg but we need not have worried as most of it was hard pack tracks, with only a few fields to walk the bikes through along the way.

Once back at the Jeep, we got back on the towpath for the 4 caches to the north of where we'd parked. The first one was muggle central when we arrived so we decided to save it for the return leg. The other three were nice easy finds - the only thing of note was a collapsed towpath at one point, making the path only about 1ft wide. On the return leg, the first cache was deserted so we had a nice quick find.

Next, we drove round to the village of Priors Hardwick to grab a quick cache by the beautiful village church.

A short drive down the road and we were at our first of the Alphanumeric Northants series. This seems to be a mirror of Messe's excellent Alpha Quest in Oxfordshire, which we'd enjoyed finishing absolutely ages ago. We're trying very hard not to get drawn into this series as well as Messe's one had us doing stupid things like driving from Shropshire to Cambridge to Winchester to Oxford, all in a day and all just to pick up two essential TB's we needed for the series.

After a short drive down to the next canal stage at the start of the Spice series, we stopped to have our sandwiches. Suitably fortified we set off on our bikes along the towpath for more caches. Nothing much to report along here apart from a very thorny path with hawthorn bits and pieces all over the place. It was only a matter of time before we got a puncture and indeed just before the last cache of this stretch Isaac got a front tyre puncture.

We stopped to mend it and noticed his back tyre had gone too. Some time later I had them both fixed and off we set, a bit more carefefully this time. Not careful enough though as he had yet another puncture within a few minutes :-(. We walked the bikes up to the bridleway over the fields (which was the quickest route back to the Jeep) and stopped to fix the puncture. I then spotted that I'd got a front tyre one myself - hmmmm!

With about an hour wasted on punctures in total we were very glad to be off this section of towpath and were soon back at the Jeep.

Just time for a few more caches before heading home so we drove round to the next section of canal caches, hoping the towpath would be better here (it was!).

As we pulled up, the area looked familiar as we were sure we'd been here to do other caches absolutely ages ago. We walked down the path to the canal and sure enough, we'd been here to do a set of Oxford Canal caches by a cacher called theblack. We had five caches along this part of the canal to do and apart from the first one, all were nice and easy as I think whoever had set them had re-used some of theblack's locations. Everything was *very* familiar to us both.

Time was getting on by now so we headed back for the Jeep for the drive home. Isaac was navigating and took us via a final two caches along yet another canal towpath. This time we walked them as we could not be bothered getting the bikes out one more time and fancied stretching our legs before the drive home anyway.

The first was a quick find, the second took a bit longer but was a belter of a hide and easily the best hide of the day.

40 finds for the day, which is very satisfying. We've both had a cracking day out (despite the punctures).

A Sunday afternoon dog walk around Haughmond Hill, plus a new cache...

We were child free this afternoon so we set off to visit the local dog's home to see about a new dog. Unfortunately they had nothing to suit so we'll have to try again another time.

As we had both the dogs with us in the car and the closest unfound to home was at Haughmond Hill, which is a perfect dog-walking area, we decided to kill two birds with one stone.

We parked up in the main car park and set off along the paths through the woods to the cache. It took me quite a while to grab the cache as the nearby path was busy with Sunday afternoon walkers and I kept having to stop searching while they went past. Pesky muggles!

I eventually found the cache in the really obvious place that I'd looked at first, but obviously not hard enough.

We then carried on our walk to make it circular. The dogs absolutely loved the walk in a place they have not been to many times.

After dropping the dogs off at home and having a cuppa, we set off for another walk near home to explore an area where they have just put in a new pedestrian bridge over the River Meese. We took a cache along just in case there was anywhere suitable for it.

We've wanted to put a cache out here ever since our other Meesechievous caches were set so we're glad the area has finally been smartened up and the cache is now in place.

I've submitted the cache this morning so let's see how long it takes to get published.

A clear-out of the new caches around Wolverhampton

Isaac had his first Saturday at his new school today so as the weather was so nice I decided to pop out on my own and have a day out caching. Lots of new caches seem to have come out around Wolverhampton so it seemed like a logical place to aim for.

The first target for the day was a series of about 10 caches called Moseley Meander. On the way I picked up a quick drive-by by the M54 and then was soon in the Country Park car park getting ready for a nice walk around the Moseley caches. I recognised the area from a previous cache of snerdbe's which we did in the very early days of our caching.

The first cache was an easy find - I noted that the Soggy Campers had found it already today, so was wondering how far ahead of me as it was still quite early. I did not have to wait long as I spotted them as I walked up to the second cache. Great to meet you both.

They mentioned they could not find this one and returned to it with me to double check. Sure enough it's nowhere to be seen, so that's the first DNF of the day logged!

I walked on to the next cache with them, chatting away about caching as we went. Another easy find was had here before we both went on our respective ways. I then carried on along the loop of caches back to the car park with nothing much to report other than lots of very easy finds.

I then drove round to a closer place for the final two caches of the series and walked in for two more quick finds. Next, I had the new Essington Moat caches on the list and so off I set. I could not spot the first one at all despite a really good hunt round the area of GZ. That's another DNF to add to my logs!

Thankfully the next two caches were nice and easy with the final one being in some woods I'm sure we've been to for a snerdbe cache a long time ago. As I was walking back to the Jeep the familiar face of Andy from AndynElaine was coming down the field. Great to meet you again :-).

Next I had planned a few quick drive-by's before heading off into deepest Wolverhampton for more caches. One of these was at the end of a trail of 4 caches which seemed to not use any marked paths on my OS map. As I arrived I saw they were connected by a nice hard pack path and were along a lovely linear nature reserve. The sun had just come out and I could not resist a beautiful walk along the old canal to find them.

All nice quick finds. As I was walking back to the Jeep I could see a couple in some bushes by a cache I'd found earlier so crept up behind them and shouted "HAVE YOU FOUND IT YET?". After nearly jumping out of their skins (:-)) I was to meet Suebedz. Great to see you too! That's three caching teams bumped into today and it's not yet midday :-).

A quick and unremarkable Sidetracked cache followed before I headed off to Willenhall to try for a new series there. On the way I got a PAF call from some caching friends from Newcastle Under Lyme on a cache we did ages ago near Bolton. Thankfully I could remember where the cache was and had them with cache in hand in no time.

I struggled to find anywhere to park for the Willenhall caches and it was taking longer to park up than it was to find the cache. Double yellow lines, double red lines, one way systems, road works - they all conspired to make this a frustrating part of the day so I decided to knock it on the head after 3 finds and move on to somewhere quieter (and more rural).

On the way I could not resist a quick return to find the two DNF's we had a few months ago on snerdbe's canal series on the west side of Wolverhampton. Both were quick finds for me today and I managed to bag another cache at an old bridge on the way between the two.

I'd been looking forward to Scooby, Scrappy and MP's new cache series near Pattingham all day as they always have great hides and are always a good walk. I was not to be disappointed today either!

I started by parking up at the southern end of the caches and heading off up the Monarch's Way on a lovely circular walk round just over half of the series. Highlight of the walk was coming round the corner of some woods to be confronted with a lovely field of sunflowers, which looked absolutely fabulous. Lowlight of the walk was going base over bayonet in my enthusiasm to get closer to the sunflowers once I'd seen them. I'd glad no-one was around to see my attempt at unpowered flight ;-).

After I got back to the Jeep I drove round to the southern end of the top part of the series via a lane with a ford that was marked as "not suitable for cars". This is normally a good sign that the lane is *very* much suitable for 4x4's and indeed this one was. I loved driving along through the water in the ford, which extended down the road for quite some length.

After finding somewhere safe to park, I set off for the final 3 caches of the series, which were all easy finds. The last one was very close to somewhere we've been in the past for a Washers cache that is now archived (or at least I assume it is). Somewhere along the series I found the bonus cache, which was in a ready made spot for a cache.

I still had an hour or so spare so headed off to find the 4 remaining caches around Chillington and Brewood, near to the in-laws house. All nice quick finds, with the last one being my favourite as it was a nice long walk into the middle of nowhere in particular and was perfectly peaceful.

37 finds for the day and a lovely day out in some lovely countryside.

An impromptu trip to Stafford

I had to pay some cheques in at the bank and the nearest branch is in Stafford, so I decided to find a few caches on the way home to make the trip a bit more interesting.

After I'd finished at the bank I headed off for the first two caches which were by the River Sow, near the town centre. I parked up at Morrisons and walked along the river to bag the two easy caches.

Next, I moved the Jeep round to park close to a canal in the suburbs and had a short walk to another cache. From there I went off to find another canal cache. There was no obvious place to park for this one as it was set by a narrowboater so I ended up at the end of a dead end lane and walking through a farmyard (which I later realised was not a Public Footpath!) to the canal. Thankfully the cache was a quick find and I was back at the Jeep really quickly.

A short drive up the M6 to the north side of Stafford saw me looking for a quick cache by a memorial to an American WW2 fighter pilot who crashed his plane here whilst attempting to avoid hitting the houses in the town.

It was now time to start heading home so off I set, but not before grabbing another 3 quick caches. All easy finds and a lovely longer walk for the last cache to a great little hidden location I'd not have known about otherwise.