A busy week. Hardly anything was happening apart from a quick cache and dash at new caching friends Tank0115's home cache. Then a phone call to remap a Mini up in Cumbria came. A pocket query later and we were on our way. So since the last blog we have clocked up another 32 finds.
We picked up a few caches once we hit the welcom to the Lake District signs. The first was a bit mental, a roadside cache and dash, it was actually more of a cache and scramble! FNF - Crag Fast (Eastbound) http://coord.info/GC2XKQ9 had Keith doing the climb before bringing the box down for us to look at and sign. If this first cache was anything to go by we might just be having some fun. This is the most difficult cache and dash that we have done (so far)
 |
| More of a cache and scramble! |
 |
| FNF Leven Bridge |
After arriving at the campsite we were more than a little frustrated to find that although we had the tent, we didn't have the tent poles to go with it. Camping Rule 1 broken, always check that you have your camping equipment.
A quick check for a local Tesco superstore that sold tents had us on our way up to Millom. Once the necessary was purchased it was time to get in to some serious caching. The day was getting hotter as we started caching in earnest.
 |
| Feeding The Ducks |
 |
| Sea Dragon |
 |
| Escaping The Sea Dragon |
As I say, this series did take us to some interesting spots. Another cache that was in a good place was Haverigg Lighthouse. http://coord.info/GC1RXV3 The lighthouse itself has been adopted as the symbol of the local primary school who campaigned a few years ago to have it restored and the pupils have been appointed honorary lighthouse keepers. It is fitted with a solar powered light. The light can be seen 12 miles out to sea. The lighthouse was restored with the help of a Lottery Heritage Grant of £20,000 a few years back.
 |
| Hodbarrow Lighthouse |
It is slightly confusing as the cache is called Haverigg Lighthouse whereas in fact the structure itself is called Hodbarrow Lighthouse.
This area was originally an iron ore mine and is rich in stories and mine buildings. Another couple of good caches were Kneeling At The Alter http://coord.info/GCMCJ9 another of those long standing caches that have stood the test of time. This one has been in place since 2004. It seemed fitting with the name of the cache to leave a geocoin in there that I had picked up in Sheffield called Ian & Sharon's Lovespoon TB2Q7DF The geocoin was small enough to fit in the tightly packed container.
 |
| Kneeling At The Alter (a tightly packed container |
By now we were steaming along picking up caches at a good rate of knots (sorry couldn't resist the nautical term) As we continued onwards the sizes of the caches meant that I was able to leave a trackable in most of them. The next trackable that I left was in a cache called Hodbarrow Point, http://coord.info/GC1Q0GJanother another structure, and this time the cache was hidden inside. I always like caches where I have to enter a building. I left a geocoin in here that had been left in my Ye Olde Trip cache back in Nottingham by its German Owners. Black Spider TB3KBXA wants to see the world.
 |
| Me at Hodbarrow Point |
As our days caching came to an end we were feeling pretty lucky that not only had we had really good weather and a few decent sized finds, but also that they were all in good condition and well maintained.
The following day was an early start again, only to be expected as not only was it very warm, but we were also cramped in the new, extremely small two man tent. We were just glad that the dogs had settled in the Jeep overnight okay.
After a couple of basic, simple drive by caches it was time to look for an Earthcache. To be fair, we haven't really done that many before, in fact we have two local ones here in Nottingham to do yet by our caching friend Northking.
This particular Earthcache is called Donkey Rocks http://coord.info/GC1DG2V and is in a strange little location. With the early morning bird sounds you could almost imagine that Pterodactyls were calling and flying above you.!
 |
| Donkey Rocks |
As we hadn't eaten breakfast at the campsite we headed for the nearby village of Broughton to find a cafe for a bacon butty and coffee. However, when we got there it was still too early and everywhere was still closed. Time to look at what local caches there were and we found three on the old Foxfield to Coniston railway line. We thought that once we had done those we would turn back and the cafe would be open. However, once completed we noted that there were more caches quite local to where we were so we continued with those. A nice little series, dedicated to winners of the Dickin Medal, the highest award that an animal can receive. Each of the series has a story about why the medal was awarded. Quite often the medals were awarded during wartime, but this particular cache was dedicated to two dogs who helped their owners when the WTC was attacked back in 2001. http://coord.info/GC2FW56 The Dickin medal is named after Maria Dickin, who founded the PDSA. This seems an appropriate moment to post a photo of our three enjoying their latest caching adventures.
 |
| Rum, Fen & Meg |
 |
| A local dozes in the sunshine |
 |
| A crafty little fella |
 |
| This was fun! |
Cache Bag Top Ten
So, what's in your cache bag? Our top ten are:~
- Pens and pencils
- Spare logsheets (various sizes)
- Stamps for logs, in case we get lazy writing
- Pencil case with trackables for moving on
- Pencil case with trade items
- Tweezers
- Walking pole, well not actually in the bag, but attached to it. Handy for poking around
- Magnifying glass
- Emergency money, usually just a couple of pound coins
- Hand sanitizer, just in case
The Social Traveller
Finally, I wanted to tell you about an idea that our caching friend Andy of The Walker-Clan up in Warrington had. He decided to set off travelling a virtual TB. He wanted to see how far this TB would travel, just by word of mouth on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It started off slowly but has now quickly gathered momentum and in just over a week has travelled almost 61000 miles. If you would like to move this trackable on, Andy has given me permission to post a photograph of the TB here on the blog. Have a look at the mission, and if you want to grab it and move it on, then get in touch with me for the tracking number. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, any amount of miles, from 1 to 10000 would be a welcome addition.
Don't forget, get in touch and I will give you the tracking number so that you can move it on.
I don't know what this week will bring, but in a couple of weeks time we are off to Anglesey, so hopefully we will have another good bunch of finds then that I can tell you about. There will also be an update on the TB race, including news about Groundspeak getting in touch with us about the race.
For now, as usual, happy caching.
No comments:
Post a Comment