Cambridge - Geocache

So me and Lewis have moved up to Bedford (which means a whole new area of caches to explore!) I haven't done a blog post for quite sometime although me and Lewis have done some caches here and there. 

We decided to travel to Cambridge for the day and explore the local area!

Belt tightening

This cache was very unique and very different, it's located on the corner of Christ's Pieces park. You have to really think open minded and take the title of the cache into mind. We did spend quite a while standing there staring into space wondering where this cache could be. Once you notice it, it is very out of place!

 

Although this does require quite a bit of stealth as people would probably wonder why you're removing some black belt off of a lamp post! 

1496 And All That

We did attempt this cache but were sadly unsuccessful, after wondering around the location trying to get to the co-ordinates it was quite frustrating not being able to find the cache. I could even borderline say that's quite a silly cache yet clever.

Cambridge Central Library

Now this is probably one of the best caches me and Lewis have yet discovered. It's a mystery cache but it's actually quite easy compared to some of the riddles we've encountered on Mystery caches. 

You have to answer several questions in which the answers are actually located in the library. This then gives you co-ordinates outside of the library. Outside of the library you will find part 1 of the cache which then tells you where to find the cache inside the actual library. 

I didn't show any images of the answers to the questions or what you find at part 1 purely because I don't want to spoil this cache and make it an easy find for anyone. It is definitely worth the time and was a great unique cache hidden in plain sight!

We do plan to do several more caches soon and get back into the caching game, but for now we added these unique finds to out collection!

The Return, Chichester - Geocache

After a while of not doing a series me and Lewis decided to head to Chichester Marina and start another series where the Lipchis canal series finished. it was also mine and Lewis' 1st year anniversary so it was nice to visit the location that our 2nd date (also the same day he asked me to be his boyfriend) took place! We only went from 1-9 as the series can be done in two parts, it's quite a big walk to do in one, we'll do the rest another time soon! 

You can watch the journey here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFjE5Ee2dKo

The Return 1

An easy cache but hard for your eyes to adjust too among the bush, it's right at the start of the footpath so I assume in the summer it's muggle central!

The Return 2

 A small container, easy to spot but I think my eye is just becoming well trained in spotting English trail caches! We also dropped of a trackable here that we picked up in Florence from Fort Belvedere, I shall also link to it's own travel blog update once completed. These caches have lovely logs, nice big notebooks that have lots of room to write the date and your name!

The Return 3

Slightly obvious to spot as the brick were unnaturally stacked by I suppose a passer by wouldn't suspect a thing!

Just a little further up you can see a small barn with lots of cows in. Not very exciting but it's a break from all the green lovely scenery!

The Return 4

 This cache was marked as under maintenance but checking the logs I saw that someone had fixed it, I added it to the GPS just in case it was there and behold it was! It was previously believed to be vandalised but it is kind of suspicious with some twigs stacked up on a tree. Perhaps the farmer was sick of people hanging around near his cows. 

The Return 5

At a 45 degree angle.. I wonder where it could be!

In among some stinging nettles of course.

The Return 6

 A nice little co-ordinates cache (multi-cache). I did wonder how there would be one at first when it was just open field after open field and then there was this random sign in the middle of no where to get the answers to the questions! It's about the Airfield, gives you something to learn along the walk. 

After putting in the co-ordinates you can easily find the cache hidden away, there were lots of little mice running around, they must have been protecting the cache from any more vandals! 

The Return 7

High in a tree, easy to see and probably a bit odd to anyone who spots it. A random box in a tree! It did have a one off signature in it that wasn't in the previous cache or the one after so maybe someone spotted it and decided to add their name.

The Return 8

 Hiding lower in a tree this time, not as easy to spot as it's tucked away but still an easy find!

Reaching Dell Quay and it was quite a nice view, not so much the smell though. It was a very sunny day and seemed to be hotter than when we set off. Very nice place that I haven't visited before, we plan to park up here when we continue the caches.

The Return 9

 Last for the day but not least! Hidden in a overgrowth behind a post, tucked away and probably the most well hidden cache so far. 

 #9 is located right by this pub, The Crown & Anchor. It looked lovely inside but we already had dinner plans so sadly didn't go inside. It was such a beautiful day with no breeze and the view from the pub was great! The seats outside looked like they had an even better view but if you plan on stopping by and it's not very nice weather you'd still get a great view inside. (Slightly expensive with cod and chips costing £14 but I bet it taste great!)

 We headed back to the Marina after 9 and then went and enjoyed a nice Indian, where we also ate on our date. We ended up walking for 56 minutes one way and that was 3.7km - 2.2 miles but Lewis turned of the GPS so the total distance would be an average of 3 miles as we walked a shorter footpath back! The first photo was taken at half past 2 and the last video was shot at quarter to 5 so  we were out for 2 hours and 15 minutes. I'd estimate we walked for about an hour and 45 minutes there and back! It was lovely day, with nice and easy caches. They were all small containers so made for nice trades and trackables. Will be nice to finish the series!

Bognorama

We decided to do a big co-ordinates cache today that was estimated to take about two hours, so this post will be about just one geocache (plus one extra along the way.) This cache takes you on a walk around Bognor Regis and Felpham, collecting clues and writing the numbers to each clue for one letter of the final co-ordinates. 

We first had to head towards the Town Hall and collect some numbers from a date of birth to death that belonged to Major General Sir Christopher Charles Teesdale. Christopher Teesdale was buried in South Bersted, Bognor in his family tomb. To read more about Christopher Teesdale click here. (During Junior school I happened to be in the house of Teesdale!) 

The next set of co-ordinates took us along the promenade, although it was a very cloudy day it wasn't cold! The walk headed towards Felpham and we had to pick up several clues in the gap between Bognor and reaching Felpham. 

Bognor is home to one of the UK's popular holiday/tourist attractions 'Butlins'. Whenever you need to explain to someone where Bognor is, you always say "You know, where Butlins is!" Or you can just pretend you live in Chichester and that you'd never step foot in the lands of Bognor Regis. 

Reaching Felpham beach has a completely different feel, I can't even place my finger on what's so different about it but if you live local you know when you've "crossed the border". 

We picked up another cache from here "Lobsters For Lunch (Second course)". This is a premium member cache so if you aren't a member you won't be able to see this cache! (Sorry!) It's a sneaky find and quite well hidden, it's a very high muggle area in the summer so luckily today there weren't as many people about. It's also out of the way of the local restaurant so you're just out of sight. 

We had a stop off here for some lunch and attracted the attention of my favourite British bird, The Robin. They're such friendly birds compared to any other in the UK and they'll come up very close if you have something to offer. Although when claiming territory they aren't very nice to their own kind.. 

We ventured in from the coast and visited this house of a famous resistant. This house belonged to the poet, writer, painter and print maker William Blake. It's quite a sweet and cosey house! He did only live here for three years though...

I did slack on pictures from here on I'm afraid, there wasn't really much to photograph. Once we ended up in Hotham park, belonging to Sir Richard Hotham (another famous resistant) we worked out all of the placings of clues and made the final co-ordinates. We got two wrong, we still aren't really sure how but after some guess work we figured out the final location. This part of the cache did annoy me because we'd worked out all of the clues and yet the final co-ordinates weren't even the final location we had to guess 50ft and then find the right "shrub" it was describing. It also annoyed me because the cache co-ordinates on the map are pretty much the final co-ordinates location. I don't know why it annoyed me, it felt like we'd read all these clues (some of which were actually hard to understand what it meant) to find a location that "wasn't the co-ordinates" but then turned out to be the co-ordinates!

Lewis put up with me moaning but I did enjoy the walk! It's a nice walk but I just felt some of the clues were like a puzzle to work out when they weren't supposed to be and if you got one wrong it messed up your whole final outcome. We ended up walking for 1 hour and 23 minutes with a stop time of 56 minutes (including lunch and a slight detour we took). We walked 5.2km - 3.2 miles. 

Various Caches, Burpham - Geocaches

We traveled to Burpham, Arundel along with my mum and partners dad and step-mum. My partner's family introduced us to Geocaching so we've done a few treks with them! They go by the name Kashpop so this would be our first time writing down two names in the logs. Kashpop planned the caches and I took a trackable along in hopes to get rid and move on. (Unsuccessful as the caches were too small.) The caches are a variety of shapes and included co-ordinate caches and traditional, there are some part of a series and some random one offs. The caches we did travel along different types of terrain including some steep, gradual and flat terrain. 

Burpham - Jacobs Ladder

This cache was an easy find, if you looked under the right post. It was quite easy to see from the footpath. The log in this cache was inside an old film pot which was then inside a slightly larger container, making it extra dry! 

Walking along the footpath we discovered at the top of the cliff/hill there was what appeared to be, a cave! Running up was the only way but half way up you needed to grab on to the fallen tree otherwise you'd loose momentum and fall back down!

 Lewis was hoping there'd be something he could take from the cave like a skull or some bones.. sadly for him, there wasn't. Little Poppy made the climb of the hill look like a breeze as she didn't struggle to chase after us. 

Lewis on the other hand made sure to take all of the safe ways down.. very slowly. Whereas I just slid down! On to the next cache!

Burpham - Fateful Farrier

 Another cache that took finding the right tree and post to find the cache. 

Burpham Link - Toxic

This cache could be seen from a distance, you could see the pile of rocks that were suspiciously stacked for the trained Geocachers eye's. 

 It suddenly became a race between Bumble Bean and Kashpop..

Which didn't really matter who won because I had the pen!

 This cache was described as a joke of being in a series of Sewage farms, although stated it was a joke I was not convinced as it smelt bad. I had to take the cache away from the smell, anyone who knows me well knows I'm not good at handling bad strong smells. Ironically the cache is called Toxic and the container is an old Toxic Waste sweet pot. I'm really not convinced the sewage farm was a joke. 

Despite the cave being an unsuccessful bone find for Lewis, this cache was not. Almost as if it was carefully placed next to the cache for Lewis to find was a bird skull. We think it's a crow but Lewis is going to take it into his University to be identified for collections. 

Burpham Link - Help! My House Is Falling Down

A very interestingly placed cache, I'm unsure of the history of the fallen down house but you can clearly see where a fireplace once was and even the beams are still holding up. The cache isn't inside the house but you can't resist going in!

My mother was pretty determined to find the cache as she has yet to find one while out with us, we were all struggling to look for it until she dug her hand into a tree covered in ivy and pulled out the cache with a very proud look on her face. The cache was nicely hidden and slightly tougher to find as you didn't expect it to be strapped to the tree.

Burpham Link - A Salt Near Peppering Farm

An easy spot at the end of a footpath, the metal looked too suspicious to me! An interesting container for the log to be hidden inside. Wonder where the pepper pot is? Hope it isn't missing it's salt companion too much. 

Church Micro 4282…Burpham

A co-ordinates cache that required working out some answers after locating the correct headstone. The co-ordinates lead you out of the church yard and to some telegraph poles, the cache is quite hard to spot as you'd assume it was part of the wire. It was also, for some reason, open to wind and rain, there didn't seem to be a lid or container to screw the pot into so the log was slightly delicate. 

Burpham – School’s Out

Placed on a red telephone box, a very hard to spot cache. I couldn't even see it and was convinced it wasn't there as I assumed that what I was looking at was a bolt or part of the box. Very cleverly camouflaged! Of course I went inside, it's very hard not too even if I am British.  

A Fine Pair # 14 ~ Burpham 

Last cache we did today, a co-ordinates cache that lead us back along the path we just came. Sitting behind a sign was a little pot. Nice and easy! 

We ended up walking 2.7 miles which isn't as much as previous cache hunts but the change in terrain made the pace slower. Kashpop's GPS didn't tell us how long we'd been walking for but it was around 2 and a half hours. It was a nice walk and we did complete one series among random caches. Me and Lewis will possibly head back one day to complete some other series that we started or maybe even start a new one!