Me and Lewis decided to use our day off together to get some caches under our belt, there's been a series nearby that Lewis has done before with Kashpop that we hadn't done together. So on a nice cold November (also windy) day; we decided to go to the Trundle which happens to be on top of a hill. The Trundle is an Iron Age hill fort which is found right next to Goodwood Racecourse. The Trundle is a great place to go if you like views, especially at night time. The car park is layered so its great for sitting in your car and staring out into the distance. It ranges from Bognor all the way across to Portsmouth.
Along the series each cache has a letter alongside a number which you need to collect in order to gain coordinates to a bonus cache at the end. If you forget there are two caches at the end which have all the coordinates (spoils the fun a little but still great if you forgot.)
#1 - 7 Points Ramble - The Rubbing House
The first cache is located near the car park, all of the caches in this series are in "obvious" spots; it just requires knowing the existence of the caches. I actually think the caches could easily be found by children exploring or climbing but perhaps because of the area people would only join in and not destroy the caches.
The first cache may seem like a pile of Ivy but you'd be wrong!
#2 - 7 Points Ramble - Arboretum
An easy spot, although we did walk past it because we were level with muggles and had to "stop" for a coffee break. We did this three times with the same person, probably made them feel quite uncomfortable but luckily we ended up getting ahead! I think the log book on this cache was quite wet and damp but someone had put some dry paper in there. Will need to tag for maintenance!
#3 - 7 Points Ramble - Welcome to Westside
All the caches are of decent size, with a few being big enough for trackables. They all seem to be well maintained and dry, luckily!
#5 - 7 Points Ramble - Westside 2
#6- 7 Points Ramble - Wall gate
Reaching this cache we started to walk along side some crops, Lewis wasn't sure what they were because they were purple and I told him that carrots before the 17th century were actually purple! It was only until carrots were cultivated by the Dutch (by cross breeding red and yellow carrots) that they were orange. The whole field here on the other hand were purple carrots.
This cache was pretty close to a little door, just reminded me of the Secret Garden. Wonder where the door leads too! Probably more mysterious coloured fruit.
#7 - 7 Points Ramble - Fence post
#8 - 7 Points Ramble - Tractor gate
The hint for this cache was "This one will have you stumped, old timer!" It just takes a little think of what you're looking for!
#9 - 7 Points Ramble - Sycamore
#10 - 7 Points Ramble - Along the Bottom
#11 - 7 Points Ramble - Trail post
#12 - 7 Points Ramble - Top Gate
Our walk was quite pleasant up until this point, hardly any wind. That was because you start to realise you're at the bottom of the hill and after this cache you have to get back up to the top. I really struggled getting up the hill with the wind against us and it was pretty cold that my knees were struggling to get me up! This is probably the hardest part of the walk if you struggle with hills; I'd definitely recommend going when it's warmer and less windy. Or you could even do the series backwards as I think coming down the hill earlier was more gradual and therefore might be easier to walk up.
Although when you get to the top the view makes up for the work.. one man behind us even tried cycling up the hill!
#13 - 7 Points Ramble - On the way back
#14 - 7 Points Ramble - Almost Home
This cache was covered in snails! I did have to take them off (sorry little snails) as I didn't want to break their shells when trying to take the lid off. They covered the cache so you couldn't get a grip on it! Not great if you don't like little slimey things!
These were all the caches in the series, we had collected all the co-ordinates along the way and just double checked them at the end. After we put them into our GPS we made our way to the final bonus cache!
#15 - 7 Points Ramble - Bonus cache
I'm not going to post the co-ordinates here as that just spoils any fun and makes it easier for people to just find the bonus cache. It does take you to the well-known Chalk Pit lane. Chalk Pit lane is one main indicators that this site was an Iron Age fort because of the perfect straight line down the hill to the town. Although it appears to be a straight road going down I believe you aren't allowed to drive down; even if you were to try you'd probably take the bottom of your car off.
The final cache!
The series took us 2 hours and 10 minutes including the hill struggle and stops for coffee and tea. We walked roughly 3 miles. Despite the cold you do warm up walking. It's a great series if you want a nice walk and views as well as easy caches. The multi-cache is easy to get so if you don't have many of those in your collection this is great to add another. We sadly found no trackables on this trip! We have another series completed and more caches gained!
