Exmoor/Minehead - Geocache

Oh boy are you in for a treat this blog, I must say that this is probably one of the best series I have yet to do. As well as one of the most rewarding ends. We were away on holiday with Lewis' family in Minehead and planned a couple of cache walks; nearby our cottage was a series in a town called Luxborough, near the Exmoor National Park. This is a generous journey offering 16 caches, all of which will not disappoint with caches from Micro to Large, very large indeed!

1 Slowley Does It

First cache in the series is right besides the bay where you park to start the journey, the first is a simple Micro hidden well behind a sign post.

2 Slowley Does It

 Slightly up off the path, this cache requires I climb up a bank. The log (literally) isn't what it seems. Picking it up revealed that the cache was hidden inside.

3 Slowley Does It

Took a little rummage but still an easy find!

4 Slowley Does It

This cache earned a favourite point from me, with a hint of "Field of Eden"; I knew the trees were suspicious. Hanging in one tree was an apple, the cache hidden inside. Luckily we had done this series in Autumn and no leaves were on this tree. Having done this series in Spring perhaps this cache would be a much harder challenge to spot!

5 Slowley Does It

 A good old, under the stone cache.

The series takes you a long a footpath that provides you with some amazing views, although the journey can be tiring with a slow incline up the hill to the top. Very glad I wore my walking mud boots as the field was slightly wet and full of cow poop. 

6 Slowley Does It

Something magical about this tree, it seems to grow a special kind of fruit. 

7 Slowley Does It

Some of the containers on this series are so charming, this being one of them. It makes the journey seem that bit more fun when you have playful caches rather than just micro or small tubs. 

8 Slowley Does It

 I spotted this before Paul said we were approaching, the pile of sticks inside a tree were very suspicious. 

9 Slowley Does It

 A lovely hint of "Ho Ho Ho", a Christmas tree hiding away a little bauble. A bit of a prickle arms reach away but still great. I like that it's green so it blends away!

10 Slowley Does It

 This cache is actually quite large and if you were walking from the other side of the tree you'd definitely not miss it. It makes it hard to believe more muggles haven't found this.

11 Slowley Does It

Again this is a cache that would seem suspicious to passers by, it's like a fairy has nested up in the tree and has put little doors to hide all the holes. Can you find the right hole with the hidden cache?

12 Slowley Does It

 I've seen a rock cache like this before, I also believe it was when we were journeying with Kashpop. It's a hollowed out rock with a micro inside.

13 Slowley Does It

 This cache took us a few tree searches to find, we couldn't seem to locate the correct tree stump but eventually found we kept going up the wrong path. I think we were trying to avoid going up hill again but the caches took us that way..

14 Slowley Does It

Guarded by a rat!

15 Slowley Does It

 Another cache that took a little exploring to find the correct spot, with Paul's GPS it doesn't tell you how many meters away you are so you end up going either side of the path until you find the cache. 

16 Slowley Does It

 Now this is a multi-cache, it is the final cache in the series and it leads you to probably the biggest cache I've found so far, perhaps ever will find! It does take you slightly off path and we were stumbling around in the woods for ages trying to find this location. Being in the trees makes your GPS jump around proving even more difficult to find the cache.

Once you have found this cache it only provides co-ordinates to the final cache.

 Lewis found the final cache and look at the size of it! It is a massive box big enough for anything you could possibly want to swap. Sadly no trackables inside but if you have one you want to get rid of, then this would be the best place! You have to have the patience to do the series though (or cheat and do just 16.) 

This series is great for any age, children would love the cache containers while it gives adults a break from the same micro caches you find daily. It does take a while to walk, especially if it's windy like it was for us. The view is great as you reach the top of the hill and it's overall a really great walk. It's about 4.5 miles and we were out for about 3.5 hours but that includes a lot of stopping for photos.. I would recommend this series to anyone and will definitely be giving lots of favourite points away!

Kingley Vale and Lizzard TB UPDATE

We went for an evening walk with Kashpop in Kingley Vale. The walk itself is quite large and the caches are spaced out very far and wide.

There is quite a large hill you can climb (at your own risk) it was pretty hard work as it goes steep. Luckily someone's made foot holes as you get higher and it makes climbing to the top easier. If you can get to the top the view is pretty amazing. Probably even better at night! (Sorry for poor quality photo, taken on my phone.)

SDGT Kingley Vale

By time we found the cache it was late and dark, especially inside the woods. We only managed to get one cache but it was fortunately big enough for the trackable, Lizzard, we wanted to move on from Bournemouth. We helped it move 47.28 miles. Probably our quickest move on a trackable! The site were the cache is located has some local history too so it's a great cache visit if you want to learn something about the local area.

It was a medium sized container great for swaps and easily could fit a few more trackables. It seems to be visited requently so hopefully the trackable gets moved on soon!

One Creepy Cache in Eartham!

Lewis was browsing for a cache to do quite a few weeks ago until he found "Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler ?" It's a mystery cache and usually we avoid them because we can never seem to work out the ridiculous riddles. I wasn't involved in the process of working out where the cache was, Lewis worked that out with Kashpop. Although I don't think it's difficult! We waited a few weeks until everyone was available to go along as we assumed it would be a great group cache (also the cache actually recommends traveling in more than two).

Who Do You Think You Are Kidding Mr Hitler ?

Starting off in the suggested parking place we headed off into the woods, it probably took about 10-15 minutes to locate the correct pile of sticks with a huge hole underneath. It was a group effort between me, Lewis and Matt; Lewis showed us a picture, I recognised the location and Matt found the correct stick pile. 

Looking down the hole was definitely creepy and unsettling, if you didn't do caching and were unaware of this strange hole you'd definitely be creeped out!

Climbing down...

The view from just arriving down the hole, not too spacious but not too small either! Definitely need torches otherwise you wouldn't see anything down there.

Flash on, the view of inside the bunker.

The way in, constructed of boxes piled up and pulling on roots and metal to hoist yourself up and down, not the safest cache which is why it's recommended to do at your own risk. 

When we finally remembered that we we're there to actually find a cache it was easy to locate with a decent log book inside. Did manage to forget a pen though luckily there was a pencil inside the cache! Not much inside the cache a few little swaps that seem to have been placed in bulk (plastic spider rings etc..)

Down the hole you'll find a lot of bones, animals (has been confirmed by Lewis that none are human..) Assumed to be from animals that fell down and couldn't get out. Even this mysterious "bear" paw print?! You can see where the animals claw at the walls to try and escape and luckily they are all quite, well, dead I suppose. Not any down there that we had to save or smelt..

Leaving the hole wasn't too hard, just have to make sure you re-cover the hole otherwise more animals may find a similar fate to those down there. It is really best to travel with as many people as you can, although you can't really get stuck down there it can slippery and dangerous. It has many favourite points and also suggests other similar caches. I would recommend anyone local or travelling near by to try this out for sure!

Wear The Fox Hat - Geocache

Took another trip with Kashpop today in Patching, Arundel. We've done a few in Arundel before but today we did a few of the Wear the Fox Hat series which has 100 caches. (We didn't do 100..) We also picked up a few of 'The Worlds End' series. 

Village Inns - Angmering #3

The first cache we found on the trip, it's located near The Fox pub which at the time we arrived had a wedding party! Not that we joined in but a few members of the trip were pretty tempted. The first cache I found without the hint and I suppose I spoiled it for everyone else as I just automatically home in on obvious cache locations. It's becoming a repeated phrase in the group of "No..,You did not find it, no.." I try and hold back after a few as it I probably make it boring!

In this cache we found a trackable to add to our collection, little Ladybug! Well I say little he was actually quite big so finding another cache to squeeze him into will be fun.

01 - Wear the Fox Hat

This is a sneaky clever cache hide, it's hidden within a log! Although I'm not really sure why it's hidden among another pile of logs as it makes the area look slightly suspicious. 

02 - Wear the Fox Hat

 This one took a little longer to find because we were searching more clever hides, testing if the bolts were loose etc. Karen asked me to feel inside under the gate as she was scared there'd be a spider. I felt the plastic tie around the case and pulled it out! 

03 - Wear the Fox Hat

 The hint for this cache was that it could be found under a brick at the end of the wall. There were a lot of bricks by the end of the wall.. There was even a big slab that revealed a small hole which would have made a great cache spot. The actual cache wasn't really at the end of the wall but we found it after turning most of the bricks!

04 - Wear the Fox Hat

It suddenly turned dark as we entered the woods, luckily Paul had equipped us with torches. This cache was hard to get out as the wire it was attached too had broken off. Hollie tried to put her hand in to reach it but was worried she'd get her hand stuck. I know I have quite small wrists and thin hands so I tried and luckily reached the cache and got my hand out. It had been placed quite far down inside the pole so I placed it back for easy access.

05 - Wear the Fox Hat

The hint for this cache was a moss covered stump. Finding a moss covered stump in the dark is not particularity easy. It involved staring at the floor and covering ground hoping we'd find a stump. Once found the log was very wet and not writable (despite the nice weather recently.) 

06 - Wear the Fox Hat

 Another cache that was harder in the dark, having to research stumps. Although it was easy to spot the flint in the dark, it had to be hiding something! At this point Hollie started bringing up Slender and I think she even started to scare herself at her surroundings. Seeing odd lights in the distance started to worry some of us and Paul was just getting fed up we were being silly and not looking for the cache, it was all quite funny.

Patching

Another clever cache that was VERY difficult in the dark. It was off co-ordinates and difficult to get too from the field we were in as we had to fight bushes. Luckily I did find it and at the time it had a trackable inside. I didn't take it as we already picked one up but I regret not taking it now as I kind of want to be a trackable hoarder... 

The Worlds End - Oasis

 Circling back down a footpath towards the pub we found The Worlds End series, this cache is called Oasis and ironically it was soaked and full of icky water. The Worlds End series actually loops to the pub nearby called The Worlds End which just reminds me of Simon Pegg and Nick Frost's movie. 

The Worlds End - Tree

 Look up! Clever hide, had us searching around the base of the tree until we read the hint. 

There was another Worlds End cache but we couldn't seem to find it, perhaps because it was dark or just the fact it was quite late and we were all tired. Maybe we can go finish the Worlds End series at some point. I'd definetely like to attempt to finish the Wear the Fox Hat series and say that I found a 100 series cache! We walked about 2.1 miles for around 2 hours. It was our first night cache in the woods and was quite fun with the torches!