The Return, Chichester PART 2 - Geocache

Video of the cache.
Me and Lewis finally got around to finishing the last half of the series in Dell Quay-Chichester! The original plan was to eat lunch at the pub, Crown and Anchor, and then cache afterwards. How it actually turned out was we ate lunch outside and then literally as we started to walk the heavens opened and it chucked it down. So we did the caches to following day (without lunch). As far as the pub goes for food, it's great. It is a little costly compared to other pub lunches but you are paying for the location too. I had the fish and chips (costing £14) and the fish was cooked to perfection although I didn't enjoy the mushy peas mixed with mint. Lewis ordered a burger with cheese and bacon coming in at £12. The menu isn't massive (around 6 mains) but it's very nice to sit in the sun and enjoy a lunch. 

Our view eating lunch!

Back to geocaching! 

The Return 10

This cache took longer to find than it should have because the hint had some confusing extra info "Right hand side of path in 'V' of tree head height. ICT opposite "path" to defences edge ('X' marks the spot although not buried)." The cache was just simply in a tree but I still have no idea what the rest of the hint meant and we spent some time trying to figure out what ICT means in Caching slang..

The Return 11

Upon arriving at GZ we had a brief explore for this cache but were soon cut short after a couple came and literally sat about 30 meters away from the location. We didn't want to look too suspicious so carried on and found this one on the way back!

The Return 12

A simple find if you know what part of the edge to look over, I'd say it's relatively obvious from past people pushing back the plants! 

The Return 13

Lewis went down off of the path to find this one, although it's not as low down as you'd first assume. Sometimes I think we over complicate caches..

The Return 14

This cache is very well blended in, we spent a couple of minutes looking all around two posts. We assumed it would be at the base but the cache is actually hidden within ivy along the top!

Inside we found a trackable! FarmtagZ 2015 hasn't been traveling for very long but it started in Bretagne, France. It's only been in 4 caches and was exchanged at a meet and greet, quite a lucky trackable to get from France and England so quickly!

Number 15 in this series is a church mirco and after a previous attempt at a church micro between 11-12 we decided to just skip it out and come back another time to do both church mircos in one.

What Ammo Box

I found this cache without Lewis telling me when we were there, the entrance to the cache is obvious, too obvious that it makes me wonder how exploring kids and such haven't found this! It has a lot of swaps inside and now counts as our second ammo box! 

The Return 16

I'm not really sure why the series ran through the countryside and left the last one in a public place. It does return you back into Chichester but it's located at quite a high muggle area and if you're lurking around the tree you look awfully suspicious! The tree itself is right next to the Tesco Extra walkway so many people shopping walk past here. Luckily it was a Sunday and close to closing time so their weren't too many people passing by. We stopped for some refreshments to take on our journey back!

Big Green Ugly Thing

This last cache was so close by it wasn't worth leaving! It's found by the overpass to the train tracks and although I haven't got a picture of the big green ugly thing, it is in the video if you want to see it. This cache was a feely job rather than a seeing but it didn't take too long! Just have to be careful for muggles as they walk past to get over the tracks. 

The journey itself took us around 3.5 hours to walk there and back (forgot to reset GPS so just estimating) the total distance we walked (including off track of the series to get a church micro) was 3.84 miles - 6.1 km. We arrived about half 1 and got back home at half 5. It didn't seem like a long walk but it was quite warm! I guess we can't say we've finished this series as we have the church micro to do but for now we've done 99%! All the caches part of the series were small so easily fit trackables in and luckily enough for us we bagged another trackable!

Pagham, again! - Geocache

Pagham Reserve

Took a trip back to Pagham today just so we cleared both the caches! It was a lovely warm day but the terrain was quite muddy and wet in areas. We didn't take our latest trackable because we'd checked the logs and seen it's not really visited frequently enough. 

The cache is a Premium cache so those who don't have Premium can unfortunately not take part but alas I shall show you otherwise! 

 Along our travels I spotted a little lady bug in the grass, with my super hawk vision I picked him up. They are so happy to just crawl onto your hand and sit there it makes me wonder if they're scared or not. 

  Returned him to a little nice patch of long grass with some dandelions in, he (or she) went on their way!

The cache can be found by looping around a footpath, it was 850m for the start of the reserve so it's not too far of a walk. It's quite a quick footpath walk compared to the rest of the others so it's a nice easy pick up. The cache itself is also big, has lots of things inside and lots of cachers cards that people have dropped off. Not many people do this cache so the log book dates back to 2007 where people have left longer messages as a sort of journal of cachers!

 There's plenty of swaps inside and easy for trackables to be dropped off. Suring the summer perhaps this gets more visits from the near by holiday caravan park but at the moment we were the second visitors of the year.

A nice little cache, not hard to find (just wear something long sleeves otherwise you'll risk getting an arm full of needles). I did reset my trip counter but it seemed to have not worked so unfortunately I don't know how long we walked for, probably about 40 minutes maybe less.. It was around 1.8 miles in distance. If you like nice views and birds then it's a nice cache to do!

Florence and Pisa - Geocaching

Florence

While sight seeing the many Renaissance buildings around Florence we decided to find a few caches along the way. Firstly we attempted a cache which is located at the top of Piazzale Michelangelo. The location of the cache was quite muggle free as it's actually located on the "less cool" view side of the Plaza. There is also another co-ordinates cache near by but it does involve walking down the hill looking for clues and then back up! Perhaps a more better cache in a cool evening when you haven't done much walking during the day. We were unable to find the cache but were aware that there was a spoiler picture in the gallery. 

No signal up the Plaza so we decided to come back at night and were successful with the cache. The cache had been ruined and unfortunately was literally just a small bag with a log that was full and people were using recipients to write on. I didn't get a picture of the log purely because I just forgot but I took some photos of the view!

Forte Belvedere

The next cache we did was, as mentioned in the Travelling Troll and Bunculuka updates, a hard walk up a steep hill. I got quite fed up of the continuous climb especially after having just climbed the steps to the Plaza. It was a small cache but luckily we squeezed in two trackables. We also picked up a trackable Glenturret 05 - besucht alle Deutschen Bundesländer which had come from Germany and we have bought it back to the UK with us. 

MOZART E L' AQUILA NERA

A much more central cache, it's very close to the Cathedral but just off a side street with hardly any muggles. Although it is quite close to a restaurant/cafe that people were outside. I don't think anyone paid much attention to us but hopefully we weren't too suspicious. 

I notice with Florence caches is that they aren't rain protected at all, the Mozart cache was just literally sitting on the post, they clearly don't have any concerns for rain or wind unlike our caches in the UK that are wrapped in bags, tight boxes and hidden in holes!

Torre di Santa Maria

On our last day we traveled to Pisa for some sight seeing as the airport we were traveling to was in Pisa.  We went to the location of the cache but after actually reading the description we realised it wasn't in the central tourist area inside the walls. It was actually located externally which required us walking around the whole wall because the footpath was locked for some reason. 

The hole in the wall is pretty obviously hand stacked to hide something but I think it's far away enough from the path that passers by wouldn't ever even look. It was a simple small cache literally placed behind the stacked rocks.  

We only managed a few caches around Florence and one in Pisa but we can safely say we have some Italian caches under our belt! 

Yapton Walk - Geocaches

As the day was such a nice day I asked Kashpop if they'd join me, Lewis, my mum and brother on another joined geocaching trip. It was my birthday so I wanted to spend some time with family and do something fun. We decided on a series in Yapton that involves 19 tradtional caches. There's also other single caches along the way that aren't part of the series but we picked a couple up. Although by time we got to doing some caching the weather turned for the worst and you wouldn't have guessed it was blue sky and warm sunshine earlier. That's the UK weather for you I suppose.

Yapton Walk #1 TB Hotel

A nice and big cache! Holds lots and lots of pens for those who have forgotten to bring one along, the idea is you can borrow a pen and when you loop back round you put the pen back. It's also a trackable hotel for those to do swaps or drop offs. I do have two trackables but have bigger plans for those. 

 It's located behind a trough which could be easily seen by muggles but I guess they'd assume it belongs to a local farmer or something along those lines.

Yapton Walk #2

My brother's first geocaching trip and find! 

Yapton Walk #3

This cache was easy to guess where it was hidden from a distance, although Lewis didn't seem to go to the right thing, my mum ended up finding this one. 

Canal Caper

Not part of the series but still a find along the way, it was very easy to spot. I think Lewis spotted it first and held me back from getting it even though I had also spotted it. We let Karen have the "find"!

Yapton Walk #4

I started to learn that the King family are rather competitive, soon my family were the ones who wanted to find the cache first and even started to run. I took this photo of my mum not really racing anyone but still running at a easily spotted cache in the distance. I unintentionally captured Lewis' sad face at the disappointment he wouldn't reach the cache first. 

 Although Lewis was the one who actually retrieved the cache because it was surrounded by nettles. 

Yapton Walk #5

Another hidden bridge cache, no troll in this one though!

A very cold mum and brother, as you can see we were dressed for slightly warmer weather..

Yapton Walk #6

The clue for this cache was in the short wooden post, this was the only post we could see but no cache. Until you looked closer...nicely hidden cache!

Yapton Walk #7

 A few of these caches were located at the bottom of finger posts, they are quite easy to see but I suppose it makes them quick caches to find!

Yapton Walk #8

A cache with a wig, maybe a Donald Trump cache? 

Yapton Walk #9 - Worshipping the Sun Gods

This is a clever cache and the first one I've seen like this. I've always thought about pull string caches and how you'd actually go about making one. I think this one worked by an extendable jack to jack cable I've seen. You pull one side and it unravels, when you let go it goes back short again!

Yapton Walk #10

 A slightly bigger container for more exciting swaps, again a very easy find! 

Yapton Walk #11 - a MAG nificent Cache!

Another unique cache on this trip, you had to pull the blue twine under the bridge that pulls up this cache. It's a big torch that unscrews to hold the log, very smart. I assume when it rains the river fills up and the cache goes under water; hence having to be pulled out. The only negative thing about this cache is that it looks like rubbish and doesn't look like a cache but hopefully it's left alone and not removed!

Yapton Walk #12 - Who is Ben Collins?

Wasn't expecting this guy when I removed the bark! I suppose if you read the cache title you'd expect something along the lines of The Stig. Quite clever! For those that don't get the reference Ben Collins is a stunt race car driver and has done students for the James Bond movies. He was also one of the possible identities of The Stig on the show Top Gear. 

Chrispy's Unbirthday Cache

This cache seemed quite fitting for my Birthday! Although not part of the series, it is still created by those who own the series. Nothing birthday related inside though unlike an earlier Happy Birthday Gruffalo badge we found! I think the weather was taking a turn for the worst but it was too late to turn back because it would be the same distance to finish the caches!

 Nicely stowed away!

Yapton Walk #13

Another good old finger post, very easy to see from any eye! Started raining and made everyone colder but we soldiered on!

Yapton Walk #14

 The clue was under concrete slap, under some trees so a bit of shelter from the light rain. 

Yapton Walk #15

Another finger post, except this finger post had fallen over! So the cache was hidden in the hole it once stood.

Yapton Walk #16

 Under some plastic, easy to spot if you're looking for caches.

Yapton Walk #17

Pretending to be a branch, a cache that wouldn't be spotted by a passer by, requires the caching eye to be seen. 

If it hadn't been raining I would have definitely had a swing.. although I may have turned 22 I still like a good child's toy!

Yapton Walk #18

 Hidden in some undergrowth, it was easy to spot but you'd have to look back to see it as passer by. 

Yapton Walk #19

 Another branch cameleon, hidden in a large bush so it isn't easy to spot straight away. The last cache in the series and luckily looped back to the start right near the lay-by in which we parked. 

We walked a total of 3.6 miles although I hadn't reset my GPS trip counter. My brother said we were walking for about 3 hours but I think it may have been 2 and half. The rain probably made the journey slower as everyone started to loose momentum being cold. The series has some unique caches and all are very well kept, dry and great variety in sizes. It's great for the amount in the series, you can get about 23 caches if you include those not part of it. There is also a church micro nearby if you have time! Shame the weather turned a bit pants but a great birthday trek nonetheless!