Another short day at work meant I was able to top and tail my trip to London with a bit of caching. First stop of the morning was the South Bank to finally avenge the DNF at Henry’s Lost Letter, which I failed to find a few days ago.
Barges On The Thames
Another hide I was able to revisit was SideTracked – London Marylebone when, on my last visit, it was so muggle-infested I didn’t even try. Today was a different matter, and I located the prize quite quickly.
Marylebone Station Facade
After the working day was done, I headed to Little Venice for a few more caches as dusk began to fall. My first stop was Warwick Avenue SideTracked, which didn’t pose any great problems.
Warwick Avenue Tube
I walked across to Over Troubled Water, a hide on the bridge over the Grand Union Canal. It was a little bit tricky but eventually the muggles thinned out sufficiently for me to have a proper look, and there it was. A nice spot to spend a few minutes watching the world go by.
Over Troubled Water
The last port of call was the SideTracked hide at Royal Oak, which I bagged on my way to the tube station and to make my way home.
This evening I took a trip over to Kings Langley and Abbots Langley to pick up a few specific caches. The first was a letterbox hide, which is part of a series in Kent – yes, really! It was an easy enough find, but I made the mistake of not wearing long sleeves and got nettled to death for my troubles. Ouch.
Nettled To Death!
The next stop was an old Virtual in the grounds of Kings Langley church. There’s supposed to be a “sword” up there somewhere! Couldn’t see it, but found the info to enable me to log the find.
Virtual Up A Tree
Then I took a little potter around the town and along the Grand Union Canal to find a few more trads.
Reflecting In The Grand Union
After that successful mission, I relocated to Abbots Langley a short drive away, to look for a cache with D5/T4 rating, Something In The Pipeline. I had come prepared, so was able to find the little blighter without too much trouble! Must be getting good at this!
Tricky Beast, Tamed
In preparation for my visit, I had already solved the puzzle for the nearby Side Tracked – Kings Langley hide. I passed this wind turbine on the way, just as dusk was falling. A good evening’s hunting with only one DNF.
I’m not sure I will ever get to find a Jasmer Challenge Cache, but it’s still fun to try and fill up my finds-by-month-placed grid. Before today, it looked like this:
Jasmer Grid Before
I’ve been doing some research and found quite a few caches which would help fill in the gaps clustered around the Buckinghamshire/Hertfordshire border around Berkhampstead. So I planned a little road trip to pick them up.
Hellfire’s Globe (Bucks)
The first stop was Hellfire’s Globe (Bucks), situated high above West Wycombe just below the impressive mausoleum at St. Lawrence’s Church. A quick find to kick off, filling in June 2002.
At GC6912Cyril & Stan With The Cache
InterMissendens
Next up was a cache placed in November 2001 in the woods on a hillside above Great Missenden called InterMissendens. The woods were lovely but the cache was quickly located.
Me at GC2AA4Slightly mouldy logbook!
England’s Oldest Geocache!
The real prize on my list for today was England’s oldest cache, View From Coombe Hill just south west of Wendover. It was placed in January 2001 and is still a grand old ammo can.
At GC171 – England’s Oldest!Cyril & Stan Raiding The Goodies!
It was such a beautiful spot that I sat on the hill nearby and had my picnic lunch overlooking the spectacular view. But I had more to find – so I didn’t stay very long…
Sewer Lock
This cache might not have a very attractive name, but Sewer Lock is a pleasant location on the Grand Union Canal, placed in December 2004.
A Boat Arrives In The Lock
It took ages to find because I had to wait for the good ship Muggle to pass through the lock before I could have a proper search. Once they had chugged off, the find was swift.
GCM8QP Log
Entology (Herts)
Next up were two caches in the Ashridge Estate, the first being Entology (Herts), placed in August 2001. The forest was looking great in the sunshine.
On The Way To The Cache
The hide was up in a tree but a convenient sturdy branch to climb on was most welcome.
GC164F Is Up There Somewhere
Tim & Jon’s 1st Re-Stashed
Still in the woods was my next target, Tim & Jon’s 1st Re-Stashed, hidden in January 2001 (England’s 2nd oldest cache).
More Lovely Trees
After some GPS confusion, and waiting for noisy muggles to pass, I got to GZ eventually.
Gotcha! GC177, England’s 2nd Oldest Cache
Instructions were in the cache to find a second bonus (without co-ords, it required careful pacing). Unfortunately I didn’t have time to look for that one today, perhaps another time… Moving on to…
Devil’s Bridge (Herts)
The next stop was in the little village of Nettleden to find Devil’s Bridge (Herts), which has been in situ since January 2004. The bridge is a spooky proposition, even in daylight:
Spooky Bridge
The cache was a quick find – the poor old log is rather stuffed into the pot, but I just about got it back in after signing!
GCHGMP Crumpled Log
Spooky trees lined the tops of the walls either side of the steep track – it rather reminded me of something from Harry Potter.
Gnarly Old Trees
Garmer Spring
The penultimate find of the trip was Garmer Spring, north west of Hemel Hempstead, which completes the March 2004 square.
Berries On The Walk
I parked in a nearby pub and walked up the rolling hill past two regular (and relatively recent caches, which were also found quickly) before arriving at the Spring itself. I didn’t find any water, but I did find some tupperware!
Me With GCHY0E
Cyril & Stan dropped off a Lego buddy to travel from this cache.
Cyril & Stan Drop Off A Traveller
View The Puddingstone
There’s always time for One More Cache, right? So my final location was View The Puddingstone on the outskirts of Redbourne, to fill in the November 2006 gap. It was getting dark by the time I picked up the cache, but it was a quick find. Now my grid looks like this, still a few gaps but I will work on them soon.
Jasmer Grid After My Trip
Unfortunately, that’s where my grand day out went south – I got in the car to drive home and discovered that it had broken down and would not start. I had a very boring 4-hour wait for the recovery truck – they got me started again and I eventually arrived home just before midnight. What a day!
I was at the mobile conference Over The Air 2015 today in Hoxton. Mid-afternoon I went for a little geo-walk with my friend Leeky along the Grand Union Canal to bag a couple of caches. It was a very pleasant stroll. This was the view from the Sturt’s Lock hide:
