In a change to previous years where Piratemania has been held away from the mega, in most cases a different county (or like last time, 2019, a different country even !) this time the locations were all of about 6 miles apart.
I had booked the nearest Bed and Breakfast place there was to the site, but unfortunately it was really too far to walk to and from the site (especially as there was the local Covid testing and vaccination site in between)
However before I could book into the B&B I had the day to fill, and I decided to do this by going on another tour of Lincolnshire finding more lab caches to the south of the county, this time I had 5 sets planned
3rd August 2021 – Newark Emergency Services Lab Cache – Ambulance and Police – cache #5401
I started off in Newark, I found a place to park right outside the castle, short stay parking, I had one hour to get round the 10 locations
3rd August 2021 – Newark Emergency Services Lab Cache – Old Newark Police Station – cache #5402
3rd August 2021 – Newark Emergency Services Lab Cache – Old Hospital – cache #5403
3rd August 2021 – Newark Emergency Services Lab Cache – Newark Hospital – cache #5404
3rd August 2021 – Newark Emergency Services Lab Cache – Newark Fire Station – cache #5405
3rd August 2021 – Newark Civil War Trail Lab Cache – The Governors House – cache #5406
3rd August 2021 – Newark Civil War Trail Lab Cache – Cannon Ball Hole – cache #5407
So the story goes, in the Civil War Newark was a Cavalier town and was attacked and besieged by the Roundheads, who managed to put a cannonball through the church spire just under the window… and this hole has never been mended.
3rd August 2021 – Newark Civil War Trail Lab Cache – Cavalier’s Grave – cache #5408
3rd August 2021 – Newark Civil War Trail Lab Cache – C16th Houses – cache #5409
3rd August 2021 – Newark Civil War Trail Lab Cache – Newark Castle – cache #5410
And exactly one hour and one minute after I had parked up I was on my way again… heading for a little village about 4 miles outside Newark
3rd August 2021 – Barnby-in-the-Willows Lab Cache – Wesleyan Methodist Chapel – cache #5411
3rd August 2021 – Barnby-in-the-Willows Lab Cache – Barnby House – cache #5412
3rd August 2021 – Barnby-in-the-Willows Lab Cache – The Nags Head – cache #5413
3rd August 2021 – Barnby-in-the-Willows Lab Cache – School House – cache #5414
3rd August 2021 – Barnby-in-the-Willows Lab Cache – The Willow Tree – cache #5415
3rd August 2021 – Historic Lincolnshire Lab Cache – North Rauceby Medieval Village – cache #5416
The reason I had decided to come out this way was really to do this set of Lab Caches, which had been set by &Ruby and her husband Bedecook (Alison and Andrew to their friends !). Though Rauceby Medieval Village is just a field with some bumpy bits in it
3rd August 2021 – Medieval Village GC467KN – cache #5417
I hadn’t intended to do any ‘normal’ caching at all on this day, but while I was here I looked down at the base of a nearby post and saw a suspiciously cachoflague looking pile of stones, so I investigated and found this cache
3rd August 2021 – Sleaford Heritage Trail Lab Cache – The Mansion House – cache #5418
And then it was off to the next site in the Historic Lincolnshire labs… which was at Sleaford, but there happened to be a set of Labs in the town centre to do first
3rd August 2021 – Sleaford Heritage Trail Lab Cache – The White Hart – cache #5419
3rd August 2021 – Sleaford Heritage Trail Lab Cache – The Sessions House – cache #5420
3rd August 2021 – Sleaford Heritage Trail Lab Cache – The Carre Gallery – cache #5421
3rd August 2021 – Sleaford Heritage Trail Lab Cache – Navigation Yard – cache #5422
3rd August 2021 – Historic Lincolnshire Lab Cache – Cogglesford Water Mill – cache #5423
This mill on the outskirts of Sleaford was why I had headed to the town, I had just pulled up in the pay and display car park and was hoping to nip out and walk along the river to the cache without bothering to pay or display, but the blooming Council van drove into the carpark straight after me so I had to grudgingly put my 50P in the slot to cover the 3 minutes it took to find the answer and get back to the car
3rd August 2021 – Historic Lincolnshire Lab Cache – Brauncewell Village Church – cache #5424
As I drove up to this location it all looked familiar, and I realised I had been here before, doing the Church Micro at the same church back in November 2014 (cache #3568)
3rd August 2021 – Historic Lincolnshire Lab Cache – Temple Bruer Preceptory – cache #5425
3rd August 2021 – Historic Lincolnshire Lab Cache – Dunstan Pillar – cache #5426
I had just got back to the car after sorting out the answer to Dunstan Pillar at a few minutes past three in the afternoon, when I noticed a new set of Lab Caches had popped up of which the nearest one was quite local to where I was… (they were published by the Mega Committee at 3pm) so I went off to find this..
3rd August 2021 – RAF Lincolnshire History Tour Lab Cache – RAF Mere – cache #5427
And then as I had found one of the 10 I supposed I had nothing much better to do so I would find some more of them.
3rd August 2021 – RAF Lincolnshire History Tour Lab Cache – High Flight – cache #5428
At this one something looked familiar, and realised I had been here back on the same day in November 2014 that I had been to Brauncewell church, I had looked for the Church Micro cache in the same location but hadn’t been able to find it because there were a load of volunteer gardeners titivating the place up.
3rd August 2021 – RAF Lincolnshire History Tour Lab Cache – RAF Metheringham Memorial – cache #5429
3rd August 2021 – RAF Lincolnshire History Tour Lab Cache – Lincolnshire Crash Sites – cache #5430
Lincolnshire Crash Sites is correct ! – I nearly came to grief driving to this cache… a nice straightish Lincolnshire road between drainage ditches became more reminiscent of a roller coaster track than a road – I was going at a steady speed for nice flat tarmac, but too fast for the bumps and dips that suddenly without warning were there
3rd August 2021 – RAF Lincolnshire History Tour Lab Cache – Thorpe Camp – cache #5431
3rd August 2021 – RAF Lincolnshire History Tour Lab Cache – Battle of Britain Memorial Flight – cache #5432
3rd August 2021 – RAF Lincolnshire History Tour Lab Cache – RAF East Kirkby – cache #5433
3rd August 2021 – RAF Lincolnshire History Tour Lab Cache – IX Squadron Memorial – cache #5434
3rd August 2021 – RAF Lincolnshire History Tour Lab Cache – RAF Fiskerton Memorials – Spirits in Flight – cache #5435
3rd August 2021 – RAF Lincolnshire History Tour Lab Cache – International Bomber Command Centre – cache #5436
And with that the set was complete, another tour of South East Lincolnshire and I was the first to finish the set, less than 3 hours after they were published… not that you can claim an FTF on Lab Caches, there were other people who also did the set the first day, but as I was out of Lincoln already I had a head start
3rd August 2021 – LM21: Welcome to Lincolnshire GC9CQA9 – cache #5437
And then in the evening we had the first event of the 2021 Mega, a low key affair, not helped by the news that a number cachers at Piratemania had tested positive for Covid, which was of concern to all of those who had been there (which was most of the people there !)… the log book was a flag, overseen by Kevin, who was thus breathed on by everybody who came into the event… and by the end of the week had developed Covid
