I’ve often said that the only way I will fill January on the grid is to have an event every day so I can get a smiley sat in the pub, as it turned out I didn’t need to do it that way
I had a list of all the local (ish) Lab caches and other caches and they tallied up with the number of days left to fill, so it was a practical proposition that wasn’t going to be to hard to do
1st January 2023 – Ilkley’s Blue Plaques #2 (SW) Lab Cache – 2. Deaconess Court – cache #6152
First cache of the year – curiously never got a cache on New Years Day in the 13 years that I have been caching, maybe I don’t go out on New Years Day, anyway I took a drive over to Ilkley to get this one
2nd January 2023 – Emmerdale in Esholt – A Village Tour Lab Cache – The Post Office – cache #6153
A Monday, so it was a Bank Holiday – and also a supermarket shopping day for me, so while I was out I took a trip to Esholt to grab todays Lab cache find
3rd January 2023 – Ilkley’s Blue Plaques #2 (SW) Lab Cache – 5. Wells House – cache #6154
Back to the after work Lab cache dashes
4th January 2023 – #ALAW #MOT #LUFC Lab Cache – Don Revie – cache #6155
I had to go near Elland Road to one of the suppliers for work, so I made a little detour to grab a Lab cache location
4th January 2023 – #ALAW #MOT #LUFC Lab Cache – Billy Bremner – cache #6156
… and as this one was only a few steps away I answered this as well
6th January 2023 – Addingham’s Blue Plaques #1 (East) Lab Cache – BP#4: William Kendall Gale – Mount Hermon – cache #6157
After work Robbie again
10th January 2023 – ‘Uddersfield ‘Ogmanay 2023 – GCA3944 – cache #6158
The annual event at The Head Of Steam in Huddersfield comes round again, not so many people there this year, it was a bit of a late announcement, so some regulars missed it
11th January 2023 – Emmerdale in Esholt – A Village Tour Lab Cache – Esholt Sports & Leisure Club – cache #6159
Huddersfield is about an hour away from home, and as it was gone 11:00 before I set off home I decided to drive home leisurely enough for it to be after midnight before I got to Esholt, then I could do another Lab cache to get my find for the day
12th January 2023 – Ilkley’s Blue Plaques #1 (NE) Lab Cache – 3. Pinfold – cache #6160
Lunchtime Lab cache
12th January 2023 – Hello Huddersfield Lab Cache – St George’s Square – cache #6161
This was an experiment, I had to walk over St George’s square from the Head of Steam to where I had parked on Tuesday night, so I opened up the Lab question there, it was a number question about how many footsteps could you see, so easily guessable… but I wanted to find out whether the date was recorded when I answered the question or when I had been at the location, the answer is when the question was answered… so in theory you could go round hundreds of Lab caches and scribble down the answers on a piece of paper, then answer them all on the same day… useful for some challenge caches where you need to do so many caches in a day/ week/ month etc
13th January 2023 – Ilkley’s Blue Plaques #1 (NE) Lab Cache – 2. Tower Court – cache #6162
Another Lab near work done on the (longer) way home
14th January 2023 – Emmerdale in Esholt – A Village Tour Lab Cache – The Woolpack – cache #6163
Saturday Lunchtime and my 1 mile drive down to town for some fish and chips took mean a 10 mile detour
15th January 2023 – Emmerdale in Esholt – A Village Tour Lab Cache – Kathy’s Diner/The Old School House – cache #6164
Sunday, I was going to buy a new Television, so I went a few miles further to Esholt to finish the Lab cache set there
15th January 2023 – Emmerdale in Esholt – A Village Tour Lab Cache – Esholt Old Hall/Village Well – cache #6165
16th January 2023 – Ilkley’s Blue Plaques #2 (SW) Lab Cache – 1. The Rombalds – cache #6166
My calculation now was getting very easy, I had more Lab caches left in the local vicinity than days I needed to fill, so barring illness there was no reason why I wasn’t going to fill the grid
20th January 2023 – Ilkley’s Blue Plaques #1 (NE) Lab Cache – 4. Ilkley Playhouse – cache #6167
21st January 2023 – Historic Baildon Lab Cache – War Memorial and District Nurse’s Home – cache #6168
I was far enough ahead in my planning that I only had 3 days left to fill, and still labs in Ilkley and Addingham, So on a Saturday I went and finished the set of Lab caches in Baildon – I had only done one of the set prior to this as the Baildon Labs were in my plan as back-up reserves
21st January 2023 – Historic Baildon Lab Cache – Baildon Old Hall – cache #6169
21st January 2023 – Historic Baildon Lab Cache – Potted Meat Stick – cache #6170
21st January 2023 – Historic Baildon Lab Cache – Stocks and Market Cross – cache #6171
24th January 2023 – Addingham’s Blue Plaques #1 (East) Lab Cache – BP#5: The Manor House – cache #6172
One final after work drive home via Addingham, and I got the two Lab caches to finish the set there
24th January 2023 – Addingham’s Blue Plaques #1 (East) Lab Cache – BP#2: William Brear – cache #6173
31st January 2023 – Ilkley’s Blue Plaques #1 (NE) Lab Cache – 5. Crescent Hotel – cache #6174
And finally, the last blank space on the grid filled with the last two Ilkley Lab caches
31st January 2023 – Ilkley’s Blue Plaques #1 (NE) Lab Cache – 1. Drill Hall – cache #6175
It had taken me 13 years 8 Months and 6175 caches but I had finally filled the calendar grid
