New caches are being put out all the time. Two more new caches appeared midweek inside the range of a lunchtime caching trip from work, so on the Friday I ventured out to look for them. We’d had a dusting of snow overnight and the temperature had been below zero so the ground was mainly frosted over, which was good as it meant it wasn’t so muddy underfoot !
26th November 2011 – SCOTLAND IN SHIPLEY 2 GC2JNJW – cache #1001
This cache is the replacment for a cache I found back in May, and was much easier to find than the last one ! The previous cache was hidden in a crevice out of sight and difficult to reach, this new one is at ground level hidden by a couple of stones.
At this cache I collected the TB3F0RM Foggy Travelbug – I wasn’t going to bother with trackables anymore, but this one has part of the answer to a puzzle cache on it, so I took it for that reason
26th November 2011 – SHIPLEY GLEN VIEW GC2JNKC – cache #1002
The minimum distance allowed between caches is 0.1miles = 528 feet = 161 metres, these two caches must be about on that limit as it’s only a stones throw from one to the other.
The hint for the second cache says something about 1971, which is apparently carved into a nearby rock, I just went by the co-ordiantes and came up on the cache without any problem. The sun was very bright and so low in the sky that looking anywhere in a southerly direction was almost impossible so maybe it’s not surprising that I didn’t see any rock carved letters
28th November 2011 – Two Long Green Ones! GC2J6HW – cache #1003
Another relatively new cache had appeared within my 5 mile cleared zone, a cache that is too far away to grab during a lunch hour as it is just over a mile down the canal towpath from the nearest road, so it had to wait until Sunday when I could go and get it.
Thing is Friday it had snowed and Saturday night temperature was down to minus seven and it hadn’t warmed up much, so the canal was frozen over and the ground was under snow. Fortunately the canal towpath is flat and well used so it was okay to walk on. The cache is where two large green water pipes cross from side of the sewage works to the other.
When I got near to the GZ I found there were a couple of problems to finding this cache
firstly the snow and ice (there’s a steady drip from the main pipe and apart from lots of icicles hanging from the pipe the area underneath was encased in ice) secondly it might have been snowy and several degrees below zero but there was a Cross Country Race whose route passed within a few feet of the cache
However I wandered around the GZ a bit managing to not look too suspicious as runners passed, and after looking all around was just thinking that the cache must be hidden under the snow I ducked under the pipe for the final time, turned around to go, and found myself staring straight at the end of the cache
