Just a quick, local geocaching trip today – to South Hill Park, on the southern edge of Bracknell, for a walk around the park and an attempt at an AdLab cache.
South Hill Park is a large, attractive historic park, open to the public every day of the year. It has landscaped gardens, woodland, and two large lakes, surrounding a Grade II listed mansion which contains two theatres, a cinema, art studios and galleries, plus a café/restaurant.
We’ve walked round the grounds many a time, especially during the pandemic lockdown in 2020, when we sometimes used it for our ‘permitted exercise’ after food shopping at the nearby superstore; it was a different place to visit, and most welcome for that reason. But we hadn’t been there all that often since.
The Rings of Pachamama
We set off along the path by the North Lake, in front of the mansion. Part way along, we came to some large white concrete rings, some partially embedded in the ground. I’ve always assumed they were seating, or something for fitness exercises – nope, I was wrong – they are a sculpture, the Rings of Pachamama , specially made for South Hill Park by sculptor Lucy Strachan.
We turned onto a boardwalk which runs across a wetland area through reed beds and ponds. Spring growth was getting under way and we saw lots of frogspawn!
Chasing Pokemon …
Passing a lovely bank of miniature daffodils – and several groups of Pokemon chasers, staring at their phones – we followed the path round the narrower, tree-lined South Lake, on the other side of the mansion.
Crossing the bridge half-way along the lake, we walked through woodland, back towards the house. There’s an amphitheatre here, we’ve been to several outdoor theatrical events here on past summer evenings, some traditional theatre, some more ‘experimental’.
Entering the formal gardens, we descended the steps into the Italian Garden, all neat, clipped hedges and formal planting, then out along the terrace. And that completed our AdLab – and our tour of the grounds, too. As so often with geocaching, we’d learnt new things about a familiar place …
Normally we drive to our caching venue for the day, very occasionally train – but never by bus.
We noticed that every Saturday during December 2023 the buses in Bracknell were free, so we travelled by bus. We must have been the only travellers who knew the fares were free, as several people boarded the bus on our 30 minute journey offering money!
We had chosen a few caches on the borders between two of Bracknell’s housing estates, Great Hollands (where the bus route went!), and Jennetts Park.
Our first cache though commemorated when Bracknell was predominately woodland. “What’s Left of the Waterhams” was hidden in a small copse separating the two housing estates. Although Bracknell still has a high concentration of trees, before it was designated a New Town in the 1950s/1960s, much of what is now Bracknell was a large wooded area. Waterhams Wood was part of that area.
The Waterhams Wood cache was placed in 2020 and took a bit of finding. We had to cross a small ditch, covered by end-of-season brambles, and search the roots of various trees. The GPS wouldn’t quite settle and we spent some time peering at various roots, where we thought a cache would have been placed. The cache was nestled in a very small roothole, but in the six months since the cache had been last found, it had become encased in mud, now stiff by the overnight frost, and was tricky to remove. It took some effort, and three or four sticks to eventually retrieve the cache!
Pleased with our efforts, we headed away from Great Hollands and into Jennetts Park. We have cached in Jennetts Park before, but never from this direction. After walking past an interesting flower sculpture we arrived at a different copse, Tarmans Copse. Here we stepped away from the path, and searched some ivy for a simple hanging cache. We dislike ivy, but this cache was relatively easy to find.
As we stood behind the tree, away from the footpath, a father and young boy scuttled by. They entered the bushes away from us on the opposite side of the path. We signed the cache log and replaced the cache unseen. Then a mother and daughter appeared, the father and son lurched out of the undergrowth as a ‘surprise’! Great family fun – we watched as the family were reunited. It was then the father caught our eye, and he realised we had seen the whole childish episode!
If that cache had fun, the next cache had jeopardy. The footpath from Tarmans Copse continued through more woodland. Houses could be seen through the trees, and in the distance the sound of chain saws. A working party from the Hedgerow and Woodland Conservation Society were pollarding trees, and creating hedge structures from the branches – fantastic for nature – not so fantastic for caches. The cache was positioned a few yards from the hedgerow group, but an hour later the cache would have been unfindable.
(Postscript : Despite informing the Hedgerow group of the cache, showing them the cache, and asking them to preserve the hiding place, the area around the cache has significantly altered and the cache has been lost).
Our final two caches were incident-free. Only our ineptitude at finding the correct host in both cases prevented a quick find. The first was hidden in some large tree roots, a relatively large space, and the small film pot was well wedged in a corner. The last cache was hidden in an 8-trunked tree. We were initially confused as we walked by the tree, discounting it as the host as it had 9 trunks! Once we had returned to the tree – the cache was a very quick find.
All we had to do was head back to Great Hollands for the next bus home!
An enjoyable caching trip, with a bus journey as an added feature!
Binfield is a small village/town, a little like Sandhurst, which is part of Bracknell. A new-ish series had been placed on the footpaths and tracks to the North of the Village. The series owner, GilDean, lives in Binfield, hence the name ‘Home Turf’. But, this was a puzzle series too.
Every cache name was an anagram of a film star, some current, some from former times. Not being film buffs, we had to work hard at each anagram as the brief film role biography was occasionally alien to us. Examples of the anagrams included BARRELED TRUG, YUMA RECALLING and MONKS HAT (Answers at the end of the blog). Having solved the anagram we then had to ascertain a key date in that person’s life, and use the digits from the date to derive coordinates. There were 21 caches in the series, so quite a lot of anagramming and googling before we even found a geocache.
Parking in Binfield is limited, so we parked in a residential street, and were greeted by… Mr Potato Head!
Apparently over the next week, Binfield would host a scarecrow competition/walking trail. Residents were invited to place a decorated scarecrow, near their property. We saw a couple of scarecrows as we left the car, several others as we approached the centre of Binfield, and also when we returned to the car much later. A lot of ingenuity and fun – well done Binfield.
As for the caching we found cache 1, quite easily, though there were several metallic places a ‘magnetic’ item could have been placed. We took a short diversion to the village centre to find our only non-‘Home-Turf cache of the day, before resuming the film star series.
Saturday morning is clearly dog walking time, and the first few caches were placed near a popular dog-walking route. Stealth was definitely needed as we retrieved magnet caches from signs. hanging bison-caches from trees, and one we never did retrieve as it was wedged behind some broken concrete. When we mentioned this to the cache owner he granted us the find, as the cache was impossible to retrieve, mainly due to the over-zealous placing by a previous finder. There was one other cache we couldn’t find, and this was due to a footpath gate being temporarily closed and access to the cache was impossible. Again the cache owner granted us a find. Thank you GilDean!
The dog-walkers became scarcer as we headed further away from the village, climbing slowly up a muddy track. Caches were placed at regular intervals and one was placed near to a seat, exactly half-way round the route. How convenient and thoughtful!
Most of the caches were quite small, but a couple of the caches were big enough for trackables, and we dropped off two, Ezra the Eagle and Polly the Parrot and found another two to replace them.
Most of the caching trail was on footpaths or tracks, but there was a short section of road, with a surprising amount of traffic. There were caches on this section too, and stepping away from the traffic to hunt for a cache behind a tree, provided welcome respite.
As we turned away from the major road, and onto a minor road, two horses went by. We were accused of startling the horses! We still don’t know why ! The minor road was close to Billingbear Polo Club and it was here a polo ball had been used as a cache container. (About a year previously we had undertaken the Oh Balls series, by the same setter, and we suspect this cache container may have been left over from that route). Mr Hg137 jumped over a ditch, collected the cache, and threw the ball to Mrs Hg137 to sign the log.
The hint for this cache had specifically stated ‘Be Stealthy and Careful’. A van was parked opposite, with its engine running but had no-one in the cab, we were in in the clear….except….just as Mr Hg137 threw the ball across the ditch, a group of 8 walkers strode round the nearby bend in the road. We nodded to the first seven of the them, giving the appearance that ditch jumping whilst holding a polo ball is a natural thing to do. But the 8th person, said ‘What are you doing here?’ It was our neighbour from home, and we were standing closer to her, than our houses are! Fortunately her walking group had now pulled away, and we never did explain about the ditch, the polo ball and the tiny sheet of paper inside.
Polo Ball Cache
Our route now took us back towards Binfield, crossing fields, and passing isolated houses. A small smattering of caches to find, as this part of the route coincides with another puzzle series and the minimum distance between caches (1/10th of a mile) was being strictly adhered to.
As we skirted round a field, we approached probably the best cache on the circuit. It required more ditch jumping by Mr Hg137 – a bit wider and far more slippery than the polo ball cache, and then a search. We were advised it should have been visible from the field-side, but we couldn’t see it. Eventually Mrs Hg137 crossed over too, and we wandered between trees, looking for the cache. Then we saw it, one of our favourite types, a ‘pulley’ cache. We had to lower some rope to lower the cache. Sign the log, and return the log to its lofty position. Easily done… we even survived the second ditch crossing too!
Pulley Cache
After a cache hide that we really enjoy, came a cache hide we really hate. In ivy. Normally ivy hides take ages, but Mr Hg137 found the cache in what for us was a record time (less than 2 minutes!).
A short walk led us back to the car, pausing to search for our last caches of the day.
A very good route, a great variety of containers, and a little brain exercise beforehand to balance the 4 mile walk in Berkshire Countryside. Thoroughly recommended. Here are a few of the standard caches we found :
PS Did you work out the film star anagrams ? Here are the answers : GERARD BUTLER, CAREY MULLIGAN, TOM HANKS.
It was a damp Monday morning, and we were off to Bracknell for a miscellany of geocaching. The main purpose of the visit was to attend a geocacher’s meet, described below:
… “This meet will be inside Bracknell Library, at the invitation of the Librarian. We know that cachers are so enthusiastic about their hobby, and are always happy to talk to those who have not yet seen the light, and perhaps convert them. This will be your ideal opportunity, for although this is a proper geocaching meet, the librarian also intends to attract to the library at that time those who are not yet cachers, but who might be interested. In addition to chatting about the basics of geocaching, you may wish to recall some favourite caches, either ones that you may have placed, or found. So, talk away – on this occasion you will be able to do so inside a library. “…
And nearby was a multicache or two (that’s a geocache with two or more stages), an AdLab (a virtual tour using a phone), and the word was that a couple of new caches would be released nearby to coincide with the event.
That sounded like enough to keep us busy for a couple of hours, so we set off for Bracknell, parked the geocar, and set off for our first (multi)cache. Its starting point was the ancient milestone outside Blue’s Smokehouse; soon assembled coordinates led to our first cache. Blues was also the start of our AdLab cache, ‘Bygone Bracknell Watering Holes’, as the restaurant used to be the Red Lion pub before it turned blue. We made our way through the town, visiting other past places of refreshment – the Bull Inn (still a pub, still the same name), Prospect estate agents (once Gingers, a deli), the Old Manor (now a pub, once a manor house), and the Market Tavern (still a pub, but which has had many names).
Blues Smokehouse aka the Red LionThe Old ManorThe BullThe Market TavernProspect aka Gingers
After that tour of some of the older bits of Bracknell – and there were many, many more ‘old’ bits and pieces in a town centre that I’ve always thought of as wholly modern – we set off for the library and the meet. Other people, some we recognised, some carrying ill-concealed GPSs, were converging on the building – aha, other geocachers! Inside, we met, and talked, and saw possible future geocachers being informed on how it all works. We heard talk of the caches that were about to be released, with much staring at phones; then we spotted a lone geocacher exiting the library at speed. We followed: or rather, Mr Hg137 hared off in pursuit, while I followed at a more sedate/sensible/’as quick as I could’ speed; as long as one or both were view it would be fine. I caught up with them both in the middle of what is still called the Met Office roundabout, though the weather folk have long since moved to Exeter.
The brand new geocache we were seeking is named ‘Thinking of Days Gone Bye’, and, sure enough, Mr Hg137 was reminiscing as he and GilDean (the other cacher) claimed a joint First to Find (FTF). Mr Hg137 knew this bit of Bracknell very well indeed; he used to work at International Stores – the building there now is Avis. And he played Scrabble nearby when East Berks Scrabble Club met at the nearby Met Office building, now demolished. (Editor’s note: the first geocacher to find a cache after it has been published gets First To Find and the chance to sign an empty log. Some cachers set great store by this and many a cache is found within minutes of being published, day or night.)
First To Find
Finally, another multicache, another tour of central Bracknell, this time mostly around the Lexicon shopping centre, which was opened a few years ago. We gathered the coordinates, which confirmed that we need to return to the library – one clue was in the cache name, ‘Quiet Please!’ – another was that the description states that the cache is only available during library opening hours – and a third was that I’d spied on the activities of other cachers in the library during the meet (much sneaking off to one particular area!), so I knew roughly where to look. Sure enough, we returned to the library and soon found the cache tucked among the books.
The Lexicon
By now, it was nearly lunchtime; time to stop. It had been a varied morning, with many parts of central Bracknell that I’d not visited before. Interesting to see how many bits of ‘old’ Bracknell survive among the modern buildings!
When we finally worked how to open a complex, three stage geocache, along with the log book, we found a container for trackables, and took one from the selection inside. Once home, we logged our find and found out the trackable’s history.
The trackable looked shiny and new, and that’s because it set off in February 2023, starting at the River Itchen, near Winchester, and had travelled only 150 miles by the time we retrieved it in Bracknell two months later. It is one of two distributed to keen cachers by a geocaching reviewer. The new owners have kept hold of one of the two, to travel around with them, and have sent this one out to travel far and wide. I’m sure we can help!
(Info: what does a geocaching reviewer do? They help advise on the setting up and placement of new caches, to make sure they are described and placed correctly, and meet all guidelines. Sometimes they are given trackables to distribute: we have been given one at a meet, and this is the second we’ve seen.)
After a few very wet days, everything was rather soggy, and we decided against a country-based geocaching walk: probably too muddy. Instead, we picked a semi-urban route, thinking that the paths underfoot would be reasonably firm and dry … and so we found ourselves walking through the longish grass at the edge of a fairly damp football field while a children’s team played. Everyone was watching the football, and not us, so we thought we would be fine to get on with our caching without being spotted.
The series we were following is called ‘Bees Knees’ in homage to the Bracknell Bees Ice Hockey team who used to play nearby. The Bees have now buzzed off to Slough to play and their stadium has been demolished.
Having read the cache descriptions, we knew we would need extra ‘equipment’ and had brought a variety of geocacher’s tools with us. As we approached the first cache, we realised that our selection of tools didn’t include anything suitable for this. We found a handy substitute nearby (phew!) and used it to retrieve and replace the cache. The makeshift tool was better than anything we would have brought with us.
Moving on … it was good to be walking along a firm pavement rather than a muddy track to our next cache. On arrival, we looked up and realised we were again a tool short. (I had decided against bringing a walking pole with me as it would have stood out in a town.) We cast around and found a piece of scrap metal which was perfect for the job. After a bit of wafting and prodding, the container dropped into our hands. Now to return the cache … with pauses while we waited for traffic to pass by … it took us numerous attempts before we carefully nudged the cache back into position with the piece of scrap metal. All good fun!
Our next two caches weren’t so high up, so easier to reach. However, that gave Mr Hg137 the chance to scrape his knuckles on something or other and he then bled redly and grumpily for a bit. Meanwhile, I removed, signed and replaced the cache without incident, even pausing midway to stick a plaster onto the injured hand. This bit of our route is very close to where the stadium used to be; while development is going on nearby, the stadium is currently empty land and is a bit sad.
Bracknell Bees: home of the Hive no longer
We moved on to the next cache. So far, we’d not been especially well prepared, but had muddled through and found/replaced everything. This time round, we’d belatedly read the cache description and had realised we needed to arm ourselves with a tool (which, once again, we’d failed to bring). While walking to the cache, we found something moderately suitable, and brought it with us. It did the trick … now to replace it. Hmm. Mr Hg137 opted for trying to throw the cache back into position – which didn’t seem to be a terribly good idea – but, at the third or fourth attempt, the cache landed within inches of its starting point, and simply needed a gentle nudge or two from the makeshift tool to push it the last little bit. (If you had happened to be in this part of Bracknell on this day, and had seen two slightly damp and dishevelled people carrying assorted sticks and bits of metal … it was us!)
A longer walk between houses took us to some woodland, Farley Copse , once part of the grounds of Farley Moor House. We spotted a group of people working away in the woodland and rushed off to talk to some of them, busily planting up a new pond; they turned out to be from Binfield Environment Group and they were doing a great job. We walked on through the woods, stopped for a coffee break, chatted to some muggle dogs, admired a mature Wellingtonia (a survivor from the former estate), and found more caches; an interesting bit of woodland.
Binfield Environment Group in actionPond under constructionFarley CopseWellingtonia
There was just one more cache to find from the series and we had read that it was a bit special and would need time. This time, we did have the correct selection of tools with us. FYI – some caches require ‘extra’ equipment – we’d come prepared with a penknife, torch, string, pen, paper, water bottle, magnet, etc, etc. Other caches need things like ropes, ladders, catapult, fishing poles, climbing equipment, canoes; we hadn’t brought those, thinking they might be conspicuous on a suburban street …
We set about opening the cache, deploying some of our tools. There were several stages, each supplying something vital for the next part, and each needing a different technique. After some little time, and feeling just a bit conspicuous, we opened the third section, to find a capacious log book and a big jar for trackables – we took one. This cache may well appear on our ‘caches of the year’ post later on this year.
In summary: Iffy weather, excellent caching! And the moral for this series was : read all the descriptions beforehand. We made our way through the caches with the tools we’d brought, plus bits and pieces found nearby, but we would have done better if we’d brought some of the other tools mentioned in the descriptions.
Lily Hill Park is an area of 56 acres of parkland to the East of Bracknell. Formerly a Victorian house and gardens, it passed through several owners (each adding their own features), until it was taken over by Bracknell Development Corporation in 1955. It then became neglected until its restoration in the 2010s.
Mr Hg137 had visited once over 30 years ago, the park was totally new to Mrs Hg137.
What a jewel the park is ! There are many features to admire as you wander around including a ha-ha, an amphitheatre, an Edwardian water garden and a kissing seat.
We had 4 caches to find – two from the counting vowels multi-cache series, a 5 part adventure lab and its bonus, as well as one other cache just outside the park.
We have discovered over the years we get very confused if we are undertaking more than one multi/ad lab at the same time. So to prevent confusion, and to minimise a lot of backtracking, we printed a map and annotated all the waypoint stages. We could walk around with GPS in one hand for the Counting Vowel caches, and a phone for the ad lab cache and just remember which stage was our next destination! It worked well.
The counting vowels waypoints took us, as expected, to many signs, where we wrote down words and counted vowels. The words varied from Latin plant names to words on information boards – and there were many of those!
The ad lab sections were more visual. We had to count the chimneys on the old Lily Hill Park building, (not easy as many of the chimneys blocked the view of others), a couple of fallen trees now made into a major features which we had to explore, as well as a Story Telling Throne which is great for clambering on. (A young child was doing this when we took photos, so we have not included a photo it).
Our first cache find was the first of the Counting Vowels. The cache owner gives very specific hints and we knew we were in the correct place, but it took several minutes of searching . We were inhibited by a large holly tree, which prevented easy access, and it took us three attempts to locate the cache from the roots of a tree.
Partway round we left the park to find a cache in the ‘Milestone’ series. This was a first for us, as we didn’t know such a series existed. The cache we found was 130 in the series.
The premise of the series is that the caches are near to a milestone. It took us longer to cross the busy A329 than it did to find the cache.
Back to the park and we were half way round the ad lab. We paused at ‘Britain’s longest picnic table’ cut from a single piece of wood. The current table replaces a previous one installed back in 2010.
The Western half of the Lily Hill Park has more interesting features, but our trails took us into the Eastern half. The paths were windier, and there were less people. We paused in the ‘Summer House’ to calculate the final position for our ad lab cache. As we did so, the grassland nearby suddenly filled up with dachshund owners and their dogs! The photo doesn’t do it justice!
Our navigation to the ad lab final cache and the second counting vowels cache could be described, at best, as ‘poor’. The winding paths did the GPS no favours and were ended up bushwhacking through undergrowth for our finds – whoops!
The geocaches gave us a chance to explore thoroughly somewhere new, and on a early Spring morning, a delight to walk around.
Swinley Forest is an area of woodland to the South and East of Bracknell.
Today’s caching trip was in a ‘diamond’ shape bounded by 4 major roads (The A329 to the North, the A332 to the East, the A322 to the South and the B3430 to the West).
Our main aim was to visit 4 standard caches broadly close to each of those roads (and appropriately named North, East, South and West). We had solved a couple of puzzle caches which we hoped to find on route, as well as another cache in the centre of the forest diamond.
One of the puzzle caches we had solved was a simple picture identification task once the cache title ‘nice tours, erotic sun’ had been interpreted. The other was more obscurely titled ’30 / 7’. Within the puzzle we had to ascribe numbers to simple words like ‘PANS’, and ‘DANCE’. Once inspiration struck, the puzzle was quickly solved.
One of the puzzle caches was hidden in a holly tree. Deep in a holly tree. There were several at GZ, but one large specimen stood out. We circled it several times, peering into it to no avail. We decided the best way to locate the cache was to scramble into the tree, through lots of prickly leaves and look outwards. Mrs Hg137 volunteered (!), while Mr Hg137 re-read previous finder’s logs. One of the logs made mention of the many dog walkers, which indeed there were, but to find the cache, one had to ‘stand where you cant see the dog walkers’. Mr Hg137 sidled around the tree, hiding himself more and more from the footpath. He looked in… and found the cache. It was easier, just, for Mrs Hg137 to be directed to it..before she left the tree incurring a few more scratches.
Our second puzzle cache find, was in a much quieter location and trusting the GPS implicitly, Mrs Hg137 found the cache in an instant, and in a far less prickly place.
The Northernmost part of our route
Then onto the Compass Series.. North was nearby and we managed to find the cache and leave GZ before a dog walker came by. We even found a trackable too called Travel Toad.
To reach East, we had to cross the centre of the diamond passing another cache ‘Mr Jennison’s Fridge’. An intriguing title .It referred to the ice house of a former grand house in the forest. The cache description provides the following information :
The cache is placed very close to the site of an old ice house belonging to Swinley Lodge. Until the 1820’s (when it was demolished) this was the official residence of the Master of the Royal Buckhounds. It was the location for the monarch and his entourage to meet for breakfast when they were hunting in this area of the forest.
During the reign of George II the hunt’s master was a Mr Jennison. He was a thorough representative of the conviviality of the age, a “five bottle man” who would not allow his friends to walk away from the table.
The ice house was a deep, brick lined pit, surrounded by a circle of trees. In its shady depth food was kept fresh for as long as possible.
Part of a semi-circular entrance to Swinley Lodge
Sadly for us, the ice house has long gone and the cache seems to have disappeared too. After much searching we logged a Did Not Find. Always disappointing to log a DNF, but as there had been a couple of DNFs by other cachers in the weeks before our visit, not unexpected.
Up to now the paths had been dry, sandy heathland paths, but on our way to East the paths got muddier and muddier. Drainage ditches ran parallel to the paths, and we spent some time picking our way between less muddy sections.
East was quite cunningly hidden (well in Mr Hg137’s eyes). In the bole of a tree. A small bole. Mr Hg137 removed the ‘tiny barkoflage’ and found nothing. It was the only tree of note, so Mrs Hg137 had a feel. She discovered the bole had a kink in it, and the cache was hidden beyond the kink. Very clever!
The day was cold, and we were now at the furthest point from our car, with two caches still to find. South’s hint was ‘stickoflage’ and the GPS resolutely pointed to one particular tree – sadly for us, we couldn’t find the stickoflage or the cache. We did note though the cache had not been found since November, and since then there had been a substantial leafdrop covering the ground. Perhaps after a few more weeks the stickoflage will be visible, but for us, our second DNF of the day.
So we headed another back to our car passing West as we did so. Unlike the other caches, this was clearly visible, but protected by a large tree. It was only as we peered through the lower branches could we see the cache at ground level. An easy find, and another trackable too (The Tourist).
So 5 caches found of 7, but more importantly a great walk in a part of Swinley Forest we have barely explored.
We try to geocache in different areas, walk different paths, see different views.
Occasionally though, we find ourselves walking the same paths. Especially if a path contains geocaches.
Today’s trip around Green Hill achieved an unusual accolade – we would be walking the paths for a third time, and finding a third set of different caches!
It was a December lunchtime, when we received a Christmas card that we felt we ought to reciprocate. But with Christmas fast looming, we decided to head out, card in one hand, and GPS in the other.
We have walked and cached Green Hill on the Bracknell / Ascot borders twice (July 2017 and July 2019). The paths surround, we assume, an old – now filled in – rubbish dump. High fences surround a rectangular piece of land, with monitoring vents at regular intervals. Paths and trees surround the fence.
The two previous times we had cached in this area, the paths had been set by a caching team called JJEF. They specialise in ‘wooden puzzle’ type caches. Sadly they have stepped away from the the caching scene, and many of their caching routes are being reused. As indeed this one was. The cache owner this time was GilDean, who have met on a couple of occasions.
The first cache in this new series was called ‘Resurrected’. And it was indeed a resurrection of an old JJEF cache. We didn’t remember it all – made of wood in JJEF’s style – and after a few minutes of twisting and turning the cache we were able to sign the log.
The paths around the Green Hill are linear, so we had an out and back route. This is quite useful when geocaching, as it gives two opportunities to find a cache especially if the paths are busy. This footpath wasn’t and we didn’t see a soul all afternoon. We walked around Green Hill, pointing at trees, trying to remember…was there a JJEF cache ? Or was it…that tree ?
Cache 2 in this series was attached to a metal fence. Hidden in part by the last remaining leaves of the year, it was quite tricky to remove from the fence, as the bright, low winter sunshine was directly in Hg137’s eyes as he undid the cache.
Previous hides on this route strayed some distance from the footpaths and the fence line, but GilDean hid their caches with only a small step away from each. Cache three – ‘hidden in ivy’ – we groaned. There aren’t many geocachers that love an ivy hide, and we are no different. Fortunately the ivy wasn’t that thick, and we found the cache after only a couple of minutes.
The end of the path hosts the final cache in the series, a cleverly placed cache. Mrs Hg137 walked right by it, as she bent underneath some thick branches, and it was after a few minutes that we realised we didn’t need to go under the branches.
So our third time of caching this route was successful – we wonder if we will be back in 2 years time to find a fourth set of geocaches!
Just to the North of Bracknell is a linear walk of caches themed around insects.
It was close to where we had cached before, so on a brightish, but more importantly dry, November morning we set off.
Our car was parked some distance from the first cache – which oddly enough was not part of the insect series, but was actually an insect – a slug !
The Insect Walk is a linear, there and back series of caches, so we decided to undertake alternate caches heading south, and the remainder we would attempt on the return.
The path was very straight, and surprisingly un-muddy even though for much of the route we were adjacent to a stream.
The caches were quite small, and well themed. They varied from ants to butterflies, from locusts to flowers (Ed – we know and the cache owner knows a flower is not an insect).
About halfway along the path we had a mystery cache to find. Here the cache owner gave nothing away except to say it was placed according to caching rules i.e it was not nearer than 0.1mile from another cache.
As we walked away from the insect cache before the mystery cache, we watched our GPS slowly rise to so until we were 0.1mile away from it. This would be the range of the mystery cache in one direction. We started to look at trees, posts, and soon arrived at a road. We continued in a similar investigative vein until we were 0.1 mile from the next (insect) cache.
Lots of places to hide a cache here
We didn’t find the mystery cache, but we drew lines in the footpath so that we would know the ‘range’ on our return.
The next ‘insect’ cache was our only DNF in the insect series. The hint said ‘floor’, and despite looking at ground level we couldn’t find it. We checked the logs, and this cache is one of the hardest to find in the insect series.
We strode on, slightly deflated with 2 consecutive DNFs. We made hard work of the next cache too, but this time we were triumphant. By now the path had given way to a tarmac road, and we soon passed the only industrial building on route. Bracknell’s Sewage works.
Many of the caching logs mentioned the path can be ‘aromatic’ during the Summer, and we grateful it was November as we found a couple more caches.
Just beyond the insect trail was one more cache, hidden behind a ‘Welcome to Bracknell Sewage Works’ sign. We did wonder why anyone would want to be welcomed to such an establishment !
And so we undertook the return leg, finding the caches we hadn’t found previously. Most of the caches were relatively straightforward. On a couple of occasions the GPS seemed a little out, but the cache was generally found after a few minutes.
Can you help us find the caches? Nay!
The execptions were of course the twocaches we hadn’t find on our outbound journey. We searched the ‘floor’ again with no luck, and then returned to the mystery cache.
This time Mr Hg137 remembered seeing a couple of photos posted on http://www.geocaching.com Although the hiding place was not shown in any of the photos, the angle of the camera gave an indication of a ‘good area to search’. Also, another cacher had mentioned that a certain plant species made searching quite hard. Mr Hg137 set about his search, while Mrs Hg137 searched more familiar hiding locations.
Am I poisonous … or am I a cache?
After a short while (10 minutes maybe), Mr Hg137 found the cache. Its camouflaged container was dark against the leaf litter and even on a sunny November day, the cache was still in shade.
We walked back to the car, quite happy, one DNF from thirteen caches attempted and more importantly we had chosen one of the few days without rain.
sandhurstgeocachers 
