June 6 : Thames Path : Clifton Hampden to Day’s Lock (circular)

This was our first expedition since Mr Hg137’s unfortunate arm-breaking accident with the Segway.

We were not sure what affect his injury would have, so we settled on a small circular walk starting from Clifton Hampden. Not many caches and not many miles but enough exercise to see what we might be able to do in the future.

Clifton Hampden Bridge

Our first cache of the day was within yards of our car, called Pegasus Bridge. What made this unusual was the high terrain rating (4). The cache was hidden up a steep bank, with a 1:1 gradient. The bank was probably 20 feet high and protected a churchyard from any river floods.

Normally Mr Hg137 would have attempted this type of cache – but with only one real balancing arm available it really was too dangerous.

So Mrs Hg137 went for it!

Climbing slowly (in fairness that’s her top speed), bending double both to avoid branches and match the slope, she soon made it to the top. Fortunately an easy find… then the tricky descent.

The path, such as it was, was tinder dry and even with a geo-pole, hands, walking boots and a few choice words the descent was made more slowly than the ascent. Fab effort by Mrs Hg137 – and one Mr Hg137 was really jealous (and pleased) of!

The cache  was placed to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the capture of Pegasus Bridge during the D Day landings. The operation was led by Major John Howard who is buried in the graveyard. (So more by luck than good fortune it seemed a good cache to do today – the 71st anniversary of D Day.)

We crossed the Thames on Clifton Hampden bridge and followed the Thames Path towards Day’s Lock near Little Wittenham.

Initially we walked though elbow-high stinging nettles (difficult to avoid with a broken arm), and then a field with ewes and lambs. We remarked that the ewes needed shearing as we could see the bulk of fleece on them really made look hot and bothered.

We passed several people also walking the Thames Path – some taking a couple of years, others just a few months. Our target was close to the base of Wittenham Clumps and it was reassuring that they became closer and closer as the walk progressed.

Wittenham Clumps

Our second cache was just before Day’s Lock. Hidden in a tree trunk, but big enough for a trackable swap. Here we left our Smurf friend, Smoulicek, and retrieved Lady Bug. Given the excitement of the previous cache, a nice easy find!

Nice simple cache!

We crossed the weir and lock at Day’s Lock and watched three boats head upstream through it. The quality of boatmanship of the three crews at the lock was extremely variable ranging from the ‘pro’ to ‘downright amateur’. The pros could ‘tie up’ and ‘moor’ without incident, the others took several efforts to even square up within the lock itself!

Day’s Lock

The Thames Path continued on the bank, but our circular path immediately re-crossed the Thames over Little Wittenham Bridge. Since 1984 this bridge has been host to the World Poohsticks Championships. Sadly because of the sheer numbers the event has now moved to a bridge over the River Windrush in Witney.

Anyone for Poohsticks?

Now there is only thing to do at this bridge … have a game of Poohsticks. But so does everyone else! There is not a branch or twig for 50 yards either side of the bridge. No wonder the World Championships were moved!

We headed across fields, and a footpath through a very attractive garden and across the only stile of the day (tricky with a broken arm) to the village of Long Wittenham.

Lovely garden.. with a footpath through it!

Here we would find our third and final cache, Spice Alley. We guessed that normally there would be cooking aromas from the adjacent Oriental Eating Emporium, but today no such aromas existed. Our search took slightly longer than expected, hidden in an ivy bush.

Spice Alley …

… and its cache !

Returning via footpaths to the Thames, we then retraced our steps through the field of sheep. Imagine our surprise to find them gone! They were being shorn by three farmers in the far field corner. So we were right.. they did need shearing!

A pleasant day out – and a great way for Mr Hg137 to start his caching recuperation!

Thames Path statistics : Route length : 2.75 miles Total distance walked : 68.55 miles

Caches found : 3 Total caches found : 142

May 9 : Thames Path : Abingdon to Clifton Hampden (circular)

After a few days on the Isle of Wight… its back to the Thames Path !

For much of the Thames Path, we have taken two cars and walked linearly between them.

Our next section of the Thames Path (Abingdon to Wallingford) seemed quite long if we were to cache the path too. Instead we chose to break the section at Clifton Hampden which enabled a circular walk… and only one car!

We started at Clifton Hampden and walked away from the river through countryside towards Abingdon. Our first target was a 3-stage multi. (Given our feeble efforts with a 5 stage multi on the Isle of Wight a few days earlier, this was a brave choice). Fortunately the caching gods were with us, as we found all 3 parts and the final part too! The cache container was awkwardly hidden in a tree stump, and it took some minutes to retrieve it.

As we were collecting the 3 parts for the multi, we tried one of the caches we passed on route. It was last found 6 months ago prior to the trees losing their leaves. 6 months of the leaf litter was over a foot deep, and concealed the cache so well we DNF-ed it.

The multi took us close to the high, and slightly intimidating, fence surrounding Culham Science Centre (http://www.culham.org.uk/)

Culham Science Centre

We continued around it before arriving at our next cache, one of the RRR series (Rascal’s River Ramble) of 12 caches we were to follow for much of the day. The particular cache had us fooled momentarily, until we undertook the cachers trick of lifting and moving everything.

The RRR series description quite clearly stated “it is thorns, ivy and stingers free!”. Sadly this piece of information caused us much confusion at several caches, as they were indeed in nettles ! A good variety of containers including sawn-off logs, magnetic nanos, bisons and tupperware made this a very enjoyable and thought provoking series.

We arrived at Abingdon, and thus our Thames Path resumption, at lunchtime. There are many seats by the river and it was pleasant watching the life of the river unfold. A canal boat was being filled for a few days away, another boat went to the fuel station to fill up, other pleasure craft chugged along.

Lunch stop by the river

We still had a few miles left – and a few caches too – so set off in search of the cache called Ollie the Owl. We weren’t expecting to find it, as it had been disabled as the cache had gone AWOL (or should that be AOWL ?). A shame as the pictures on http://www.geocaching.com showed a really fine creation.

Ollie the Owl… before he flew away (source : http://www.geocaching.com)

We nearly walked passed Freddy the Frog, as were distracted by a game of cricket – fortunately a quick find.

Frog…

Squirrel

Thereafter we picked more of the RRR caches including a great hide in a squirrel! Nuts eh ?

We had one other DNF, where the cache was hidden in/under/on a deserted bridge.

The river took us close to Didcot Power Station. Built in the late 60s, much of it is now being decommissioned. During the Summer last year, 3 of the 6 cooling towers were demolished. The remaining 3 will be demolished later this year.

This view will change when towers are demolished later this year!

Our final cache was a puzzle cache we had solved some weeks earlier. We haven’t been tackling many of the puzzle caches, as the final co-ordinates may be some distance from the Thames. This one was dangling in a tree only yards from the water’s edge.

We paused at the last lock of the day, Clifton Lock, and watched a boat pass through. We then noticed the lock-keeper had plants for sale. Sadly no fuschias as Mrs HG137 wanted- but we did buy some Aubrietia, which we’ve subsequently planted. When they flower next year (I have great faith in Mrs Hg137’s green fingers) they will remind us of a great days walking and caching in the Oxfordshire countryside.

Plants for sale

Here are a few more of the imaginative containers we found on this trip :

Thames Path statistics : Route length : 3 miles Total distance walked : 65.7 miles

Caches found : 14 Total caches found : 139