February 26 : Basingstoke

Hello, Mrs Hg137 here.

We’d decided on a morning’s geocaching in Basingstoke, a place we’ve rarely visited; and so we found ourselves in War Memorial Park. Even on a chilly weekday morning, the park was busy with joggers, lots of dog walkers and folk out braving the cold air and fresh breeze.   The park contains football pitches, a skate park, a play area, an aviary and lots of open space.  At 9am on Saturday there is a parkrun and can get very busy (anywhere that hosts a parkrun gets very busy at 9am on Saturdays!). We planned to find a mixture of physical caches, some in the park, some nearby, and an AdLab cache, too, which would mostly take us around the park.  (FYI:  AdLabs require you to visit several locations and answer a question at each.)

Our initial action was to collect the first stage of a multicache – this gave us coordinates for the second, and final stage, which we’d complete later as our last cache of the morning; some cachers think this stage is actually the final, and sign the coordinate sheet – we didn’t check how many then move on to the other location!

Now, on to the Adlab.   We reached one of 6 stone plaques set into the path: this one contains a quote from Ode to Evening by William Collins. A bit further on, we came to an aviary containing cockatiels and budgies, all chirping away merrily.   They all seemed warm and happy, but the cold was seeping in and our fingers and toes were a bit numb.

All Saints Church, Basingstoke

We emerged into the streets by the park and made our way to our next geocache, a Church Micro cache at Basingstoke All Saints, an imposing building about a hundred years old; the original tin church was moved around the corner and is now the church hall.    Having worked out the coordinates to the cache, we scooted off to find it, then huddled in the church porch, out of the howling north wind, for a warming cup of coffee.

Marginally warmer, we moved on to the Top of the Town, the old town centre, before Basingstoke expanded in the 1960s.    The pedestrianised street widened into the Market Place, close to the museum and complete with an almost life-size statue of Jane Austen; or maybe she was very small?  Further on, we left the car-free area and reached the northern entrance to the park.   Here stands the War Memorial that gives its name to the park.

Once there, we looked for – and failed to find – a couple of caches in the shrubbery; we felt we’d failed at the time, but neither has been found since, and one has been archived; so it wasn’t just us, they simply weren’t there!   And finally, we completed that cache we had started right back at the beginning of the morning.  The GPS led us on a merry spiral, and we gradually moved inwards – we were pleased when the centre of our spiral was where the cache was located, nice and dry.   And that completed our caching; we’d intended to stay longer, and find more caches, but we’d got really, really cold, and drove home to warm up.

And what did we think of Basingstoke – the bit of it we’d walked through?   The park was great, and clearly appreciated by the many people using it, even on a cold, grey day.    And, having always thought of Basingstoke as a ‘new’ town, the Top of the Town, and the area around, showed us a side of the town we’d not realised was there.   An interesting morning – but COLD!

February 16 : Elvetham Heath, Fleet

Elvetham Heath is a relatively new housing estate to the North West of Fleet. It comprises about 2000 dwellings with building work starting in 1999 and it was completed just 10 years later. To the north of the estate is the M3, to the south the main railway line to London. Despite these apparent ‘noisy neighbours’ Elvetham Heath is very pleasant, and surprisingly quiet.

In the centre of the estate is a supermarket, a village hall, a school, a church, a pub and many other facilities needed to support its 5000+ population.

The central car park is free for a limited time, but we thought (and we were right), our caching trip would be longer than the free car parking would permit, so we parked some distance from the centre in a residential road.

We planned on locating a cache on our way to the estate’s centre, attempt the multicaches set near the middle and return by visiting a few more caches.

The first cache we attempted was a puzzle cache based on the TV series ‘Death in Paradise’.  We thoroughly enjoy this series, but as it turned out the puzzle didn’t require expert knowledge of the show. A swift google search, some straightforward calculations and the final coordinates were discovered. The cache was hidden on a long, straight track running parallel to the railway.

The cache was a well crafted ‘bird-box’ container hidden just behind rhododendron bushes.

The path was surprisingly empty, we only saw a couple of dog walkers on our 10-15 minute walk to the village centre. We emerged from the quiet, tree-covered path to face the main centre. The supermarket car park was busy, people were crossing roads on errands… the quietness we had experienced had melted into a hubbub of people!

We had two multi-caches to find. We decided to collect the information for both caches, and then plan an optimal route to find the containers.

The first multi-cache entitled ‘My First Multi-cache’ required us to write down numbers from a parking restriction sign. The second multicache, part of the village hall series, required us to use digits from a phone number.

Both caches were in opposite directions! Before we set off to find the first cache, we found a simple cache close to the telephone box and post box – part of the Fine Pair Series. We first found a Fine Pair cache back in 2013 – that cache was number 64 in the National series – this cache was number 1435.

Interestingly the post box was an old George VI post box, so must have either been here 60 years ago, when the estate was a wooded area, or moved from another location. In keeping with the time-travelling nature of the post-box, it was topped with a Dalek, while the no-longer-used phone box, was a frostproof plant container!

With the Fine Pair cache, found, we headed North to find one of the multicaches. The final was a some distance away, and the twisty-turny nature of the roads and pavements, meant it took some time to reach Ground Zero. We were glad for a quick find, as the hiding place was very exposed in front of several houses, on a road junction.

We returned to the village centre and headed a little way south, picking up the other multi-cache.  Again another street sign was the host and a hint that confused Mrs Hg137, who seemingly never learnt the orientation of compass points based on the phrase.. “Never Eat Shredded Wheat” !

Time was pressing, and we limited our searching to one further cache. This was close to the car, but, at the time, many of roads and pavements were being dug up, and non-optimal alternatives meant we took longer than expected to arrive at GZ. The hint was magnetic, and it took us a few minutes to find the correct metal object, but once we did we had our largest container of the day.

There are still a few caches in the Elvetham Heath estate, which no doubt we will collect at some other time.

December 23 : Kingsclere and surrounding countryside

Hello, Mrs Hg137 here.

Two days before Christmas … the turkey was defrosting, the homemade Christmas pudding had been checked (a year old but fine), and all was pretty much under control, Christmas-wise.    On a dry, bright morning we made our way to Kingsclere in north Hampshire for some geocaching in the countryside around the village.   We planned to find the caches in the Kingsclere Kaper series, and maybe add in a few others as we went.

From the Fieldgate Centre on the edge of the village, we made our way uphill along a country lane and into the bare, wintry country, hearing the bangs of guns from a distant shoot ahead of us (luckily, not on our route, we don’t like being shot at).   Just before turning onto a bridleway, we were hailed by an elderly countryman, and stopped to pass the time of day. He said he was on his way home – from where? no idea. He was also clutching a laden carrier bag – we had suspicions that it contained pheasant(s) “obtained” from the shoot going on a little way ahead of us – but we can’t prove that!

Once off the tarmac, it was damper underfoot, but a lovely walk through trees, part of the Brenda Parker Way, a long-distance footpath.   We skirted a fishery, crossed a little bridge – there are lots of small footbridges on this route – and emerged onto fields.  Other people had the same idea as us and were out for a pre-Christmas walk: most were very clean and tidy and we wondered if that would still be so once they’d negotiated the muddy path!  Geocaching-wise, we were doing well, we’d already found eight caches, all but one from the Kaper series, and were making steady progress. 

We emerged onto the A339, the main road between Basingstoke and Newbury.   At the Star Inn, we saw that, again, other people were out for a pre-Christmas meal … but they weren’t watching us as we stopped to find a cache.

From here, we followed paths and field edges and made our way through the edge of the village.  It was lunchtime, so we found a seat in a quiet spot for a picnic.   (As an aside, this was one of our better lunch spots, overlooking the playground and allotments: we’ve previously had lunch in leaky bus shelters, industrial estates, graveyards …)  Afterwards, we walked back out into the country, passing the community orchard : much better seats here, we shouldn’t have stopped so soon!

We walked in a loop through the countryside to the north, crossing a few more of those little bridges on the way.   A brief furtle for a cache behind the postbox, then we made our way to the end of our walk along the delightfully named Frog’s Hole, following a little stream back up the hill; and a chance to cross yet more of those ‘little bridges’ that abound in Kingsclere.

Here are just a few of the many interesting caches we found:

December 8 : Aldershot

Hello, Mrs Hg137 here.

Manor Park, Aldershot

After a cold, wet start to the month, Friday dawned bright and sunny.  We headed off to Aldershot for a morning’s caching on dry (we hoped) pavements.

We found a parking space in a quiet suburban road, and strolled along to our first cache, hidden close to St. Mary’s, the first of four Church Micro caches we would attempt today (Church Micro, or CM geocaches are hidden near churches / chapels / cathedrals, active or redundant.  There are just over 15000 in the series, making it the largest geocache series in the world.)

From there, we made our way down the hill towards Aldershot Town FC, catching a brief glimpse of the hallowed turf as we went.   In front of the entrance we assembled coordinates to find the cache associated with the club. (Editor’s question: why is turf hallowed, especially football turf?)

Aldershot Town FC

Next it was time for a walk in the park and another cache, in Manor Park.   What a popular and busy place on a sparkling morning!   Dog walkers, runners, mothers and small children, and folk simply taking the air.   After a coffee break, watching the ducks and seagulls going about their lives in the pond, we moved on to visit a curry house – not literally, as Mr Hg137 isn’t a curry fan (but I am!) – but instead, to work out the coordinates for yet another cache.   This one is part of the Curry Micro series, which started in Brighton and is now spreading across the South of England and beyond.

Incy Wincy Spider, hiding in a hole

We moved on to the most inventive cache of the day, named Incy Wincy Spider.   Part way there, we read the cache description and realised we hadn’t got the correct equipment, for this one required us to pour water into a container to make the cache float to the top, and we had no water with us … oops.  Fortuitously, we passed an abandoned, half-drunk bottle of water, and took it with us. It turned out not to be enough water … oops again. Plan B – a thin stick – was deployed, and the cache extracted.   It was a fun few minutes of problem-solving; luckily we were tucked away along a quiet path between hedges and no-one was watching our efforts. 

We circled suburban southern Aldershot, completing the morning’s walk with three more Church Micro caches.   Two of the churches supplied us with the coordinates for geocaches, but the third didn’t (it hadn’t been found for a while and is now awaiting attention from the owner).   And by now, it was nearly lunchtime and we’d made our way back to the geocar in the sunshine, having visited many a place to pass the time – football grounds, parks, restaurants, and a goodly selection of places of worship – something to satisfy both body and soul!

And here are some of the caches we found:

November 24 : Kingsclere village

Hello, Mrs Hg137 here.

St Mary’s, Kingsclere

Kingsclere : as described by a local resident and fellow geocacher, TadleyTrailblazers:  

Kingsclere has a Post Office, three pubs, two local stores, a library, hairdresser, butchers, and art gallery, everything a small community could want in this north Hampshire village.  A bustling parish with strong community ties and a unique, friendly atmosphere, Kingsclere is a fantastic place to sample the surrounding views and neighbouring villages. This area inspired the novelist Richard Adams to create the world-famous story of Watership Down.  ‘Clere’ is thought to have derived from the Saxon and may possibly mean ‘bright’ or ‘clearing’; there is evidence to suggest that Kingsclere belonged to King Alfred between the years of 872 to 888 with the full name being referenced in a chart.

We began our visit to the village with an AdLab cache, which gave us a guided tour of the highlights of the older part of the village.   We inspected the Old House (once an impressive solicitor’s office), then, closer to the village centre, two locations linked with brewing, the Malt House, and Popes Mill, and two more associated with drinking, the Golden Falcon and the Crown Inn (all, except the last, are now private houses).

A few doors from the pub was a Methodist chapel, and opposite was the village church, St Mary’s.   Crossing the road, we passed toilets, a coffee shop, a convenience store and the local butchers, then went into the churchyard, musing to ourselves that almost all of our spiritual and physical needs were provided for in this small area!    Our thoughts were interrupted as it began to rain, hard and cold – this hadn’t been in the weather forecast!   We took refuge in the church, had a warming cup of coffee, then headed outside again, where it was no longer raining, but noticeably colder.

A short walk took us past yet another, now unused church, so now we had coordinates for three Church Micro caches to find later on. Next we followed a track uphill to the Recreation Ground, which has a hilltop view over the village, and towards Watership Down in the other direction.  After finding two geocaches around the edges of the field, we descended a steep flight of steps to Hollowshot Lane, a straight track running roughly east-west.   We had quickly gone from village to countryside, and the sunshine was returning.

Here we had a dilemma:  a geoache lay some hundreds of yards away to the east, off our route, so an out-and-back diversion would be needed.  AND – said cache hadn’t been found for 5 months, so we could have a long detour for something that was no longer there.  After consideration, we decided to try to find it anyway.  Once there, we spent some while peering around fruitlessly, then leant on a nearby gate to read previous logs … looking down … we spotted something lying out in the open.  Aha!  Found it at last.  That made the return trip much happier.

Park House Stables gallops

Reaching the road at the end of the track, we made our way back towards the village.  We had more detours and diversions to make, this time to look for the cache containers associated with those churches we had passed earlier.   In no particular order – one was along a woodland path, one tucked into a concrete post, and the third was in a delightful spot along a stream running through the village.

Park House Stables and their immaculate gallops lay to our left – no racehorses visible today: wrong time of year, wrong time of day.  

Our walk concluded along the same clear chalk stream. The rain was gone now, and we finished the day in clear, cold sunshine.

PS And the butchers , which we passed earlier … we went back, went in and bought some lovely venison sausages.  Not cheap, but delicious!

Here are some of the caches we found:

November 17 : Yateley Lakes (part 2)

The rain had subsided. The roads were less flooded. It seemed a good day to complete the Yateley Lakes series that we had started 4 days previously.

We had 3 Yateley Lakes caches to find, a couple of stages from a 5-stage ad lab, and one other cache part of the 50+ cache Drive By series. We could have driven to this cache ourselves, but it was only a short walk from one of the Yateley Lake caches, so we decided to include it in our morning’s walk.

We parked the car in an almost identical spot to our previous visit, and Mrs Hg137 set about getting the ad lab started on her phone. For some inexplicable reason the ad lab wouldn’t load, so she resorted to the standard IT maxim ‘ turn it off, and on again’. While this process was happening, we took the liberty of locating a Yateley Lake cache positioned just outside the car park.  We stood where there had been 2-3 inches of water a few days ago and picked up various items. Remembering that the caches were set by VR7, the cache could have been anything – and eventually we realised we had the cache container in our hand, more by luck than skilful searching.

We hastily replaced the cache, as a car swung by us, and drove into the car park.

By now Mrs Hg137’s phone had come alive, and the ad lab application was good-to-go. As we walked back into the car park, and neared the ad lab question location, the driver of the car shouted at us “I know what you are doing!”. Yikes !  We had been rumbled!

But no, it was another geocacher, fennyflip, awaiting a friend, who he was going to introduce to geocaching. We chatted awhile, until his friend arrived. They set off following the lake one direction, and we left in the other. We admired the ‘watersports’ section of the lake – no foolhardy watersports enthusiasts today – and completed our final ad lab stage, and headed for our penultimate Yateley Lakes cache.

This one was hidden near a footpath crossroads, and it was quite busy. We initially searched the wrong side of the footpath, and paused for several minutes while various dog-walkers went by. After a few minutes we spotted a likely hiding place which required us to undertake some determined effort to release the cache. Our determination couldn’t have been that great, as we failed to release the cache, and we assumed our thoughts were wrong. After a few more minutes fruitless searching, we re-tried the hiding place, and this time we were successful. Log signed, we headed off, uphill, to the ‘Drive By’ cache..

Our route took us away from the semi-gravel track around the lake, to a grassy slope. After the rain, the grass was muddy, and there occasional ‘marshy’ sections we had to walk around. We passed a couple of people on the way up the slope, and we exchanged pleasantries and swapped advice on how to avoid the mud!We arrived at a road – quite handy as we were looking for a Drive By cache, and spotted a tree, the host, a few yards away. However as we made our way to the tree, a gentleman with a dog came out of the adjacent cottage. We stared at us suspiciously. We decided to feign a navigational error, paused, consulted phones and maps and walked the other way – all the time being watched by the gentleman and his dog. He walked away, and after a while, we saw the gentleman disappearing round a bend in the road, giving us a ideal opportunity to grab the simple cache.

We walked back down the muddy slope, this time aware of all the muddy sections, and found a simple footpath to our final Yateley Lakes cache. Again a sneaky hide, but visible in plain sight.

It was a shame we broke the series into two trips, but given the volumes of water still lying close to the footpaths, we knew we would have got very wet had we continued on our first visit.

If you want to find some clever hides, hidden in tranquil scenery, do attempt the Yateley Lakes – but do visit when the weather is dry!

November 13 : Yateley Lakes

A new-ish series had been placed around Yateley Lakes. This is an area we have walked and cached several times. It seems a popular place for a cache owner to place a few caches, leave them in place for a couple of years and then remove them, allowing the space for other caches to be placed.

We had previously found two of the Yateley Lakes caches in 2018 and 2021, but now there were another 10 to find.

The River Blackwater runs parallel to the Lakes, and perhaps it was not a good idea to undertake a series so close to a river and lakes the day after 2/3 of an inch had fallen. Hindsight is wonderful.

Alarm bells started to ring as we drove to the car park near cache 1. Farmers’ fields were awash and the water was flowing from the fields across the road. As we approached the car park we saw a sign saying it would closed the following day, but it was padlocked shut today as well.

One of the drier road sections!

We had one other alternative, to drive back through the flooded roads, to another car park. This one was closer to cache 12.  As we approached the car park the roads were even wetter as  roadside ditches had overspilled their banks. We also noted that 3 caches we were due to find were along this flooded section.

We decided to start the route, and would abandon if the riverside paths were too submerged. We also decided to miss the caches near the flooded road section.

The caches were set by local cachers VR7, who are frequently devious in their choice of containers and hiding place. Given that Yateley Laeks is a popular area for walking, this is no bad thing – it just meant we wouldn’t have any ‘quick finds’. We also had a 5 stage ad lab to complete, though we noted a couple of the sections were closer to the flooded road, so again we decided to move these stages to a subsequent visit.

View from inside a bird hide

Surprisingly the paths around the Lakes were easy to walk around. A couple of large puddles here and there, and one very long muddy section where we had to navigate by and avoid the nearby barbed wire. Otherwise our sturdy walking boots were ideal. 

As we expected the caches were ‘devious’. Sometimes the hints were misleading – “I’m next to a Multi-Trunked Tree” was one such hint. The GPS led us to a large tree where the cache would have been placed by most other owners. VR7 had put the cache next to a much, much smaller tree about a yard away! We spend ages here as we did at several other caches.

The ad lab stages were far simpler, a quick question – sometimes involving counting, other times noting names from a memorial bench.

Lots of information boards – useful for ad lab stages

Soon we were approaching the lowered numbered caches and we saw a couple walking towards us. They had parked in the car park which we thought was locked. It was, but it is generally unlocked from 930… we were there at 920! The approach to the car park from the River Blackwater is along a footpath on one side, a hedge in the middle, and a bridleway on the other. The caches we had to find were invariably on the wrong side of the hedge, so some backtracking was needed.

We were surprised to see a birdbox close to cache 1, and assumed this to be the cache. It wasn’t and a bird flew away as we approached. We are sure many other cachers would make the same mistake, and the cache owner has changed the hint, so that the birdbox is ignored. 

Sadly the route is not totally circular –  and we headed back to cache 12 taking one diversion to cache 7 (the easiest cache of the day) situated partway between 2 lakes.

With hindsight we could have completed the series, but we had mentally said ‘park the rest for when the conditions are drier’, so we drove back, through the slightly dropping water levels back home.

Yateley Lakes – we will be back!

November 11 : The Strong of Sandhurst

Hello, Mrs Hg137 here.

After a very wet few weeks, a countryside geocaching trip was not really an option (way too muddy!). As an alternative, to find a 5-stage Adventure Lab (AdLab) cache based around Sandhurst Memorial Park and Shepherd Meadows.  We hoped we would stay dry!

How AdLab caches work:
Using your mobile as a GPS, you find your way to various locations, then answer a question which your phone reveals once you are there.   After visiting all the locations, that completes the AdLab cache.  It’s similar to a multicache, which offers up clues and numbers at each stage.   But … why can’t you cheat?   And find out the information without being there?   Well, the question isn’t unlocked until you are very close indeed to each location, and they are usually about things only visible once standing on the spot.

Shepherd Meadows and Sandhurst Memorial Park cover 68 hectares (169 acres) of wet meadows (not too wet, we hoped!), woodland and recreational green spaces.  We decided to start the AdLab in the Memorial Park, then work our way into Shepherd Meadows, and along the River Blackwater.

Sandhurst War Memorial

Our first stop was the War Memorial, where we needed to answer our first question.   Today was Remembrance Day, and all was tidy and quiet.   It would be much, much busier the next day, Sunday, when the Remembrance service would take place.  As Sandhurst is the home of the Royal Military Academy, this event is always well arranged and well attended.

Heave-ho! Tug of War practice weights

Passing the Community Hall, we walked on, very gently downhill, along the side of some of the football pitches, heading for the area where Sandhurst Tug of War team practice.  The team have been 3 times World Champions, 2 times European Champions and 8 times National Champions!   We needed to look at the structure used by the team for training, a metal tower with very heavy weights attached.     The uphill end of the fields had been … damp, while the downhill end, nearer the river, was … boggy.   We both kept our feet dry, but only just.

Bracknell Town FC, Bottom Meadow

We were right next to the shared ground of Sandhurst Town and Bracknell Town football clubs.   They play at the aptly named Bottom Meadow; a match was in progress, and, from the shouts, Bracknell were doing well; we later learned that they beat Chesham United 4-0.  Well done to the Robins!

We moved on to the Balancing pond, a small lake used for the temporary storage of excess storm water after periods of heavy rainfall.   It was doing its job today, as the path round one side of the pond was underwater.   We needed to look at something near the pond for our next location – hmm, it was just visible without paddling; once again, our feet just stayed dry.

From here, we walked out into Shepherd Meadows, crossing the River Blackwater and walking along the Hampshire side of the river (the river is the Berkshire/Hampshire county boundary).

We had one more structure to inspect along the riverbank, then it was out to the main road to inspect the Sandhurst Millennium sign, just as the daylight began to fade.   Job done, AdLab completed, and a not too wet walk across a variety of terrain.

August 11 : Trackable : Polly the Parrot

Hello, Mrs Hg137 here.

Polly the Parrot

Polly the Parrot has been flying around since spring 2016.   Setting off from Hampshire, between Chichester and Petersfield, Polly has a mission:

… “TO FLY FROM COUNTY TO COUNTY WITHIN THE UK AND TO VISIT EACH AND EVERY ONE BEFORE RETURNING TO NEST IN HAMPSHIRE

(POLLY THE PARROT IS THE OFFSPRING OF MONROE THE CONURE AND THEY HOPE TO BE RE-UNITED ONE DAY) “ …

We think that the trackable owner has a parrot, Monroe …

And has Polly flown round all of the counties in the UK?    Umm – no.   Polly has flown almost 29,000 miles (wow, that’s some flying!) and has visited much of the ‘bottom right hand quadrant’ of the United Kingdom, plus fleeting visits to Cornwall and Scotland.   But Wales and Northern Ireland are entirely unvisited, even though Polly has taken short holidays in Greece, Germany, Cambodia, Germany, Italy, and Germany along the way.

That is one very well-travelled parrot, and we hope to drop Polly somewhere in Hampshire, closer to home.

April 22 Basingstoke Canal (Odiham to Greywell)

Odiham Castle

Our plan for the day was to walk along the Basingstoke Canal from Odiham to Greywell Tunnel, find a couple more caches in the village of Greywell before returning to Odiham via North Warnborough. We hoped to arrive back in Odiham before the forecasted heavy rain arrived.

The Basingstoke Canal ran from Basingstoke to Weybridge (where it connected to the River Thames). Like many other canals it fell derelict in the 1950s.  Much restoration has taken place, but sadly the full route cannot be reopened as the Greywell Tunnel has collapsed.

We walked this section of the canal in 2011, as it formed part of the ‘Three Castles Path‘; a route linking Windsor Castle, Odiham Castle and Winchester.  It apparently forms the route that King John took prior to signing the Magna Carta.

We should have parked in the car park next to the canal, but our memory suggested it was only for users of the John Pinkerton, a canal boat trip company. We parked in the road, and just we were about to join the towpath we were asked whether we were with a ramblers group. Apparently a group from Staines-Upon-Thames were meeting at the car park at the same time we were starting our walk.

We joined the towpath and looked for the first cache. In fairness we knew we weren’t going to find it, as it needed some sort of boat/canoe/inflatable to reach the far bank. As we couldn’t even see the cache from our side of the canal, we didn’t try to commandeer a boat from a passer-by. There was much going on, the John Pinkerton was about to leave with a 50^th birthday party on board, a couple of ‘travellers’ were lighting fires, and were having fun with their horse-and-carts.

We strode away, anxious to keep ahead of the other rambling group. They had caught us by our first genuine cache attempt of the day. Several trees and ivy to search and sadly a did-not-find for us. A bad start.

Our next cache was an adventure lab cache. We had 5 waypoints along the canal and a question to answer at each. The first was a little distance away at a swingbridge, the second at Odiham Castle. The castle is a ‘ruin’ anyway, but clearly there have been some incidents recently with the brickwork as scaffolding surrounded the castle. We had to do some counting in the castle, and it wasn’t easy. Inside were fences protecting the castle walls from people’s hands. We had to count the green upright fence poles all the way round. These poles were 4-6 inches apart and it took us some time…and then we disagreed on an answer. Mrs Hg137 counted again, while Mr Hg1307 set about the investigation work for an earthcache based on the geology found in and around the castle walls. Mrs Hg137 put her number into the adventure lab… another failure. Mr Hg137 counted and he managed to get the correct answer. To give you some idea the final number is in the 250-350 range!

Inside Odiham Castle, start counting the green poles!

After getting the answer correct, and completed the earthcache questions, we paused for coffee. About this time the John Pinkerton arrived, and some of the attendees of the 50^th birthday left the boat to admire the castle.

John Pinkerton

Just beyond the castle is the  ‘head of navigation’ and the boat turned round while some of the partygoers stayed onboard, as the other half went round the castle.

Canal (left) going over River Whtewater (right)

River Whitewater

We resumed our walk, and almost immediately had another adventure lab question to answer, this time to do with the River Whitewater which went UNDER the canal. It is very unusual for this happen, and we were not aware of this feature when we walked the Three Castles Path previously.

The path on a Saturday was quite busy, cyclists, dog walkers all out and about before the forecasted afternoon rain arrived. About a mile after the Whitewater we arrived at Greywell Tunnel, which is now a renowned bat roost with several species of bat roosting there. This was our final question for the ad lab, and we successfully answered it. This gave us the coordinates for a final, bonus cache…some distance back along the canal, probably near the castle. Sadly for us.. not part of our planned route.

Greywell Tunnel

We were in the village of Greywell, and we had a couple of caches to find. The first, hidden in the roots of a tree. Sadly for us, and like many cachers before us, we took the wrong footpath to the cache and ended up the wrong side of barbed wire fence.

Views of Greywell

After some retracing, we found the cache quite easily.

Unlike our next cache.

Part of the ‘bat’ series around the Odiham area. Hidden unusually in the porch area of a church.

Gardeners were leaving the churchyard as we approached and the porch area was full of flower-filled jam jars  – presumably removed from various graves. We weren’t interested in the flowers, but a small ‘bat’. We couldn’t find the bat – we searched high (trying not to knock over the jam jars) and low, all to no avail. We decided to give up and collect numbers for the Church micro multi cache. We visited a grave, collected numbers and ascertained the final was some distance away. We ate lunch back at the porch. There really were few places to hide a cache. We decided to give ourselves 5 more minutes as we supped a coffee. Mrs Hg137 finished hers, and just as Mr Hg137 was finishing his…he spotted the cache. Suffice to say the jam jars were the problem and had prevented a full scale search of a particular area.

We went batty looking for this cache!

We signed the log, and then went to collect the Church Micro multi-cache. As were signing the log… the heavens opened and the afternoon rain (which we were expecting about 3pm, arrived at 130! )

Ugh! We still had some way to go and several caches to find!

We decided to return to the canal (via another cache – this time by the beautiful river Whitewater) and walk back the way we came. Not exciting, but we could hurry if the rain got harder and not think about navigation. It also gave us a change to collect the adventure lab bonus cache. Even this was tricky, as a group of people loitered next to its location for far too long, which prevented us from searching.

We returned the car, damp and slightly disillusioned that we had to abandon our route.. but on the bright side we can always come back another day!