I’d wanted to do this series for a while, having heard some great reviews of it. I planned to do it a few weeks back but had to cancel, which was really disappointing, so was really pleased that the day had finally come around to do it.
I picked up my caching partner, Jules of thebedfords at about 6.45am and we headed off up the M42/A38 in the direction of Matlock. The sun was starting to break through so the weather for the day ahead looked promising...for about 5 minutes when we started to head back into mist and cloud..oh well..
After about 90 minutes we were getting close to the starting point, but first stopped off to grab a quick drive by in the Watchorn Memorial Park which was a nice easy find and it was good to have the first cache of the day bagged.
A few miles further up the road and we were parking up ready to start the series of 26 caches of the Alphabet Soup series.
Alphabet Soup by smart451
http://coord.info/GC2M97J
This series takes you on a walk of about 9.5 miles through the countryside around Darley Dales, in the Derbyshire Dales. There is varying terrain, a few steeper climbs but nothing too onerous, which takes in beautiful woodlands, streams, waterfalls, and some stunning views.
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| Down by the riverside! |
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| A nice big Ammo can! |
The first cache was an amazing start to the series (149 fave points!) and left us wondering what other treats were in store – we weren’t to be disappointed as many of the caches were handcrafted gems and the more standard cache types were usually in a stunning setting. We stopped for a quick early morning bite to eat beside a waterfall, had a sit down beside a truly innovative fun cache in a forest and took a breather at a place that felt like the top of the world...
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| The trees have ears you know! |
Both Jules and I thought this was just a brilliant series. Well worth the travelling time and one of those series that you just don’t want to end – huge thanks to the cache owner Smart451 for setting such a great series.
Along the way Jules also managed to bag her 1000th cache – a nice handcrafted cache container in another great setting.
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| Jules bags her 1000th cache! |
It took us about 6 hours to do the series, but that was at a pretty easy pace and with a couple of stops and lots of photo breaks.
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| Quite a refreshing break on a short steep climb! |
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| A lovely caching area! |
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| I can't quite walk on water! |
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| A nice litte park! |
We also noticed that there was one of the Little Quest series of caches nearby and having bagged the Shropshire one a few months back, we decided that this would be a great end to the day. Another quick drive a few miles down the road (and fortunately in the direction of home) found us within a short walk of GZ. The cache proved to be a bit tricky to locate but eventually Jules came up with the goods while I helped a fellow cacher who had phoned me for a PAF on a cache I had previously found. The views from this location were totally stunning – you could see for miles around, totally brill although very breezy!
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| A nice view! |
LQ:DERBYSHIRE - Riber View
That was to be the last cache of the day for us, before we headed home. A brilliant day’s caching – happy days indeed!
Total caches bagged today = 34
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