Back to Devizes

I mentioned to [monki] a couple of weeks ago that there was an event down Devizes and did he fancy it, well a few days later whilst being out on the Brewood Bonanza trail he announced he was up for it and so did Lime Candy.
Walking wood also showed an interest in coming so that was it....Devizes here we come.

[monki] picked myself and Lime Candy up from her abode at 7am and we picked Walking Wood up near M5 J6. We stopped off for brekkie at McD's and then hit the first series of the day shortly after 9am.

Stan’s Sausage Series by Stanthews

http://coord.info/GC2ZEVC

Stan's Sausage series is approx 7 miles with 35 caches, there is also a little bridge cache that can be picked up enroute. The series is in a figure of 8 so it can be done in two smaller rings if prefered.
The series is mainly flat but there is a bit of an incline between #25 and #28. Most of the tracks and paths across fields were under water and/or very muddy but it is October after all and besides mud is fun.

A good start to the day.

 

 

 

WW signing the logbook.

This was a nice walk with all the caches being easy to find. The mud obviously slowed the pace down, but there's no fun in rushing.

A laugh a minute today :)

Dry rather than wet mud hehe.

So 36 caches out of 36 found and time to move on to the next series of the day.

The Westbrook and Chittoe Ring  by Stanthews

http://coord.info/GC1W3WA

The Westbrook and Chittoe Ring is a series of 21 caches with #21 being the bonus cache, there are also 2 little bridges caches on or slightly off route.
The terrain today was very muddy and slippy in places and more inclines than previous series.
Unfortunately I had to quit series after #6 as I was feeling unwell.
I went to rest in car while the others completed this nice series, when I get chance to get back down this way I will be sure to do #7 onwards.

The others finished the series and moved the car to grab the bonus cache and then we all headed off to the nearby event.

The Wiltshire Event #27 by Stanthews

http://coord.info/GC3XB96

Surprisingly by the time we got to the event I was feeling a fair bit better but have a feeling that was mainly due to the hospitality we received, from the moment we entered the room Stan the host looked after us.

I wonder if event is here?.

We had some good geochat with Stan and Celia & Ron aka Ailec Nor and then the south reviewer Southerntrekker came over and we had a good chat with him too.
It was also great to have Stowford Press on draught so I had a couple of those while Walking Wood & Lime Candy sampled the beers.

Chilled out nicely.

As we had completed Stan's Sausage series earlier in the day we decided that we should all have sausage and chips, so it was good to sit at a table to eat and wash it down with another drink.
We laughed and chatted away with new friends Celia, Ron and Stan and Stan even serenaded us before we had to call it a day and head for home.

Some fab new friends.

 

Smiles all round. Picture by Ron (Ailec Nor)

Back to Poshville

The time has come for yet another visit to a land we call Poshville. Why do we call it Poshville?....well thats because of all the great trails laid down by the c/o Poshrule aka Paul.

This trip included my partner in crime Jules of the Bedfords, Ash [Monki] and Nikki (BlueNora) who were with me on the 151 trip, Griff aka Dave (BaggieDave), James (Pfaffabouters) and Emma (Shorty Pfaffabouter).....the last 3 just down for the day whilst the rest of us were staying in the Premier Inn at Norman Cross.

We met up at 8am at a McDonalds near Kettering and after a drink and bite to eat we headed off to first planned series of the day.

Old Weston Outback

http://coord.info/GC306TB

The Old Weston Outback is a walk of under 6 miles taking in footpaths, bridleways and quiet lanes. There are 26 caches plus one other enroute and two others with a slight diversion.

There are no hills on the walk and no stiles as far as I can remember, we didn't come across any cattle either which is always a bonus.

The walk started of with a walk through a recently ploughed field, so by the time we got to the other side we had all grown a few inches in height.

Team Adix
 

It was a long slog through this huge field.
 

Here's the blue skies we ordered.

I think our group size was just right and it was nice to get to chat to everyone at some point and of course there was plenty of banter , the friendly type of course.

We clocked up just over 6.5 miles with the diversions and were then back at our cars for a food / drinks break...

Buckworth Blitz

http://coord.info/GC31C1N

So a quick few minutes drive and we were parking up ready to begin our second series of the day.

The Buckworth Blitz is a walk of 31 caches plus 1 more enroute, it clocks up just over 6 miles on footpaths and country lanes..... there were no cattle on this route.

We had a few more freshly ploughed fields to cross on this series but they didn't produce as much clod (is clod a word?) on our boots.

Loving the sunshine

Another cache in the bag!

So another enjoyable walk over and surprisngly it's much warmer than forecast, it's so much more fun caching in the sunshine.

Buckworth church

The church micro was a little off the route (even though the church wasn't) so we drove to it on the way to next series.

Broughton Bananarama by poshrule

http://coord.info/GC3WGXT

The Broughton Bananarama is a walk of approx 7.5 miles with 36 caches and 4 more on route. The going is easy  with flat footpaths and byways,  there are just a few stiles towards the end.

I think this was personally my favourite walk of the day and it was a bonus to finish it in daylight which I think none of us expected.

Sign at start of walk.
 

An alpaca taking interest in us.

We did meet another caching team during the walk but to be honest they weren't fussed about stopping and chatting.... a shame really as we are all very sociable.

Mr Pfaffabouter and shorty

 

Almost done yay.

We arrived back at the parking in full daylight even though it wouldn't last long before it disappeared.
We said goodbye to Dave, James and Emma and then made our way to the Premier Inn at Norman's Cross for the night
Another day with over 100 caches in the bag.

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So after a nice meal at a pub and an earlyish night it was back on the trail again today.

I had noted 2 series that could be walked together as a kind of figure of eight. The walk was just over 8 miles and reeled in 40 smilies.

Ailsworth Amble by poshrule

http://coord.info/GC39F3C

The Ailsworth Amble is a walk of 20 caches with 1 other on the route.

Castor Canter by poshrule

http://coord.info/GC2WC6P

The Castor Canter is a series of 15 cache's with 4 others available within the route. The walk is just under 5 miles if done on its own.

Both of the series combined made it an ideal length of walk as we all wanted to be back home in the midlands at a sensible time.
For Trig loers there is one on the way round.

Bagging the small trigpoint.

 

 

 

It is warmer than Jules makes it look haha.

Well once back at the car we decided that was it and we would now go separate ways. Nikki wanted a cache in Lincolnshire and Jules and I wanted to get LQ Cambs and LQ Rutland.

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Jules and I headed for LQ Cambs first but stopped for a few drive by's on the way.

LQ:CAMBS - The Green Man by The Klever Boys

A lovely area of open green land with a lovely church and some fantastic trees. It is really a cache and dash but in a picturesque place.

Seen from cache site.

Next stop was a quick drive by and then onto another Little Quest cache.

LQ:RUTLAND - Luffa's Ham by Jonovich

The route to the cache takes you through a church yard & past the beautiful parish church, over an old stone stile, across a field and down to the River Chater.
The cache container is a lovely big ammo can.


We did one last cache near by and then headed home.
Yet another fantastic time was had by all.......


Total smilies bagged over weekend = 158