23 June 2013 (Sunday) - The MBHW Series

Another success for 5-hydroxy-tryptophan as I had another good night's sleep, not waking till nearly 6am. Perhaps a lie-in one Sunday might be nice, but laying about in bed is really only any use if you want to waste your life that way (!) So a spot of brekkie was scoffed, and then we went out promptly.

We'd arranged to do the "May Bank Holiday Weekend" series of geocaches; we'd arranged this a couple of weeks ago. But what with one thing and another I hadn't really done my homework. I'd downloaded all the caches to my phone, but it wasn't till we were within a few miles of the start that I realised my mistake. It was only then that I realised where we were going. These caches were around the Haywards Heath area. I should have rallied the Sussex chapter along. By the time I had realised this, it was too late. Next time I will be more organised.

We parked up and set off on our walk. To begin with I think it's fair to say we struggled a little. GPS kit was thrown by overhead power cables. And we never seem to have much urgency when we are out. With a series of seventy caches (plus five others along the way) we should really have been much further on than cache #11 by mid day. But even if it is all about the numbers, it's not about rushing. We had a great time. We saw deer and foxes. We had a picnic by the river. I shouted abuse at the steam trains (I *hate* steam trains) The forecast rain never came. Suzy Woo was off of her lead a lot - she's getting really good at that now.

The cache hides were good. Relatively easy; but then that is what one wants when there's lots to be found. Mind you I did think some of the hides were a bit cheeky. We'd walked the area two months ago, and quite a few of the caches we'd found then had been archived. The caches we were hunting today had been released a week or so after we'd last been there. I recognised several of today's hides as being exactly the same as ones we'd found last time. The old archived hides had been resurrected. It certainly made the last part of the afternoon easier when we were running short of time.

We started walking at 10.30am, and according to the wonders of the technology we carried it would seem that we walked for about six hours, and we were still for three hours. That seems to be the going rate for caching hikes - two thirds of the time is spent walking and one third hunting and doing secret geocaching rituals. We covered nearly seventeen miles; which is probably the longest walk I've done for some time.

I *really* ache now...


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