I got up this morning and
was just a little disappointed to see the huge bag of Haribos still
untouched. The idea was to have something for the Trick or Treating
kiddies we had been expecting last night. But none came. Not one. "er
indoors TM" has this theory that we are
supposed to put out a pumpkin or something as a signal that they are
welcome?
Over brekkie I found I
was suffering. Perhaps I should go see the doctor about his
self-diagnosed tennis elbow? I think I overdid it on Friday at astro
club putting the chairs out and then putting them away again. And
carrying a small grandchild yesterday didn't do it any good. I've
also been having a few twinges in my back from an old washing-up
injury I sustained in 1981 (really!)
I'm getting a bit hacked
of with this getting older lark. I'm not entirely decrepit but as
time goes on these aches and pains are becoming rather troublesome.
And I *want* to put the chairs out at astro club. And I
*want* to carry my grandson about.
Totally ignoring physical
discomfort we collected Suzy and her associate, and then drove up to
Longfield Hill which is somewhere in North Kent. (I'm a little
vague as to exactly where). We soon met Martin, Claire and Rob
and set off on a little geo-stroll. The day was very foggy; the fog
did lift for a while, but only for a while. Mind you for all that it
was foggy it wasn't cold. We were walking in T shirts for much of the
day.
Our walk started off
along the main road but we were soon walking through wet crops. Today
was the first outing of my new gaiters; they worked well. Mind you
having spent out on new gaiters I've found the old ones, but such is
life.
We had an excellent walk;
according to "Hannah" we walked just over five
miles. At one point of the walk we were up a tree, at another we were
playing the popular board game "Guess Who" (actually
playing it in a wood!). In all we found thirty caches. We were
walking for two hours and stopped for one and a half hours. It never
fails to amaze me just how much standing about there is in this
geo-caper.
We arrived back at the
cars at 1.30pm then drove a little way down the road to where the
monthly Kent Cacher's geo-meet was in full flow. We arrived to find
many of our friends and soon were chattering away. I quite liked the
pub which had been chosen for today's meet-up. Not only was the ale
good, they did a cracking roast dinner, and the place was dog
friendly so I could sit and pass scraps under the table to a waiting
"Furry Face TM".
With roast dinner
devoured I had a pint of afters, and some cake. We said goodbye to
Martin, Claire and Rob, and (as is the way at these monthly meets)
teamed up with Tracey, Carl, Victoria, Jessica and Charlotte. Whilst
we'd been scoffing dinner so three new geocaches had gone live near
the pub, so we went to find them whilst walking off the third pint.
As we walked we had a
minor geo-success. We found we were having to walk what seemed to be
a long way to get to the latest concealed sandwich box; we wondered
if this was because there might be a geo-puzzle in the way.
(Geocaches are not allowed to be hidden very close to each other
because they fight).
With that in mind as we
walked, we found... well, I won't say what we found, but I will say
that it at was exactly the sort of place where I would put a
geocache. Tracy hit on the idea of looking at the hint for the
closest geo-puzzle (even though the icon on the map was half a
mile away). The hint fitted exactly with where we were, and
within a few seconds we had the cache in hand. The thing even had the
cache name on it, so we logged it as a find with a clear conscience.
Perhaps an unorthodox way of finding a cache, but we did so without
cheating.
By now the light was
fading and it was getting dark, so we made our way back to the car
and I slept for much of the way home. As always I
took a few photos whilst we were out. Once home I put those
piccies up onto Facebook, did the geo-admin, and then tested out a
Wherigo (in simulation). A friend has been working on his
first one, and I've been actively encouraging him. It is no secret
that they take a lot of effort to set up, and it is also no secret
that there are only four people locally who make this effort (and
I'm one of them). If I can encourage more people to get involved
with this icon type I can have more fun myself going out and doing
more Wherigos.
After the exertions of
the day an evening in front of the telly was very much in order...
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