I woke with something of a back ache this morning. I wonder
what that was all about? Over brekkie I watched an episode of “Red Dwarf” before sparking up the
lap-top to peer into cyber-space.
There were several comments on the photos I’d posted to
Facebook last night; as the dogs slept I’d turned the telly to BBC1 and
intended to watch David Attenborough’s “Blue
Planet II”. However I spent most of the time watching Treacle. She was
fascinated with the sea-lions and crabs, and was particularly intrigued by the
puffins. Mind you she didn’t like the sharks, and growled at them.
I took photos of her watching the telly, and several people
had commented overnight.
I got my stuff together, and leaving "er indoors TM"
and the pups in bed I made my way to the railway station. I got my ticket, and
soon I was on the train. Someone had left a newspaper, and I amused myself by
struggling with the crossword puzzle. I got some (but not all) of it done by the time I arrived in Charing Cross.
For some time I’d fancied going to London to do two geocaches which together would take
me all over the capital. A little while ago I posted on the “Geocaching in Kent” Facebook page to see
if anyone else fancied a day out. Eight of us met up at the fourth plinth.
We started off with something of a minor disaster; We
arrived at Trafalgar Square just as the huge Christmas tree (the annual gift from the people of Norway)
was being installed. For us to start the first part of our little treasure hunt
we needed to get some information which the builders had obscured. We then had
a minor contretemps with the security staff… We naively thought that the
barriers had fenced off the parts of Trafalgar Square in which the public weren’t
supposed to go. The reality was that the public weren’t supposed to be within twenty
yards of the fences. Whilst some of our number got the information we needed, I
kept the security staff distracted by “politely”
suggesting that if they put the fences in the right place then they wouldn’t
need to have security staff chasing the likes of me away from the fence.
Some people have no sense of humour…
From Trafalgar Square we headed along Northumberland
Avenue. There was (and still is) a field
puzzle which I was unable to blag from Google Street View. And with puzzle
blagged we set off to the toilet. If all else fails, have a tiddle.
Our next port of call was Parliament Square for a geology
lesson featuring Prime Ministers Lloyd George and Peel, and then on to the
Buxton Memorial Fountain and Smith Square. We didn’t realise that at this point
we were walking past the end-point of a field puzzle we would solve later. This
happens quite a bit when hunting Tupperware in London; you go somewhere, do a
field puzzle, and after fifteen minutes of brain-wracking you realise you
walked past the final location half an hour ago.
Oh how we laughed when we realised…
Lunch time came and we weren’t even close to the half-way
point of our day. But we found a little café with the somewhat saucy name of “Crumpets” and we were hungry. I had a
rather good cheese and tuna panini washed down with a bucket of latte.
As we scoffed lunch we sent messages… one cache we had
found had a field puzzle in which we had to find the mobile phone number of the
Queen (supposedly) and sent her a
text asking for the final location of a particular geocache. Several of us sent
several messages. One of us got a reply.
We then walked here, there and thither, soon arriving at
the half-way point of the day. The second virtual wander round the capital started
from Buckingham Palace. We took a few photos, and carried on going all over the
place.
I must admit I did snigger when I was watching the security
staff watching Nick being stealthy.
After a couple of hours we found ourselves by a pub on the
South Bank, and went inside for a pint of winter warmer. “Wild Holly” wasn’t the best winter
warmer I’ve ever had, but it certainly wasn’t the worst.
There’s no denying I was flagging here. We’d done over six
miles. I was happy to stay in the pub, but geocaches don’t find themselves. We
cracked on, and with the promise of another pint later we ended up at that pub
having walked eight miles. And (I have to
say) “Parabellum Milk Stout”
probably *is* one of the best milk stouts
I’ve ever had.
It was a very short walk to Cannon Street where I said my
goodbyes and made my way to Charing Cross and home…
I’m worn out… You can see why from
the photos I took.
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