I had been looking forward to doing the series since it was published a few weeks ago, it is the first long distance trail I’ve done for quite a while and there is just enough daylight hours at this time of year to complete it in one go. For those who would prefer it can be split into 3 smaller loops.  To complete in one go needed a bit of pre-planning if you are not going to end up with a 2 mile walk along a road at the end between Compton and Hampstead Norrey’s.

One of the less muddy sections

I decided my best bet was to park in Compton and get the Bus to Hampstead Norrey’s.  A quick check of the time table showed that there was a bus a 07:46 so that’s what we would do. A few delays getting ready in the morning meant we (Pip & me) were late leaving Swindon, but my Sat Nav said we would arrive at 07:45, cutting it fine but we could still make it, and we did arriving with just 2 minutes to spare and fortunately there was parking in a lay-by opposite the bus stop.  After our short bus ride we were handily dropped off right beside the footpath in Hampstead Norrey’s. Our days walking with a walk across a vegetable field, cabbage I think, to reach number 34 in the series and 08:15 we had found our first of 64 that we totalled for the day.

Good views

So, the first leg of the trail went north east from No. 34 at Hampstead Norrey’s up a steepish hill with good views at the top passing Beech Wood along the way.  The trail soon flattened and we were treated so some good views. The morning was crisp but the sun was shining on the other side of the valley, the ground was still frozen so it was nice and firm to walk on.  Along this section there were a couple of Old Hampstead RAF caches which we duly found and which helped us find the path that is unmarked on the maps.
After a short gap in the series for the old RAF caches and then a quick walk down the lane to pick up The Badger Series again at the top of Thorn Hill. At this point we turned north west walking back towards Compton where we caught the bus earlier.

There were several caches along this stretch as we descended the hill; looking across the landscape we could see the houses at Hampstead Norrey’s. The ground under foot was thawing here and Pips paws were getting a little clogged up with mud.

Pony looking cold

Once at the bottom of the hill we took a path through a very muddy and water logged paddock, the stream was frozen the solitary pony was looking quite sad. The footpath soon bought us out a Compton church where a cache was located. As I signed the cache, a black Labrador popped his head over the wall and barked, so Pip barked back.

A bit further up the path from the church there is the remains of an old railway and old station has been converted into a house but the owners have preserved the back as the old station would have looked with all its authentic posters and station masters office.

It took us a couple of hours to get back to Compton, Pip waited patiently outside the village store as I went in for supplies! Then passing our car which we had left in the village earlier, I picked up lunch and water before walking through the village to pick up the next section of the trail.

Old Station House

It was a long and smelly walk up the hill passing through a farm but it warmed us up nicely as it was beginning to get chilly and now back on the footpath Pip could run off lead again.  We walked along byway know as Warnham Lane then picked up Hams Lane, some of the caches along here were a little tricky but we got them all.

It wasn’t until I got to number 10 that I realised that I was heading north when I should have turned off and been heading south! Somehow I had made a complete hash of my route and missed my turn.  After a quick check on the map I decided that it was a choice between back tracking a mile or so, or continuing around the north circuit and ending the day earlier than planned. So I did what any sensible Geocacher would do and back tracked!!!!!

Some time later……………. I picked up the correct trail and began the walk back on the southern ring towards Hampstead Norrey’s, that’ll teach me to pay closer attention next time!!  By the time we got back to the village we had completed about 8 miles and it was time for a quick bite to eat and a convenient bus shelter provide a bit of warmth for a few minutes break.

Retracing our footsteps!

The next leg of the trail was roughly 5 miles to take us around the bottom of the southern ring and back to the Northern ring. This section had a couple of tricky bits. The first was passing through a field with cows. It wouldn’t have been so bad except one of them decided to wait in the middle of the path that we had to cross, Pip went through as quickly as she could whilst I negotiated the electrified fence, she was no bother and soon mooved on!!

This section also had the hardest part of the trail, soft wet mud clogging up paw and boot as we ploughed across the field from Trumpletts Farm to road. After the heavy going mud field I was actually pleased to see a road for a change. My legs were now starting to ache but we still had some way to go. However, soon afterwards we were rewarded with a brilliantly innovative cache, I won’t say any more.

Shrill Down, 4 deer spotted nearby

We rejoined the northern ring, but due to the earlier route error we had 1 1/5 miles until the next cache.  It is surprising how quickly you walk when not looking for caches so we soon back to Shrill Down and overlooking the A34 and East Ilsley.  From here it was roughly 3 miles back to the car along a couple of long byways.  The best of the day had almost gone and it was starting to get cold as the sun was slowly disappearing and to be honest at this point we were looking forward to finishing.
At 4.30pm we arrived back at the car in Compton, ready for a nice warm cup of coffee before heading back to Swindon. This is a wonderful series and we really enjoyed it and clearly a lot of time and effort has gone into setting it with the extra back tracking we totalled up 20 miles!

The Badger Series Geocache Trail

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The Yattendon Yomp series starts from the village of Yattendon, heads north to Ahampstead and then returns back. The day we completed the series, it was a little chilly and fairly overcast but Pip and I didn’t allow that to spoil the morning. The first cache was on the roadside as we headed out of the village but it wasn’t very long until we were off road and into the countryside, the slight breeze in the air added to the wind chill factor so the gloves had to go on for a while.

The series took us across some pretty easy going terrain, mainly farmland and fields. This was a nice series with a mix of caches which came thick and fast, most of a decent size and not too difficult to find. There were a few extra caches to find on the way back to the car. This isn’t a series of spectacular views but overall it was a nice walk and Pip had a good run about.

The trail starts from the little village of Letcombe Bassett, 2.5 Miles south of Wantage in Oxfordshire. I parked next to some lovely thatched cottage, and remembered coming to the village in the past for another series. It was a nice sunny, but windy morning, there were several snow drops coming out on the grass verge, another sign of an early spring. After admiring the lovely houses pip and I headed up the road to GZ, we decided to do number 1 at the end. A short way up the hill and we came to number 2, a quick scramble up the bank and then after a 10 minute search and almost giving up hope of finding it, I suddenly disturbed some camouflage to reveal the cache. We just made it back down the bank and on to the road before a muggle came past. First one found, but I hoped that rest would be quicker.Several more muggles came by, so it gave an opportunity to admire the views on the other side of the road before continuing up Gramps Hill. As I got towards number 3 I could see several walkers talking to someone in a Land Rover right beside GZ. It turned out to be the caching team Symbow talking to a local farmer explaining geocaching. They hadn’t been able to find the cache so Pip and I went for a look and bingo we found it. After showing it to the farmer, we continued up Gramps Hill. As we did so, the wind got steadily stronger, it was supposed to get up to 30 mph today and it was starting to feel like that way. After a nice quick find there was time to look at the great views.

The climb up Gramps Hill continued, but I stopped off between caches to take some photos of more fabulous views just before no.4 which were breath taking and this is where we parted company with Symbow.

No. 6 signaled the end of the climb up Gramps Hill, it was a steady climb but not too difficult really, the wind was even stronger up here but it was not cold today and the trees had offered some protection. When I looked on the map before the trip, I was a little worried that the first part of the walk was along a road, I need not have been, it is a no through road and not a single car came past.

There was little the way of trees on top of the hill, so the wind was full on in my face along this section, but what wonderful views, I could see for miles and miles. The tarmac track ran out after no.7 and we were now on to a muddy track, surprisingly though it was quite dry. It didn’t take any time to locate no.8 which was a big cache along the side of the track.

The fabulous views continued as we headed to No.9, it is certainly a picturesque walk, admiring the views and not paying attention to the GPS meant that I over shot the cache and had to back track to find it. Number 10 marked the half way point in our walk and we had now turned on to different track and thankfully the wind dropped as soon as we changed direction. As we walked up this track every now and again I caught a glimpse of Symbow ahead of me.

Number 11 was called “mud” but thankfully it wasn’t that bad today. I had closed the gap on Symbow at this point, I saw them leaving GZ just as I was arrived. This cache like several others on the route were fully stocked with swag so a good one for the kids.

We carried on up the track, enjoying the views to reach an old barn which looks to have been abandoned. As I signed the logI could hear the corrugated tin roof creaking so I went over for a closer look. The structure inside was made from huge oak beams and it was sad that the barn was being left to deteriorate.

Number 15 was a quick find, but it was right on a junction and it suddenly got very busy with walkers and joggers. Then just as I thought it safe to replace the cache, a couple more walkers came around the corner. I thought I’d given the game away but it turned out to be an old caching buddy Roobydo do the series in reverse order. After a quick chat we continued in opposite directions to finish the series.

We were now on the final stage of the trail, which was now heading down hill across a field with more far reaching views over Wantage and the surrounding area. After a gentle start to the descent the hill became much steeper and I was thankful that I was going down and not up!

The Last cache of the day for me and back in the village and it was a quick find to finish the series. This is another great series by Rob72 through some lovely countryside and some really amazing views. It was also nice to meet team Symbow and catch up with Roobydo whilst we were out on the trail.

Gramps Hill

I parked in the recommend parking space then carefully walked down the right hand side of the road as suggested fortunately there was wide verge most of the way the road being straight meant that I could see the cars coming and they cold see me. It was a lovely start to the day, a little on the cold side and a nip in the air when the wind caught my face but lots of blue sky. As soon as we hit the byway we were facing some great views and I got a good feeling about this trail and the 1st cache was quickly found.

The 2nd cache wasn’t so easy due to a farmer down the track cutting the hedgerow so I had to keep out of his sight. I suddenly spotted the cache but noticed the tractor was heading my way. The tractor stopped and the farmer opened his door and asked if was lost. Of course I said no, he seemed a friendly type so I explained that I was geocaching, and inquired if he knew what that is? No he said, so I explained briefly what it was and it turned out that he knew all about the “treasure hunting thing” and seemed very enthusiastic about it.We had a long chat and told me that most of the farmers knew that it “goes on” around here and thought it was great. So I said that there was one around here but I hadn’t managed to find it but I’ll have another look. I revealed the cache to him and he pointed out old plough sheer that it was hidden under was one he threw away years ago. We said goodbye and went on our separate ways.

It was a lovely walk up the gentle hill to number 3 and it was nice looking back down the track we had just walked, the cache was quickly found as there was very little camouflage left on it. It was here that I remembered that I was meant to be collecting the clues for the bonus, I always forget.

Pip and I continued up the path to number 4, it was another gentle uphill climb and we went up the views got better and better then at the top there was a fabulous 360 degree panoramic view. Definite Favorite point for this one.

After taking several photos at number 4 we turned on to a very muddy byway and headed down hill to number 5, once at GZ it was a nice quick find. I found some less muddy grass alongside the track which was a little less slippery, A 4 x 4 came up behind me so after it had past we were able to make a very quick find for number 6.

The wind was got up along this track making feel colder than it was. After the last cache the track dried out and wasn’t anywhere near as muddy. The walk continued through the shallow valley to GZ where cache 7 was found without any issues.

Having just said that the path had dried up we then went through some of the worst mud we’ve seen for ages between 7 and 8, I hopped up on the verge and side of the field but Pip thought it was more fun to wade through it all! After number 8, we turned sharply and headed up hill once again, but the path was very dry so I wasn’t complaining. I walked past number 9 one at first before realising my mistake.

We continued up the hill to number 10, at the top there was some more great views. The path opened out in to a very wide and exposed path towards no. 11, but once again the views over the countryside were superb.

As we headed down hill to no. 12 the high banks on either side of the path offered some protection from the wind but the cache was not to be seen at GZ. After briefly wandering around and checking out a few other places I suddenly spotted the container lying on the ground, it had obviously become dislodged from it’s spot. I signed the log and replaced as per the hint.

After number 12 I could work out the co-ordinates for the bonus cache, the problem was that I didn’t recording the clues until cache 3 but fortunately there was only one clue missing as no math’s were involved I could confidently guess the missing co-ordinate to enable me to complete this wonderful series.

I’ve had this one on my list ever since it came out and I’m so glad that I did it today with the fine weather it made this trail very enjoyable.   There were some great views all the way around the walk, the caches were well placed and the co-ordinates were spot on.

Savoury Pie Series

Another weekend of unseasonal sunny weather so I headed a bit further afield to Warmington in Oxfordshire to to the Birds series by Marrow Bone. What a fantastic little series the 20 caches are made up of 18 from the Bird series and 2 others along the route. This trail took us through some beautiful countryside with some really great views and one that I would recommend. If you are taking your geodog then you will find that there are a few stiles but Pip had no problem getting through or over them. We passed through one field of cows, alpacas (enclosed) and there was evidence of cows but we didn’t see them today. This is highly recommended series. Watch the video below. or visit the Geocache  Trails YouTube Channel.

There was no guide on where to park so I parked down the lane next to the first cache outside a red tractor firm, being Saturday it was closed so it felt ok to leave the car here. After finding the first cache, which was really just a matter of opening the car door, Pip and I took the short walk down the lane and into a small caravan park.  We were immediately greeted with a beautiful view and this is where the trail started properly. Although it was nice weather, I was surprised to see several caravans using the site. There is a small fishing lake at the bottom of the hill so I wonder if this is what attracts them.

Cache 2 was just out of sight of the caravans but none the less we didn’t hang around, Number 3 was neatly hidden but didn’t take us long to spot either. We hopped over the first stile (one of several on the trip) and started heading to the number 4, some how though we had missed the footpath and ended up the wrong side of the hedge, we quickly back tracked and correct our course to reach GZ.

Nice view from the Caravan Park

So back on the right path, we continued along the bottom of small hill collecting caches 5, 6, 7 & 8 passing a small reservoir as we went. The landscape along here was great. Despite the fact that we were walking around cropped fields and the time of the year, the paths were in pretty good condition and not too muddy.

We the ascended a gentle hill through more cropped fields, just as we had got through the first of them, a tractor came into it spraying muck. 5 minutes earlier and we would have been walking through it! Number 9 was a clever hide, the kind that you either spot straight away or it will take you ages. From here the trail was along a small woodland path and up to the road to number 1o, which for some reason we completely missed and had to drive back again later for it.  The next section lead us along a quiet road to the village of Horley, Saturday morning seems popular for horse riders along here.  There is a multi cache in the village but we decided to press on along the planned trail. Beside a very nice looking old manor house we turn on to a dirt track known as clump lane and picked up number 11.  Numbers 12 & 13  quickly followed along the same track.  The next footpath lead us through an alpaca farm, after taking a few snaps and admiring their fringes we carried on towards number 14.

Alpaca farm

Caches 14 & 15 lead us to the village of Hornton, this section was along the top of a hill with some really lovely views, probably the best of the series in fact.  Cache 16 was from another series called the missing villages and took us through the village with its yellow stone houses.  The last 4 caches brought us back to the Caravan site with some more great views from the top of Bush Hill.

Marrow Bone has other series in the area so I will be back to complete those soon.

The Birds Geocache Trail

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Newnton’s Contrasting Circular Trail, was my last trail of 2011 but also my first trail of 2012! I had not intended it to be that way but unfortunately as I got half way around the series the first time, I discovered my car keys were missing and I had to cut back to the start where I found them in a field just after number 1. I was very relieved to find them as you can imagine but by this time it was too late to continue the trail, so it meant a return visit to the area this week to finish them off.  I’ve compiled a short video of the trail, I hope that you enjoy it. You can also see it at my YouTube channel. More to follow.

Newnton’s Contrasting Circular Trail is a new series set out near Tetbury in Gloucestershire. It is mainly made of up of cleverly placed micro caches. However, as with other series by Rothallo, you may find you need to allow a little bit more time to complete than you would expect because some of the caches can take a little bit longer than normal to find, they just seem to blend in well to their surroundings.

Being 11 miles long it is definitely a full day’s caching, certainly at this time of the year when day light is limited anyway. The circular series starts from long Newton, heads south to Brokenborough and then through the well kept village of Shipton Moyne, where there is an interesting pub called the “cat and custard”. The trail then continues up to Tetbury passing through the beautiful grounds of Estcourt Park on the way.  From Tetbury the series continues through Folly Farm, a dairy farm with livestock and a very muddy farmyard!  Finally the route continues through a few more farms until it eventually arrives back at Long Newton. The impressive large houses in this village looks like you would need to be pretty wealthy to live here.  Another enjoyable trail.

Newnton’s Contrasting Circular Trail

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Peaceful village start at Foxley

Christmas shopping complete (well almost) there was just time to get out for a spot of Geocaching. The Foxton to Norley trail has only been out a matter of a month and it is not too far from home so I decided that this was the perfect series for today.  You will be forgiven for thinking that this trail was done earlier in the year, as the weather today was absolutely fantastic for late December, the sun was shinning and the skies bright blue! Foxton and Norley as places do not exist, it is just the cache owner having some fun with the village names that you pass on the way around.

Although the sun was shinning, all day the temperature was only just above freezing most of the time, I couldn’t help thinking how cold it must have been on Pip’s paws, although that didn’t seem to stop her walking through the icy puddles, she wouldn’t have liked it if I left her behind. We started this wonderful series from just outside of Foxley and headed south to the village of Norton to collect the first 6 caches. From Norton we turned west to Sherston picking up the next 10 caches including one of the Off Road series of caches.  Then it was north to Easton Grey via Pinkney to find 5 more caches including the difficulty 3, It’s Tree-ly Good which was a good bit of fun along the way. Then finally we headed back south for the the final 7 caches including the Riverside Cache. We could have taken a detour for a couple more caches along the way, and if we had a bit more time we may have been tempted.

View near the Riverside cache

The whole walk took longer than I had planned, just over 4 hours! I think the slippery paths reduced our pace and the caches were harder to find than the average you tend to find on a series like this with some taking us up to 10 minutes to find.  Reading the logs this is not uncommon and this may frustrate some cachers but others will love the extra challenge. Pip had a great walk, but I don’t she enjoyed the hosing down so much when we got back home. This is a great series in through some nice countryside, visiting several villages along the way. There are quite a few stiles but none that Pip couldn’t either get over, under, through or around. There were a couple of fields with cows and sheep. I really enjoyed the peace and quiet of this location, we didn’t meet anyone else out today so we had the countryside all to ourselves.  I’d definitely recommend this series, but be warned it is hard going through the muddy fields in the winter but then most trails are at this time of year.

Foxton to Norley Geocache Trail

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Jack & Jill went up the hill....

The Kilmersdon Walk series is in an area that I’ve not cached in before, so I was very much looking forward to completing the series. Today was Remembrance Sunday and as parked up outside the church in Kilmersdon with it’s Union Jack flying, the church clock struck 10.30 and then the bell ringers rang out thier chimes for the next half hour.

I spotted the stone carving (above) in the side of a wall at the bottom of Jack and Jill Hill, I hadn’t realised that this village has an association with the nursery rhyme and that the hill featured in the rhyme is said to be one near this village.

Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
Up Jack got, and home did trot,
As fast as he could caper,
To old Dame Dob, who patched his nob
With vinegar and brown paper.

The first leg of the series with 7 caches took us from Kilmersdon village, through Babbington Wood to Babbington House. The Manor house is now a luxurious hotel, but we were reminded of it’s past as we left the wood through some huge stone gates.

Kilmersdon Village

The 2nd part of the series took us across some very soggy and muddy farmland to  the disused Vobster Quarries. The quarry is now home to an inland diving centre which you can just about see from GZ. Apparently there are many underwater diving attractions to be discovered in the depths below the surface, including wreck of a Hawker Siddley HS-748 aircraft. Donated by Exeter Airport a 15m long wooden cabin cruiser, various cars and a caravan!

After this the trail went west to Highbury before bring us back into the village. We had a great morning’s caching and well worth making the trip down here. There was one section through some the cows which was not so much fun as I had pip with me today and she is scared of them, but they were no bother. Otherwise though, it was a very enjoyable series through some nice countryside and a lovely village to start and finish. Yes, it was a bit muddy in parts but we didn’t mind that we went prepared.

Kilmersdon Walk

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Wild weather in Winterbourne Bassett

The Winterbourne Wilds is the first series by Winter Foxes to celebrate their first 1000 finds. I started the series from number 5 because I didn’t read the cache page so didn’t realise that amble parking was available at the Church. The weather had changed overnight, yesterday it was lovely an sunny but today it was drizzling which spoiled the views but not the walk. The walk crossed a variety of terrain including arable farmland making it more challenging during the autumn and winter months. I have to admit it was quite tough going across some of the fields today with mud sticking to our  boots (and paws) making them very heavy, so where possible we took the grass tracks around the edges.

The series joins two others in the area, Clyfee Pypard and Broad Hinton which means that I had a big gap between no.1 and no.15 as I’d previously completed the other two trails. The caches were of good quality and well placed.  There is a longish road section but it was so quiet lane and wasn’t a problem even with Pip the dog. We didn’t come across any livestock, so when we out in the countryside Pip could be let off the lead.

Wilds of Winterbourne

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Thatched Cottages at the start from Easton Royal

The walk starts from the little village of Easton Royal before heading up the hill for some fine views. This is shooting country and as I set out on the walk this morning the beaters with their red flags were being transported and deployed across the area which caused a few delays for me.

Changing colours of Autumn - winter is just around the corner

Apart from the hill climb at the start, I found the route reasonably easy going throughout the trail. For the end of October, the weather today was fantastic, the sun was shining and and the autumn colours on the trees were a reminder that winter is just around the corner.

Great views from GZ

These were probably the finest views around the whole series, from GZ I could see all the way down the valley as far as Pewsey.

Half way around at Milton Lilbourne

About half way around the trail reaches another lovely village called Milton Lilbourne with it’s large Manor House and old church.

Some of the caches on the series were a little more challenging than the average, but none of them took too long to find. A couple of the paths were tricky to locate but the views on several parts of the trail were really nice. The countryside and location for the series is fabulous and I really enjoyed the trail.

Circuit of Cocktails for Cachers

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