'nother trip to Northamptonshire

In the Shadow of the Tower

The main reason for our trip to the area on such a drizzly day was to find In the Shadow of the Tower.  Last October we placed a 'Challenge Cache' called Resuscitator.  In order to log this cache, cachers first have to find a cache which hasn't been found for over a year.  Soon after setting the cache a carbon-copy cache was placed (with our blessing) in Surrey.  So, that's the reason why we chose to do this cache today; to qualify for the Surrey Resuscitator GC2HD75 which we hope to find in March.

Anyway, back to this cache. We parked in the lane to the west and followed the bridle way up towards the eerie, mist shrouded tower.  Found cache in the first place we looked and can confirm it is in good condition.

Cache successfully resuscitated!

As the weather was so bad we decided to find some more of the Just Northamptonshire caches which is a series of drive-by caches all set just inside the border of Northamptonshire.  We'd already found 10 and found another 9 today.  By about 3pm the rain had stopped so we decided to go for a 4 mile walk near Southam.  It was very muddy and slippery underfoot but it was an enjoyable walk where we found 8 caches.  The walk took us past the RLS Polo Club and the surrounding fields were full of ponies, presumably polo ponies.

The Holy Well

Another point of interest was the Holy Well, a scheduled ancient monument and a Grade 2 listed building.  It is reputed to have been used by monks in the area, hence the Holy Well.  The spring water is exceptionally cold and comes up a stratum of white Lias from below the quarry area on the Coventry Road to the north of Southam.  The water was reputed to be very efficacious for many eye ailments.

The walk took us 2 hours to complete then we were back at the car and home for tea