A Bike Ride Around Redditch

Redditch Ring

His 'n' Hers

A circular route around Redditch in Worcestershire consisting of 39 caches.  The whole route is bike friendly as it follows bus routes and cycle paths. 


As soon as we saw this series published a couple of weeks ago we thought it would be perfect to do on our bikes, so we pencilled it onto the calendar for this weekend as it finally looked like Spring was going to arrive!

Bartleet Fountain

The series takes you through Redditch Town Centre and if you stop off to do the Church Micro at St Stephen's Church you will see The Bartleet fountain which is an interesting piece of history as it was presented to the town in 1883 by Mr Bartleet, a prominent figure in the local needle and fishing tackle industry, to commemorate the town's new fresh water supply.  It's made of cast iron by the Coalbrookdale company in Shropshire.  It was extensively restored in 2003 by a specialist company using historical records.  The team made  carvings and castings in order to reproduce damaged or missing components and to reinstate original details which had been lost through corrosion.

On the series you will pass some very decorative bus shelters and most of them are part of a Bus Art cache series.

Bus Art

We met the Hardy Clan on the way round and also spotted StormyStorm's cachemobile so think Butttercup and Stormy must've been out on the series somewhere.

Is that a cachemobile?

If you stick to the series it's 8.5 miles but we took in a few detours along the way for additional caches so we made it nearer to 12 miles.

Cenotaph

All the caches were fairly straightforward to find with good hints where necessary.

An enjoyable bike ride on a beautiful Spring day.

Redditch Ring

Caching in Worcestershire

Young Acorns

This weekend Mark had work commitments so we couldn't go too far from home.  As luck would have it a new series popped up not too far away in Grafton Flyford last night so after dropping our son off at work we decided to make an early start and see if we could get some caching done before Mark's phone rang.

GF Series 

A series of 15 caches set on a 4 mile walk around the footpaths/bridleways and quiet lanes of Grafton Flyford.

The walk was about 4 miles along a mostly familiar route, as this was the starting point for the now archived ABFTN Christmas series.  The caches were a variety of hides and sizes, some quite tricky to find.  We even managed 2 FTFs and it was nice to see a few different people getting FTFs on this series - it's good to share .

On our way back to the car we took a detour back to GF3, we'd searched for it at the beginning of the walk but decided to leave it until the end so we could get on with the walk.  On arrival at GZ Dadu13 and Team Airtomoreira were searching so we joined forces but after another 10 minutes or so we couldn't find it so we went our separate ways.

An enjoyable walk in the countryside, then we continued on to the second series of the morning.

 

ECC Series

A series of 21 caches with Doctor Who themed titles set on a circular walk of just over 6 miles on the footpaths around the village of Earls Common.

We parked near to ECC 14 to start the series.  Our original plan was to just do part of the series as we thought we'd be pushing our luck doing the whole lot but when we reached the half way point we decided that as it was such a nice day to risk it and just hoped that Mark's phone wouldn't ring when we were quite a way from the car.

Favourite cache container

Quite a lot of the walk was set along little used paths and were quite overgrown in places and some of the paths were poorly marked which would've been hard going without GPS mapping.  A few of the fields had cows or horses in them but they were no trouble at all.

Much to my delight there was a trigpoint on the series, in fact Mark says my actual words when I spotted it were 'YAY!!  There's a trigpoint!!'  I'm very easily pleased.

Mere Court Trigpoint

On the whole we really enjoyed the walk, it was lovely to be out enjoying the countryside on a warm sunny day after months of rain.  Not being Doctor Who fans some of the titles were lost on us but our teenagers would've known straight away.  Luckily no knowledge of Doctor Who is required to complete the series

Whisper dog tired

On Sunday morning we were free until midday so decided to head over to Abbots Morton and try and complete the Letterbox series that we started a few weeks ago.  We parked at the village hall again and walked down to AM 13 to continue the series.  We took Whisper our yellow lab with us as she'd enjoyed the first part of the series with us, Poppy unfortunately wouldn't be up to such a long walk now.  Quite a long stretch between AM 14 and AM 15 was very boggy as it was along a narrow bridleway and with all the rain we've had it was completely churned up.  The rest of the walk was fine apart from a bull in the field on the way to AM 16 - when we entered the field the bull stood up so as we'd already starting walk around the edge we decided to just continue sticking to the edge and walking as quickly as we could without breaking into a run as tempting as it was.  The bull watched us but luckily it must've been too hot and lay back down again - PHEW!

Really enjoyed the walk but we rang out of time to find the bonus caches so we'll hopefully be back for an evening dog walk to find those.

Uffmoor Wood

Uffmoor Amble

No. of caches - 10
Length of walk - 3 miles

A series of 10 caches set on a 3 mile circular walk around Uffmoor Wood.  The caches are all placed with the permission of The Woodland Trust.

We only had the morning free today so this walk looked ideal and just the right distance for our dogs too.  It was lovely to walk around this pretty wood again with the bluebells and wild garlic just starting to flower.  We last visited back in October 2007 to find GCYG1R - Uffmoor Wood by Rubery Blue.

A very enjoyable walk, the dogs loved it, all caches were fairly easy to find with a nice variety of hides and containers.

Whisper

A weekend of fun

Quite an action-packed weekend for caching.........

Friday

Miss Dadu

 
We had a text from Dadu 13 on Thursday night asking if we'd like to join them on the new Mwahppets Scooby Doo series, at first it didn't look like we'd be able to as our daughter and her friends needed a lift to a sleepover but after a few phone calls we were able to make other arrangements and the meet up was arranged.

There was a list of equipment we needed to take with us so we gathered it all together and off we went.  I can't say too much about the stages as it would spoil the fun for anyone wanting to do the series but safe to say we all had a great time.The children in the group particularly seemed to enjoy themselves and it was all very exciting.  As is usual for Mwahppet caches a lot of hard work has gone into setting it up.  This was the first time we'd come across a series set out in this way so at first it was a little confusing but we soon got into the swing of it completing the tasks along the way and before long we were at the final.  A really great way to spend a Friday evening. 

Into the dark dark tunnel

Saturday

We had a few things to fit in around caching this weekend so decided to stay closer to home.

Who's Best
 

Pretty Primroses

Length of walk - 3.7 miles
Caches - 11 caches

Saturday morning we made an early start and drove over to nearby Welford-on-Avon to do the new 'Who's Best' series by the gnome-ads.  It's a series based on songs by their favourite band 'The Who' which I'm afraid we'll have to agree to differ on whether or not they are the most famous rock band .  The series is set on the footpaths near to Dorsington Manor.

Roberts Wood

 
We were quite intrigued by the private wood and the land being owned by Felix Dennis so on my return home I looked it up and it says all about the Forest of Dennis project here and on Wikipedia.

Hawthorn in flower

A bit of a nip in the air this morning but still very pleasant for caching.  There is lots of hawthorn in flower now, this is a true sign of spring and as they say in old folklore 'Ne'r cast a clout until may is out' meaning the May flower! 

New Houses

The path along the river is familiar to us as we walked along it back in 2007, just after the floods, we were looking for a suitable location for one of our puzzle caches but as the area had flooded quite badly we couldn't find anywhere suitable.  We were very surprised to see the new houses being built here and couldn't resist a look on the internet to see how much they are going for, sadly way out of our price range, they are in a great position though overlooking the river.

All the caches were very well thought out, with a nice variety of hides and sizes and all easy to find with useful hints.

We were soon at the end of the walk which we thoroughly enjoyed.

Completed the walk in a little under 2 hours.

Then it was on to Honeybourne to do the Cow and Church caches:

 Cow and Church 

Cow Honeybourne Church - Converted into 3 dwellings

Caches - 8 caches
Length of walk - 5.2 miles

The Cow and Church series is set on the paths around Honeybourne village.  Honeybourne was originally two villages - Cow Honeybourne and Church Honeybourne and we think they were amalgamated in 1953.

The series reminded us a bit of how caching used to be when we first started, a decent walk between each cache, a chance to enjoy the surroundings and where you have to use your map to decide which route to take to the next one.  We thoroughly enjoyed the walk.

We completed the walk in 2 hours and 25 mins, this included a 15 minute lunch stop.

Saturday evening we decided to take the dogs for a walk and replace the log sheet in one of our Oversley Trail caches and at the same time take in a local cache that had been published a few days ago.

Sunday

Wood End

Caches - 10
Length of Walk - 2.2 miles

Across the track

This is a short but very pleasant series set on the footpaths around Wood End near Tanworth in Arden.  All the caches were fairly easy to find with good hints.  The weather was perfect for caching today and the sun shone all day.

We arrived back at the car and there were other cachers just setting off, they introduced themselves as Shortmat, enjoyed a quick chat before they carried on their way.

As we were fairly nearby we decided to go and do Special Ops Tango 3 - Target Practice as we had heard some very good things about it and we have really enjoyed the other caches in the series.  Once again we can't say too much here as it would spoil the fun but just go and do it, it's brilliant fun!

Lovely sunny afternoon

Max's Spooky Series

Length of walk - 1.5 miles
Number of caches - 6

Then to round off the day we decided to finish off with the Max's Spooky series that we'd started on Friday night.   A very pleasant short walk in the afternoon sunshine along the canal and then back across the fields towards the church.  Lots of newborn lambs in the field.

Wheesh!  That was the weekend........ it's just flown by......

Wast Hills Nr Alvechurch, Worcestershire

Almost spring :-)

WHW Series

Caches - 10 + 3 extra with a short detour
Length of Walk - 3½ miles

A free afternoon so we decided to head over to the Wast Hills to walk the dogs, oh and pick up a few caches whilst we were there .  The Wast Hills Walk is a series of 10 caches set on a 3½ mile walk.  We've already found the existing caches so I think there are a possible 16 to be found, with a short detour here and there.

Parked up near The Peacock Pub and headed off on our walk.  We'd taken a gamble taking the dogs with us as we'd read about the stiles but we just hoped they would be dog-friendly.  We needn't have worried and we are pleased to report that the route is completely dog friendly, there were quite a few stiles but the dogs were able to squeeze under or around them easily.

Spring is definitely on its way, with lots of signs to be seen, lambs, catkins, daffodils and even the sun put in an appearance for us.

Lots of lambs about on the Wast Hills

A very enjoyable walk which we completed in 1 hour 40 minutes.  All the caches were very straightforward to find with sensible hints where needed and a good variety of caches.


Before heading home we made a detour to find Bonus - 1 by 1, we'd solved this one when it was published but we decided to save it for our trip to the area this afternoon.  We are gradually working our way through the many Blindmouse caches but as it's a bit of a drive out for us it's taking quite some time.  A very enjoyable cache.  We remembered going along this path to a cache we did not long after we started caching.

Then it was time to head home for tea

Animal Letterbox Series

ALS - Animal Letterbox Series 

The Animal Letterbox Series is a series of 14 Letterbox Hybrid Caches which are placed in two different locations.  The first half starts at  ALS 1 and the second half starts at ALS 8.  After finding all 14 caches and noting down all the necessary information you will be able to work out the final co-ordinates for the bonus.  The first half takes you on a 2½ mile walk, starting from the church at Bradley Green, a small village not far from Redditch and the second half is a short walk a little over 1½ miles around Haselor which is about 1 mile east of Alcester.

St John the Baptist Church - Bradley Green

Parked at the church and off we went.  We remember the location from a cache we did back in October 2007 called Bradley's cache which was archived some time ago.  

A lovely sunny afternoon for a walk.  On the three previous occasions we've walked through this field we've had to encounter cows and mud but no problems at all today as the ground was frozen solid and there were no cows to be seen anywhere.

Poppy making friends with the horses

We took Poppy and Whisper with us but we had to lift them over at least 2 stiles so wouldn't recommend so not particularly dog friendly.  The only animals we encountered were some very nosey sheep and three very inquisitive horses.  All the caches were easy to find apart from one which we resorted to phoning a friend to see if we were looking in the right place, they confirmed we were so we kept on searching and we eventually located it.  It was fun collecting up the necessary bonus information, we completed the walk in just under 2 hours.  All we need now is to find the rest of the caches in Haselor....... fast forward to Sunday

Snowy walk

Parked up next to the stocks in Haselor village for a late afternoon walk.  We've had quite a bit of snow over the weekend so it was a bit tricky finding one of the caches as the hiding place was buried under snow but the rest of the caches were all easily found with useful hints.  We didn't have Poppy and Whisper with us this time as we'd already taken them on a 5 mile walk from home to Oversley wood and back in the morning so they were a bit too tired for another walk.  From what I can remember I'd say it was fairly dog friendly with maybe only one dog-proof stile.  No cattle on route either but in the summer months there are usually cows in the fields near the church.

On our way round we realised we'd be walking past a cache that we'd been FTF on back in 2007 but we felt sure it had been archived, curious to see if it was still there we had a look for it and lo and behold there it was..  It had moved from when we'd originally found it but it was still in great condition and as it was pretty much geo-litter now we decided to remove it.  Reading the log book was interesting as it seems that a muggle found the cache and took it home to show her family and then some time later returned it, then it was archived but muggles have continued to find and sign the log book after it was archived.  Also we were surprised to see that there was a TB in the cache so we were very pleased to be able to liberate it.  Here are the muggle logs:

Enjoyed the walk very much, collected up the rest of the bonus info then just as the sun was setting we were back at the car.  We completed the walk in just under an hour.  

Dadu's 1st XI

 

Dadu's 1st XI

 

A series of 11 caches set on a 2½ mile walk in the Ridgeway area not far from Astwood Bank, Redditch.  The caches have been set to celebrate Dadu's 11th birthday.

A new series came up a couple of weeks ago a just under 4 miles from home so we thought it would be a nice idea to leave it for a Friday afternoon dog walk.  A lovely sunny afternoon for a walk so we put Poppy and Whisper in the car and off we went.

We parked in Whitemoor Lane just outside Sambourne and headed in a clockwise direction.  All the caches were fairly easy to find apart from one which we had to DNF, we see it's been found now so as it's quite close to home we'll be back soon to have another look.

Some lovely countryside views on the way round in an area we pass nearly every week but have never stopped to explore the paths.  Wellies were recommended in the cache description and we decided to heed the warning and glad we did as it was quite muddy in places after the recent rain.

We were soon back at the car, we completed the walk in 1 hour and 40 mins - we managed to add 10 mins on due to taking a wrong turning by a hedge .

Dadu's 1st XI

A Break From The Norm

ABFTN

A series of seven caches that are in the 'break from the norm' theme on a walk that's just over 1½ miles near Flyford Flavell.

We had considered leaving these caches for a Christmassy walk on Christmas day but as we were out setting some caches of our own not far away (more about that in a minute) we decided to do them on our way home, as it looked like we'd just have enough daylight to complete the walk.

The terrain was flat and there was only one stile to negotiate which was dog friendly, in fact the whole walk was dog friendly and the only livestock we encountered were sheep.

All the caches were cleverly Christmas themed, we really enjoyed finding them and each time tried to imagine what we'd be searching for before we arrived at GZ.  I've not included any photos so as not to spoil it for anyone that's not done them yet.  Our favourite was #7, certainly got quite a surprise with that one .   A thoroughly enjoyable mini-series which really put us in the Christmas spirit........

EveryTrail

Right, about those new caches.... 

Mark: Some time ago I had the idea of having several Wherigo caches in one cartridge. My original idea was to have nine caches which had to be found in order to unlock a final cache. The idea was to pick up nine pieces of a treasure map. In order to allow for the fact that cachers might find these map sections in any order, I had to have 512 different images to cover all possible combinations. This worked fine in the emulator but when I tried it in the Oregon it worked but was soooo slow to respond that it was a no-goer.

 

Back to the drawing board.

I did away with the 512 map pieces and tried to think of a new theme to  connect a group of caches together. While flicking through the Schotts Miscellany looking for inspiration I saw a list of Santa's eight reindeer!
Perfect! But hang on, in that case I'd need to get it done in time for Christmas.

In order to test the logic, I took some waypoints along our usual evening dog walk. Poo bin, letter box, telephone box etc and the next few nights tweaked the prototype. Added bits here, removed bits there until I had something which worked reliably. Now to find somewhere to place the actual caches.

I'd spotted a nice little cache-free circular walk near Stratford and submitted a cache with ten final location waypoints on it for Geohatter to check that there were no show-stopping problems with the route.
There was!. Half of the waypoints were within a local nature reserve and another was too close to  the final location of the only puzzle cache in the area that we hadn't actually found yet.

After more pouring over the map, I spotted a potential location and we went out and placed the caches. After adding all the new co-ords into the prototype we returned the next day to try it for real.

The Oregon worked fine of course. The Mio failed to detect one of the zones. A bit of wandering backwards and forwards would have probably worked but we were pressed for time and had to abort the Mio test.  Donna tested it on the iPhone and it sort of worked but it didn't unlock the bonus zone so I'll have to try and work out what the problem is there.

About the Wherigo.

After arriving at the parking co-ordinates, you will see that there are eight locations.

These are all logable caches with a physical box etc.  When you get to within 50 feet of each location a cache and a reindeer will show up in the 'You See' screen.  If you click on the reindeer you get an action - 'catch'. This will add the reindeer to your inventory. You need to 'catch' all eight reindeer in order to unlock the location for bonus 1 'Santa's Grotto'.

The 'cache' item has two actions - 'View Hint' and 'Mark as Found'.  Marking it as found simply hides the zone from the list of locations.

Each physical cache has a laminated card in it with a letter/number pair on it. You need to make a note of all of these in order to calculate the final location of the second bonus cache.  The bonus numbers were chosen so that if one cache goes missing it should be possible to guess what the missing number is and still find the bonus cache.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Elmley Castle

Elmley Castle Amble

A series of 14 caches + 2 (a multi and an existing cache).
Set on a 5½ mile figure of eight walk below Bredon Hill.

A perfect day to be out caching - sun shining, no rain and just a slight nip in the air.  We had been looking forward to doing these caches as it's in an area we've always enjoyed walking.  

We decided to take Poppy and Whisper with us as the walk looked dog friendly and we weren't disappointed,  we didn't encounter any dog proof stiles or cattle.  The only livestock we came across were sheep so no problem at all.

Poppy's ears blowing in the wind

The series had a very good selection of hides and sizes and were spaced just the right distance apart for a walk of this length.  The multi in particular was very enjoyable, the first stage had us scratching our heads for a few minutes but then I spotted it, very good and not a hide we'd come across before.  The second stage was a very quick find but once again a very well hidden stage that blended in perfectly with its surroundings, then it was onto the final - sorry, no spoilers here .


When we got to #9 we realised we'd left Whisper's lead on the fence at #8 as Mark had stopped to change the batteries in his Etrex.  It was about ½ mile walk back but we had time constraints for an appointment mid-afternoon so we decided to press on and drive round at the end of the series for a slightly shorter walk to #8 and pick it up.

We took in an existing cache and made a detour a little way up Bredon hill to Fy Eiliaf (the distraction cache) but as we arrived at GZ we could see there were  foresters working in the woods so we had to wait quite some time for them to move on before we could search for the cache, luckily we could admire the view while we waited .


Then it was back down the hill to #13 - Jumbo's seat, a nice little multi to complete the series, what a great spot for a bench here and two beautiful Crab Apple trees.

'Red Sentinel'

Back at the car we ate our lunch then we drove round to pick up the dog lead from #8.  Mark ran back but unfortunately the lead had already gone.  We puzzled over this as we couldn't understand why it had been moved so quickly, then later on in the evening we received an email from a fellow cacher who had found the lead and when they'd seen our name in the log book realised it must belong to us so picked it up.  It was very kind of them but unfortunately we don't live near to them so we won't be able to collect it.

All in all a highly recommended walk.

Elmley Castle Walk