ABFTN Revisited

St Peter's Church, Rous Lench

 
'A Break From The Norm'

A series of 10 caches set on a 4 mile circular walk starting from the village of Rous Lench, a small village about 6 miles North of Evesham, Worcs.

This series has been set to compliment Sumadartson's original 'Break from the Norm' series, you can do both together to make a figure of eight walk of about 8 miles and 24 caches in total.

The walk takes you from the village of Rous Lench to Gooms Hill, around Slade Wood and down through the parkland of Rous Lench Court with its many mature specimen trees and back into Rous Lench again.

Mrs D standing by the tree

All the caches are unusual containers and hides.  I haven't included the usual tracklog and photos as this could spoil the enjoyment for anyone that hasn't done the series yet but safe to say a lot of hard work and effort has gone into setting up this great series, we had so much fun this morning.

'Mistletoe' Tree

We didn't have our dogs with us today but the walk seemed fairly dog friendly with only 1 or 2 of the stiles that would possibly pose a problem for larger dogs and the only livestock we encountered were sheep.

The Jam Trail

Thistle

The Jam Trail is a series of 10 caches plus a bonus on a 3.7 mile circular walk set in the countryside near Combrook, a small village a few miles South East of Stratford-upon-Avon.

We hadn't planned to go caching today but then this new series popped up last night and as we had to take our son to work for 7am in Stratford we decided as it was so close we'd have an early morning caching trip.

Parked up near the church in Combrook and set off on the walk.  A thoroughly enjoyable walk, all caches were fairly easy to find, the walk was along very well marked paths and we completed the walk in a little over 2 hours.  We had collected up all the bonus info on the way round so it was just a case of doing the sums and going off for the final.  The walk to the bonus involved walking up a public footpath which went along a private driveway which some people might not like but it wasn't a problem and the final cache was found in a very peaceful location which we were very surprised to be first on as we knew that Big Batch had been out last night and done the rest of the caches.  We were very lucky with the weather too, sunshine all the way round and the rain held off until we got home.

Great use for an old tyre

More often than not now we leave our dogs at home as it's getting too difficult to lift them over dog proof stiles and we worry about coming across fields of cattle especially in the summer months so unless the cache page specifically mentions that it's dog friendly we don't risk it.  As it happens this series would've been ideal for them, there were no dog-proof stiles as far as we can remember and the only livestock we came across were sheep and it's a pity there weren't any attributes on the page.....but we didn't let on to them when we got back that we'd been out caching without them

Back to Wiltshire

Our second trip to Wiltshire this week, this time to do Stan's Sausage Series.  A series of 35 caches set on a 7 mile figure of 8 walk.

On the trail

 An enjoyable walk not far from the town of Melksham.  All caches were fairly easy to find with a nice variety of sizes and all with good hints.  Some of the walk will take you through cow fields, we didn't have any problem with them until we came to the last field, it was very narrow and there were no 'escape' routes and as we approached they got very frisky running around so we decided to walk in the adjacent ploughed field, tough going but better than risking it through the cows.  All in all a very good walk.  At the end of the walk we returned to the car to boil the kettle for a cuppa and we were soon joined by cachers Teds Team and 2Blues, it's always good to meet other cachers when out and about.

Stan's Sausage Series

The second walk of the day took us to Malmesbury, to do a short series:

Malmesbury Southern Circular
A series of 10 caches set on a 2 mile circular walk.

Malmesbury Abbey

A thoroughly enjoyable series, great views of Malmesbury Abbey all the way round and all caches were easy to find with great hints.  Malmesbury is a very pretty little Cotswold town and we took the opportunity to have a wander round and a closer look of the abbey before taking in the last few caches and heading back to the car.

We've had so much fun this week and have been so lucky with the weather, it's been dry and sunny.  We've been out caching most days mainly on foot but also by bike, we've attended an event, visited Peterborough, Wiltshire and Telford  and found 344 caches.... phew!

Marlborough Downs

I haven't had time to add to the blog since April then I wasn't sure whether to continue with it but we've bumped into a few cachers recently that said how much they enjoy reading it so I decided to try and add to it when I can, so here it is:

We love caching in Wiltshire and have enjoyed many great walks in this area, today we decided to head down to an area south of Swindon, the Marlborough Downs.  Many of the longer walks now we have to leave our dogs at home, it's a shame but they are getting on a bit now and find the longer walks just too much.  So today it's just just me, Mark and our daughter 'Pegz' who was keen to come along with us as she's in training for the Tour de Trigs walk later in the year, which is a tough 30 mile (50 for over 18s) non-stop, cross country walking competition.

Marlborough Downs Trail

37 caches on an 8 mile walk with superb views over the Marlborough Downs.

The trail starts at Barbury Castle where there is a large car park and toilets.  The trail then heads out on a well marked chalk path towards Ogbourne St  Andrew, great views all along the path passing alongside Four Mile Clump.  The footpath then passes through Ogbourne St George and up Smeathe's Ridge.  Part of the route along Smeathe's Ridge takes you through a large field with cows in, we were a little wary to start with but we didn't have our dogs with us so we weren't too concerned, when we approached near to them they didn't take any notice of us at all so we continued past.

Cattle on Smeathe's Ridge

We were very lucky with the weather, it was very windy to start with but once we got going the sun came out and it was a lovely sunny day with a breeze to keep us cool.

We didn't have our dogs with us on this walk but we'd say it was completely dog friendly with no dog-proof stiles along the route.

We were soon back at the car park after walking for approx. 4 hours.  All the caches were easy to find with good hints and a nice variety of sizes and containers.

All in all a fab walk that we'd highly recommend.

Check out Every Trail

The second walk of the day took us to East Kennet to do a short series on a 2½ mile walk.   Starting at EK1: Silbury Glimpse, we had to collect bonus information from each cache which was based on Ley Line waypoints.  Along the route we passed a field of wheat with a gathering of people with cameras, they seemed to be checking out the crop circles.

East Kennet

Another very enjoyable walk which took us 1 hour and 25 mins to complete.