Wednesday 14 December 2011

Elmley Castle



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




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