Hatley Heart Attack

The Hatley Heart Attack is a power trail of over 400 caches, 479 to be precise, set in the Cambridgeshire/Bedfordshire countryside.  The outer ring can be walked all in one go (if you're mad) or you can use the connecting caches to split it up into smaller walks.  We decided to do the latter and tackle it over a number of weekends.

Here's a brief account of the route we took with lots of photos so you can see what the route was like. We're not saying this is the best way to do it but this seemed the best way for us to tackle it in the time we had.

The series

22 November 2015
Day 1:  332-348, 348/1-348/9, 272/12-272/1, 273-282, 272/13-272/20, 323-331

Today was the day to make a start on this series. We parked in the village of Sutton to start our walk. We enjoyed a 10 mile walk on good paths with only a small amount of road walking.  The ground was frozen for much of the day but we walked in beautiful sunshine for most of the day.  All the caches were found without any problems. Stopped off on our way home at The Town Fryer chippy in Sandy which we can highly recommend.  Back soon to continue with the series.

New boots!
No filter needed!
Luckily fenced in

After Day 1

28 November 2015
Day 2: 001-025. 025/1, 153-189, 397-423, 360-349.

We parked in East Hatley to start the walk at 001.  We enjoyed a 15 mile walk on mainly good paths, some stretches involved walking across very muddy fields and a couple of short stretches on roads.  Since our last visit there's been a fair bit of rain as there were some large puddles on some of the paths.  The weather was chilly and windy but stayed mostly dry with just the odd shower.  We found all the caches apart from 1 DNF which was missing so we will need to return at a later date to find that one.  Lots of photos below:

My new boots!
	They didn't stay clean for long

The map after Day 2

29 November 2015
Day 3:
Walk 1: 302-084, 289/1-289/5, 311-322, 310-303,
Walk 2: 272-244

After staying overnight in St Neots we made a fairly early start and parked near some houses in Biggleswade for the first walk of the day.  For the second walk we relocated to Eyeworth and the route looked doable by bike so cycled up the road to start the section at Dunton and then worked our way back to Eyeworth via the bridleway.  We covered 12 miles today mostly on good paths. The forecast was for rain but we were very lucky and it held off until we were on our way home, it was just very windy for most of the day.  All the caches were found without any problems.  We've had a fab weekend.  Can't wait to return to continue with the series.  Photos of the walk for today are below.

After Day 3 - We're getting there

5 December 2015
Day 4: 060/1,  059-028, 152-137, 094/6-094/1, 095-062

As the forecast looked pretty good we decided to continue with this mega series and make another weekend of it.  We made an early start from home at 5.30am and started walking just before 8am and were back at the car by 4pm.  We enjoyed a 16 mile walk mostly on good paths.  All caches were found without any real problems.  We bumped into Kev and Wolfy450 a couple of times throughout he day and then Monki, Pfaffabouters and Baggie Dave in Great Eversden as we'd stopped for our lunch in the bus shelter - it was good to have a chat.  This is the first time we've bumped into other cachers while doing this series. Thoroughly enjoyed our walk today.  More fun tomorrow.   Here's a few photos for today.

Trig behind bars
	Great!
Could do with a brush!

After day 4

6 December 2015
Day 5:
Walk 1 096-136
Walk 2: 365-361, 360/1-360/6, 246-228, 228/1-228/5, 369-366

We stayed overnight at nearby St Neots, parked up in Great Eversden and started walking at 8am. For the second walk we relocated the car to Wrestlingworth and were finished by 4pm.  The route was mostly on good paths today, although the section between 228/3 to 228/5 was across two crop fields where the footpath had recently been ploughed up!  Then the section between 367 and 366 involved a walk through a cow field but luckily they were very docile.  All together we enjoyed a 17 mile walk today.  All caches were found without any real problems. Here's a few photos from today's walk.  That leaves just one section left which we hope to complete in the not too distant future.

After Day 5

13 December 2015
Day 6: 390-370, 227-190, 396-387, 390/1

We parked in Tadlow to complete the final leg of this massive series.  The forecast was for light rain all day so undeterred we set off fully togged up with our waterproofs.  We were joined today by drempels (son) who is now home for Christmas and keen to accompany us on a few walks.

As it has been raining quite heavily this week the paths were quite waterlogged and we walked across quite a few muddy fields.  All caches, apart from one, were found without any difficulty.

The walk today was approximately 11 miles which brings the total up to 81 miles for the series.

We now have all the bonus info and during the week we found out what we had to do with the numbers so relocated the car for the bonus which was a quick find a a great container then off to the Bonus Bonus.

Didn't take anywhere near as many photos as I would've liked today due to the wet weather and forgetting my waterproof camera.

All in all a really enjoyable series which we are really pleased to have completed.  Rounded it off with a chippy tea at The Town Fryer in Sandy on the way home.

Day 6 - Series complete!