Caches No’s 1036 to 1067 – Channel Link Phase 2

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #18 – Shapwick Hill GC2AYB0 – cache #1036
Sunday,  and I had all afternoon free to go caching, so I drove down the Motorway to the next Junction and took up my Channel Link caching from there. The first one of the day was in a field entrance gate where you got a good view over the Somerset levels to Glastonbury Tor

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #20 – Nythe, Butleigh Rhyne GC2AYB2 – cache #1037
One of the interesting this about some of the caches on this trip is that they are not all hidden in the traditional way (base of tree covered by a stone etc) but some are just tossed into thick undergrowth – but they are tied to one end of a piece of baling twine and the other is fastened to some imoveable object so it’s a bit like fishing, you look for the twine then reel the cache in. For this one the cache was tied to the railings of a bridge over a drainage ditch.

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #21 – The Willow GC2AYB3 – cache #1038
After saying all that about the previous cache, this one was hidden at the base of a willow tree covered by a stone

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #30 – Thorney Moor GC2AYBD – cache #1039
And this was hidden in a normal way, at the base of a signpost

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #32 – Stembridge GC2AYBF – cache #1040
Another normal hide, magnetically attached to the village name sign

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #33 – Gardens GC2AYBG – cache #1041
This cache is overlooked by a kitchen window, it goes house, footpath, signpost… and the cache is at the base of the sign hidden by a rock, the people who live at the house know he cache is there which is a good job as there is no way you can hide what you are doing with a window looking out at you ten feet away (The signpost doesn’t point to the Gardens at all, East Lambrook Manor Gardens are in the other direction !)

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #34 – South Petherton GC2AYBH – cache #1042
There’s a nice little pull off here to park in which will hold four or five cars, and the clue says telegraph pole (or words to that effect) Trouble is there are seven telegraph poles around the little parking spot – they aren’t all telephone wires, I assume some must be the electricity supply poles, but it isn’t as easy as it could be to find the right one !

April 10th 2011 – A303 Bridge 5 GC20HE8 – cache #1043
A two minute detour takes you from the channel link route over this bridge (the route goes around a roundabout 500 yards away), Bridge, Armco, magnets – you get the picture I’m sure

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #35 – Stratton GC2AYBJ – cache #1044
It was about here that my GPS decided to pack in – I had taken three, one was back at the campsite charging up and this second one had just failed on me, leaving just the Garmin for me to use which only has very basic maps, not the Memory Map 1:25,000 Memory Maps I am used to – nor does it have access to cache descriptions and cache logs. Fortunately I did have the cache name and hints for each cache written down.
This cache is magnetic and attached to the overgrown rusted remains of a kissing gate which is stood by itself at the edge of a field, the fence that it formed part of is now long gone

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #36 – Bull Bridge GC2AYBK – cache #1045
Driving down narrow country lanes playing dodge the pedestrian… fortunately the pedestrians had already passed the cache site so I could stop and retrieve it from it’s place at the side of the drainage ditch bridge in peace.

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #39 – Broadshard GC2AYBP – cache #1046
Another cache where there isn’t really a good place to stop, it’s a fairly main road and all you can do is pull off the road into the drive entrance of someone’s property. The cache itself is 50 feet up this driveway and out of site of the car so if someone comes along wanting to get into their property you are blocking them and giving them cause for concern over what you are doing there.

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #43 – Winyard’s Gap GC2AYBX – cache #1047
A nice easy find by the fence in a layby – a proper place to park for a change !

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #44 – 20% GC2AYBY – cache #1048
I can’t understand how some cachers have difficulty in finding a cache like this. It’s called 20% and the clue says that it’s hidden in the crutch of a multitrunked tree next to 20%. Pretty obvious that 20% refers to a gradient sign and as there’s only one multitrunked tree next to the sign how can you get it wrong ? but some people have done

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #45 – White Sheet Hill GC2AYBZ – cache #1049
Wasn’t really a good place to stop here, just the end of a drive leading to a large house, fortunately the house was so far down the drive that you can’t see it from the road. (White Sheet Farm is actually a few yards up the road from the cache)

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #46 – Beaminster GC2AYC1 – cache #1050
Another magnetic cache on the back of a sign, trouble is with this one that there were a million nettles growing up under and behind the sign so it was a case of feeling around for the cache while getting stung 🙁

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #47 – Parnham Park GC2AYC2 – cache #1051
Another magnetic cache hidden in a fretwork type gatepost, with a nice large place to stop opposite and a nice view

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #51 – Elwell Farm GC2AYC7 – cache #1052
Another cache where I was disturbed. The cache is a the end of a farm track and is behind a signpost which is on a steep banking and accessible up a few steps from the roadside. I had just finished at the cache when the farmer came along the road and had to wait for me to get back in my car and drive off before he could turn into his own driveway… I don’t think he could have seen what I was doing but he certainly must have wondered why I had stopped there

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #55 – West Bay GC2AYCB – cache #1053
Is it really sensible to try and find the last cache of the series on the seafront on the afternoon of the hottest weekend of the year ?

Actually it wasn’t too hard as the crowds were not where the cache was, just a couple of people to shield my activities from… and the cache site was a good place to sit and have an ice-cream !

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #53 – Jurassic GC2AYC9 – cache #1054
After reaching the end I decided that instead of taking the quick way back along main roads I would retrace my route back and pick up some of the caches I’d missed – there were a few where being driver and navigator I had missed parking places, but I knew where they were now to be looking for them rather than the cache site on the way back In a bus stop opposite a pub on a main road. Fortunately no buses came to complain about me stopping in a Buses Only place and nobody was sat in the window of the pub, so it was only the car occupants that could see what I was doing – Guess where a cache called Jurassic was hidden in this picture ?

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #52 – Wooth GC2AYCB – cache #1055
There was a car parked by this cache when I was going the other way, this time the coast was clear so it was an easy find

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #50 – Waytown (City centre?) GC2AYC6 – cache #1056
Somerset / Devon country lanes are invariably narrow with high bankings making it difficult at times to find places to park when you are looking for a cache. For this one the cache setter had accused this of being the quietest village in the area that got perhaps 3-4 cars a day. The cache is at a road junction and the only place to stop is on the road where it widens out for the Junction – not really a very good spot. I had 2 cars pass me while I was there, and I had gone past both ways, so that was the 3-4 cars for the day ! Somehow I think the road is busier than the cache setter might think.

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #48 – Parnham Farm GC2AYC3 – cache #1057
There wasn’t really a good place to stop here, again it was just a wide bit of road on a sharp bend with a house one side and a gateway to another house the other side. The cache itself was hidden just over the wall from a footpath, in the field where these three sheep were… the woman in the house was pottering around and probably wondered what I was doing fiddling round in the wall by her sheep

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #41 – Misterton GC2AYBV – cache #1058
This cache had been muggled. There was a pile of stones behind this village name stone, there was nothing under the stones, but there was the cache log nearby, which had obviously been out in the open for a couple of days (you could tell by the feel of the paper it had obviously got dew damp and sundried a couple of times. Also nearby was the film tub lid, and a few feet away in the long grass I discovered the film cannister itself, a little squashed out of shape but still in one piece. I put it all back together and hid it back under the stones and when I logged it I put down what I had done, and got an email back from the cache owner thanking me for taking the trouble.

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #40 – South Crewkerne GC2AYBT – cache #1059
You don’t see many cache containers made out of glass. There is certainly advice, if not a rule about it, but anyway this cache is a glass jar, hidden behind a wall next to a gateway across the road from a row of houses where anyone who looks out could see you ferreting around (on what appears to be  private land behind the wall), another cache I wasn’t really happy with

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #38 – Pye Corner GC2AYBN – cache #1060
Another cache tossed into the undergrowth – yet tied to this gate for easy retrieval

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #37 – Bowood Lane GC2AYBM – cache #1061
Not a nice place to park, a farm track entrance on a sharpishd ben on a narrow country road with steep bankings and tall hedges… I was fortunate that nobody came along

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #29 – Muchelney GC2AYBC – cache #1062
By the time I had got back as far as here it was 5:30 and I was the only car int he car park, so the cache was easy to find, during the day I suspect the place would have been a bit busier and the cache a little harder to retrieve surreptitiously.

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #25 – Sedgmoor Hill GC2AYB7 – cache #1063
Magnetic cache, rusty gate, nice view from here though !

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #16 – Shapwick Heath GC2AYAY – cache #1064
Another of the cast into the undergrowth caches, this one tied onto a bridge

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #14 – Westhay GC2AYAW – cache #1065
Magnetic cache, metal bridge over a drainage dyke

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #13 – Mudgley GC2AYAV – cache #1066
Another cache in a farm entrance, this time visible from the farm as well. Easy enough to find but the farmer could be looking out of his house concerned over what you are doing fiddling around by his fence and you wouldn’t even know you were being observed

April 10th 2011 – Channel Link #12 – Wedmore GC2AYAQ – cache #1067
There’s a path that runs along the edge of a field beside someone’s garden. To access this path there’s a gate, and by the gate is the cache. overlooked from the house and garden, the owners must ownder why people keep stopping at the gate, fiddling around in the hedge and then driving off… they must see people doing it.

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