My friend Adam (formerly Diving DJ – now changed his name to UKCacheMag – but that’s another story) have started a little competition to see who can get to the next milestone first. And I was feeling a little unimpressed when he got a 20 cache series set out on his doorstep. In fact I get a little unimpressed when I look at the map as all over the country cache series are springing up with sometimes 8 caches per mile… We don’t have any like that around here.
So when I saw this series set up 25 caches on a walk of about 5 miles I thought I would have to go and do it… then I noticed that a) it was all on paths you could cycle on, and b) all on the flat ! So I thought it was time to get my bike out again and take up cyclecaching again
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 12 Bank Dole Lock GC3E8MF – cache #1501
As there was no bonus cache it didn’t matter where I started… so I started at the point nearest to home (well it’s all about 30 miles away anyway !) The first cache I would have done was #11 but was unavailable due to the fact some travellers were camped right next to it so I moved on to this one which I found quite quickly, it’s a cache pretending to be a bolt.
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 13 River View GC3ER1N – cache #1502
Had to wait for a dog walker to pass before I could fiddle about through the fence to get this cache
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 14 Willow Garth GC3ER24 – cache #1503
I searched all along the hedge bottom to no avail looking for this cache… then realised that it must be on the other side !
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 15 The Barrier GC3ER2K – cache #1504
Some people have logged that this was difficult to find, it was obvious to me as I was getting off my bike where the cache was hidden
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 16 Last Post GC3ER3M – cache #1505
Amazing how hard some caches can be to find when there’s only one place for them to be
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 17 Deep Water GC3EBMV – cache #1506
We’ve probably all seen Deep Water signs before but warning signs in Polish as well ? ?
… and weirder still the Polish words apparently translate to ‘Do Not Steal The Swans’ !
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 18 For Fire GC3EBM0 – cache #1507
An easy find behind a fire hydrant
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 19 The Farm GC3EBK6 – cache #1508
This is perhaps a bit open to public view, being hidden under a flower planter box, but with a bike I just leant the bike against the planter, crouched down and fiddled around with the gear hub mechanism while pulling the cache out with the other hand… the curtain twitchers from the houses opposite wouldn’t have had any suspicions at all
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 20 Pit Entrance GC3EBJG – cache #1509
The walk (cycle !) is named as it runs around the village of Kellingley and the Colliery grounds… it is one of the last remaining collieries in Yorkshire.
This cache is hidden under some of the big rocks around the pit entrance. The slightly sad thing is that all green spaces at the side of the road are now ‘guarded’ by large rocks or tree trunks in an effort to keep travellers from moving onto the open space
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 21 The Refuge GC3EBHN – cache #1510
A cache in the middle of the road… you don’t see too many of these !
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 22 Pit Shaft GC3EBH0 – cache #1511
The hint says that it’s all in the name, which is a little confusing until you actually look at the name !
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 23 Prickley GC3EBGD – cache #1512
Why does every cache series seem to include a cache stuck in a prickly hawthorn bush ?
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 24 Holy Construction GC3E911 – cache #1513
Cycled past this one originally as I was looking for a church or a memorial or something… then realized the pun and got the right place, then just had to find the right hole !
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 01 The Gate GC3DQY2 – cache #1514
I had to pass on #25 as there was a family parked in their car right next to it, so I went on to the ‘start’ of the walk at #1 and had trouble locating where this cache could be, the confusion stemming from it being a magnetic cache on an aluminium sign !
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 02 Bridleway GC3DQZ7 – cache #1515
Another prickly bush to negotiate to find the tree trunk hiding this cache
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 03 Trees GC3DQZE – cache #1516
When there are 3 possible trees to search looking for a cache how come it is always in the last one ?
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 04 LX-01 GC3DQXX – cache #1517
LX for Level Crossing, though the cache wasn’t particularly near the level crossing but hidden by a large tree stump nearby
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 05 The Bridge GC3DQZ3 – cache #1518
This took some finding as I discounted the place it was hidden early in my search as I saw nothing hiding there… eventually I got back to having a better look and found the cache
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 06 LX-02 GC3BC02 – cache #1519
Another level crossing and I got confused at first as I was using the clue for LX-03 to find LX-02 funnily enough I didn’t find it, but when I got the clues in the right order I quickly found the cache
March 31st 2012 – Remote Spot GC3BBZ4 – cache #1520
I had been thinking about the name of this cache and the clue which said ‘choose the right channel’ and as I was riding towards the spot it suddenly came to me what I needed to look for… a cache hidden in a TV remote controller.. and I was correct
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 07 LX-03 GC3BC08 – cache #1521
There were a couple of local lads sitting next to this cache having a sly smoke… but that wasn’t a problem, being on my bike I could just ride ’round the block’ as it were, back along a different path to #5 and back round again to this cache… which I got to for the second time just as they were leaving
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 08 The Pole GC3E83C – cache #1522
Only one pole at the co-ordinates – a telegraph pole… after this Cache #9 was missing so I didn’t log a DNF (it was actually replaced later the same day as I was there
March 31st 2012 – The Beatles – Hello, Goodbye GC2ZFEM – cache #1523
An expanse of smallish pebbles in front of a wall, with no apparent place for the cache to be… and no way of accessing the other side of the wall in case it was there… so the cache had to be under the odd one out of the pebbles, the only one that was big enough to cover a film pot.
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 10 The Canal GC3E8JX – cache #1524
Back to where I began and another cache hidden in the crutch of a multi-trunked tree
March 31st 2012 – God Bless You GC2JTF5 – cache #1525
After completing the series I thought I’d just cycle around to find some other local caches, this one was a surprisingly large cache to be hidden in the place it is
March 31st 2012 – Royal Flower GC34R3A – cache #1526
Another play on words as this is hidden on the fence of the Kingsmill flour mill
March 31st 2012 – Collect & Return GC35C60 – cache #1527
A cache in Morrison’s supermarket car park – again when there are 3 possible places is the cache always in the last one ?
March 31st 2012 – Kellingley Pit Walk # 25 Canal Gate GC3E90P – cache #1528
After putting the bike back in my car I drove up to find this cache, which was easy enough when the people had gone
March 31st 2012 – Riverside rest GC287V9 – cache #1529
On my way home I stopped for a few drive-bys, this one in the crutch of a multi trunked tree (yawn) – but made better by having a bench to sit on next to it
March 31st 2012 – BIKE N’ CACHE Birkin west GC2QW22 – cache #1530
Hidden at the corner of a fence… and in a patch of nettles
March 31st 2012 – BIKE N’ CACHE Sutton GC2QW1C – cache #1531
ooh, another multi-trunked tree
March 31st 2012 – Tea Break GC3E84A – cache #1532
The old A1 around Ferrybridge & Fairburn has been replaced with a new section of road, leaving the old dual carriageway as a ‘minor’ road… this cache is hidden in the armco at the side of the old road
March 31st 2012 – BBC Drive-by Series #2 GC2RV4Q – cache #1533
A prickly hedge growing over a Farm Name Sign, with a cache hidden in the thorns behind it
March 31st 2012 – BBC Drive-by Series #3 GC2RV4R – cache #1534
An old gateway that has been blocked off with some old fence posts… and a cache
March 31st 2012 – BBC Drive-by Series #4 GC2RV4W – cache #1535
I parked a few yards past this but as I walked back towards the co-ordinates it was obvious where the cache would be hiding as there were several small trees and one large tree stump
and that was it for the day, 34 caches, the most I have ever collected in a day