A few days before the Mega I was playing around with some Puzzle Caches, and found one that had been put out 3 months previously but no-one had solved yet, a Five Star difficulty cache, so I thought I’d have a look at it and half an hour later I had a set of co-ordinates that the Geo-checker said ‘Yes’ to – It was more by luck than judgement that I got the answer, but I had the opportunity to go and get a FTF on this cache. The problem was that it was fifty miles away and in totally the wrong direction from anywhere that I was likely to be going to in the near future… However, as I was going 80 miles west to the Mega, I thought I may as well take a diversion that doubled the distance to grab the cache, because I still had to get 10 more caches before the Mega the next day… so I set off early in the morning and headed North East

10th August 2012 – Carpe Diem @2 GC30XQE – cache #1990
I did stop along the way at this cache hidden in a gap between two walls, and I scratched myself on the wall and vegetation reaching for the cache… then found out I hadn’t needed to struggle for it as it had a string to pull it out with

After this I failed to find GC3HXM8 The Impossible Enigma? – The five star puzzle cache I had taken the detour especially to find… I got to the co-ordinates I had worked out and spent an hour searching and finding… nothing… well I found a few possible places to hide the cache – but no cache
I went back to the car and got a second GPS thinking that it might be an equipment failure, but the second GPS put the co-ordinates in the same place… In the end I had to give up the search, wondering whether it really was another impossible enigma to actually find the cache, or whether the cache had been muggled before it was properly found

10th August 2012 – Foxy Box GC33M2Z – cache #1991
With 9 more caches still to find I headed over the A66 stopping off at a few drive by caches, This was an easy enough find… once I’d gone back to the car to change my sunglasses for plain glasses, cos it was a bit dark under the trees and I couldn’t see anything

10th August 2012 – A66 Tutta Embrace GC1F4KN – cache #1992
Base of a tree, covered by a rock… etc

10th August 2012 – A66 Cross Lanes GC1F26P – cache #1993
… and another – but these easy finds do make quick drive by’s

10th August 2012 – Ghost Train #18 – Bowes Station GC1GA9M – cache #1994
Strange to have a set of steps that go up to a farmers field… not much sign of the station left apart from the steps. GPS signal was poor so it took me longer to find this cache than it should have done as the cache was big enough and hidden in an obvious place

10th August 2012 – Community Orchard GC1T3K9 – cache #1995
Arriving in Cumbria I headed over to Grange-Over-Sands to find a couple of caches – though I can’t actually say I found it because another cacher had it in his hand when I got there… but I did put it back !

10th August 2012 – Blawith Point Treasure GC1ND8Z – cache #1996
A nice place for a cache, a little path going out sitting on the rocks on the sea shore on a sunny day

10th August 2012 – Barrow End Rocks, Greenodd GC1JFC3 – cache #1997
In the evening I was needing something to eat, and still some caches, so I went and bought some fish and chips and took them to a picnic stop to eat… a picnic stop with a cache of course. The hint here is a bit cryptic, but I Worked it out as I walked towards the spot… there were a few people about either fishing or picnicing, but I managed to shield what I was doing from one side and wait until no-one was looking at the other… it’s a much, much bigger hide than I expected, though the cache itself is so much smaller

10th August 2012 – FNF – Greenodd Information GC36R55 – cache #1998
A short walk up the road is the next layby and another cache… but you don’t have to walk along the road, the road was built alongside the old railway line and although the rails have gone and the road been widened to cover half the old trackbed there is still a footpath to walk on

10th August 2012 – Mega Camping 2012: The Mega Rodeo GC3EKQV – cache #1999
Eventually Adam (UKCacheMag) arrived at the guesthouse we were staying at and we headed off to the Mega Camp Site to attend the Mega Rodeo, which was winding down by the time we got there but we still had time to grab a couple of beers at the bar and talk to a few people… Still frustrated by my inability to find The Impossible Enigma I discovered that the hider, Mr Lambs@9 had been sampling the ales available at the beer tent and was in shall we say a ‘good mood’ So I managed to get him to reveal exactly how the cache was hidden