Caches No’s 2546 to 2567 – The Harrogate West Series Part 2

The day after I did half the HWS series I bought a new pair of boots as I had noticed that both of my existing boots were split… well I had had them for 4 years and they had done their moneys worth. So I needed a walk to go out and try them. After doing the other ‘half’ of the HWS series a couple of days before I thought as it was a nice afternoon I would go and do the rest of them – a 6.5 mile walk, which as it’s further than I’ve walked for a while, would prove whether the boots were okay !
I wasn’t over impressed with the half of the series that I had done as there were some what I thought were poor cache placements and throwing a cache down because it is 0.1 M away from the last is not a good reason to place a cache anywhere (except on a purpose made power trail I suppose), but I hoped that the caches out in the more rural section of the series would be better

22nd May 2013 – HWS #10 Duckworth’s Ducks GC48JXF – cache #2546
Nettles were the biggest problem at this cache, but with the assistance of my walking pole to push them out of the way I managed to retrieve the cache without getting stung too much

After this I ignored #11, #12 & #13 and couldn’t find GC48QE2 HWS #14 Richardson’s Riddle
As I was already dispirited with this series after the caches on Monday I was quite happy to make a decision not to do any caches that are in farmyards or overlooked by farms, cottages etc so I walked straight past #11 & #12… anyway you need to keep your full attention on a narrow lane when there’s a tractor with a large spiked implement coming at you !
As farms often have the farm here also had a corner of a field full of chopped wood, fence panels, building blocks, old sheds and other farm implements and cache #13 appeared to be hidden in all this – so I ignored this one as well as I didn’t want to be seen by the tractor driver poking around in the farms stuff.
Cache #14 was well away from the farm buildings in the field, however I was totally confused with the cache, for one thing my GPS (and google satellite view) had it about 10ft into the field on the other side of the wall, and the hint said ‘side of gate’ and the nearest gate that I could see was about 100ft away.

22nd May 2013 – HWS #15 Riverdale Rhinos GC48QEG – cache #2547
A straightforward find in a tree… though the cows had made a mess on the ground around the base of the tree which christened my new boots

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After this I didn’t find GC48PB0 HWS #16 Wesley – The co-ordinates given for the cache are incorrect and need a factor adding to the West numbers to put them in the right place. I changed the co-ordinates as required, but they still put me on the other side of the wall in the next field. I couldn’t see anything that seemed to match the hint ‘Geo pile’ – well on my side of the wall nearest to where my GPS put me all I could see was grass and the wall, certainly wasn’t a pile of stones anywhere I could see
And after that I ignored HWS #17 and #18 as I’m not going to go poking about when there are locals who are out and about and are watching me, and the farm dogs started creating a racket long before I got near the buildings.

22nd May 2013 – HWS #19 The Lakes GC4AA24 – cache #2548
Although this cache was also in the vicinity of the farm buildings I saw where it was hidden straight away and so grabbed it, photographed it and put it back. I’m claiming this as a find although I didn’t have time to open it & sign the log before the tractor came past so my photograph is proof that I found it

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After this I ignored #20 & #21 and didn’t find GC48QGB HWS #22 Memorial Gates – I ignored #20 and #21 as they were too close to buildings for me and cache #18 I looked for, but couldn’t see it. I looked for about 5 minutes until a car came along the track towards me which I took as a signal to DNF it and move on

22nd May 2013 – HWS #23 Lancaster Rock GC48QWQ – cache #2549
After my failure at the last cache I was pleased to spot this straight away, though it seems a little disappointing that a cache out in the countryside is a 5ml sample container wedged into a crack when there are plenty of places to hide a bigger cache container.

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After this I deliberately avoided #24 as the new instructions for this series state 1) Geocachers must NOT deviate from the public footpath –
So I chose not to do this cache where the coordinates are 10mtrs from the Public Footpath in the next field (Okay I was feeling pretty negative about the cache positionings for this series so was happy to find an excellent reason not do this one – and to put it in the log why I hadn’t done it)

22nd May 2013 – HWS #25 Windermere Wildcats GC48QYB – cache #2550
The hint was under stones, Lots of stones about as it was at the junction of three walls, but cachers eye quickly spotted the most likely looking one

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After this I didn’t find GC49MWZ HWS #26 Matron Mann – there was a fallen tree and it’s stump, and somewhere in there was a micro cache – presumably another 5ml sample container, like looking for a needle in a haystack so after a few minutes I gave up

22nd May 2013 – HWS #27 Boars Head GC49MXG – cache #2551
An easy one, the hint says ‘post’ and there was only one fence post with a stone next to it

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #28 Bowick’s Burrows GC48QZK – cache #2552
There was no hint available for this cache, but the co-ordinates brought me to a hawthorn bush. I was distracted at first by a piece of bright red metal in the branches of a hawthorn tree – which turned out not to be the cache, so I looked round a bit further and spotted a green bit of metal which was the right thing

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #29 Briggs GC48T0W – cache #2553
The hint for this was stone, I had to search round a few of them before I found the right one

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #30 New College GC48R0F – cache #2554
I had decided to pass on this cache as the dog at the farm was barking it’s head off but as I was standing at the edge of the path debating whether to follow the main track further and go round to the next cache via the dam or walk down across the field I spotted what looked just like the sort of camouflage you would use to cover a cache… and it was.
This was another where I didn’t bother signing the log, so there’s just the photographic proof that I was there and found it

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #31 Ellis Eagles GC48R14 – cache #2555
When I see an old wooden gate post that looks to be where the coordinates are I automatically search to see whether it has a hole in the top where it is rotting away. I’ve seen so many caches hidden in similar places to this that it’s the first place I search and only resort to the hint if it’s not there… but this time it was !

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After this I didn’t find GC49VG1 HWS #32 Hydro Hotel – Although the coordinates were in the middle of the field there was only one possible place for a cache to be as the only feature in this part of the field is a telegraph post, and though I searched all around I couldn’t find it anywhere… Couldn’t decipher any meaning from the clue either – ‘Foreign Feet’ for which all I can think of is Meter… but there were no meters around – or maybe it refers to the foot of the pole… bit I didn’t find a cache there

22nd May 2013 – HWS #33 Southam Stone GC48RQY – cache #2556
Another cache where the hint was stone and the co-ordinates were near a wall with plenty of stones around. The GPS put me right on top of the stone with the cache under it, so an easy find

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #34 Jum GC49VJG – cache #2557
Another hint of ‘Stones’ and walking towards the GZ there was a huge stone by the side of the path so really only one place it was likely to be

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #35 Greenhill House GC48RXJ – cache #2558
Same as the last one, and the one before… stone, cache

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #36 John Farrar GC49VNK – cache #2559
On a roll now with another cache under a stone

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #37 Ashvillians GC49VQ0 – cache #2560
Not a vitamin container under a stone this time, but the co-ordinates seemed good and with the hint led me straight to it

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #38 Ashfield House GC4AYVA – cache #2561
Back to the hint of  ‘stones’ and the vitamin containers again

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #39 Yew Tree GC48TAP – cache #2562
And another with a hint of stone, lots of them about, but I don’t think the last finders had done too good a job at putting the right one back as I could see the corner of the cache box peeping out at me – although a lot of this series is out in the countryside this is really the only cache big enough to put any swaps or TB’s in

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #40 Rossett Court GC49VR8 – cache #2563
I went right past this one as I was texting someone as I walked, so I had to retrace my steps, and then made a meal of finding the cache, trying everywhere at least twice before eventually turning up the cache

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After this I didn’t find GC48T5A HWS #41 Yellow Brick Road and ignored #42, #41 I presume is another 5mm sample container stuck in a tree, I was running short of time by now so only gave it 5 minutes before moving on, and #42 seemed to be on a gatepost in front of a farm so I ignored it

22nd May 2013 – HWS #43 Esse Quam Videri GC48T99 – cache #2564
As I said on my post for #31 I’ve seen so many caches hidden in the hollow tops of old wooden gate posts that they are the first place I look… and again it was a quick find

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #44 Norfolk G’s GC48TA2 – cache #2565
Another clump of large stones but the coordinates put me right on top of the cache so I didn’t have to search long to find it

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22nd May 2013 – HWS #45 28.07.1885 GC49VW3 – cache #2566
A large boulder surrounded by grass, not really a lot of doubt about where this cache was going to be found !

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After this I didn’t find GC49VY2 HWS #46 Being Earnest, and didn’t even bother looking for #47 – I was searching fo #46 when a car appeared coming towards me along the track, so I left it and walked on, and #47 was next to where the farmers were rounding up some sheep, so I passed on that too

22nd May 2013 – HWS #48 Johnson’s Journey GC48V2B – cache #2567
There wasn’t much doubt about where the cache was going to be, and the footprints in the mud confirmed that I had chosen the right place when I was still a few yards away

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And then finally I didn’t find GC48V2P HWS #49 Holmewood House – but then again, neither did anyone else as it seems to have gone missing

So all in all I have found 37 of the 63 caches in this series, a series that after the first half dozen caches I found quite disappointing. If I could give some of the caches ‘unfavourite’ points I would, as a row of vitamin bottles shoved under stones every 0.1 mile is to me boring and unimaginative, but I can’t even be too forthright in the logs as they would just be deleted… I might go round again and look for the ones I DNF’d but I doubt I’ll bother with the ones I ignored unless I am with someone else who wants to find them.

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