It was a fine Saturday night, and I had nothing to do, so I decided to go and find some caches that would be best searched for when it’s quiet… the caches in the middle of Leeds city centre. There are two issues with city centre caches, firstly the GPS reception is poor in a lot of the places as the buildings interfere with the signal – so the hints are all important, and secondly to avoid detection by ordinary members of the public the caches are almost all magnetic nanos.
5th May 2012 – That Was Then, This is Now …9: Centaur House GC2QPY3 – cache #1661
The first cache, and straight into GPS problems. the hint says where bridge meets railings and indeed my GPS was pointing me towards a spot where the bridge met the railings, however after 15 minutes of avoiding passersby whilst searching in the hedge I decided to read the previous logs… which directed me to not just the other side of the path, but over the bridge wall and across the grass verge… a quick shuftie in that direction and I could see the cache stuck on the railings at the side of the road.
5th May 2012 – Park Square Cache GC11KQE – cache #1662
GPS a no-no again as it wanted to put me 20 feet inside the railings whereas I knew the cache was magnetic and was going to be on the railings… Fortunately the hint was fairly specific and I found the cache quickly
5th May 2012 – That Was Then, This is Now 6,7 & 8 ( or 3-4-1) GC2QPX2 – cache #1663
A pavement corner in the middle of the city… with 3 pairs of benches. No GPS lock to tell me which bench is more likely but the hint said it was a bench… so it was just a case of sitting down, feeling all around, moving seats and doing it all again… much to the consternation of the smokers congregating outside the nearby bar.
5th May 2012 – Lisa makes a Grand Entrance GC3CXHF – cache #1664
Several experienced cachers had logged DNF’s for this cache- which I thought a bit strange, as although there was no GPS signal due to the cache being in the dark arches under Leeds Railway Station, the description stated that the cache was where the new passenger entrance for the station was going to be built and the hint said the cache was going to be magnetic… Easy enough to work out that the entrance is going to be built at the edge of the station and from there there weren’t many places for a magnetic cache to be
5th May 2012 – The Aire Below – Waterfront Walk 3 GC2E8FW – cache #1665
Leeds Waterfront is a area that I have never been to – well I avoid going into Leeds as much as I can !
But it is an area that has had a lot of money spent on it and is now trendy offices and bars…. and has many caches. The first of these I found was easy enough, stuck on the back of a signpost overlooking the canal
5th May 2012 – Get Your Kicks……….. GC15RGB – cache #1666
A couple of years ago I’m sure I wrote a blog entry entitled ‘Get Your Kicks… on route 66’… because I was a few miles away further along the canal of which the towpath is National Cycle Route 66. The cache again stuck on the back of a signpost, this one the cycle route sign post
5th May 2012 – Going Up In The World GC31VPG – cache #1667
Over the other side of the canal and heading back into the city centre, and a cache on a relic of Leeds Industrial past. It had got dark by this point and I was not certain that I was going to be able to find a cache in the gears of the crane in the dark – but at least in the dark I was alone and so could carry out a detailed search without anyone thinking I was some form of nutter !
5th May 2012 – The Aire Below – Waterfront Walk 4 GC2E8G6 – cache #1668
I’m not sure how this cache has avoided ending up in the river, as it is dangerously preched on the railings at the waters edge… I nearly dropped it in myself knocking it loose when I was feeling around for it.
5th May 2012 – Vanishing Prince GC2HG5D – cache #1669
This cache is in a much more populated part of town, the middle of the main bridge over the river, there were a lot of people about, fortunately there was also a boat motoring along the river which gave me the opportunity to appear to be watching the boat when in reality I was searching for the cache
5th May 2012 – The Aire Below – Waterfront Walk 2 GC2E8FG – cache #1670
Not on the waterfront at all, but on a nearby road, another magnetic nano stuck on the back of some street furniture… again I had to look inconspicuous to the passers by while I searched for it
5th May 2012 – Leeds Waterfront 1# GC24X5T – cache #1671
Another cache that seems likely to end up in the river, being stuck on the outside of the handrail in the middle of the bridge. The only way to find it is by feeling for it, and that runs the risk of knocking it loose and hearing it drop into the depths… I managed not to do this !
5th May 2012 – Leeds Waterfront 2# – Royal Armory GC24X60 – cache #1672
I was pretty impressed with how nice the waterfront area looked at night, nicely laid out and nicely lit. The Royal Armouries has their tower of steel illuminated with a a large display of swords, spears and the like and just near this there is another railing with another magnetic nano stuck on it
5th May 2012 – The Aire Below – Waterfront Walk 1 GC2E8EV – cache #1673
Over the river again and back towards the town centre and as I walked away from the river for the last time there was one final nano stuck on the last bit of railing…
5th May 2012 – Leeds Micro Parish Church GC1TAZJ – cache #1674
It’s a rare thing to find a 35mm film tub and think that it’s a large cache, but this was the biggest cache I’d found so far. Again good to be here in the dark as you can search around unobserved
5th May 2012 – Bob’s West Yorkshire Playhouse Cache GC1K2TC – cache #1675
A cache in the car park of the theatre… maybe just after the performance finishes and everybody is heading back to their cars is not the best time to go looking for the cache – or maybe it is, because at least when there are other people milling about you don’t look too suspicious searching around the cars
5th May 2012 – City Nano New York Street GC223E3 – cache #1676
A cache stuck on a sign in the middle of the busiest part of the city – between the main bus station and the shops… this must be a very difficult cache to retrieve unobserved in working hours, by now even for me it was getting to be home time for people out for the evening so it took a few changes of traffic lights for me to be able to get onto the island refuge where the cache was by myself.
5th May 2012 – Guarded by Bulldogs GC2C6D0 – cache #1677
The final cache of the night was at last a full size cache, in fact a largish click lock box hidden in the bushes by a car park. There were some people sitting in a car only a few feet away from me eating their kebabs, but they were on the other side of the bushes, so I could just sit down on the kerb and sort out the cache without them even being able to see me
