last weekend we went to Devon for a long weekend, stopping on Beverley Park (just for a change).
The main reason for the trip was so that I could run in the annual Torbay 10k road race as a bit of a warm up for the forthcoming Great North Run in September. But hey, there has to be an element of geocaching involved in any trip nowadays and this was to be no exception for sure.
The above is a close up of me coming to the finish line in the most torrential down pour I have ever run in. The picture is a bit blurred and I said it was due to low light and the heavy rain, but several people have since suggested that it is in fact due to the speed I’m travelling at. Who am I to argue?
From the minute we arrived on the Friday lunch time, to the Monday morning when we left, it rained almost constantly, sometimes heavy, but mostly with a fine and persistent drizzle. What the heck, we all donned our waterproofs and sallied forth, after all, we’re British for gods sake, what other option do we have most of the time?
The first cache we found once we were settled in was Saltern Cove GC17CZK. This turned out to be on an extremely exposed headland, with spectacular views of course, but with no shelter at all. So, we got even wetter than we had anticipated. What amazed me was we weren’t the only idiots up there, several people were walking dogs as well. Now that’s what I call daft!
During the weekend we only managed a total of 10 finds in the end. This was due to a combination of bad weather, plus some really bad luck in that we had at least 6 DNF’s, one of which wasted just over 2 hours spread between 2 days and 2 separate attempts. Oh well, that’s the way it goes sometimes.
The highlight of the weekend, from a caching point of view, was without doubt Lyte & Dark (UW 2) GC1AZ7V – part of WildeBeast’s “Underworld series”
A clip from the cache page gives you an idea of the challenge:
“From the huge entrance turn to your right and just before a steep slope up in the corner of the cave you’ll find a small squeeze at floor level. The cache is in the small chamber immediately behind the Squeeze!!!”
Now, I have to say that I am mildly claustrophobic, so the mere thought of this filled me with apprehension. Still, the gauntlet was thrown down by a certain Mr Beardmore and I am not usually one to shy away from a challenge. So, with Mrs Dafthead acting as moral support, and my 72 year old mother along to comfort and calm me if needed, I set off with the bit between my teeth.
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Picture number 1. is me emerging from the “squeeze” after successfully logging the cache (mini mag light and pen in my mouth)
2. is the cache on the cave floor,
3. is the view above my head from inside the squeeze.
If you want a challenge or just something different, then I would highly recommend this one…….unless you are a caver or pot holer, in which case I’m sure this will just be easy peasy, run of the mill stuff.
