A welly full of smelly mud

No children!

S is now at big school and N started pre-school today.  She was very excited about going and I had no issues dropping her in. She just wanted to know where the paints were and off she went.  I got home and for the first time in almost 5 years, hubby and I have the house to ourselves.  It was quiet.  We were lost.  So, what better than to hoover up some local caches that we haven't picked up with the girls in tow!

Parking up in the single space that is near this area, we headed off to Mimbridge Walk 10.5 to get the 3 caches we needed to finish this circuit we started about 2 years ago.

There seemed to be quite a few DNFs on this cache so we suspected we were in for quite a search.  There are some good looking suspects around here to go through and the GPS was doing it's usual merry dance so we narrowed down the area with a bit of backwards/forwards walking and set to work searching.  The rain was drizzling upon us and we were slip-sliding away trying various acrobatics to check areas.  I even attempted to see how deep the stream was but clearly too deep (and phew, what smelly mud) for my wellingtons.  After around 15 minutes, I had an idea.  Using an implement to keep my knees dry I did some more scrabbling around and voila! there it was.  Hubby did the collect as I guided him.  A great sense of achievement with so many people not able to get this one.

Child free caching

Away we headed, in reverse, to Mimbridge Walk 10.  A quick spot here but to be honest, I thought it was just litter and nearly didn't pick it up but the GPS was insistent.  Quite surprised unless it's camoflague has come off.  Signed and off we went again.

Easy peasy

Our walk continued to Mimbridge Walk 9 where the cachers path was quite obvious.  I decided to send hubby through the stingers to make the collect as I sheltered my phone from the rain.  A quick find and then back we went to the car.

Got it

It seemed a shame to call it a day here so we decided to head off to Egham to pick up the ones that we managed to miss last time. Do you remember when we climbed through someone's garden (blog on that here)?  Yep, those ones.

We parked up and I decided to put on my hat (I am not a fan of hoods) as the rain was coming down quite hard now.  6 Egham's Wildlife Walk was first on our radar - another reverse circuit for us.  The GPS didn't like the trees and we wandered around near Callow Hill for a while and then back-tracked a little to make the find.  Recognise these quite easily now.

Off to 5 Egham's Wildlife Walk next which hubby remembered would be a footpath at the back of the Rose & Olive Pub.  I'm glad he knew where he was going as I was confused about where the path should be.  Away we went and the spot was made quite quickly as we approached.  A great little cache container but quite obvious against it's surroundings.  Signed and the ham sandwich was unwrapped (well, caching does make you peckish).

Away we went, the right side of the fence this time, to the next one.  Hubby commented that the angle of the barbed wire on top implied whoever owned the land was keeping something in, rather than out.  Umm....I still wonder what is roaming around in there that they need CCTV in the middle of a field.  There were some hole dug under the fencing so perhaps whatever it was had escaped?

Up and down

I spotted 4 Egham's Wildlife Walk as we approached as it looked a bit obvious.  I think to a non-cacher though, it would appear relatively normal.  Quick sign of the log and the crisps were deployed as we carried on.

It is very strange to be walking along at a reasonable pace not having a small person shouting "Carry me!" every now and again whilst standing in front of you so you almost fall over trying to avoid her, and another saying "Can I have another cheese sandwich?" as we go along.  Odd but kind of nice. We could certainly get a pace on.

3 Egham's Wildlife Walk was a prickly little devil so once again hubby was sent in to tackle the hidey-hole.  Nice easy find.  He then noticed that there was rusty barbed wire all along the ground here on the left hand side of the footpath as we were walking along. It was like a fence had been pulled down but the barbed wire just left as a boundary marker. We both commented about how unpleasant that would be with children with us as you could hardly see it but it ran all the way along until the large, green, metal fencing appeared.  They certainly like to keep things in/out around this area don't they!

2 Egham's Wildlife Walk needed a bit of too-ing and fro-ing for the GPS to settle under the tree cover but a relatively quick spot was made.  Spider-sense (or should that be caching-sense) working super well today in the drizzle.

Cream Teas was next on the list.  Didn't really understand the clue until we got to GZ. I thought it was rhyming-slang or something but then the penny dropped. Nice size cache container.

Back to the path and we had finished of the part where we had gone so wrong before!  Next time hubby says "I can see a path there" I'll listen to him (I didn't mention that last time did I.  Oh no, I was simply following the compass which is why it went so askew).

Stinky leg

Final one of the day we decided would be Just Log it!  We weren't quite sure which side of the little stream it would be so went round where we suspected.  Typically, we were the wrong side.  Hubby spotted a plank and went across to look.  I followed.  Unfortunately it seems my welly was overly keen to take a dip and just before I reached the other side, I slipped!  Foot off the plank straight up to my knee in mud and water - stinky mud may I say.  I shouted "Oh shit whoops a daisy" as I scrambled out holding my phone high in front of me.  Boy did I smell.  That mud is really not nice. I was laughing though as hubby made the spot.  A great cache to finish on and pleased we found it.

Now I just had to squelch my way back to the car and hope my jeans dried a bit and the smell would subside.

A fun few hours out and a shower as soon as I got in (and the washing machine on) *grin*