Stuck in the middle (of the mud) with you

The gang

My step-sister and nieces came down this weekend and we decided to go and get a few more caches to help them add to their total.

Deciding on a nice, easy walk around, we opted for Horsell Common despite the fact that we had already done all the caches in the area.  However, for newbies, there are quite a good variety of caches to be found and it's not too long a walk.  

We also had a puzzle cache to collect there (so clearly no ulterior motive)

Off we went and parked up opposite the common in a bumpy road at the lay-by.  

Now, we've been to this area before as we said and the pathway had been dry and easy to walk on so we did contemplate not wearing wellies as it hadn't rained much at all of late.  However, we all had our wellies in the boots of our cars so decided to don them anyway.  That was a good choice!

We headed through the gate into mud. Lots of it.  Off we went to find TV Shows #1 which was a nice, quick find.  We had solved the puzzle some months ago but hadn't collected it as we didn't need anything else in the area so this was a great excuse to grab it.  

Phones at the ready.  Go!

Right now to to find the other caches for the family.  Off we trotted to the first one, HG Ring 17 which was another nice easy find.  The folks spotted it quite easily but it was too wet to sign.  We had avoided quite a lot of very boggy ground to get to it - much to our surprise.  Where had all this water come from?

Not at all muddy then

We aimed for the next one MIM03.  We remembered this one well as we'd sent the teen in to get it last time.  This time it was the youngest niece who was sent in for the collect.  Gorse is not a nice thing to be around/in and she nearly lost some hair backing out much to our amusement.  

Away we went to the next MIM04.  Oh boy, if we thought the path we'd been on already was muddy, this was a whole new ball game.  Hubby and I decided to pass the mini-Scorpios over the fence.  He climbed over first and I lifted them up to him so we could avoid the gate altogether but then I and the rest of the family went through.  It was a close one with wellies almost sucked off.  This cache made the family laugh. The youngest niece was not too keen to make the collect this time as the 'fun guy' looked like it was in a monster's mouth she said.  We had a look and had to agree.  She did go for it in the end and it was signed.

Back we went down the very muddy path.  The same procedure for the littlest cachers and hubby but the rest of us went through again.  Oddly, it seems the gate area had become more muddy in the few minutes since we'd passed.  As you can see, it was a bit of a struggle.  

Teen nearly lost her wellie and couldn't move. She was in danger of going for a face-first tumble into the mud so I lent a hand (reluctantly of course LOL).  After all, it would have been very funny wouldn't it...

Off down the muddy path to HG Ring 13.  Away the family went to the lovely, new erected fence and gates.  Hubby and I had read them the clue.  A bit of "Err....*old* post" followed and then they spotted the culprit and the find was quickly made.

Ahh...there it is

Just two more to get.  On our way to HG Ring 14 S managed to get her welly stuck in the mud. Unfortunately she was still moving forward at the time.  I wish I'd got the photograph of her, muddy tights on one side, welly in the mud behind her and hubby holding her up with J trying to get the welly back on while balancing in the mud with her own wellies sinking.  We were laughing too much though as we'd only just discussed this very thing happening on a previous muddy cache hunt we had done.  Isn't it typical.  Oh well, a bit of a muddy welly for two more caches wouldn't hurt.

HG Ring 14 was a very quick spot as it was pretty much open to view.  S grabbed it just as I noticed the huge pile of dog mess right beside it. How disgusting.  The family made the sign and put it back quickly. Sorry but we didn't look around for any camo as I was busy wiping S's hand with a wipe just in case any poo had got onto the box.  I wish these dog owners would clean up after their animals as there are dog waste bins all around.

Love daddy's hat

We headed into the centre of the area to make one final collection of HG Ring 16.  Hubby spotted it quickly from a distance (cachers eyes were working well today) and we had to give the family a gentle reminder that they needed not to just look 'down' all the time.  They soon spotted it and although the log was very damp, they managed to sign it.

Back we headed to the car.  Hubby found a reasonably dry path with N but of course, the rest of us went the more direct (but muddy) one. Well, what difference was one more lump of mud on our wellies going to make?

Where did this dry path come from?

A fun time out and at least the sun shone a bit.  We are looking forward to going up to visit the family in June and caching around their area of Milton Keynes.

RHS Wisley

We have just taken out membership for RHS and yesterday, despite the weather, decided we needed some fresh air so where better to go.

We packed our waterproofs and headed off.  Parking up, we decided that we were going to retrieve a couple of geocaches at Wisley Airfield first.  We had missed two on our last trip around.  Well, I couldn't find one and we forgot about the other but it's close enough ;-)

S went on her scooter and did really well bar one little accident where a crack in the road stopped her dead.  Fortunately she was ok but a little shaken (she has a lovely hat that she wears just in case).  

The first cache was along some trees beside a field. Everything certainly has sprouted since we were last there.  It was an easy find for S and she was very proud of herself for spotting it before daddy did (well, he never said he saw it).  The second was one I couldn't find before in a tree.  Would you believe that this time within minutes I spotted it. Ironic really as last time there were barely any leaves and this time the tree was covered.  Cachers eyes were working today clearly.

Back we went to RHS and started our wander around.  The girls seemed to enjoy looking at all the flowers and we went to see the fountain.  As we went under the little tunnel, a duck with her ducklings came along. How cute!  Unfortunately for us, we seem to have children who are petrified of pretty much all wildlife.  As the little fluffy ducklings approached, S had to be picked up by daddy and N, sitting in her pushchair, began to cry.  Who'd have believed it. 

The fountain was very pretty and the backdrop of the house was great.  I would like to live in a place like that (less people in my garden though).

We then went around to the Pagoda and S fed the fish with her puffs. They seemed to enjoy Organics Spicy Tomato noughts and crosses :)

Over to the glasshouse for a final bit of a walk in the drizzle.  I have to say the orchids are my favourite and RHS have nearly got theirs to look as nice as the ones on my kitchen windowsill ;-)  S loved the waterfall and N was busy shouting at the plants as we went past, quite happy though.

After that we headed to the cafe for a sit down and suddenly, halfway though our drinks, noticed we were in the area for feeding mums.  Oops.  We just thought it was a nice secluded little seating bit and now we know why.   At least there was noone who needed it so we stayed put.  I was a little surprised by the high prices in the cafe and the lack of cakes that were not covered in nuts of one description or another, but at least we had a nice sit down.

Back we headed to the car with both girls running around on the grass happily wearing themselves out.  They were both asleep in a few minutes as we set off.

I think we will get a lot of use of our annual membership as we only saw a small part of the gardens and are looking forward to exploring more - hopefully in the sunshine next time.