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*

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.