September: Bashing targets and surviving a tropical storm & an earthquake!

This month really was about the innovative cache and the sneaky hide! But we also achieved two key goals.

First we became official adrenaline junkies, earning the first of Geocaching HQ’s new monthly souvenirs. And then we finally achieved a thousand of RYO62’s finds - we are very excited about getting a ‘Congratulations’ cache dedicated to us. 


We also travelled further afield than ever before picking up caches on the beautiful rainforest covered, Caribbean Isle of St Lucia. 


It took us a few days to actually get out caching though, due to some unforeseen incidents. A diversion on the way out, to the Azores, somewhat lengthened the journey and cut short our first day. Then came tropical storm Kirk, which left us battling our way over fallen trees just to get to and from dinner. Then the earthquake hit...fortunately not devastating. 


Once the roads had been cleared of the fallen debris, we hired a car. It was the perfect way for us to get around the island, to see the sights and pick up some great caches - especially as they drive on the left and all of the road signs are British. 


Our first stop was Pigeon Island where we collected two great caches, ‘Inclined Ramp’ and ‘Signal Peak’. Whilst our personal trackable Gizmo & Panda enjoyed the big waves crashing against the bar - an amazing coastal geological formation, linking Rodney Bay to the Island - we enjoyed the amazing views from the island’s highest peak...once we’d sweated quite a bit getting there.   


We dropped off two travelling TBs,  that we’d brought from home and met various muggle tourists on the way up and down.   


Read more on our St Lucia caching adventures in this week’s blog, but now let’s get back to our review of a great month.

Altogether we found over 160 caches mostly out in the East Anglia countryside on a number of fun trails, from Hertfordshire and Essex, to Suffolk and Norfolk.


How could we forget the lovely walk around the Essex countryside on the Castle Camps Circular. The caches were great fun and we met a number of colourful characters on our way round, including a gnome, a meerkat, a snake, a butterfly and a hedgehog.


We interpreted the strange language of a new Mystery cache near Castle Camps and took an enjoyable walk to GZ after completing the nearby circular. 
      
After an amusing family party in Norfolk, that saw my young nephews and nieces riding around on sofas and mobility scooters, we stopped on our way home to grab two great church micros in Hockwold and Feltwell. 


A trip to Little Cornard near Sudbury followed and more innovative caches were found including a realistic looking metal toadstool, a frog and a variety of plastic fruit.


There were also a number of tricky hides, including sneakily placed solar light posts and a cunning nano hidden in a tiny broken tree branch. 

The church micro was less taxing and we soon had the final cache after taking a seat in the churchyard to collect the numbers. 


A day out in Hertfordshire was up next, with a whopping 74 caches found and logged - almost beating our best day ever, of 77 caches. 

The three trails around Guilden Morden, Steeple Morden and Litlington certainly gave us a good work out, over 14 miles hiked in all, and there were some great caches on all three. Bugs on an old log, nanos in sticks and a string of sausages, all added to a fun day out. 


We also made it across to Stowmarket this month for the new ‘stroll’ linear series, along the old A14. Almost every cache on this fantastic trail was fun and interesting, from a toilet to a rabbit, to a well placed piece of gum and a very sneaky acorn hanging in an oak tree.


Favourite points were scattered throughout but the absolute favourites of the day were a bike reflector, which was attached to a reflective post, with the tiniest nano cache inside. And a bolt 7ft up one of the huge concrete pillars holding up the A14 viaduct. Even with our extendable grabber tool, it took a few minutes to get that nut off and the log out, and even longer to replace it all again.


So that’s it for this month, but there’ll be more on our St Lucia adventures next month, plus a few chillier caching tales, when we finally return to the UK.

Total finds: 164
Multis: 4
Mysteries: 1

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