Meeting my Waterloo...well almost!

It’s time to take a trip back...yes I’m behind with my blogging once again! 

This week’s blog reflects on the turbulent week of Eurovision! A week when I finally got myself out caching after work; completed one of my longest caching walks of the year; saw the UK Eurovision entry bomb yet again; and when the blue lights came calling and my caching activities had to take a forced three week hiatus! 

So let’s start with that after work walk. It was a sunny Wednesday evening as I left work, and despite having had a horrendously busy day, and being a little tired, I impulsively decided to go and find some caches. Always a great way to clear my head of work stuff.

I was completely ill equipped. No change of clothes and no caching bag, but I had my phone, a pen and pen lid for extracting those tiny logs...what more could I need?!

Some weeks ago an exciting new circular series had been placed near Babraham Park and Ride site in Cambridge. Appropriately called ‘Park & Walk’ it had been set by local cacher Steve4789 (there’s obviously a lot of cachers out there called Steve) who I’ve met at many events and who actually went to school with my other half...small world! 

I’d been looking forward to doing the walk for ages and it was well worth the wait. Skipping past number one, as I’d already grabbed that on a day when I’d needed a grid filler, I headed straight for number two. 

Upon arriving at the turn in the path, I thought i’d quickly spotted the likely place for the ‘magnetic’ hide, a lovely big gate, but no, it definitely wasn’t there. As I looked around some more I spied something else, but again no joy. Just as I was starting to wonder if it had gone, I suddenly noticed something a little out of place and a quick peek behind and there was the cache. I clever hide, definitely not what I was expecting. 

As I continued on the walk a number of quick finds followed and the good, dry paths meant my work gear was staying pretty clean. 

After rounding the next corner and saying hello to a friendly dog, I headed for number five and uncovered a brilliant pine cone custom cache. The next was a bolt on a gate that blended in very well. 

Number seven had a slightly mysterious hint and after a bit of a rummage in what looked like reeds, I found the tiny custom frog cache. As I walked to the next I spotted a number of rabbits bobbing about...rabbits are starting to become a regular feature of one of Steve’s walks. 

The next few were all quick finds along a pleasant walk on the edge of the fields. As I neared the end however, I came a cropper at number 13, clearly not my lucky number. 

I’d guessed what I was looking for, something grass like, but as the real grass was quite long, and energy levels were now dipping, I really couldn’t spot it so had to give up. 

The final part of the walk back to the car park, revealed more great hides including a very realistic looking snail on a signpost and last but not least a magnetic on a utility box.

It was a really lovely short walk, with some inventive caches, and I’m sure others will complete it much faster than me.

The weekend arrived and before meeting up with a friend on Friday night after work, I grabbed a mystery cache just off Hills Road in Cambridge that i’d solved a while back. 

On Saturday I’d like to say I was up bright and early to go caching but I wasn’t! I finally hit the new series at Bourn in South Cambridgeshire around 1 o’ Clock and set off through the village and out the other side to complete the series. 

Usually as I cache I have only one thing on my mind...caches...but today was different. It was the Eurovision final that evening and I was looking forward to a Eurovision party. 

As tunes of past UK entries filled my head I began picking up one brilliant cache after another. 

Set by infamous South Cambs cacher RYO62, the Bourn trail included a nice variety of caches and hides including a cache in an apple shaped bird feeder, a reptile, fake grass, and some large homemade rock caches, which reminded me of Finland’s winning entry, ‘Hard Rock Hallelujah’ a few years back. 

As I got to a junction where the trail met the new Caxton series I had a ‘Making your mind’ up moment as I tried to decide whether to go on and complete the neighbouring circuit or just finish the Bourn one. 

As I was making such good time, I decided to head towards Caxton and quickly grabbed the link caches along a familiar path, where I’d last seen a Kingfisher. Sadly no beautiful birds today, but homemade caches including a burnt log, a large plastic insect under a bridge and a kangaroo and her baby, brought a smile to my face. 

As I arrived in Caxton I was able to grab the new village hall, church micro and war memorial caches. 

Further great caches on the Caxton series followed including an ornate metal grill...where does RYO62 find these strange treasures from?...plus more insects, fake ivy and a shell cache hidden in the beautiful Cambourne Country Park. 

Another cache in the beautiful park was hanging from a tree and as I quickly walked towards it I failed to spot a huge ditch just beneath it. ‘One Step Further’ and I might have been a gonna, but fortunately a bit of scrambling and I soon found my footing again. 

As I headed back towards Bourn the walk took me past the beautiful windmill, where I met two rather friendly red setters. The owner had actually put them into a gated area of the footpath and as I contemplated how to get through the gate without letting them out, the friendly owner appeared and said I could just walk up their drive. Sorry pups, no chance of escape today! 

Back on the Bourn trail I was reminded of the greatest Eurovision winning entry of all time ABBA’s ‘Waterloo’ as approached two fords across the road and began singing the song in my head. 

I think many budding UK pop stars that scoff at the thought of representing the UK in Eurovision often forget how it launched one of the greatest bands of all time! Luckily the fords were not my Waterloo, as I managed to paddle my way across without getting my trainers too wet. 

Soon I was back at the car and with Waterloo no longer in my head but blasting out of the car radio, I headed off to a rather camp, but fun party. 

I’d finished the day scooping a brilliant 44 caches and finally felt like I was back on track to grab many more as summer had finally arrived. However 24 hours later and all that changed.

After spending a nice Sunday with my nieces, I got home and soon began to feel quite unwell. Fearing I’d eaten something unfriendly, I grabbed a bucket and headed to bed, hoping to get it over and done with quickly. 

But hours of rolling around in agony later and I made the dreaded 111 call! Lots of blue lights, needles, and pain killers later, and fearing I might have finally met my real life ‘Waterloo’, I was diagnosed with an appendicitis. 

Sadly, the op put paid to my caching trips for more than three weeks, but the break gave me lots of time to start planning my future ones. More on those soon!