The tidal wave incident

After three weeks stuck in the house, mending after surgery I was desperate to get out caching. 

As the weekend arrived and feeling fully refreshed and fit again I headed for Norfolk and the new series 'Warren Walk revisited', a circular trail near Old Buckenham. 

I had completed the original walk last summer and had really enjoyed it and whilst this series followed a slightly different route in places, it was just as good with a number of creative caches and inventive hides. 

Number one, a tree hanger, actually proved to be one of the most difficult. With so much leaf cover at this time of the year it was hard to spot so I went back and forth between a number of trees for quite some time. It was only when I stopped and stood as near as I could to the GZ showing on the app, that I happened to look up and see it right in front of me. What a relief. 

The next couple were much less taxing - a bison on a post and a micro in a log - and soon I was walking past two beautiful houses at the end of the tree lined lane. 

At this point I met a muggle and her dog and after a quick hello to both, I waited until they were out of sight and then began rummaging around various trees for number four. It was a clever hide, a micro in a stick that was wedged into a tree and almost looked part of it. 

More quick finds followed and whilst number 6 had a rather intriguing hint which had my mind spinning with all sorts of possibilities, it actually turned out to be a fairly innocuous rock cache.

Some further sneaky hides of bisons in trees followed and soon I was heading onto a new part of the route, along a very quiet country road. 

I managed to pick up a couple of extra caches on the route, one called ‘Wood Pecker’s Delight’ - a nano in a tiny hole in a telegraph pole, clever - and another well hidden tube in an old ivy covered tree trunk. 

Sadly number 11 alluded me, and I had to log a DNF. Particularly disappointing as I’d been keen to see what the hint ‘Going Commando’ meant...I will never know.

The next involved a tiny bit of tree climbing...the perfect challenge after a bit of surgery, not! But fortunately it turned out to be a tiny step up, not a full on 10ft climb.

Number 13 had a few DNFs recently so I wasn’t too hopeful, but luckily I spotted it almost straight away, a nano in a dead tree trunk, another clever hide and it earned the morning’s favourite point. 

After a bit of lunch back in the car I headed off to Eye for another very enjoyable circular series. The trail started in a pretty wooded nature reserve on the edge of the village and whilst the first hide was tough to find, as the co-ordinates were a bit out, the rest were much simpler but often inventive.

What was particularly nice about the walk was the diverse scenery. From the forest, I headed out across the meadows and the cows, then onto country lanes along the river and into the village itself. Finally I finished on a beautiful part of the walk through another section of the reserve that was a mix of lush forest and long grassed meadow. 

The sights along the way included an unusual wooden sculpture of a slightly scary face and the ruins of an old mill, where a micro in a wooden log was cleverly disguised.

Some of the caches were homemade including a micro in a stick in a tree. There was also a nice mix of classic hides like magnetics on benches, small pots in posts, and larger pots behind fences. 

A cache on a string in a hollow rail didn’t fool me and was soon found, but I very nearly didn’t find one in an ivy tree...I hate the stuff. 

I made friends along the way and enemies! Oh yes!

A very friendly Collie came running up to me as I neared the end of the walk and just wouldn’t stop following me. In the end I decided to stop and let his poor owner, who had already apologised four times, to regain control of the friendly hound and get him home.

A motorist in a supped up banger, who passed me as I walked the last 100 metres back to the car however, was less than friendly. Flying along at a whacking speed of god knows what in a 30 mph zone, he/she hit a small stretch of water along the side of the road next to me. You can probably picture what happened next, but for those who can’t the impact of the wheel threw the water high up in to the air, and it hit me like a tidal wave! I was drenched! 

Hopefully I’ll have dried out in time for our next Caching Tales adventure!