How to go geocaching in Herts: Hitting 100 finds in 24 hours

The lovely August bank holiday was almost upon us and whilst the other half was preparing to head to some rather boring motorsport weekender, I was planning a couple of exciting caching trips to Hertfordshire. 

Slightly guilt ridden that he wasn’t going to be about much during the BH weekend, he offered to join me beforehand on a caching adventure around Royston.

My aim was to pick up a number of long solved mystery caches, continuing my ardent efforts the week before to get some ticked off my list. 

To start our adventure we decided to do a reasonable sized loop of caches on the south-eastern side of the town, set by several different cachers.

It was a really enjoyable walk, along fieldside paths, through woodland, country tracks and reasonably quiet roads, part of it following the Hertfordshire Way.

Caches included a pretty little fairy house, a stick and ‘Fizzy Log’ a brilliant log with fake ivy attached.

We also began collecting some of the mystery caches on route. One of the best was 1000, a huge tub hidden behind a tree. Very nice to find something larger than a micro. 

‘Along the Way’ was also a large box. Not quite as large as 1000, but still a decent size. Inside was a very pretty star TB, but being a bit big and heavy I decided to leave it for the next finder. 

After finishing the loop we headed to the nearby golden arches for a late lunch. Polishing of a milkshake I was ready to go again. 

As Royston Heath was just a stones throwaway, we decided to pick up three caches along The Causeway. 

First stop was at a small car park where a number of ‘Barry boys’ were revving their engines and doing doughnuts in their supped up cars in the chalky gravel. None paid any attention to me as I hopped out and grabbed the nicely hidden cache.

Next up another quick cache and dash, nicely hidden in an old rotten log. Then onto the letterbox ‘Cache King’. 

However, as I picked up the large stone covering the box I got the fright of my life as a little mouse ran out! Nervously I clicked the lid off the box unsure if more had made it their home. Fortunately not! 

It was then onto the heath itself and a nice walk along it and up the hill to grab more mystery caches, four in all.

A little more caching and dashing followed, including the ‘Logging in Bristol’ mystery cache. Now this was a slightly ‘urgh’ puzzle to solve and the cache was bang on theme! Just brilliant!

The traditional ‘It’s all fake’ was another great cache - a magnetic sign on a giant green utility box. It was so appropriately placed that it blended in really well and fooled me for a bit. 

We finished with a couple more traditionals bringing our total count for the day to 34 caches.

As the bank holiday weekend arrived so did the sunshine! It was baking hot! 

The other half set off for a race track somewhere in the Midlands, whilst I packed up several bottles of water and embarked on my biggest caching day in years. 

Back in Hertfordshire, Letchworth to be exact - a town with more caches than people. Well almost!

The map was littered with green dots, and I’d set my sights on one particular series, the epic Letchworth Greenway Gallivant by South Cambs prolific cache setter RYO62. 

The route circumnavigated the large Garden City and included 79 caches in the series plus many others along the route. 

Setting off on foot from the pretty Willian Arboretum, the cycleway track was great and despite the heat I was quickly picking up caches. 

The landscape varied from hot dry fields to housing estates, paths along main roads, tracks through nature reserves and woodland and tarmac paths along field edges.

Many of the caches in the actual series were non descript tubes, nanos or small screw top pots, all found fairly easily. Although a couple did involve a bit of undignified hedge crawling! 

Some of the additional caches however, were a little more interesting or slightly larger in size. 

Number 8 Willian Wander hidden in the armco of a bridge was a small box and I picked up two TBs here to move on. 

I also picked up some great caches set by the local scout troop around  Radwell Meadows, which proved to be a lovely spot for a mid afternoon snack.

The afternoon’s strange and bizarre incidents included being approached by a group of youngsters who had lost a phone; the sighting of a black...yes black... squirrel near number 52 - not seen one of those before! And several encounters with dogs of all shapes and sizes, fortunately all were friendly. 

About two thirds of the way round I had ran out of drinks, and was really starting to struggle to keep going in such warm conditions so an urgent detour to a Tesco Express was made. 

I ended up sitting outside the shop for a good 40 minutes to consume two bottles of much needed cold water, before setting off again with a replenished supply of cold drinks in my ruck sack. 

In the end I just made it back to my car as the last of the day’s light disappeared, having picked up a whopping 97 caches and a rather nice sun tan! All in just under 8 hours.

However, I’d fallen just three caches short of my target of 100 caches in 24 hours...a goal I had wanted to achieve for quite some time. 

There was only one thing to do, make a detour on a family day out early the following day to pick up three caches. 

Luckily as I’d not started the Letchworth walk until gone 12 the day before, I had plenty of time for a detour to Thetford. 

A number of new ‘Off your Trolley’ caches has been published recently and three at large retail outlets on the southern side of the town. 

A bit of caching and dashing and the final three smilies were secured well before midday, meaning I hit the big 100 in 24 hours! Very happy!

Now all I need to do is find an online geocaching shop that actually has the wretched achievement geocoin in stock...a task that is so far proving harder than getting the 100 caches!

Next week we’ll be streaking...don’t panic we’ll be keeping our clothes on...to take part in Geocaching HQs latest souvenir challenge ‘Streak Week’. 

Will we manage to find a cache a day and obtain the virtual souvenir? Next week’s blog will reveal all...almost!