It’s party time! - a carnival, little bro hits 40 & some 90s clubbing

Yes this week it was well and truly time for a party.

The week kicked off with one of those well loved work away days!  Yes anyone who works in an office will know them well. You and your colleagues all get to spend the day together, in a meeting room, usually somewhere outside of work and you basically do ‘work’ but under the guise of ‘fun’ activities.

Our away day day this year was once again at Jesus College, a labyrinth of beautiful old buildings, and lush green courtyards. And it presented the opportunity to grab a cache. 

Somehow last year I’d forgotten to go and find it so as soon as time was called on the ‘fun’ activities I headed off to find the ‘1946 and all that’ nano cache. 

It was well tucked away, in a tiny courtyard which required some skilful maze navigating skills to get to, but once there the tiny magnetic nano was quickly found in the only obvious place.

A couple of nights later I was back out after work for some caching and dashing. My first stop was Fowlmere where I picked up a couple of church micros, the War Memorial cache and village sign.

Next I made my way along a couple of country roads to pick up more Congratulations mystery caches - all solved weeks earlier and fairly easily thanks to google - and a milestone cache. 

After a slight detour to pick up the 999 mystery cache, I drove towards Melbourn to do RYO62s lovely linear walk, ‘Melbourn Mooch’. 

There were some really nice caches along the route all brilliantly disguised as other things as well as lots of wildlife including a hare and a huge flock of birds gathered high up on the telephone lines. 

The array of custom caches on the walk included a stick in a tree guard, a rock, a log and of course RYO62s now familiar ‘snake’ cache, urgh! 

But the best cache and hide of the evening was number six, which was well hidden in a big ivy covered tree, and turned out to be a tennis ball. Very clever.

Saturday arrived and it was the annual Felixstowe Carnival. Whenever possible I like to go as so few towns continue to hold such large parades. I also particularly enjoy watching the huge haulage lorries from the port trying to squeeze their way down the tiny high street. 

This year’s parade was one of the best. Themed on decades of the last century, it was a real step back in time from the rock n rolling 50s and the hippy 60s, to the disco divas of the 70s and the wacky outfits of the 80s. Winston Churchill and Scooby Do even made an appearance! 

As the last float disappeared into the distance, the crowds began to disperse so we decided to walk down to the beach via Hamilton Gardens to pick up one of the few caches in the town that we hadn’t found as yet.

The gardens were beautiful and the other half took a seat on one of the many benches and began eating his lunch, whilst I wandered back and forth along the metal railings trying to find the tiny nano cache. Finally, I spotted it...by which time the other half had eaten most of his lunch! 

We finished the day by celebrating my brother’s 40th birthday at a party full of bikers, fighters and racing enthusiasts...not a cacher in sight, aside from me, but all good fun.

A few days later an after caching work trip was on the cards again, but as I reached my car in the car park, huge storm clouds were gathering overhead. 

Not to be deterred I decided it would have to be a caching and dashing adventure - and it certainly was that. I was literally chased by the storm for the first hour. 

Starting off in Duxford, I began by picking up the church micro, village sign and village hall cache, and another in the Congratulations mystery series that I’d missed on my last visits. 

As I picked up the last cache in Duxford, loud bangs of thunder began to clap above, so I quickly drove on to Ickleton to stay ahead of it. 

I’d just solved and picked up the Village Hall and War Memorial multis as the heavens opened! Taking shelter in my car, I decided to let the storm do its worst before moving onto my final destination - Hinxton. Once there I grabbed another six great caches including a fine pair and a milestone!

I ended the week with a non-caching adventure - a night with Pete Tong and his orchestra At Newmarket’s July racecourse.

Long before I spent all my spare time in old clothes, crawling about in ditches and climbing trees, I was quite the night clubber. I regularly frequented the UK & Ibiza’s biggest club nights, from Gatecrasher to Cream, from dusk til dawn. Hence when I heard one of the country’s superstar DJs of the 90s was coming to Newmarket races I couldn’t resist revisiting my youth. 

And what a night...it was like being back on one of those famous dance floors! It was a brilliant evening, of dancing and meeting up with countless old friends and Mr Tong certainly livened up this year’s slightly stale Newmarket Nights line-up.

Next week I’ll be putting my clubbing gear back in the loft and donning my old jeans and walking boots again, for yet more caching adventures!