Lifting the lid on lockdown and a few Geocaches

 Finally, it was the first week of Lockdown easing and whilst the past two months had given us all a great deal of time to reflect on our lives and all the things we would change once life got back to ‘normal’ , one thing that hadn’t changed was my passion for trekking miles, through mud and singing nettles to find that elusive Tupperware box.

Yes, I had made certain decisions during lockdown and one was to make the most of every minute of my free time and find as many caches as possible once I could travel again.

But in reality, that’s not quite what happened! 

Being able to go out again beyond the village, suddenly felt very alien to me. I had become a bit clingy to the safety net of home, and wary about visiting unknown places.

I’d also become very unfit! The serious lack of exercise over the previous two months had led to a fair bit of weight gain and lethargy! So mustering up any energy for a long drive and walk was challenging. 

I decided to start small...taking baby steps to get back into caching. And what better than a few maintenance runs of my own caches. 

First up, the Wind in the Willows trail and it was so nice to be out after work walking along the river and through the woods. A few nights later I hit the not so fishy trail and again it was a thoroughly enjoyable walk, replacing a couple of missing caches, and repairing others. 

I was soon ready to start finding caches again and headed out to Thetford after work to clear up caches I’d previously missed and to pick up some new ones.

It’s was a sunny evening and I enjoyed grabbing a few by car first, including an ‘off your trolley’ at the Aldi store, before parking up not far from the Castle Mound. 

During all my visits to the town I had never visited this historic site and what a sight it was. The mound was huge! Of course in order to complete the new virtual you had to climb right to the top, and whilst it was a bit of a struggle, and required a momentary pause three quarters of the way up, the view was well worth it. 

After a sit down, and a selfie snap for the virtual cache, I climbed back down and wandered over to a notice board to complete the Thetford Castle Mound multi. At GZ the cache took a bit of spotting as it had slipped down from its intended spot, but I was relieved to spot it after a few minutes. 

Moving on, I drove down to the river near the town centre and had a wander about taking in more of the prettier, historic sights of the town. The mill was a lovely old building and the nearby rock cache was a quick find. 

Soon I was meeting the famous Dad’s Army, Captain Mannering...well his bronze statue. There seem to be a few of these around Thetford now, in recognition of the fact that so much of the popular sitcom’s filming took place in and around Thetford. 

The cache, part of the local ‘celebrities series’, was tiny and nicely hidden on a large bridge. Fortunately, I spotted it after a little hunt. 

Final stop was at the large sports and recreation ground to grab three caches, including the mystery in the ‘football micro series’. There really is some great facilities here for any young budding sportsmen and women, although very few about during my post-lockdown visit. 

As the weekend arrived it was time for what I call ‘a proper walk’. Needing to get fitter again I set my sights on one of RYO62’s lovely series in Hertfordshire called  ‘Nuthampstead Navigation’.

It was another warm day but I had plenty of drinks in my bag and after parking in a tiny car park at Barkway village hall, I was soon picking up lots of caches. 

The great thing about an RYO62 series is they are more often than not, a nice circular walk, along good footpaths, placed not too far apart and many of the caches are great custom containers. This walk was one of those. 

I started by picking up three caches on the Barkway Bish bash bosh series before heading out on a narrow winding road on the Nuthampstead Navigation series. 

Caches included custom sticks, grass covered tubes and various bricks and breeze blocks with small tubes cleverly fixed inside.

As I wandered through the beautiful countryside, I barely saw a soul, clearly not everyone was out and about just yet.

One of the caches near the end of my walk, made me jump! Yes it was another RYO62 signature custom - a snake - realistically placed inside a hollow! I was nervous putting my hand in to grab it, just in case it wasn’t fake!

I finished my afternoon out with weary legs, but enough energy to grab a few caches and dashes. They were mostly mystery caches from the Congratulations 1000 series. All found quickly and in good order. 

The following day, the other half was keen to visit the garden centre in Thetford, desperate for a few veggies to fill his recently dug patch. So I left him browsing the many varieties of lettuce, beans, carrots and tomatoes, to pop up the road to Kilverstone War Memorial. 

It was a very unusual memorial, but very impressive and a nice way to remember those who fought for our freedoms so many years ago. The cache was soon located just a few metres from the memorial itself. 

Next week we’re off to find the Carrington’s and Colby’s...well almost. Read more on that adventure then.