Two vicars, a wedding, the Tardis and a plastic pigeon – just another ordinary weekend in the life of a Geocacher

Sometimes it’s hard to remember what life was like before the pandemic hit. But this weekend I finally got a taste of more normal pre-pandemic times, with invites to a wedding and an open air theatre on the calendar.  

I had not been to a wedding since Covid restrictions were lifted here in the UK, so it was nice to finally be able to put on a smart dress and my platform heels, and head for a church somewhere in the wilds of Suffolk.

It was a beautiful day too and we arrived at the church in plenty of time for a quick picnic before the ceremony. Or so I thought!  

 

As I sat there tucking into my BLT sandwich, I look up to see the bride arriving in a horse drawn carriage way ahead of schedule. Moments later a rather annoyed vicar appeared and began waving his arms about and telling the guests milling around the car park to get into the church, as we are not supposed to see the bride before the ceremony! 

 

A little panicked by this surprising turn of events, I hurriedly got to my feet, chucked my half-eaten sandwich in the car and began to make a quick dash towards the church. 

Unfortunately, my lockdown legs and feet had completely forgotten how to walk in high heels - having spent most of the past 18 months in slippers or trainers - and I fell over! And to make it worse, just as I got to my feet, and brushed myself down, I fell down again! 

 

Fortunately, no one saw me…well other than a very long line of bridesmaids and ushers, gathered outside the church to welcome to bride; half the guests who were still milling about the car park; the vicar who was still ushering people towards the church; and the bride and her dad sitting watching from the comfort of their cart! 

To say my rather bright red face was still lighting up the church some 10 minutes later when the bride made her entrance, is perhaps an understatement! 

 

Aside from those little mishaps, the rest of the day went smoothly. I had forgotten what it was like to mix with so many friends and family for a day. It really was lovely, and I think we all thoroughly enjoyed letting our hair down for a few hours and not thinking about Covid. 

 

Anyway, this blog is not about weddings, angry vicars or my social life, so I’ll get on with talking about my recent geocaching adventures.      

 

My first geocaching adventure this week was the evening before the wedding. I went on a lovely trip out after work to Little Thetford near Ely. Lots of new caches in a series called ‘Eva’s Walk’, which had been published between lockdowns last year.  

 

It was a really nice walk, partly along the high banks of the Great Ouse River and partly along country lanes. There were 13 caches to collect altogether, and most were nice easy finds, in the obvious geocache hiding places.  

 

There were some nice custom containers too, including a giant magnet with a film pot magnetic log container attached.  

 

The views across the river and beyond were brilliant and I got to see lots of birds, including a family of swans, as well as plenty of holidaymakers on boats making their way up and down the river.  

 

I finished the walk much quicker than expected so decided to head a bit further along the river bank to collect some new caches in the other nearby series, ‘Gemma’s Walk’. 

I’d done most of this series two or three years ago with my sister, but a few new caches had been placed so this was the perfect opportunity to grab those. 

All except one were found very quickly. Even the small magnetic on the steel bridge  that crossed the river near the Fish and Duck marina was fortunately a quick find thanks to the very precise hint. 

 

My last stop of the evening was to pick up Shadyone44’s Tenant on Holiday cache. It was located on a path not far from where I’d parked the car, and I was quite keen to see what it might be, as Shady is well known for her creative caches and the title was intriguing.  

 

It turned out to be brilliant as expected, an innovative container based on Dr Who’s Tardis. 

I would usually include a photo, but I know the CO likes her caches to be a surprise for new finders…so I’m being very good and only showing a snap shot of the inside of the cache and the TB I dropped off.       

 

The day after the wedding I had another important diary date, this time a trip to the theatre with my vicar friend James. I’d spotted some weeks earlier that the relatively new open-air theatre at Thorington, a stones throw from the Suffolk coast, was staging an adaptation of Wind in the Willows.    

  

As my vicar friend James lived just a few villages away from the theatre he was keen to join me for the early evening performance. 

I decided to set off a bit earlier so that I could squeeze in a little bit of geocaching beforehand in Leiston Woods to pick up a series of caches by Suffolk Explorer.  

 

I hadn’t visited the small forest before, but it was a very tranquil place and part of the geocache route took me alongside a little stream. There were plenty of squirrels out and about, and a few dog walkers too.   

 

The series itself was packed full of brilliant custom made containers and followed a nice circular through the forest, which took me about an hour and a half to complete. 

Containers included a brilliant acorn, hanging from a tree, and a tube cache in a fake, but fairly realistic looking nest. 

 

One of my absolute favourites was the life-sized pigeon sitting in a tree. I had to battle through the shrubbery a little bit to get to him, and I was starting to think my GPS was a bit out and I’d gone too far in, but then I looked up and suddenly spotted him. He really was great. 

 

The snake was also great, although I’m not particularly keen on them and this one did look rather realistic from above, until I bent down and saw his very pink mouth and realised he was safe to pick up. 

There was also a clever little snail shell cache attached to the base of a tree and the odd  tupperware box. 

 

My other favourite of the day was a brilliant frog hidden under a raised decking walkway. Larger than a real one he looked really cute, tucked under the last plank and was a really nice custom cache to finish the series on. 

 

Soon I was back at my car, tucking into a sandwich, before heading off to meet the vicar, mole, ratty and friends. 

The theatre show was brilliant - very funny - and Thorington Theatre turned out to be a great little find, hidden away in a dingly dell just off the A12, not far from Southwold. I highly recommend a visit, but maybe in warmer weather.  

 

Right, I’m off to book my next theatre trip, but I’ll be back next week traversing the pathways around the huge Grafham Water Reservoir with 3ft and 4ft in a bid to complete a geo-art geo-hound series, as well as picking up lots more Gromit caches. Until then, take care, stay safe.