We were still in the grip of The Beast but some intrepid cachers from near Ieper in Belgium had come over today to promote their #In Flanders Fields Mega. They had four venues scheduled for today, Canterbury, Greenwich, Mountnessing and somewhere else. It seemed rude not to go and say hallo.😀 In spite of the weather, there was a decent turnout. I got the impression that some plans had been postponed because of the snow and they had congregated here. I had a long chat with our hosts as my wife‘s grandfather is buried near Zonnebeke and we had plans to go there some time to say hallo. If I could get the two events to coincide, I will be very happy.🤔 1 Event #6815

The ”Beast From The East” has arrived but geocaching will continue despite Brexit, oops I meant snow.🤫 We had to go down the A13 to Lakeside and I had been keeping tabs on this trad - Opera, in nearby Purfleet for a while. We parked up near High House, a 16th century farm house, now renovated and used as a centre for the community. I had a quick find of a well place cache and the base of a very old flint wall. Being sheltered, there was no snow hiding the cache. Now off to the shelter of Lakeside and maybe coffee and a Belgian bun.😀 1 Traditional #6814

Another early start in Kent for me today and my plan is to have another walk around Shoreham, a delightful little village. A previous series, WW (Wonderful Walk) which I had completed, had been archived and replaced with WW Revisited. So I knew the terrain and had worked out a walk for a couple of hours. I found the CM at Lullingstone not far from Shoreham just after dawn and parked up in the free car park in Shoreham a few minutes later. The series was set up as trad, multi, trad, multi etcetera. I quickly found the well placed #1 but dipped out on #2. This one turned out to be MIA and not down to my blurry eyes.🤫 i worked my way up along the river and across fields picking up the trads and clever multis until I reached #8. As I only had a couple of hours, I backtracked down Castle Farm Road for a mile or so to get to #29. After a quick find of the trad, I found ... and there I will speak to her heart. This multi was based on a glorious old memorial hidden in a small copse. But for Geocaching, I would never have seen this.😀 Back on the WW, I found #30 and walked along the ridge, passing through the woods overlooking the village, finding the caches up to #34. On the ridge was a War Memorial and then down in the village at #34, I found a tea room and adjacent WW2 museum. I will have to come back here again very soon.☕️🍰😀 Now for the journey back across the QE2 Bridge to Essex. 7 Multi, 8 Traditional #6813

As usual, our plans for the day change at very short notice.🤐 We had to go over to my daughter’s house in Rayleigh to let a tradesman in. But I needed a cache today so we did a deal.😀 There was a trad “on route“ in Wickford which wouldn’t take us too far off our journey! There had been a couple of Spanish cachers on the local scene for a little while. Petitllops had children in Catalonia and Wickford and had placed a cache for their grandchildren named Magi - Oleguer - Ellie. I wonder which one lives in Wickford? 🤔 I parked the car right next to GZ and one step took me to the cache, well hidden in ivy. It was a quick find despite some ivy poking me in the eye and we were back on the road to Rayleigh. 1 Traditional #6798

Today, I‘m concentrating my caching around Walton-on-the-Naze. I have this impossible plan to turn Essex geocaches smiley. I’ve been caching in town before but there are still elusive ones for me to look for. First off is yet another visit to the Walton Wanderer, a trad hidden in a shell on a shell wall. It’s never good to start the day with a failure.😢 The next cache on my list is Witches Beware, a 5/5 trad on a tidal salt marsh known locally as “The Mere.” I‘d also picked Walton for today because low tide was for 0730 and that’s the time now. I’d looked at the aerial maps and reckoned that the cache was best approached from the North using a causeway. It took me thirty minutes to get to a point 70m short of the cache. I couldn’t go any further because there was a large breach in the causeway.🤬 I had to re-trace my steps and go all the way round through the town to get onto Mill Lane to try to get to GZ from the South. However, all paths were behind security fences. There was a boat yard and I hoped to get access through there but “No Way” said the security bloke at the gate.☹️ I’ve put a NM on the cache. If the CO can show that there is a path to the cache, I’ll go for it again. With the recent archiving of the CM and the SideTracked, there was only one more cache to look for - the inaugural cache of Tractor Andy’s, the Last Picture Show series - The Kino. I had a quick find of the well placed with its great view of the pier. Now my work, or what I could do of it was done. Will I ever turn Walton smiley?🤔 My attention turned to Frinton and I started off with yet another fail at - The tree that never grew. However my luck changed when I found The Lido, the last one to find of the Frinton Promenade Estate series. The last time that I was here, the cache was somewhere in a jungle. However the vegetation has been cut right back and I eventually got to the cache that had somehow rolled into the undergrowth. Now I was on a roll and found three quick trads including a 3/2 around Frinton Park but dipping out on one. I was walking down to the Little Wood cache when I realised that it was a 5/2 trad and that it had its share of failures too. Now this was very cunning justifying its D/T but I struck lucky when I spotted the little disguised blighter. A couple of nights ago, I had spotted a cache nearby that I hadn’t noticed before. A mystery based on the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee which I solved in time for today. I parked up down the road as it was in a suburban setting and soon had the well placed cache in hand. I’d parked just round the corner from the start of the Red Hen’s Loopy Loop series. The ten cache series would take me on urban footpaths for about an hour. I DNFed #2,#6 and #9 but there some great custom caches in the series. The three that I couldn’t get had been MIA for some time so I hope they get sorted so I can complete the circuit sometime. The most frustrating cache was #4. The attributes highlighted the need to climb and have suitable climbing gear. It was a 3.5/4.5 trad so no nonsense here! However I didn’t have any climbing gear but in the manner of Master Sergeant Tom Highway in “Heartbreak Ridge” I’d have to adapt and improvise. 🤔 Now let‘s just say that I managed to get 15’ up into the proud oak tree without any equipment apart from what I could find but there was no cache.😀 However to be safe, I’d left my phone on the ground in case I dropped it so I couldn’t check any details. Once I’d got back down the tree which was more difficult than my ascent, I read previous logs. The cache was tucked in a hole at the base of the tree, worth a 1/1 at best.🤬 What a waste of time and effort. 😡 At least the attributes should have been changed to let cachers know the change in details. Now back at the motor, I was off on my next stage of the plan. There were a number of trads of footpaths north of the Kirby/Walton Road. Now from the age of seven to eleven, I went to Kirby Road Infants and Junior School, however, that school is perhaps half a mile from where I’m living now in Vange. Parking up in Island Lane, I found six easy trads before embarking on the Secret Waters Walk. Following the seawall along Kirby Creek past WW2 pillboxes, I found five of the six trads and then branched out to find the duo of the Quay Location series. It was very quiet out here save the lapping waters of the rising ride and the alarm calls of Redshanks and Oystercatchers. As I walked back down Quay Lane, I struggled to find a path through the puddled potholes in the lane. Back on dry land, I briskly walked down the Kirby Road and found the car safe and sound. Just one more cache for today and then it’s an hour’s (hopefully) drive home. I had a quick find of the Stumped - Kirby. I just got out of the car and thought, that’s where I’d put it. The CO and I think alike.😀 28 Traditional #6797

I needed a cache today so had to delve into my stock of rainy day caches for this one. I’m not a FTF cacher and like to save local caches instead of tearing about to be beaten into second place by Grobo59.😀 This trad cache hadn’t been published too long ago. It was near Laindon Station in a Council housing estate nicknamed Alcatraz for many years. Once you lived there, unfortunately there was no escape. As it’s close to the station, there are parking restrictions for about half a mile to deter commuter parking. So I had a long walk to this one.🙁 However - Take shelter and you won’t find it - was a lot easier as the 3/1.5 rating suggested. A quick find and I was on my way home. 1 Traditional #6769

I was in Longfield last week and DNFed a couple of multis but with more info, I was back for another crack.😀 I took another route into the village and about 0700 found Explore Kent, a 3/1 trad that I’ve DNFed before. The cache had been replaced and I was the FTF the new one. I also found SideTracked Bridge 160, another trad.😀 Now, I had been in contact with the CO of the New Ash Green CM and he had noted my problem at VS Longfield. He sent me the missing info and I had the solved coords with me. I had a quick find of a well hidden cache at GZ. This wasn’t the case at the next one, the Squadron 69 mystery. I’d solved the puzzle, got the coords, got the green light at the checker but no joy at GZ. It’s since been found and although I’ve gained no further info from that, the cache can only be in one place. Why didn’t I check there last time? 😢 The next part of my plan was to complete the Beating The Bounds - NAGs series that I’d started before Christmas. There were 16 caches in the series and I had found 13 of them before. I polished off the remainder, #1, a multi I’d dipped last time, the #15 multi and the last one, a well hidden trad. I then went looking for Nine Horse Wood, a multi. I had gathered the info here last time and had a quick find here of a very well hidden cache. Next up was Balance Beam, a 2/3.5 trad. You can guess what this one entails.🤫 The area was very busy with dog walkers and whilst I was hunting for - The wisdom of the woods, a passing posse asked me what I was doing. I explained Geocaching to them and they seemed very interested. I found the cache but it was wet and not in the greatest condition which didn’t sell the hobby that well to them.🙁 I walked back to the car and reckoned that I had time for two more caches. I eventually found the 5/2.5 Challenge Cache - Bronze Silver Gold mystery but failed on the Mystery/Puzzle Challenge - Bronze. I searched here for a while with horse riders staring at me as they rode past. However I had to give up in order to get home by 1000. I‘ll have to get this another time.😉 5 Traditional 5 Multi 1 Mystery #6768

It’s hard deciding where to go for a whole day’s caching nowadays. I look at the map, find a cluster of green spots and plan it from there. Today, I’ve decided to go back to the Shotley Peninsula in Suffolk. I’ve done a day up that way before working my way back from HMS Ganges in Shotley. I worked out a route up the A12, through East Bergholt, approaching Cattawade from the East, then caching along the Southern half of the peninsula, maybe getting into the North but that’s probably too optimistic.🤔 My caching day started at sun-up in Higham, on the A12 just into Suffolk. One of Nathan’s A12 series had gone missing and I’d got the all clear to replace the Higham #1. Everybody’s happy, we have a win-win situation. 😀 I headed into East Bergholt and picked up #129 of the SEBC series from under an LB3223/4.😀 I followed this with the Stumped trad at the nearby cricket club. Now in Cattawade, I found another two SEBCs, another trad at Five Little Ducks but DNFed the - Bridging The Divide 2 - on the White Bridge which forms the boundary between Essex and Suffolk. Moving further into Suffolk, I found five more trads and then ran into a spot of bother at SEBC #136 on the outskirts of Stutton. I’d found the trad that had proved elusive to others and two Landrovers pulled up. One chap, who turned out to be the head gamekeeper, asked me what I was doing. I explained Geocaching to him for a few minutes and he seemed very interested. He then told me that I was on private land and he wanted the cache removed.☹️ I explained to him that I was on a public footpath and showed him that on the OS map. He countered that the footpath ran down the middle of the private lane and I was ten yards off it. He added that they put down traps for weasels and stoats so didn’t want people wandering off track. I’d run out of counter arguments so agreed to remove the cache for him. Luckily the CO is going to re-position the cache rather than archive it. 👍🏻 Now in Stutton, I quickly found the trad at the Welcome sign and moved on to The Daisy Bank. What an odd cache. You had to look into a traffic mirror and spot the cache somewhere over your left shoulder.🤔 A few cachers had failed to spot it but I had a quick find, so lucky, it had to have a fave. I’d spotted an old post box into the way to town or should I say village so I went back to have a look. It was a splendid G5R Ludlow wall box which was shouting out to be photographed.😀 Two more SEBCs and I was at the Alton Water cache. Whilst I was signing the log, a dog walker stopped for a chat. She introduced herself as Godfrey4, a local cacher. With the dog straining at the leash, we parted company and I set off for Holbrook. Three trads were quickly found here and I then went looking for the CM multi. I found the info item and soon had the coords. However, at GZ, the cache was nowhere to be found. It has since been found, some distance from GZ and now put back in place. 🤫 Between Holbrook and Harkstead, I found another 20 of the SEBC series, only DNFing on #153. It was getting on in the day by now so I decided to plot a route back to the A12. I needed to go through Tattingstone and saw that there was another Welcome there that would make a nice end to the day. The trad was a magnetic nano on a wooden structure. 🤔 There was a hidden steel nail tucked away and there was the cache. So it had been a very busy day and time to go home. However the road was closed for some reason so I had a long detour to get back on track. 45 Traditional #6757

I needed a cache (or two) today so I didn’t break my record of only going two days without finding a cache.🤔 I had spotted a couple of trads appear over in Chadwell St. Mary near Tilbury recently so off we go. I hadn’t been over this way for years so I followed the satnav to - Second of my Series, a 1.5/1.5,which had caused some cachers, some grief. I found that there was an open space, Wickham Fields here is set off for GZ. I struck lucky almost immediately here.😀 There were a number of hint items and as I bent over to look at the first one, I glance to my left and spotted the silver nano in another hint item. 😀 On the way to the next trad - He’s a bit slow but I’m sure you will catch up - I saw some post boxes that needed surveying.🤫 I had a quick find of a well placed cache at GZ so I had two caches in the bag and the record continues. 2 Traditional #6712

Another early start in cold Kent but also the worst possible start - a DNF at a vanished Vanishing Act.😢 However just down the road on the way into Longfield, I got over my doom and gloom by finding the three mysteries - Caching Karma, 50 and Swanley : Gateway to Essex.😀 I had a couple of problems with VS Longfield multi. The GZ according to the coords were in the middle of the allotments but when I found the VS, I also noted that the info source was missing. I posted a note highlighting the point. There was another multi at the CM down the road but I found this info ok and quickly found the cache.😀 I had another failure at the SideTracked in Longfield, joining the long list before me. The nearby letterbox cache - It’s Christmas was a quick find as was the gUs trad a couple of miles away in New Ash Green. I had great fun at the nearby CM multi but came away empty handed.🤔 I found the source info ok, worked out the coords and spotted the clever hint at GZ. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the cache. There were some cracking hidey holes here any of which would be worth a fave. I look forward to coming back here again.👍🏻 I started with a DNF so it was fitting that I should finish with one. The Event/Challenge - Silver Challenge Mystery was down the road, in fact the coords put the cache on the white line down the middle of the road?🤔 Sans hint, I had a good look around but no joy, one for another time. 1 Trad, 1 Multi, 1 Letterbox, 3 Mystery #6710