Many thanks to Mathsnut aka Nicola for arranging a cache & dash to commemorate this special event. About 30 geocachers met in Hadleigh for 30 minutes of chat, banter and introductions. I was pleased to meet, Stroderlop and Troderlop, Grobo59 and spot Scarecrow Rog from afar. There were many familiar faces there too. Many thanks for the special souvenir.

I'm not talking about the J. B. Hutto and his Hawks classic either! We went to Canterbury for the night and I did a quick trad opposite the hotel with big plans for the next day. Needless to say, I wasn't up to it next day hence the title. So all my plans for CMs were just a haze!

Checking through my DT grid the other day looking for potential space fillers on Project GC, I spotted a 5/2.5 challenge in Copford that I qualified for called BINGO. So that was my main target for the day. A quick find of a trad in Marks Tey to start the day and then off to get BINGO. A quick find but I'd done all the hard work before. My next target was the Easthorpe Stroll series nearby. However before I could start this, I had to find a new trad near Copford Church. This one was topical, opening mini eggs looking for the log sheet. Luckily it was in the second one found! The series was a pleasant circular walk, all reasonably easy trads and it took two hours to complete including a detour for a new trad called Easthorpe Stamp which was on a lamp postbox. The walk was great, flat, sun shining and just a downside of the half mile walk along the A12 between footpaths. Having finished the series, my next plan was to run down to Goldhanger and pick up Mr Crow's Essex 100 - 5/50 - Conclusion. This was my third time lucky. There was only one left in all the Mr Crow's trads Essex 100 - 1/12 - The Wall. This was a quick find and I now know that I was looking in the wrong place last time. I had decided to be home by 1430 to do some more sorting out of the kitchen so it was time to call it a day. I was pleased with the day so far though. I'd filled another DT space, only another 12 to go! I'd found 24 trads so 25 on the day and no DNFs, result!

I'd been looking forward to this day for weeks! During a chance conversation at my second flash and dash meeting with IzyBuzy, I found out that she was a rock climber and had all the equipment! Not only that but her partner was a rock climbing instructor. So I asked if they would lead a small group in a tree climb of a 3.5/4.5 cache nearby! They were both up for it and this was the arranged day. I was there a few minutes early and Izy was already up the tree setting the route and Gregory was the anchor. The Mathsnut family were already there and I was disappointed that only one other couple showed up. What an opportunity the others missed. Mr Mathsnut had first go and went up to retrieve the cache and replace it. Now it was my turn. Once I'd got up to the branches, I made shortish work of getting to the cache but need to lay against the branch to reach the cache. The log was wrapped in plastic which added to the problem. I must say that it wasn't my best ever signature but now "VangeRover" is scrawled on the logsheet of UKME2015: Barleylands Bimble #15 - Theresa Green for all to see! Many thanks to Izy and Gregory for making it all possible. Izy is up the tree👏

Today, my main target is BlueLambs Farewell To Dedham, a multi placed in July 2004. If I find it, an empty space will be filled on my Jasmer grid. My supporting act will be a series called Constable's Capers, following a circular path around Dedham, a distance of about seven miles. I thought I'd get the clues to the multi and see where GZ was. I had to wander around Dedham gathering information. There weren't any waypoints so it was all pot luck. I only struggled on one clue, only cos the information wasn't there. A cheeky delve into the internet gave me the info that I needed. A quick look at the coords and I could fit it into the Capers walk. I drove over to Lawford Church where the parking was free. I walked through the churchyard passing the GZ of the CM and made a quick find of the first cache of the series. I made a detour from the route to pick up the ST at Manningtree Station, snaffling the TB. A short walk onwards brought me to the Water Tower. This wasn't what I expected as it turned out to be a water tower from the steam railway days. Unfortunately the tower was covered in ivy so I could only make out its shape. I made a quick job in finding the cache once I started looking for it. I started seriously on the walk, picking up the caches up as I wandered along until I got near to the GZ of BlueLambs Farewell. My coordinates were spot on and I made a quick find of this old timer but it was in great condition. I moved on picking up the remainder of the caches on the way into Dedham. It was on the home run that I realised that I hadn't put any filling in my sandwiches. Luckily there was a Wilkin's tea room in the middle of Dedham that had a bacon sandwich with my name on it. After lunch, I found the path I needed and picked up a couple of odd caches before getting back on the track of Constable's Capers. I had a couple of DNFs but found some new caches set along the Essex Way. I made it all the way to the end of the series but realised that I hadn't found the coords for the bonus. Did I miss it or was it in one of the DNFs? I worked my way back to the car picking up more trads including an ingenious little series called Holey Moley's Sausage Surprise. Very clever idea and very well hidden caches. There was a couple of caches from the Benji's walk series found before I got back to the car. After a bit of refreshment, I had a go at my last cache of the day, Lawford Loot, a multi based on finding clues in and around the churchyard. I only needed four clues but couldn't find one of them. However, it only affected the last number of the Eastings of the coords so I took a punt. Thanks to a good hint, I quickly found the cache next to a stream so that was the end of the day. The final tally was 35 caches, two multis so the rest were trads. Chuck in a SideTracked and the Jasmer filler and it all made a great day.

I had just finished an epic write up last night describing my latest exploits finding Mr Mercator caches when the site crashed as I was loading the photograph. I was too peeved to try again at that moment so here I am having another go! After my success with the CO's #10 last Sunday, I felt the need to try another one and settled on #1 - M11 to Purleigh-on-Sea. I had two OS maps spread all over the floor and finally I had some coordinates that I was confident about. So on the morning of the 3rd, I drove out to Purleigh, parked up by the cricket ground and set off for the cache. I reached the start of the footpath and started walked up the track, gaining height, passing a long forgotten and neglected pond and out onto open ground. What a view, they say that Essex is flat. Those height deniers should come out this way! At my perceived GZ, I had a quick find, thanks to a great hint and the fact that the cache couldn't be anywhere else. Another one bites the dust and all I had to do is walk back to the car. Back at home, I decided that #7 - The Essex Hoard would be next on the list. I am sure that I had done some previous work on this one and there was a bonus cache involved. I found half my old notes but no final coords. However on my OS map, I found my original projection out to a place in Woodham Walter. I sure that it was right so planned to go for it tomorrow. On the afternoon of the 4th, I drove out to this obscure wood and walked out to my perceived GZ. The hint suggested that there was an island within a moat. Well I couldn't find it so I wandered through the deciduous wood looking for a pond, lake even a big puddle. I didn't have any luck so changed tack. My distance must be correct so my bearings must be out! I went back to GZ and started to walk in an arc. About 30 yards from where I started, I walked up a bank and lo and behold, there was a moat with an island in the middle! I had brought my wellies with me so after I had donned those, I gingerly made my way across some logs onto the island, disturbing a nesting Mallard on the way. There wasn't much area to search so I quickly had the cache in hand. After signing the log and noting the coordinates of the bonus cache, I replaced the cache and carefully made my way off the island. I walked through the woods, happily kicking the leaves, towards the GZ of the cache. I looked under the hint item but could only find the camouflaged wrapping. After a good rummage through the leaves, I came up with the goods! After signing the logbook, which was from Cressing Temple, nice touch, I replaced the cache safely and walked back to the car. So three Mr Mercator caches in two days, I'm getting the hang of these, haha.

NathanJHunt had issued some more caches following the defunct railway track that used to run from Woodham Ferrers towards its first stop, Stow St Mary's station. He had placed four caches, two trads and two puzzles near small tunnels under the track bed and one derelict bridge. This had taken some dedication as the tunnels could only be visible once you got down to them. All the caches were reasonably easy to get to apart from one with a misleading hint. The brickwork on the bridges etc., on this line is excellent and the walk was special because of that. I made short work of the caches and moved on to my next target. A short walk away was the final GZ of another of Mr Mercator's projection puzzle caches. This one MP10 was based on a bit of history about a mapping legend, Gerardus Mercator. To find this one, I had to delve into long forgotten mathematical equations to find a bearing and a distance from a calculated position. Amazingly I worked out a final GZ but knew I would have to rely on the hint. At GZ, I had a fruitless search for a while. I found the hint item but it seems that in the 51 weeks since it was last found, there had been changes and the hint item moved some distance away from there it was! I had to contact the previous finder for assistance and eventually found the cache closely guarded by nettles and brambles. So five caches today including three puzzles. I'm inching closer to that 5000 cache figure.

This morning I was back in Meopham looking for the second section of the Madness series. There were a couple of missing caches including #18 of the first section and the CO had given me permission to replace as necessary. So just after 7am, I was tramping up the hill towards #18 to drop down a replacement. As there is very limited parking at the bottom part of the series, I worked backwards from #36. The caches were reasonably easy but the terrain was something that is not replicated in Essex. I replaced one missing cache but I decided not to replace the other as the GPS was jumping all over the place and there were so many fallen hint items. There was a multi cache that I couldn't sort out last time, based on a game of snakes and ladders.I cracked the game at home to give me the coordinates and today I made a quick find of the well hidden cache. I hadn't ever seen a cache like this before so it was well worth a fave. On the way home, I quickly found the CM at Istead Rise. I needed a CM beginning with I for a challenge cache that I'm working on. So on the day, I found 18 caches, 16 of which were trads and 2 multis, one a CM. I mustn't grumble.

A local cacher Tot66 has tried to emulate the skills of that renowned map expert Mr Mercator and produced a puzzle cache that depends totally on map skills. You have to identify four locations to start with, which turned out to be trig points. You then had to translate four obscure units of measurement into metres. Finally you have to find a cache located in the intersection of circles drawn from each location. It was tricky to sort out the locations but I managed that. I converted the obscure units of measurements including points and US blocks. Finally I had to draw the circles. I ended up buying a pair of compasses from a pound shop and improvised with measurements and eventually had a search area somewhere near Hockley. Today I set off down this footpath that I haven't trod before. The views were spectacular and I think that they are probably the best in Essex! I was relying on finding the hint item as I only had a map reference to hand. I missed the hint item on the first pass but the walk wasn't wasted as the views were great. Eventually I found this well hidden cache next to a tiny hint item obscured by a huge oak tree. A splendid cache found after a crash course in advanced mapwork.

As we are having a new kitchen fitted this week, my trips out are short and hopefully sweet. I had a couple of hours free so went out to Hazeleigh near Maldon for a couple of NathanJHunt's new caches. However another of the COs puzzles had popped up a couple of days ago called How Green is the Pearly cache. It made no sense on the first look but then the penny dropped today and it was on my way out to Hazeleigh. I made short work of this one and carried on my way. I drove out to near The Lost Church of Hazeleigh cache. However there was some dispute with a local landowner and it may be that the cache had been removed. I had no luck here and walked on to The Lost Railway of Hazeleigh. This was on the former track bed of the defunct Maldon West to Woodham Ferrers railway. I have walked on many parts of this railway but not this particular section. Now this is a 4/3 trad cache with no clues so it's going to be tricky. At GZ I found a Victorian brick river tunnel under the embankment with some splendid brickwork. They had some real craftsmen back then. I started looking for the cache, first at river level, exploring the brickwork for gaps and then in nearby trees, but no joy. I followed the GPS but it was bouncing around a bit. I eventually homed in a likely area and after a rummage had the cache in my hand. So I re-traced my way back to the lost church, having a text conversation with the CO on the possible location. The last log said that the cache had been hidden in tree roots but the CO tells me that it's six foot up a tree! He was right so I sent him some revised coordinates, took a few photos and went on my way. A pleasant walk in new territory, saw some pleasant sights and had a great afternoon. I like this geocaching lark as it gives me so many different aspects.