I have been after my first Mr Mercator cache for a long time. I have been working on my first cache, Three Peaks, for a few weeks now. I have trudged along footpaths to get some idea of the final resting place. I had a rummage around where I thought it would be two weeks ago but I had no joy. I contacted the CO and told him of the coordinates of my final searching position. He came back with the news that I was only about 60m away.🙁 Today, I went back for another rummage around hint items and at the second attempt, I had the cache in my hand. 😀 Much jubilation and I was so pleased that I went and did some research on another of the COs caches.

Today was the day for another of my "events" or one of a series of quick 30 minute meet-ups to try to generate some local social activity. I arrived at the venue, a large supermarket carpark in Pitsea to find an early arrival, NathanJHunt munching on a couple of pasties! Mathsnut appeared sans the rest of the family, and then Julie and Andie, collectively known in caching circles as BTL101092. We chatted about the adventure to Mundon Point the previous day and other interesting caches that the others had gone for. Then a quartet of cachers arrived and after the introductions, it was pippitt, pitbul99, Rinkey and JimHoney. The latter pair were from the USA. They were all whizzing around trying to complete an 8 different type of cache challenge today and this event was one of their targets. We chatted about other interesting caches on our horizons and I mentioned a kernel of an idea that I had about chartering a boat and going after a 3/5 cache on a WW2 anti-aircraft battery situated on Red Sands Fort in the River Thames. To my amazement, I immediately filled another four spots on the perceived trip. I'll have to start planning! So it was another good meeting, breaking the previous attendance record and refreshingly, people were asking when the next one is!

I like it when a plan comes together! This cache, a tiny nano, is attached to a navigational buoy in Lawling Creek, off Mundon Point in the River Blackwater on the Dengie Peninsula. I had asked a local cacher, NathanJHunt if he knew anyone with a boat who could get us out there. He hadn't had much luck so I had a try. I contacted a local boatyard and they could help for a reasonable price on a Saturday with a suitable tide. The boat could only take four people. Nathan had a mate, HHT&TS, who was interested and I'm sure that I could have filled the other place, ten times over but I offered it to Izybuzyfingers who was organising a tree climbing event for a cache that would clear a D/T place for me. At the arranged time, Izy and I were at the boatyard but the two locals got lost getting there😂 When we were all present, we made our way to the boat and following our GPS wound our way on the rising tide out into the creek. As we approached the buoys, we were looking for number 3 and soon we spotted it. Grabbing hold of the large green buoy, the nano was quickly undone and the log extracted amid much jubilation. After the signing ceremony and many photo, it was time to put the cache back together. However, the buoy had drifted 100 yards so the boatman manoeuvred the boat into position, we again captured the buoy but in trying to reconnect, the cable tie snapped but at least we had the cache in hand. We found some nylon cord on the boat floor so we tied the cord to the nano turned to the buoy and guess what? Once we got the boat back in position, we held onto the buoy for dear life whilst Izy made knot after knot until she'd run out of cord to tie. So it was a happy journey back to harbour where we discovered that the cafe was closed. As a sop, we decided to pick up some new caches on the Dengie and I added another two trads and a puzzle to my list. However the highlight and perhaps my favourite ever cache was the buoy. It was a 1/5 cache, filling an empty D/T grid but it as so much fun. I also came away with a plan for a 3/5 cache in a much more perilous environment.

I'm spending a lot of time in this place, I should get a season ticket. I think I found 33 caches here last week with Frantica and I got as many this week when I came to mop up a few more. I started off early at the missing VS in Harwich and I proved again that it had gone. The CO agrees and has replaced it nearby now. So I worked my way around the streets picking them off, failing on a couple but having another look at HighStreet trying to establish a plan of action. Working my way done through Dovercourt, replacing a missing cache and some sodden logs, I got down into Little Oakley, failing at the VS but find a missing trad at Up The Acorns before I struck off across the fields for a couple in the middle of nowhere. As I approached the final one in this stretch, A Place For Orville, I noted that it was a 3.5/4! Orville, bird, dummy, it's gonna be a climb. There it was, a bird box at the top of a tree and no way to get up the first 7 feet to a branch. But I improvised and was soon lifting the lid of the cache, maybe 20 feet off the ground! Back at the car, I looked at my plan of action for the day to find the next one was called What, Not Again??? which was a 3.5/4 magnetic trad with a hint as sea level? At GZ, there was a couple of crash barriers near a river bridge, mmm magnetic. Then I noted that in a previous log someone had fallen in the water so it was time to don the wellington boots. Getting down to the river, I could see a large circular corrugated iron tunnel carrying the water under the bridge. So I'm looking for something magnetic! It was time to get in the river which wasn't much higher than my ankles and sweep the tunnel for the cache. I missed it on the first run but got it on the way back. I haven't mentioned what the highlight of the day was going to be. I had planned to be at The Sunken Barge at low tide cos at high tide, it lives up to its name. I picked up a few trads en route including Bradfield Shoreline, another tide dependent cache and got to my destination exactly at the right time. I gingerly threaded my way along the seaweed covered hulk until I got to the Titanic bit and managed to get the log out of the tiny nano in the howling wind. Carefully replacing my steps, I was back on "dry" land and striding back to the car. For my next cache, I walked out on part of the Essex Way on the Bradfield coastline, finding and dipping some more caches until I decided that it was time to head for home. But not before I picked up two more trads and finally a multi at Wix CM. Always good to end on a CM or a ST😉 So it was 33 caches on the day, a CM, a multi, loads of trads and some high D/Ts but no new Jasmers unfortunately. However I was more than pleased with the day!

How time flies, it's been a week since I blogged. On this day, a Tuesday, I think, I noticed a new cache pop up in North Benfleet. I'm not a great one for chasing out in the early hours for an FTF but I thought I'd look for this one not expecting to be in with a chance of finding a clear log. So this trad, NogginsNightmare, was near a bridge on a footpath that I'd never visited. It was a quick find, thanks to a decent hint, and amazingly the FTF hounds hadn't bothered with it! So I made the first marks on the clean paper and on my way! About a mile away was one of my geocaches which is causing people grief. I can't see why, it's reasonably easy and can be reached from the pavement. There it was minding its own business, strange really.

So it's early on Sunday morning and I'm on my way over the QE2 bridge into Kent to tackle one half of the Meopham Madness series. I'm trying for nos. 1 - 20 and if I have enough time, a couple of CMs. I parked up near #1 down a quiet street, well it was 0630 and set off. It's difficult starting a series by a CO that that you haven't encountered before as you have no idea of their MO. First off the hint was misleading but I got the cache and then the second so I was getting to grips with how the CO thought. The terrain was undulating but the caching was good. Some clever hints, cunning placements and the scenery was magnificent. It's a pity that #5 was either disabled or archived but it was a great series. At #18, the cache was missing but I was approached by the farmer asking what I was doing. I explained geocaching, what I was looking for and he was quite happy. However the missing cache had been hidden by stones and they were holding the gate post in place and their constant removal and replacement were weakening the post and hence the fence. As a bull was usually kept in the field, there was a chance that a weakened fence would cause him grief. He was happy with the cache being placed on the other side though. I fired off a message to the CO letting him know the score. At #20, a multi, I encountered a new type of cache. I had to play a game of snakes and ladders but I didn't have time for this so took a photo and moved on. I had time for a letterbox CM and a multi CM, picking up a TB as well. Time was getting on and I had to be home for 10:00 so back to the car. 19 caches on the day of which 17 were trads but a great walk and thoroughly recommended. I hope to be back soon for the rest of the series and to clean up orphans.

The plan was always to go to Harwich and work backwards picking off caches. I'd been last week and found 40 caches but still so many more to find. However the opportunity arose to meet up with another cacher, Frantica, who also needed to find a few locally. The arrangement was to meet in Harwich at 9am and get on with it. I started at 8am in Wrabness with a DNF at Primrose Post but soon got on track gaining six more including a VS multi, a ST and the rest trads. I then set off for VS Harwich & Dovercourt. Having met up with Frantica, we started our geocaching career with a DNF, luckily our only one of the day. We worked our way down the coastline picking up some of the Random and Mr Men series and then the elusive Nuts about the Seaside! We then cut inland picking up more of the series and then worked our way along a hidden footpath, picking off three trads and then working our way back until we got to A Measure of a Great Cache. This cache has received rave reviews and we soon realised why, when after about ten minutes, I discovered the very clever and cunning cache. This one gets into my top five all time favourites! We then worked our way back to the cars picking up an ST, a multi and another trad. Frantica was going to meet the Annetteam for a coffee so I tagged along. After coffee in Asda, the Annetteam was going to replace some disabled caches and we were able to tag along. Happily we were allowed to sign the new logsheets. At this point, it was time for everyone to go their separate ways - Frantica to pick up some caches in Parkeston, me to Stour Woods to look for the series of caches there and the Annetteam back to work. There was a 16 cache series in the RSPB Stour Woods reserve including the bonus. I found all but two of the series and also failed the bonus. I found another cache en route - Essex House, which brought me to a oddly built house which has apparently won many awards. Time was getting on so I tried for two more in Wrabnes, one dipped and success at the CM. It was a great day's caching, lots of fun, two more geocaching friends and 34 caches found, great stuff!

I had an unexpected couple of hours to kill so drove over to Althorne to pick off a couple of CMs that were bugging me. The first was the multi at the old Methodist Chapel. I quickly worked out the numbers, made sure that they passed the checksum and then it was off to GZ. The hint was blue tree and the cache was a blue nano hanging in a tree! The second CM was St Barnabus in Mayland. This was a bonus cache, part of the Dengie CM series of about 20 CMs. Each cache is important as it contains a bonus number. The series culminates in a cache out near St Peter's Chapel in Bradwell. The second CM was St Barnabus in Mayland. This was a bonus cache, part of the Dengie CM series of about 20 CMs. Each cache is important as it contains a bonus number. The series culminates in a cache out near St Peter's Chapel in Bradwell. Another two CMs for the tally, job well done!

I need a cache today just so I don't miss caching more than two days in a row. I have been known to drive miles to the nearest unfound cache just for this stat. Luckily there is now a local walk with a caching series, Teddy's Trail, on the EWT reserve at Fobbing which makes life easier. For the moment, until I find them all! I, again, chose the farthest cache, ambling along on a lovely, sunny day, checking out the other caches as I went. At GZ, the cache was attached to a spider or was it a giant locust? I could hear a rumbling in the distance and around the hilly field came a tractor with a crop spraying attachment. Immediately thinking "nitrates" I quickened my step to get out of there sharpish. On the way back to the car, I started to notice how old some of the buildings were. Old barns turned into houses, thatched roofs, the odd pillbox and an old post office converted into a house.

I was out early on Sunday this week, targeting Sutton-at-Hone and South Darenth. Some pleasant walking along new footpaths, a few c&ds and a wander around villages/towns. I had a chat with a Group Scout Leader of the local troop, who was manning a water station for the Dartford Half Marathon on his own. None of his leaders, parents or scouts had turned up!! I found 15 caches in a couple of hours. There were a couple of the "It's All Greek To Me" series, some odd trads and four CMs to add to the total. I also had 4 DNFs which is bothersone. I'm going to continue with this plan of action. A day out in Essex during the week and a few hours in Kent on the weekend. There are so many caches in Kent, I'm planning some marathon sessions - 75 in a day and 40 puzzles in a day. I'll have to wait for the really early mornings though to get maximum daylight to stand any chance though!