Gopsall Temple Geocache

Quite often whilst out Geocaching we are taken to a real gem of a place that we (and most other people) didn’t know existed. Whether it is a circular walk in the countryside or to a place of special interest, Geocaching has given us the opportunity to visit some very special places, brought to us by the owners of the caches. We were out and about geocaching back in June when I spotted a cache located in small woodland located between Twycross and Congerstone in Leicestershire. I quickly read some of the previous logs and it quickly came apparent that this was going to be one of the special places.

Geocaching at Gopsall Temple

We parked the car nearby and had a short walk across fields to the woodland which was beautiful. The Rhododendrons were in flower and the whole woodland had a beautiful untouched feel about it. Not surprising really because it was off the beaten track and people would need to make that little bit of extra effort to visit it.

Gopsall Temple Woodland

We continued our walk towards GZ and as we approached I couldn’t believe what I saw. Bearing in mind this place was not sign posted and not really marked on the map. Gopsall Temple is a Grade II listed building and it is said that George Frederick Handel closeted himself within the temple for 3 weeks during August/September 1741 to write his masterpiece “The Messiah”.

Gopsall Temple

Gopsall Temple is a place of historical importance, set within a beautiful woodland and a place that we probably would not have visited if it wasn’t for Geocaching.

Mick

Public right of way?

It amazes me sometimes whilst we are going on our Geocaching walks as to how often the footpaths are often blocked by the actions of farmers. The majority are fine, and it is the minority but it does sometimes make experiencing the delights of the countryside very difficult. Other examples of not just blocking the public right of way, but making things difficult include planting crops over the footpath, increasing the height of stiles and even blocking or preventing dogs from passing through stiles.

We were recently Geocaching around the village of Twycross (which is famous for its zoo) in Warwickshire when we came across this:

Geocaching around Twycross - Electric fence blocking the path

It is a little difficult to tell from the photo but the footpath had an electric fence passing across it. There was no way of walking to the other side of the field (as indicated by the waymarker). We had to either straddle over the electric fence (ouch) or crawl under it (which we did).

The other side of the field we were presented with a locked gate. A sign on the other side of the road points towards the gate indicating a public footpath, so we knew it was the correct way through. But has it been maintained as a public right of way. NO! We had to climb over the gate to get to the other side!

Geocaching around Twycross - Locked gate preventing footpath access

This Geocaching hobby certainly gives us a workout! As well as the miles of walking, there is the climbing, straddling, ducking and sometimes diving (especially when the bovine residents are approaching at speed)!

Mick

Caches that look like cars, trucks and other vehicles

We found a lovely cache that I wanted to share whilst doing the Ratby Burroughs series of caches back in June of this year. The Ratby Burroughs round follows a figure of eight walk starting and finishing in the village of Ratby in Leicestershire.

Geocaching around Ratby Burroughs

We had a lovely day walking this route and plenty of interesting caches were available. I love it when cache owners put some thought into their cache containers rather than the usual pre-bought containers. This one in particular was a lovely example of a cache that had been made to look like a truck.

Geocaching - truck cache

It was actually a toy truck that had the cache container strapped to the back portion. The cache was also located in its own parking lot (a hole under a tree) and I found it quite amusing when I saw it.

Mick

Geocaching around the Austrey amble

I have fallen so behind with my Geocaching diary this summer so this is the start of a catch up of all the trips we have made. This one goes back to early June when we were looking forward to a full days Geocaching around the Austrey amble. The Austrey amble starts at the village of Austrey in Warwickshire and takes a circular route through the countryside passing through the village of Newton Regis. The whole route is intersected by the M42 motorway which made what could have been a wonderful walk into something not so pleasant.

Austrey amble

I didn’t really take any photos of the area during the walk and there was a good reason for that; I didn’t find it very nice! The M42 motorway was quite dominant for much of the walk, there was even a cache placed on top of a motorway bridge which I felt was quite disturbing! Having said that, With 34 Geocaches to pick up along the way, there was bound to be some unusual cache containers to find so that is the only things I took photos of...

This cache container was disguised as a plastic penguin; this was quite amusing when we eventually spotted it peeking out from beneath the bushes.

Penguin geocache container

This skull cache container was equally as amusing but not quite so cute, but still a very inventive and unusual container.

Skull geocache container

By coincidence I was only looking at this pinecone cache container online the evening before the walk. I think they are quite popular but it is the first one of its kind that we have found so far.

Pinecone geocache container

Apologies again for not having any pictures of the area itself but I will leave that to your imagination. I also need to add that quite a few of the footpaths around the Austrey amble were not very well maintained. Many of the footpaths didn’t even have way markers, were overgrown and made the amble into more of slog!

Mick

Geocaching marathon – Bruntingthorpe parish ramble

Ok, the weekend didn’t start too brilliantly. On the Saturday we decided to do a series of caches around Broughton Astley. We entered the second field and were immediately charged by a group of Cows; hearts pounding we managed to cross the field and shut the gate behind us just in time. There was a 10ft gap followed by another gate which led into another cow field; these cows also came running over to us and we were now hemmed in by two groups of cows who were not moving. We had to climb over several sets of barbed wire fences (over which I managed to rip my trousers between the legs) and bypassed the fields. This has now given us a serious phobia for certain types of cows and we now plan our routes a little more carefully!

Bruntingthorpe Parish Ramble

We wanted a full day out Geocaching on Sunday, so after a lot of careful planning (reading previous cache logs to make sure there were no cows), we decided to do the Bruntingthorpe parish ramble. This was going to be quite a Geocaching marathon for us since it is a 7 mile circular route with 31 caches and took us about 6 hours to complete; I am very proud of my little boy who didn’t moan once while we walked it and it was quite a hot day too. The route started at a lovely village called Arnesby and passed through the equally beautiful villages of Shearsby, Bruntingthorpe and Peatling Magna.

Unusual Cache Containers

With over 30 Geocaches to find on this marathon we would inevitably find some very unusual cache containers. The first unusual container we came across was this water drain cover. This had us scratching our heads for ages and then Angela picked it up from within some long grass and there it was hidden underneath.

Water drain cover cache container

And this Geocache was hidden within a mobile phone case that was placed within a tree!

Mobile phone geocache

We had never searched for Geocaches within a churchyard before so this was another first; this cache was hidden behind a gravestone that was propped up against the church wall.

Churchyard Geocaching - Cache behind a gravestone

We finished the round trip by returning to the village of Arnesby. The village has a lovely privately owned windmill that we could see for much of the route.

Arnesby windmill

And the last cache of the day was located within an old red telephone box that had been converted into a book swap for the village.

Old red telephone box geocache

What a great day we had around Bruntingthorpe and we got back to a well earned rest.

Mick

Pixar Movie Geocaches

Whilst looking for possible Geocaching routes last weekend I noticed a new series of caches had been published around the village of Ashby Parva. There had been thirteen caches hidden in a circular route through the fields surrounding the town. The series of caches were all based upon the Pixar movies; so being a fan of their movies we thought it would be quite fun to do.

Geocaching around Ashby Parva

So we set off with our picnic packed and parked the car in the centre of Ashby Parva. A short walk through a couple of fields led us to the first of the caches then we were greeted by these beautiful animals, not sure whether they are Llamas or Alpacas, but they are so cute!

Llamas at Ashby Parva

We continued our walk and through the fields surrounding Ashby Parva and met lots and lots of sheep and new-born lambs. There were lots of ‘baa’ sounds coming from us as we marched across the fields.

Sheep at Ashby Parva

Pixar Movie Cache Containers

As mentioned before, the Geocaching route was based upon the great Pixar movies and many of the cache containers were also Pixar movie characters. So we had the Alien for Toy Story turned into a cache container:

Toy Story Alien cache container

A Mr Potato Head from Toy Story cache container:

Toy Story Mr Potato Head cache container

The character Emile from the movie Ratatouille Geocache container:

Ratatouille 'Emile' cache container

The awesome Nemo from the movie Finding Nemo cache container:

Finding Nemo cache container

...and finally a small bird house representing the movie ‘Up’ cache container:

Birdhouse cache container

We also had cache containers disguised as characters from the movie Cars and even WALL-E. We had such a great time Geocaching around Ashby Parva and it was great to be reminded of such great films. To date Pixar have produced the following films:

Toy Story
A Bug's Life
Toy Story 2
Monsters, Inc.
Finding Nemo
The Incredibles
Cars
Ratatouille
WALL-E
Up
Toy Story 3
Cars 2
Brave

It is difficult to pick a favourite but if I had to I would have to say WALL-E, who is such a loveable character, a great story and the message regarding mass consumerism and littering our planet is priceless!

What is your favourite Pixar movie?

Mick

Geocaching around Baddesley Common

Following our last visit a few weeks ago to Baddesley Ensor we decided to return last weekend and do some more Geocaching in the area. Baddesley Common is located adjacent to the village of Baddesley Ensor and for centuries was the site of a colliery and to this day there is still evidence of the mining activities around the common.

Geocaching around Baddesley Common

On arriving at the common we saw two stone benches and a bird bath, each one was beautifully carved giving evidence of the mining history for the area.

Baddesley Common stone bench

Baddesley Common still has a huge amount of evidence from its industrial past and it is a shame to see quite a lot of it being consumed by nature and neglected. This was the main entrance to the colliery, now sealed up with a concrete slab. It is such a shame that the tunnel is not maintained and maybe opened for special guided tours.

Baddesley Colliery entrance

I managed to get a photograph through the small opening within the doorway and it looks beautiful inside with the red brick archway of the tunnel. It is a shame this has to be hidden away behind a concrete slab.

Baddesley Colliery entrance tunnel

Next to the old entrance to Baddesley Colliery we found one of our first Geocaches on the common. Quite fittingly the location was marked by an old rusty Miners lamp.

Baddesley Common miners lamp

Further along we discovered this beautiful bridge that was built to pass over the Baddesley colliery railway. We stopped for quite a long time here whilst having a picnic.

Baddesley Colliery railway bridge

I spent quite some time admiring the workmanship that had gone into the brickwork of the bridge. A fantastic relic of our industrial past and it is quite sad to see it being left to ruin.

Baddesley Colliery railway bridge brickwork

We had a great day walking around Baddesley Common and look forward to returning one day. The common is only 15 minutes away from where we live and I don’t think we would have ever visited it if it wasn’t for Geocaching.

Mick

Geocaching at Coombe Abbey Country Park

Coombe Abbey Country Park is located near Coventry and is a very popular destination for families and dog walkers. The country park offers over 500 acres of woodland walks, picnic areas, gardens, lakes and bird watching. I have been visiting the park for a number of years with my children and often visited the park when I was young.

Coombe Abbey Country Park Lake

We decided to visit Coombe Abbey this weekend and whilst we were I had a look at what Geocaches were in the area. There are actually two Geocaches located in the park itself; not very impressive really due to the size of the park and how popular it is. We set off looking for the first one and I decided to take a more direct route to its location. I led my family off the beaten path and through the trees only to find that we soon having to jump over water filled ditches as my GPS signal bounced all over the place. We got there in the end though and laughed because if we had only followed the path around it would have led us straight to it. But still, we had lots of fun. The cache is located somewhere in this picture (thankfully it was not in one of those trees that have been chopped down).

Geocaching at Coombe Abbey Country Park

We have taken many photographs within Coombe Abbey County Park over the years and today I decided to take a few of the trees within the park. This photograph is of our favourite tree; just look at that lovely face on the tree trunk!

A tree with a face

And here is the same tree after we had given it some arms...

A tree with a face and arms

As with most Geocaching trips, the second cache led us to a part of the park that we haven’t really visited before; the cache was located near to these lovely tree stumps with butterflies carved onto the stumps.

Butterfly carving on a tree stump

And also this tree stump that was covered with fungi...

Tree stump fungi

So that was our Geocaching trip to Coombe Abbey Country Park; a good day out within the park but it is probably in need of a few more caches to keep us busy.

Mick

Geocaching around the village of Baddesley Ensor

Wasn’t it a gorgeous weekend with a lovely Spring-like feel to it! On Saturday we decided to head for the village of Baddesley Ensor, near Grendon in Warwickshire for a spot of Geocaching. We parked up in the village and headed for the first of six rambles in the area.

Geocaching aound Baddesley Ensor

Ok, firstly for the negatives. There was an awful lot of dog mess about and all of it was right in the middle of the footpaths too, what is it with people? We were forever warning our son to be careful which made the walk a lot less enjoyable than it could have been. Also quite a lot of rubbish too, what should have been a lovely area was spoilt really and I had the impression that the walks were not very well maintained. Once upon a time the view from the area would have been wonderful but now a huge industrial park (Birch Coppice) has taken over and is a real blight on the landscape.

Footpaths around Baddesley Ensor

Quickly onto the positives! The owner of the Geocaches had made the effort to detail the history of the area. That is something I really love about Geocaching; most caches that are placed are in areas that mean something to the owners and in this case the owners had lived in the area of Baddesley Ensor and wanted to share the history. If you ignored the stain of Birch Coppice industrial park, there are some nice views; this one looking over a freshly ploughed field particularly got my attention (this is looking in the opposite direction to the Industrial park.

Baddesley Ensor - Near to Birch Coppice industrial park

We came across some unusual sights on our walk; we have seen this one quite often whilst Geocaching and that is a pointless stile (i.e. the hedge or fence has been removed leaving the stile all on its own). Every time we come across something like this we are always tempted to still climb over it!

Pointless country stile

Then there was this Graveyard, but no church and in the middle of nowhere (surrounded by fields). I bet this place is a bit creepy at night!

Baddesley Ensor graveyard

So that was our ramble around Baddesley Ensor, there was nothing really to show you regarding the caches themselves but we will be back to finish the other walks in the area at some point.

Mick

Our 100th Geocache at Beacon Hill

We celebrated our 100th Geocache find this weekend on a lovely sunny day at Beacon Hill. We had saved the Beacon Hill cache especially for the occasion since we have always enjoyed visiting the park. Our GPS signal pointed us in the direction of the Old Man of Beacon Hill, a rock formation in the shape of a man’s face that can be seen below.

The Old Man of Beacon Hill

The cache itself was located at the base of this rock formation and we initially thought it would be difficult to find since there were rocks everywhere! I got close to where the GPS was pointing to and noticed this which caught my eye because it looked a little unnatural.

Beacon Hill Geocache hide

I removed the loose rocks and there was the Geocache container peeking out from underneath the larger boulder.

Beacon Hill Geocache revealed

Here is Angela proudly displaying our 100th Geocache whilst my son climbs to the summit of Beacon Hill in the distance.

Our 100th Geocache at Beacon Hill

Once we had returned the Geocache to its location and managed to persuade our son down from the rocks we had a good walk around the park and had a winter picnic on one of the benches. I then noticed that there was an unusual cache located in the park. It was called an Earthcache, something I had heard of before but not something that I had ever looked into or tried to find.

EarthCache at Beacon Hill

Unlike traditional caches where you search for a physical container, the Earthcaches are special places where people can learn something about the geology of the Earth. The rocks of Beacon Hill were formed 600 million years ago during a period of violent volcanic activity – The rocks are some of the oldest anywhere on earth.

Our EarthCache task was to identify some of the rocks in the area and more specifically laminated tuffaceous rocks that were formed from layers of solidified volcanic ash.

Beacon Hill Tuffaceous rocks

I had never really paid much attention to the rocks before and spent quite some time looking and feeling them, I think passers’ by must have thought we were really strange! The colours and textures were beautiful and it is amazing to think they were formed so many years ago from a volcano!

A close up view of the Tuffaceous rocks

We had such a nice day at Beacon Hill, we always do however this was special because it was our 100th Geocache and first EarthCache. I will certainly be looking out for some more EarthCahes in the area; they are a great way of exploring and learning something new.

Mick

Geocaching in the snow at Hartshill Hayes

I took our children Geocaching this week to a country park that we have often visited over the years. It is Hartsill Hayes Coutry Park located in Warwickshire, about 15 minutes from our home. We often visit the park since it has some great walks, a children’s play area for the kids and lovely views over the Leicestershire countryside.

Geocaching at Hartshill Hayes Country Park

Our aim was to get two Geocaches to take our tally up to 99 caches; we are saving the 100th cache for a special place that I will hopefully blog about in a few days time. We arrived at the park to find it covered in snow! It had all melted back home so I was a little shocked to find so much of it and hoped that the caches were not too hidden.

Hartshill Hayes Commemorative Wood

The two caches were hidden in a part of the park that we seldom visit, not for any particular reason other than we have our usual favourite walk that we usually repeat each time we come. This happens so often with Geocaching though, the caches are often placed in areas that allow you to experience something new. The first cache was located a few minutes’ walk from the car and then down lots of steps!

Hartshill Hayes Steps!

We scrabbled around in the snow for a little while and then spotted the cache peaking out next to a tree. I don’t think the snow hampered our search but probably helped a little by providing a contrast to the cache.

Geocache in the snow

The next cache was quite a walk through muddy footpaths, waterlogged fields and across streams away from the country park to an area we hadn’t visited before. The cache itself was quickly found and we took in the views across the countryside and a nearby quarry.

Hartshill Hayes quarry view

We made our way back to the car and had an enjoyable visit again to Hartshill Hayes Country Park. Although we have now finished the Geocaching around the park, I am sure we will be back again during the summer months to enjoy the lovely walks.

Geocaching at Hartshill Hayes Country Park

Mick