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

Geocaching around Claybrooke Parva

I must say Geocaching started well this weekend; my wife did the shopping at the local Asda supermarket and I went looking for a cache that was hidden in the car-park. It was part of a “Off yer Trolley” series of caches, all of which have been hidden around local supermarkets. This one had proved quite a challenge for me and was actually the fourth time looking for it. The challenge being that there were always lots of shoppers about and it was hidden behind the recycling facility; not a nice place to be hanging around at all! This time I went straight to it and it couldn’t have been easier hidden under a rock. I think it must have been hidden under leaves before; well that is my excuse anyway!

Saturday afternoon we decided to go Geocaching since it looked like it was going to be a nice day. We decided to go and finish the series of caches around the High Cross area and targeted a series of caches hidden around Claybrooke Parva; a lovely looking village close to the High Cross on the A5.

Geocaching aound Claybrooke Parva

It turned out to be very cold with a biting wind hitting us across the fields and we set off looking for the last of the Geocaches we needed to get in this area. Thankfully the footpaths were not too muddy but the writing of the log books got progressively harder as we went on due to the cold air.

The Claybrooke Parva set of Geocaches took us on a circular walk through the countryside and we did see some nice unusual caches on our tour. This first one was located next to a fence and for the first time in a long time our GPS signal was a little out. It did look obvious though and I am surprised it has lasted so long without being stolen by a passing dog.

Geocache disguised as a stick

This next cache was interesting. The title of the cache was ‘Bugaboo’ and the hint ‘Could this be a bug's life?’ had me expecting that this cache was disguised as a spider or something. Then I spotted this amongst the trees...

Geocache bug house

I lifted the lid and expected a creature to jump out but there was the log neatly inserted into one of the holes.

Bug home for a cache

I think this is some kind of bug home and if you could let me know what it is intended for that would be appreciated. We completed the last of the Geocaches aound Claybrooke Parva with a slight detour to a Leicester Round cache. It looked quite straightforward looking at the map but as always it is never easy when you are faced with fields is it.

A nice place to hide a cache - Hole in a tree

So that completes a nice day out around Claybrook Parva. Rather cold but we returned to the car with happy faces having found eight caches.

Mick