Today I had the luxury of a free morning.  A few precious hours to waste before heading into work. 

Truthfully I was meant to be doing the grocery shopping but let’s face it, sneaking out for a mini adventure is much more fun! 

Later in the week I’m beginning my training for my lengthy, challenge walk; The Shotley 50. I need to cover 53 miles in 21 hours. 😳 

With new shoes for the occasion (because you can never have too many pairs of trainers. Actual fact!) my biggest concern is that my shoes are a little too new. They Need a few miles to break them in a bit. 

See, This is way more important than going to get groceries. 

Beans on toast again dear? 😉

With a walk in mind that would provide some interesting scenery, give me at least a five mile round trip and also (coincidentally) would give me the opportunity to eventually bloody find a geocache that is my closest unfound cache to home. Honestly, what are the chances? 😉

With little more than GPS, a pen and of course new shoes I set off in search of some solitude, some miles and a previously elusive geocache. Oh and hopefully no blisters!

Having visited the area before and of course being local I set off with a good idea of where I was going, the GPSr nonchalantly hanging from the belt loop of my jeans. Looking very much like one of those 90’s knobheads with their mobile phones. The joy of walking in the fens is that there is never anybody around to witness such crimes to fashion….let’s not mention the skinny jeans and walking shoe combo… Looking good! 😎

Rambling along the riverbank I soon had that giddy feeling I get when alone and free outdoors especially after the recent Chicken Pox quarantine. 

Such was my happy state that I was soon eating up the miles and decided that I should probably check the GPS to see if I was near the cache yet. 

Yep, good progress. 

Not far at all. 

Only it’s on the other side of the blooming river and I’d gone flying past the bridge on a giddy high. Oh well, I wanted miles!

  

So back along the bank, slightly less giddy this time but still drinking in the fenland views. 

Once safely back on track and on the correct side of the river, the scenery became more familiar from my last visit here. 

The previous visit here was not a happy one, the cache being hidden at the site of some local bog-wood. Nice idea. 

Not so great however when the local farmer buries the bog-wood and therefore the cache under a giant mound of soil. My DNF log may have been a little bit sulky.

 Cache maintenance is a beautiful thing.

 Go read between the lines all you like!😉

  

A quick scramble down the bank and the path takes me through a farm, luckily the free range children the above sign warned me about seem to be at school but I do encounter a gaggle of rather rowdy geese.

Hmm. I plough ahead safe in the knowledge that I am half a little bit ninja. 

My death glare alone clears the road. 

Then again maybe it was the dodgy outfit they were scared of…likely!

So after a fair old trek into the middle of nowhere it’s time to find the cache. 

Please let me find a cache when I’ve walked miles to get here.

 If this is a DNF it’s going to hurt.

Oh! There it is!

Straight away I spot it, glinting in the sun. I’m thrilled. I’m crushingly disappointed.To be honest I’m a little underwhelmed. 

  

 

The experience however thankfully has been a good one, a lovely riverside walk, several miles covered and another green square on my geocaching calender. 

A beautiful morning spent outdoors, now if only I’d brought some coffee….

  

No geese were harmed in finding this geocache.