Aaron Blackman's Blog

Kent Mega 2014 - The Preparation!

2014-03-28T08:57:00.002-07:00

Kent Mega finally all sorted, campsite booked this afternoon and my attenders pack booked a few weeks ago, not long to go now :)

1000th cache find, caching in Sussex!

2012-05-16T02:17:00.000-07:00

I had seen Bob's 60 years trail be published almost instantly as I reugaly check the Sussex/Kent area for series of caches to do, but being quite far away it wasn't something I can just pop down the road and do. A text from my caching friends Mel and Ray meant we were all able to head down south and do the series of 60+ caches and a few others. Bobs 60 years trail No.1 (GC3DM2R)

Mel and Ray picked me up at 6 O'clock and we started walking the trail at exactly 7.30am, the sun was already breaking through but straight away we hit the mud, and boy was there a lot of it. By the time we got to the second cache which was located on a small bridge going over a small stream I had already put my right leg knee deep in the muddy slosh which had formed around the stream due to the constant rain we keep having, luckily my army boots which are probably the best investment I have ever made kept my feet completely dry and my trousers soon dried off. Stepping in the stream was one of them 'you know what you're about to do, just a second before you do it' kind of thing, i placed my right leg off the bridge then though, shit, but soon hopped out and dried off.

The location of this series was perfect and Ray was VERY pleased with the locations, lots of woodland with the bluebells breaking through, not too many fields or towns to cross through, plenty of farm yards and lots of animals to see. To be walking through woodland is actually very enjoyable, due to the recent rain everything was blooming, the bluebells were out, the tree's were green and there was a really magical tone when the sun broke though the leave illuminating the woods. We had nice chats and could actually listen to the birds sing as well.

Woodland at GZ of cache no. 13

Both MelRay and myself reached memorable milestones on this series with Mel and Ray finding their 12000th cache and myself finding my 1000th cache. I can finally say i'm part of the 1000's club, It took a while, although Mel as assured me that the first 1000 always take a while. So heres to hopefully many more 1000 caching find celebrations.

Ray and Mel with their 12000th find!

Myself with my 1000th find. Need to learn to actually open my eyes when people are taking photos ;)

Once we had completed Bob's 60 years trail we stopped off for some lunch at the given parking coords of our next series, Retreats walk (GC3FYVH). A much Smaller series of 16 caches over 3 miles, by this time the sun was high in the sky shinning down on us, i actually burn my face and the back of my neck, goes to show the extent of how use I am to the sun. ;) Again, this was a nice series, good scenery, easy finds and the sun was out, what more could you ask! We also learnt a very important lesson during our day trip out "ALWAYS DOUBLE CHECK COORDS FOR BONUS'S AND PUZZLE CACHES'.

The last cache we did in this series was a extra puzzle cache in a woods, we had worked out the puzzle, went to where we beliveed to be GZ and spent a good 15 minutes extensively searching every multi trunked tree (and there was a lot) for a micro, we sat down for a re check of coords and realised what idots we actually are, we had enetered in the coords that were were meant to subtract from the given coords to find the cache.. once we'd got out bearings, Mel soon came triumphant with a cache hand!

The last series we did was 'Pea soup stroll' (GC28GVV) and 'another serving of pea soup' (GC2ECYC) 2 short series placed by the same cacher all made from custom containers ranging from a shoe, a china turtle, and film canisters with items glued onto them, our legs were defiantly aching by this point and I think we were all glad to get back to the car for a final snack before heading home.

In all this has to be up there as one of the best caching days i've had with Melray, the locations were lovely, we had some laughs and we found 107 caches, can't complain about that now can I :D

The Three Peaks Challenge

2011-11-06T10:02:00.000-08:00

The three peaks challenge is to climb the highest mountain in England, Scotland and Wales within 24 hours. The highest peak in England is Scaffell Pike, in Cumbria, it's height is 3209ft. The highest peak in Scotland Is Ben Nevis, which is also the highest peak in the United Kingdom, at the summit you are 4049 ft above sea level and the highest peak in Wales Is Snowdon which is 3560 ft high.

Most people will do the three peaks challenge for charity, or you can do it for yourself, I'm planning to do the challenge with some mates, we could have done it for charlity although we're having enough problems planning transport ect so we're just trying to do it as simply as possible, to ensure we can actually do this and not get all excited then for it not to go ahead.

So what's involved?

We are all physically fit enough to complete the challenge, and we have all walked up at least one of the mountains before, so fitness will not be a problem, costs can be covered if we plan right and organise the challenge with enough time to spare. The thing which will be an issue to us the most is the transport, we're all legal to drive, but non of us walkers actually can, ideally you don't want one of the people doing the challenge to be walking, as it's a lot of effort to walk and drive with no sleep for at least 24 hours. So where do we find a driver? More costs. There are website's I have looked at which provide you with transport from each mountain, the best deal I could find looked brilliant, until I realised that you had to get to Fort William to get picked up by a mini bus which would take you to all the mountains.. not helpful as getting to fort william would be a big problem.

Some usful Websites

http://www.3peaks.info/
http://www.thethreepeakschallenge.co.uk/national-three-peaks-challenge/

I'll update this as I have more information and after I have worked out some transportation, once that's figured out, there would be nothing stopping us.