Got itchy feet after having done no caches yesterday, and so late today I decided to do this one - I set off at 3:50pm on a dull February afternoon. I used my GPS to navigate to a suitable parking place in a very well-to-do residential area on the edge of the Hulton Estate. Some lovely houses here.
As I was crossing the stile to get on the footpath shown on my map, I noticed a sign stating that the public had no access rights to this private land. This worried me a bit as I abide by the law to the letter. I looked for someone to ask if the public could use the path, but no-one was about. "Oh what the heck" I thought and went for it!
I'm really glad I did as this turned out to be one of the nicest cache areas I've been in so far in the Greater Manchester area. Lovely woodland, with steep banks covered in the remnants of autumn leaves leading down to a winding stream and the dam lake itself.
Within a few minutes I was walking down some steps in a woody area and the view opened up to show the dam - it was quite picturesque. I crossed the small bridge (the original now lying in the bushes seems to have been replaced with an ugly but functional one) and within a few minutes my GPS indicated I was in the right area.
As I decode all clues by default, I had an idea that I was looking for a number somewhere and so when I found one I thought I'd located the cache. I rooted around the base of a large tree which was growing out of a very steep bank on the edge of the dam.
A few seconds later I was grabbing at branches for my life as I slipped down the muddy slope towards the water. Several broke off in my hand, and if it wasn't for one thicker branch that I managed to get hold of by luck, I would have ended up in the drink - and who knows how cold or deep it was?
After regaining my composure while holding on to this branch for dear life, I scrambled back up the bank and got my breath back. This couldn't be the place, could it? I took out the web page printout and re-read the clue - yes there was a number to look out for, but it wasn't this one!
I carried on down the path a little further and soon found what I was looking for. After a minute or two of rooting around, I found the cache - I opened the container and took out the Diabetes TB and logbook but couldn't sign it - I must have dropped my pen in my earlier fall, and I wasn't going to look for it! Sorry about that, I might return sometime to sign it.
Now on to the next cache (Dog Kennel) further up the same path ...
TFTC DNSL but took TB and left a Barbie Badge
Check out this cache here: Dam Cache at Geocaching.com
As I was crossing the stile to get on the footpath shown on my map, I noticed a sign stating that the public had no access rights to this private land. This worried me a bit as I abide by the law to the letter. I looked for someone to ask if the public could use the path, but no-one was about. "Oh what the heck" I thought and went for it!
I'm really glad I did as this turned out to be one of the nicest cache areas I've been in so far in the Greater Manchester area. Lovely woodland, with steep banks covered in the remnants of autumn leaves leading down to a winding stream and the dam lake itself.
Within a few minutes I was walking down some steps in a woody area and the view opened up to show the dam - it was quite picturesque. I crossed the small bridge (the original now lying in the bushes seems to have been replaced with an ugly but functional one) and within a few minutes my GPS indicated I was in the right area.
As I decode all clues by default, I had an idea that I was looking for a number somewhere and so when I found one I thought I'd located the cache. I rooted around the base of a large tree which was growing out of a very steep bank on the edge of the dam.
A few seconds later I was grabbing at branches for my life as I slipped down the muddy slope towards the water. Several broke off in my hand, and if it wasn't for one thicker branch that I managed to get hold of by luck, I would have ended up in the drink - and who knows how cold or deep it was?
After regaining my composure while holding on to this branch for dear life, I scrambled back up the bank and got my breath back. This couldn't be the place, could it? I took out the web page printout and re-read the clue - yes there was a number to look out for, but it wasn't this one!
I carried on down the path a little further and soon found what I was looking for. After a minute or two of rooting around, I found the cache - I opened the container and took out the Diabetes TB and logbook but couldn't sign it - I must have dropped my pen in my earlier fall, and I wasn't going to look for it! Sorry about that, I might return sometime to sign it.
Now on to the next cache (Dog Kennel) further up the same path ...
TFTC DNSL but took TB and left a Barbie Badge
Check out this cache here: Dam Cache at Geocaching.com
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