A Series of Fortunate Events - The Grim Grotto - GC1J1BN

I found this one on a solo mission on my way back from our caravan on Anglesey, which was sadly for the very last time as it's now past its sell-by date. Sarah had gone home first with a car full of caravan junk and I followed later with the remaining bits and pieces. On the way back I stopped at the car park near the Aberconwy Park caravan site and walked across the beach - it was a beautifully sunny October afternoon and I took load of photos on the way to the Grotto.

I've been meaning to do this one for ages as we drive past it every time we go to the caravan and it's needed to provide one of the co-ordinates for the final cache in the series which is on Anglesey. And from the road I've often seen people walking with their partners or a dog on the lovely sandy beach. Many times have I longed to walk with them as I driven home on a Sunday night witht the prospect of work on Monday morning.

The road and tunnels that go through and around Penmaen Mountain are an incredible piece of engineering - on the way you can see the huge octagonal piles that have been driven into the rock under the road presumably to give it strength. When I could see the direction in which I was heading, I presumed that the Grotto was some kind of access way underneath the road for construction or maintenance. But when I got there it seemed to have been long disused as the metal gate barring the way in was very rusty.

A quick scramble up the steeply dipping, sharp and shattered limestone rocks and I was inside the Grotto. I saw the tiny stalactites hanging under the floor ledge on the way in which have been deposited by rainwater trickling through the rocks and depositing calcium carbonate when it reached a void and hit the air. The Grotto was indeed very spooky the further I went in, and this was Halloween too. I wouldn't fancy being here in the dark tonight as the full moon was rising!

I found the cache quite easily after I'd checked the hint - I signed the log and took a small candle pot and the coordinate number, but I was sorry not to have anything to leave this time. We'd done 12 caches on Anglesey in the last two days and had run out of caching goodies. I took plenty of pictures in and around the cache location, including one very atmospheric one looking towards the Great Orme from inside the Grotto. Then off I went across the vast expanse of this beautiful beach back to the car and wishing I didn't have to drive home. A great place which I probably wouldn't have found without geocaching.