MC Lake Cache - GC2DWKF



Yachts on Hollingworth Lake

 We found this cache whilst out doing a spot of twitching for the rare Pied-billed Grebe which was on Hollingworth Lake this week. After spending an hour so looking at the bird and taking photographs at the nature reserve pond, Sarah and I moved on to look for this cache a little further round the lake.



View across the lake

 It was a straightforward find and I've often thought about leaving a camera in one of my caches, I just haven't got a spare one.



Autumn colours

 Unfortunately the one here is either full of photos or the batteries need changing, as it kept switching off every time I took a shot. If you want to see the Pied-billed Grebe have a look on my birding blog.


A little geocaching gnome



Burnden Park - GC1F3WR

This was to be the last cache of the day for Sarah and me, but the one that took the longest to find. We knew what we were looking for, we knew approximately where it would be, we just had to find the little bu**er! After ten minutes we still hadn't got it and so Sarah decided to pop into Asda and get some catfood whilst I continued to look like a prat hunting for the cache on the car park.

Fortunately, although it was busy, very few muggles paid me any attention - perhaps they see this ritual every Sunday! So I just kept on looking, going over the same area until eventually I did find it - hooray! I hate ending a day's caching on a DNF - it's as if you haven't found anything at all that day, even if you have.

A sneaky little hide!

P.S. Bolton 4 Spurs 2 today :)

Oscar's Prowl - GCG1VB

Sarah and I continued to this one after finding the previous cache, 'This one's for Fred' a little further upstream. It was a very pleasant walk in the autumn sunshine until we realised we were going to have get down a steepish, leaf-covered bank to river level. We saw the item mentioned in the hint but decided to walk past it until a suitable place for getting down appeared.

Eventually we did find a place and then had to walk back to GZ along the leafy river bank. Once there Sarah found the cache container fairly quicky and she did the admin whilst I took a few photos. Then it was back up the short but steep and slippy bank to the footpath at the top. Although I didn't actually fall, being of portly shape and size, it took me a couple of tries before I found a successful route back up.

On the way back to the car Sarah wondered how the cache owner knew that Oscar honed his hunting skills down here - it seems so far from any houses. Anyway, a good little place - we enjoyed it in spite of being in a cemetery!

This One's for Fred - GC11Y9D

Fred Dibnah's House in Bolton

This cache is all about a famous son of Bolton, Fred Dibnah, who sadly died in 2004. As I knew where Fred used to live, Sarah and I decided to go straight to his house from the previous cache. After looking around all the familiar places in his garden that we've seen on TV, we realised that the cache wasn't actually here but down the steep sided valley at the back of the house and across the narrow river.
 

Fred's Workyard

We remembered that Fred used a bow to fire an arrow carrying a line into the trees and down into this valley, but we can't for the life of us remember what for - was it something to do with erecting his pit head and coal mine? We'll have to checkout the DVD.

Cemetery Gates

Anyway, after taking a few pictures of the house we got back in the car and drove round to the cemetery on the other side of the river where Fred is buried in view of his beloved house and workshop.  We parked just outside the gates and walked across the cemetery towards GZ.  I wasn't sure at first that this was the way we were supposed to go - however, by doing this we had actually made a bee-line straight for the cache location.

Can you see it yet?

Using the hint I quickly found the cache container, but it was very well-camouflaged and could easily be missed by the casual glance. In it was a splendid Matchbox BattleKings Hovercraft that I just had to take, in spite of not having anything worthy to leave in its place, sorry. I'll need to come back later and leave something in exchange.

On the the edge of the cache location

This was a great place to visit although it was tinged with more than a little sadness now that Fred is no longer with us. A great bloke who is greatly missed.

Memorial plaque outside Fred's house

Steam Hammer - GC1F3W4

This was the first cache find of the day on quick spot of geocaching in Bolton with sarahjones65. Being a Sunday it was nice and quiet with no students to wonder at what we were doing. We parked in the student car park on the other side of the road and could see the steam hammer from quite a way off.

Shortly after we crossed the road Sarah had found the cache container, although getting it out was a little more difficult. Before leaving I took a few pictures of this massive machine - I wouldn't have liked to get my hand stuck under that one. A great place!

Gone With The Wind - GC1BPM4

This was to be the final cache of the day for Grandad Bob, Sarah and me. We'd just come down the road from the cache at Rufford Sluice and an interesting conversation with the farmer there and now the light was starting to fade quite rapidly.

We parked on the corner of the bend and headed down the public footpath across the fields, which crossed two small bridges on the way to GZ. By now it was very windy but there was a beautiful sunset in the sky and wonderful sound of rustling leaves in the trees.

In the distance we could see the TV mast lit up on Winter Hill and Ashurst Beacon which, together with the very moody grey and white clouds, made for a very dramatic backdrop to the large bales of hay in the fields.

I took a picture of Grandad Bob doing his 'Moses' impression towards the angry-looking heavens as Sarah got on with finding the cache. We had to resort to using the clue though, as it still hadn't been located after five or more minutes.

In the end it Grandad Bob who suggested looking under a large stone and 'hey presto', there it was. A great end to a fairly successful day with 4 out 5 caches under our belt. We trampled happily back across the fields to the car and then off home and Shepherd's Pie for tea.

Sarah and Martyn complete with 'sticky bobs' on shoulder

Rufford Sluice - GCIXV0Y

After a walk round the Mere Sands Wood nature reserve and seeing no birds except for the 'usual suspects', Grandad Bob, Sarah and I carried on to do this cache. The light was starting to fade and it was quite breezy after the calmness of walking in the woods. We parked at the bridge and set about finding the cache. Soon Sarah came up with the goods and the little quiz inside, for which we wrote one entry as required.

Just as we were finishing off a farmer in the nearby field drove over to us in his big tractor to find out what we were doing lurking about in the bushes. I decided to 'come clean' and explain about geocaching to put his mind as ease that were not drug dealers or criminals up to no good. He seemed happy with my explanation (and even said we didn't look like criminals) but I'm not sure he thought we were all 'full shillings' so to speak.

Anyway he soon drove off to carry on muck spreading in the field and we headed off for the final cache of the day a little further down the road.

Sluice Post - GC2EJMX

This was the second find of the day for Grandad Bob, Sarah and me. From the previous cache location we continued to walk along the public footpath by the side of the stream until it came out at a small road.  A little backtracking revealed the cache and we let Grandad again have the honour of opening it.

We were very pleased to find this one after not finding any turtles a little further down the stream.  Then we returned to the car via the footpath but taking a shortcut past an old farm with wooden greenhouses and some rather nice houses.

Burscough to Tarleton Canal Walk - Causeway Pump - GC1CAXQ

This was the first cache of the day whilst Sarah and I were out showing Grandad Bob the geocaching 'ropes' in Lancashire. We parked in a nearby housing estate to avoid leaving the car on the main road and walked back across the small swing bridge over the canal to the cache location.

It was very windy but it's a great location along the canal although the slope down the canal bank was a little slippery. We'll have to come back to do some more caches on another birdwatching visit to Mere Sands Wood which is just round the corner.

Showing Grandad Bob the Geocaching Ropes

Today we went out to Lancashire to for a spot of geoacaching with some birding thrown in at Mere Sands Wood.  The details will follow shortly but for now here is a list of the caches we found:

• Burscough to Tarleton Canal Walk - Causeway Pump
• Sluice Post
• Rufford Sluice
• Gone With The Wind

We did have one DNF at Do They Have Turtles Here Abouts? - the first in ages :(

Pictures to follow too ...

River Croal - The Lost Arches - GC1YNRN

Bridge over the River Croal

After doing the previous cache in Queen's Park, I crossed the brightly coloured bridge over the River Croal and headed on down past the Driving Test Centre towards this location. On the way I passed some gas storage containers which looked strangely beautiful in the morning mist, especially with the trees in front wearing their autumn colours.

Gasometers in the Mist

As I was walking I got a phone call from my son Robert who told me he'd finished his Theory Test with great news - he had PASSED. As I was so close I decided to pop back and meet him outside the Test Centre before we both continued on to this cache.

Robert with his Theory Test Pass Certificate outside the Test Centre

We walked down a leafy back alley between some buildings towards the river and soon saw the road bridge over it. Staring through the railings I had my first glimpse of the Lost Arches, but I realised there would be a better view on the other side.

Autumn Leaves

After a quick feel around I located the tiny magnetic nano cache almost immediately - I'm getting used to finding these now! But I'd made the classic cacher's mistake of not bring anything to write with and a nano is too small to contain a pen or pencil. So I couldn't sign the log and had to make do with standing on the wall and taking a photograph of the cache location - I'll need to come back to sign the log another time.

The Lost Arches

A good little place - I wouldn't have seen these without this cache being here.

A Red Rowan Leaf

P.S. I wanted to go into Bolton and celebrate Robert's success with a hot chocolate and some breakfast, but all he wanted to do was go back to bed - he doesn't generally see daylight much before 1pm in the holidays, having to get up at 6am every morning to get the college bus. Perhaps he also realised that I wanted to do some more caches in Bolton Town Centre too - "It's so unfair" (Kevin).

GoldenPie - GC12W1F

Autumn Glory

I had to take my son Robert for his Driving Test Theory exam in Bolton at 8am today, so knowing I would have a hour or so to kill I decided to do some caching. It was still dark when we set off but we got there in 25 minutes from Tyldesley and found the Test Centre without any problem.

Queen's Park, Bolton

After dropping him I off I used my PDA to find the nearest cache and this was it. I entered the coordinates into my GPSr and set off to find the closest place to park to it which was on Chorley Old Road, more or less in front of some small entrance gates to Queen's Park.

The 'Pie Crust'

There was a lot of activity with men, machinery and vehicles near the gates I used and I thought it might be difficult to find the cache without being stared at. I saw the 'pie crust' very soon after walking into the park and then headed off away from it towards GZ. The items mentioned in the hint soon became evident and then it was only a matter of finding which one - it didn't take me too long and thankfully no-one was watching.

GoldenPie Cache

Once the admin was done I took some photos of a New Zealand Travel Bug called Jule's Quartz that was in the cache. A note asked for it not to be taken because the owner was coming to pick it up, but when I checked the logs that was in August and the TB was still here - maybe they've forgotten. I noted the TB tracking number so that I could log it anyway, but I missed the geocoin in the cache.  Ah well, I might return for it later.

Artistic or What?

I spent another 15 minutes in the park having a look round and taking some artistic pictures - well I think they're artistic, check out my blog and see what you think! It's a great place - the trees were wearing their autumn colours and the birds were singing like mad. As well the usual Magpies, Woodpigeons, Blackbirds and Carrion Crows I spotted some Long-tailed Tits and a Robin. I also think I might have heard the 'shrike' of a Jay, but I didn't actually see it.

Bridging the Gap

Then I headed off across the bridge for the second cache on my list: River Croal -  The Lost Arches. It was quite a surprise for me when I ended up walking past the Driving Test Centre, as I'd done a full circle without realising it. "Well, it will be easy to come back to pick Robert up" I thought.

River Croal in October