Hercule's Gift - GC1V3R2

This was to be the last cache on Sarah and my short trip to Anglesey - we'd actually had a half-hearted go two days ago after a Wedding Anniversary meal in the nearby Chinese restaurant. We thought it would be an easy fnd as we know the Belgian Promenade quite well, but the failing light made searching too difficult.

From here you get a really good view of both of the two historic bridges which cross the Menai Straits.  The beautiful Menai Bridge which seems such a natural part of the landscape and the rescued Britannia Bridge which was took on a new form and function following a fire in the 1970's.  We'd seen both bridges close up doing some caches on our first day in Anglesey.

Today we found the cache location without too much trouble and I spent more time photographing a heron fishing on the banks of the Menai, some shelduck and a solitary oystercatcher on the Menai mudflats than I did actually caching. A great place which is always worth a visit, especially if you walk to the little church on the island.

Anglesey Stepping Stones - GC22XAW

Sarah and I found this one on the last day of our short Wedding Anniversary trip to Anglesey. We parked near the now seemingly defunct 'Bird World' and took an alternative route to the one chosen by most people - well, we do like to be different. On the way we saw a brood of fluffy young Greylag geese and their (three?) parents paddling in the narrow waters of the Afon Braint before it becomes much wider near the cache.

We crossed several stiles and fields and ended up walking parallel with the river for a while before the huge stepping stones came into view. On the way there were several large splashes in the river but we couldn't see if they were caused by fish or not. There were many possible places for the cache to be hidden, but Sarah persevered in the area indicated by the GPSr, and was eventually successful.

The stepping stones were very impressive, and like many others have said, are the largest I have ever seen. How on earth did people get them here so long ago? A great place and well worth a visit.

Oh What A Wall - GC242NB

This was to be the last cache of the day for Sarah and me. The wall in question is amazing with lots of places to hide things of all shapes and sizes - believe me, I looked in most of them! I thought the cache owner was very naughty in locating this cache, as it is not where you would generally expect to go. Anyway, find it we did and so ended the day on a high.

We'd had a wonderful walk up and down the coastline here but were running out of time as we had to get back for a guided walk around the RSPB reserve in Conwy. It was therefore with some disappointment that we had to leave the final two caches in the area for another day. But we'd had a great afternoon caching and had bagged five of the seven caches, so that wasn't too bad was it?

Little Bay - GC242P8

This was to be the most northerly cache of the day on sarahjones65 and my geocaching trip to the beautiful Rhoscolyn area. I thought this cache was rather exposed and a little obvious - I hope it doesn't get disturbed by some inquisitive youngesters of which there were quite a few in the Little Bay area. Anyway, with a successful find we headed back down the path to enjoy the wonderful coastal scenery without having to look for little plastic boxes.

Old School Desk - GC242PO

This was the third find on our geocaching trip to the beautiful Rhoscolyn area. We'd just some from the Tyger cache and were enjoying the wonderful coastline scenery along the way. This cache took us a little further (not much) inland and in amongst some large rock outcrops. After wandering in amongst the outcrops for a while Sarah finally laid hands on the cache. It didn't remind me much of my old school desk - there was no grafitti on it!

Tyger - GC242MR

This was to be the second find for sarahjones65 and me whilst out on our caching expedition in the beautiful Rhoscolyn area. We came from the Tywrideen cache and now the fantastic coastline was in full view. It's a wonderful place to walk with lots of interesting geomorphological (haven't used that word for a long time) and geological features along the shore. We could see the line of large boundary stones from quite a distance away and so we made a beeline for them, completely missing the 'Tyger' stone which is the reason the cache is here. Nevermind, we'll just have to go back one day.

Tywrideen - GC242Q7

Sarah and I planned to do this one as the first of a set of seven fairly new caches in the Rhoscolyn area. We had just come from South Stack where we had been doing a spot of birdwatching from Ellins Tower and the lighthouse stpes - we'd seen a few puffins there (from a distance) and the ubiquitous razorbills, guillemots and gulls. Perhaps the highlight however was a chough which landed right in front on me on the steps down to the lighthouse and which obliged me for a few close up photos.

We really couldn't decide the best way to tackle all seven of these caches to make a circular route without backtracking on ourselves. After much debate we just parked by the church and decided to head for Tywrideen first. It was a beautifully sunny day and the walk was very pleasant with excellent views of the countryside and coastline. The cache was a fairly straightforward find, although we did have to wait for some muggles to pass by before we could pick it up and do the admin.

Bridging The Gap - GC20BDQ

Another cache found on our short Wedding Anniversary trip to Anglesey.  I wasn't sure that putting a cache on this bridge would be allowed, but Sarah assured me it was a public footpath.  I still thought that the cache might be directly underneath the bridge as our GPSr doesn't indicate altitude.

However, Sarah was proved correct when she found the cache in amongst the iron girders - a sneaky but clever hide though Sarah actually found it fairly quickly after letting the muggles pass by.

Here are some more views from Thomas Telford's world famous suspension bridge which was the first of its kind anywhere in the world.

A great historic location and one of the best iconic views known the whole world over.

Lion in Wait - GCRDXM

We'd come to this location after popping into Bodnant Garden to see the wonderful Laburnum arch in its full June glory.  We've often missed the flowering season before on trips to our sadly defunct caravan at Plas Coch on Anglesey.  However this time we weren't disappointed and so I've included some pictures here.

After w'ed had our fill at Bodnant, we set off for Anglesey - ah the wonders of being in the National Trust.

Sarah and I found this cache on a short trip to Anglesey for our Wedding Anniversary. This is a cache that we'd been meaning to do for a long time, but had not round to it. We'd been to see the Lions here before and so we knew roughly where GZ was, or so we thought. We spent a long time in the area near to one of the lions before realising that new coordinates had been posted in the logs. After broadening the search, Sarah came up with the goods, which were quite some way from what I expected.

We first saw a pair of the Lions on the opposite side of the Menai Straits (there are four of them) and always thought it was such a shame that they were no longer in view. On this side of the Menai we came across the other pair on a quest to find the last remaining peice of the original Stephenson Britannia Bridge which was burnt down in the 70's. It took us a long time to locate this remnant after first seeing it in one of the 'Coast' programmes on TV. Few local people seemed to know where it was or how to get there when we asked.

Anyway, this is a great place to visit if you've not been before as you get to see the Menai and Britannia Bridge from a different viewpoint.

Church Micro 738 - St. Laurence, Frodsham - GC1RZ80

After a pub plougman's lunch in pretty Frodsham town centre, Sarah and I strode forward invigorated to look for this cache. My invigoration and breath rapidly diminished as the road started to go uphill and I was carrying my big DSLR camera, but Sarah showed little signs of slacking.

Soon we were on the hawthorne hedge-lined 'Sandstone Way' footpath climbing above Frodsham and heading towards the church. We saw the graveyard first and so knew it must be close, and soon after we found it. Great camouflage on the cache by the way.

After doing the admin, we carried on up to the Church and had a quick look round before taking a different route back down to the town. The panoramic views of the area from the fields / park near the church were quite spectacular if a little industrial in places. A good place to come for butties, but we'd already had ours!

Bridges of Frodsham #3 - GC2901D

This was the third of several on a Wedding Anniversary trip to Anglesey for Sarah and me. We parked in a nearby side road and walked back to the road bridge. The cache took some finding in spite of reading the hint and knowing what we were looking for. Anyway, find it we did and Sarah signed the tiny log whilst I took a few piccies of the area.

Then we went off into Frodsham's pretty town centre for a look at the buildings and to grab some brunch before continuing on our geocaching mission.

Bridges of Frodsham #2 - GC29019

Sarah and I eventually managed to bag this one after hanging around for ages waiting for the bridge attendant and his mate to leave - they were mostly annoyingly they kept walking up and down in front of GZ for no apparent reason.

We actually left the area for a while and went to the next nearest cache (Motorway Mayhem - Junction 12) before returning to pick up the cache and log it.

The bridge itself was fascinating - incredibly rusty and yet still functioning (within health and safety standards I hope). The turning mechanism was basically a big winch with wire cable around a drum at the base of the bridge. We had a good look round and then went off for brunch in Frodsham. Nice container too!

Motorway Mayhem - M56 J12 - GC2384J

Today Sarah and I set off on our way to Anglesey for some wedding anniversary birdwatching and geocaching - sad aren't we?  We decided to stop off in Frodsham for a little brunch and some caches along the way, including some of the Bridges of Frodsham series.

This cache was located just after leaving the M56 motorway and at first we drove past it without realising it was so close.  We actually tried to do the Bridges Frodsham (#3) cache first but couldn't as the Bridge attentant and his mate kept walking in front of GZ, so we came back to this cache to give them some time to leave.

In the area of the cache we had good views of the arched viaduct carrying the railway over the river Weaver as well as some of the other bridges. After parking at the nearby layby Sarah found the cache container fairly quickly.