About a year ago, Team Balders (that’s me and Sue) managed to get get our total geocache finds to equal the number of days since we started caching.
Once at this level, all we needed to do was find, at least, seven caches a week to keep the hit rate at or above one per day.
This we managed for over a year then due to, as they say, unforeseen circumstances, the magic number fell to below one.
I have been trying to get it back to parity and yesterday managed with a few Adventure Labs around Coventry, Bedworth and Nuneaton.
Here is the breakdown …
Being a Wednesday, I was allowed out so I started with a bus to Birmingham International from where I caught the X1 bus toward Coventry.
Just inside, or possibly just outside, the city limits, I left the bus and headed for the nearby Allesley Park. This area of greenery was originally a deer park back in the thirteenth century but in it’s much reduced footprint now houses golf courses (normal and crazy), a walled garden and nature reserve.
The main road into Coventry (Holyhead Road) splits the park but a handy bridge links the two bits and, today, looked quite autumnal with the fallen leaves.
Once this AdLab was completed it was back on the bus into the city centre from where I caught another to Bedworth (or Beduff as the locals call it).
Road works on the main road meant that the bus had to detour around the town centre which resulted in me having to walk further than intended to reach the Miners’ Welfare Park.
As parks go, I’d say this was one of the better ones housing the usual playground plus skatepark, disc golf and mountain bike courses.
Each Adventure Lab consists of five separate locations with a question to answer at each. So after completing the one at Bedworth, I had boosted the cache total by ten.
Next port of call was the Nuneaton district of Attleborough which necessitated a bus into Nuneaton followed by the number 2 out to Attleborough.
Although a suburb of Nuneaton, Attleborough still has a village feel including Jim’s Fish Bar from where I bought a bit of dinner after completing the AdLab.
Another five caches found taking the hit rate to over one. A day later (when I write this entry) Team Balders is in ‘credit’ by three caches.
Another series or even some old school physical caches on Friday could give a week’s buffer.
The final leg took me from Nuneaton out to Galley Common where I switched from the 19 to an 18A bus. For a while my bus followed the 19 but on reaching Old Arley, overtook it.
The bus, with only a few passengers, continued through Astley before heading towards Coleshill.
This part of the journey was the same as the rare (one a day) 735 which I’d ridden back in February alighting in the village of Shustoke. On that occasion, I had walked a mile to my favourite watering hole. As far as I knew that was the closest you can get on the bus.
However, the 18A, on which I was now travelling goes past The Griffin. Google maps even shows a bus stop on the dodgy bend.
Passing the stop immediately before the pub, the on-board navigation stated, “Next stop – The Griffin”.
On this occasion, I wasn’t going to the pub but as we arrived at the terminus in Coleshill, I asked the driver about The Griffin.
“You’d have to walk from the Bull”, he suggested, mentioning the stop before.
I explained that Google Maps and the bus itself said there was a stop but we agreed that it would be very unsafe to stop on the bend.
I will try it one day and ask Sue nicely to come and pick me up. Perhaps, I’ll ask the driver to get as close as he can.
