I had planned to have a ride out to the other side of Wolverhampton to visit a big garden centre and pet supplies that I’d passed on the bus from Bridgnorth a month or so back. It was not far from the National Trust property at Wightwick (apparently pronounced whitick) Manor so we could nip in there on the way back. There were also five geocaches within the grounds.
However, after an easy morning by one of us (no names, no pack drill) it was about one by the time we left so ditched the garden centre and went straight for the National Trust.
Now, when I say straight I really meant around all the back streets of Perry Common and Old Oscot, past the back end of Sandwell Valley, through Wednesebury and Bislton, Wolverhampton and finally to Wightwick Manor.
On arrival and after finding a spot in the busy carpark, we made our way to the entrance which just happened to pass the first geocache.
Just off the path, I encountered Simon the stickman in the trees. Unscrewed the top of his head revealed the cache. Clever and a good start.
At the entrance proper, we flashed our membership cards and made our way up to the main house and cache number two.
The next find was IN the second hand book shop and after locating the correct item we had our second in the bag, so to speak.
Number three was, unfortunately, inaccessible due to footpath maintenance so we skipped that and carried on to the next which happened to be a plastic Star Wars toys up a tree.
The final find, and the one which took us the longest to locate, was in a hollowed out post. Again, another clever hidey hole.
With four of the five found, we headed back to the house for a wander around admiring the Arts and Crafts fixtures and fittings and a number of pre-Raphaelite paintings before indulging in the obligatory cake and coffee (or a variation thereof).
We chose a different route back, skirting Wolverhampton and Walsall joining the A5 near Brownhills.
Being notoriously thirsty work this caching we agreed to go home via The Griffin, stopping off at Kingsbury chippy, grabbing two mini fish and chips, then having a roadside dinner before after dinner drinks.
Whilst supping my go-to pint of Jaipur, I checked the Real Ale Finder app and discovered that they were serving Sign of Spring, a curiously GREEN beer. It had to be done.
We got chatting to a couple and their son (and boxer dog) on the next table to discover that the wife was from Berlin and used to teach (I assume) German at my old school, Coleshill Grammar (as it was then).
A pleasant afternoon out with one National Trust, four caches and three pints.