Saturday is parkrun day
I volunteered at Conkers this morning rather than running. That meant, of course, that I could go there dressed in outdoor gear and then head straight off for some caching afterwards. On the radar for today was a first trip to Shepshed to attempt ladyxtal’s Flower Power series.
Parking Up
The drive over was painless. I’d stopped on the way to grab some edibles and drinkables from the Co-Op, so I was lined up for an afternoon out.
By the time I parked up it was nearly 11am. Shepshed wasn’t quite what I expected. I’m not sure what I expected, to be honest, but it wasn’t that. I parked in a big free car park near the school. Anyway, it’s an “old skool” middle English town. There’s a mix of styles and ages. Lots of clearly 1950s/60s old council stock, lots of brick buildings and a few that are rendered and painted. Overall I guess the feel of the centre is a bit shabby. Not in a particularly bad way, but not in a great way either.
Mooching
My first job was to begin work on a set of adventure labs based around Shepshed’s churches. Three of those, the Methodist, Baptist and “Word of Life”, are right in the village centre. So I did those three before attempting anything else.
From here, I found my first one of the series (#20). Nearly a disaster, because I hadn’t got the hint, somehow. My coords came up in the middle of a road and I was surrounded by potential hosts that matched the hint. I was on the point of giving up until I decided to stray a bit further. It wasn’t the straying that fixed it though. It was just that I looked back where I’d come from and my eye caught something that I couldn’t see from the other side. That’ll be it then.
From here I began the trek uphill towards the eastern side of town. It was uphill. Quite steeply uphill. Why didn’t I know this beforehand?
Garendon
After three more of the series heading east, and then passing under the M1, I found myself out in the country. I was, in fact, on the grounds of Garendon Hall. This has quite an involved history. Ultimately the hall was demolished in the 1960’s because the owners ran out of cash. The hall was half destroyed by the army during the war. And after the war the estate was being compromised by the expansion of Loughborough on one side and the building of the M1 on the other.
What remains looks like farmland with an occasional smattering of follies. According to some of the signs though, some of that remaining estate is soon to be developed for housing. That would be a shame, because it was quite a pretty area despite the grey weather. Progress, I guess.
Anyway, progress was quick, partly because I was walking over paved surfaces (mainly) rather than miles of sloppy mud. The puzzle caches were all micros, which is a shame out here in the countryside, but all of them were in place and were easy enough to find with a little patience. One of them actually had two containers in exactly the same place. I’m not sure what was going on there. See attached photo…..
I decided I was doing well enough to walk a kilometre south to grab three trads on one of the estate roads. That meant a kilometre walk with no caches as I came back.
Loughborough, Probably
My walk took me all the way over to the western edge of Loughborough before turning around again and coming back over a more northerly route. It was still paved all the way. The weather had deteriorated a bit, but I barely noticed to be honest. I was nicely cocooned in my big hat, coat and gloves.
At one point I sat for 10 minutes on a concrete wall to eat some of the stuff I’d bought with me from the Co-Op. The ham and cheese sandwich turned out to have mustard in it as well. I hadn’t noticed that, and was slightly surprised when I tasted it. What a life I lead……
Anyway, the return journey across the M1 took me over the top rather than underneath, not that that matters. It only really mattered from the point of view that I was coming back into town. And I was getting a bit tired.
Back to Town
The fourth one of the adventure lab series I started at the beginning was up on the hill at St Botolph’s. There was a church micro there too that took a bit of lateral thinking to find.
At this point I decided I’d probably got an hour or so left in my legs. That gave me the chance to walk a bit wider round the town to grab a couple more puzzles, amtrad and the final one of the ad labs. That was good, but the associated “bad” was that I missed a church micro (pretty sure it wasn’t there) and I didn’t even attempt the “Off Yer Trolley” at Asda. Too busy, and people were looking.
The Reckoning
When I got home I counted up and had found 38 in total. That took me comfortably past the 29 I needed today for the Shifty Fifty Challenge. Excellent. Another day ticked off. A good day really. 40 would have been nicer, but the weather and my legs weren’t really up to a lot more. The caches were a bit spread out.
