Coins, Caches & Coaching Inns
It was the weekend of the annual Geocoin Fair. This year, it had returned to its spiritual home at York House in Stony Stratford. After a few years of wandering between alternative venues, it was back where it belonged — a bit like me, except I wasn’t staying at the “as yet unsold” house in Milton Keynes. With a packed weekend ahead and everything happening in Stony, I booked myself into The Cock Hotel instead. It’s an old coaching inn and, allegedly, the origin of the phrase “a cock and bull story”. The Bull is fifty yards up the road, so the geography checks out.
Friday night’s warm‑up event was at The Old School House — recently taken over, now serving a surprisingly good range of Indian food alongside the usual pub fare. The event was well attended, the atmosphere was good, and the evening was made significantly better by the large TV showing my beloved Forest dismantling Sunderland 5–0. That was unexpected. I didn’t go heavy on the beers, which is unusual for me at these things, but I had two good reasons: (1) I was full, and (2) I was planning a parkrun in the morning. There was a brief mid‑evening wander up the road to look for a new cache. We didn’t find it. and I’m fairly sure it wasn’t actually there.
Parkrunning & Pasty‑Powered Recovery
Saturday began with a drive to pick up Steve so we could head to Irchester Country parkrun — about 30 miles and 40 minutes from MK. The course turned out to be lovely: very Sherwood Pines in vibe, but with mixed woodland rather than wall‑to‑wall conifers. I finished in 35 minutes and was struggling more than I’d like to admit, but it was a cracking route. My 67th parkrun venue, so I’m 2/3 of the way to my first hundred.
Post‑run breakfast was a coffee and a Cornish pasty eaten outside in the sunshine. Simple pleasures. Back at The Cock I grabbed a shower and a change of clothes before heading out again. On the way I stopped to buy a new backpack, having realised I’d brought precisely zero with me. My existing options at home are either (a) too big or (b) about as waterproof as a teabag, so a new one felt justified. And anyway, I was expecting to haul home a decent weight in coins.
Eventing
Pesh had given me my event coins the night before, so I arrived at the fair already jingling. The fair itself has shrunk a bit in recent years — only a couple of presenters, and the rest mostly stalls for various mega teams — but I still managed to leave with a bag that could double as a kettlebell.
I didn’t stay long, partly because there were new Adventure Labs both at the event and down in Ouse Valley Park. That was too tempting to ignore. Also, Simply Paul was heading that way, and a walk in the sunshine with him sounded better than staying indoors.
Wanderings
As we wandered, SP kept muttering about new trads. I didn’t see any until we’d nearly finished the labs, at which point I refreshed Cachly and — boom — twelve new caches had appeared around the exact loop we’d just walked. So… round again, then.
We nabbed a couple of FTFs before bumping into goldpot and Debs54’s online logs. At that point we switched tactics and walked the loop anticlockwise. We used their live logs as a sort of “avoid these ones” radar. That netted us a few more FTFs before we met them coming the other way. What ho!
Right at the end there was one cache slightly off to the side. I assumed it had been found already, and SP had to leave, so I wandered over alone. Inside was a container with no log. As neither goldpot nor Debs54 had live‑logged it, I signed a scrap of paper from my bag and claimed the FTF. A productive afternoon.
By the time I’d finished the lot, the fair was over, so I didn’t bother going back. Instead I grabbed an ice cream from Stony High Street and sat on a bench outside the church to eat it. Warm day, lots of sunshine, lots of walking — it hit the spot.
Beer, Curry & Domestic Duties
I’d planned a “lads’ night out” in Stony — beer and curry, the classic combination — but that wasn’t until 8pm. With time to spare, I drove over to the old house to show Sprogus Minimus how to use the lawn mower I’d dropped off the previous evening. The lawn was in dire need, given that I’d taken the mower with me last September during the abortive pre‑move raid. So the grass got its long‑overdue haircut.
After that I popped round to see Steve and Jools for an hour before heading back to Stony. Our usual curry house was out of action due to a rodent‑related issue that the health inspector was apparently unimpressed by. Shame — I liked that place. So we ended up somewhere different. A few beers in The Vaults Bar at The Bull, then curry, then bed.
Stowe, Books & A Bit of Peace
Sunday was Minimus Day. We’d agreed on a trip to Stowe National Trust. Before picking them up, though, I squeezed in a new set of Adventure Labs (with a bonus) in Whaddon. That made me slightly late, but not enough to matter.
At Stowe we browsed the second‑hand bookshop, at which point it was already lunchtime. From there we wandered down into the gardens, walked to the Rotunda and back, and sat for a couple of half‑hour reading breaks. That was part of the plan — a slower pace, some sunshine, and a chance to decompress.
Strange Times in a Familiar Place
All in all, a good weekend. But going to Milton Keynes still feels weird, and I suspect it always will now. This might be the first time I’ve ever been there as a hotel resident rather than staying in my own house or a friend’s. Very strange. I’m hoping that over the course of this year we’ll finally get the house sold and I can move on a bit.
