This is a series of twelve caches (plus two bonus caches) hidden along approximately 6km of footpaths and bridleways two to three miles north of Nuffield in South Oxfordshire and is best completed in numerical order so as to avoid the fairly steep climb between No1 and No12 although this is only optional. There is a small amount of parking available at Swyncombe Church N51°36.404 W001°00.943.
Part of the walk is on The Ridgeway National Trail which is an 85 mile long path, following a prehistoric chalk ridge route. It runs from Ivinghoe Beacon near Aylesbury to Overton Hill near Avebury. All sections can be walked and others, listed as Bridleways, can be cycled and ridden too. This series of caches was placed to draw responsible cachers to this amazing and ancient right of way.
Part of the walk is on The Ridgeway National Trail which is an 85 mile long path, following a prehistoric chalk ridge route. It runs from Ivinghoe Beacon near Aylesbury to Overton Hill near Avebury. All sections can be walked and others, listed as Bridleways, can be cycled and ridden too. This series of caches was placed to draw responsible cachers to this amazing and ancient right of way.
We completed this series as below in this order on the 17th of July 2011. We being two adults our 4 year old daugher and our 5 year old son.
Mrs Dornorn arranged to do this excellent series for a family walk on a VERY wet Sunday. I was very much a passenger for the most part of this series letting others find the caches and only helping when they got stuck which made it great fun. This first one was found by the boy. We did a few swaps.
We picked this one up as a quick easy find extra on our way to the Ridgeway Ramble series.
This was quickly found by the boy without using the hint. It was about this time the heavens opened it was literally like being under a power shower. We took cover under the trees for what it was worth. As the rain started to ease off we went to the next one in the series and as we left the tree cover the rain stopped again leading the boy to exclaim that the woods must have been a rain forest!
A quick easy find for little miss Dornorn after the boy missed this one completely despite having a good look around the place. We had a break here consisting of tuna sandwiches and "cheesy ball" crisps many of which fell on the floor and were left for the hedgehogs (Who are well known for their love of cheesy balls no doubt). Thankfully it was raining so hopefully there will be no trace of the messy eaters shortly.
I had to step in for this one as it was a bit too high for the kids a nice quick easy find. Sadly the kids found the lure of the massive puddles too much and soon there was wet feet all round with 8 caches to go in the series I correctly predicted that wet feet would get really annoying before the end. TFTC nicely camouflaged.
Nice long walk to this one with loads of puddles to avoid for the kids. They did a terrible job of avoiding most of them and in the end even threats of I'll stick your face in there if you jump in did nothing to dissuade them. It was a tough call who found this so we'll give it to little miss Dornorn rather than the boy who has already claimed his fair share.
Got severely muggled here we pretended to be trying to persuade little miss Dornorn to take her wellies off to empty some of the water out (not far from the truth). Nice little hide this it was in the last place checked by the kids.
A combination of wet feet and a steep(ish) hill made little miss Dornorn have a bit of a melt down on the way to this one we left her to her own devices having a bit of a stampy foot moment, felling an equal mix of good and bad parents we walked on trying not to glance over our shoulders in the end she caught us up with a very cross face. The boy found this one after I misled him accidently.
Oh yes we like a little bonus cache on a series. This was also found by little miss Dornorn after the boy very graciously let her find it.
A nice easy find for the boy after I confidently sent him in the wrong hedge before Mrs Dornorn had told me the hint he found it anyway with no assistance.
I found this in seconds without the hint and kept quiet while the others with the hint spent ages looking around in the wrong area. In the end I gave little miss Dornorn a point in the right direction but even then it was found by the boy.
Mrs Dornorn gave me the hint before we arrived as it didn't make sense to her, I immediately knew where it would be and it was quickly found by the boy. The onward path from here was really pretty the rain had abated briefly and the sun was poking through the clouds dappling the fields with patches of sunlight. I commented that it was rather like that gladiator film. To celebrate this we gave the kids a head start and raced them to the other side, I stupidly decided to have a bit of a jog which I'm now regretting and I didn't even win .
After a fairly long walk and everyone a bit wet and tired we had had about enough at this point. I had to find the cache after some unenthusiastic searching from the others. Mrs Dornorn looked ready for a nice hot bath and flaked out on the verge... well it was your idea! not much further to go now surely!
Ah done at last the final came as blessed relief and was found by the time little miss Dornorn and I arrived on the scene, Mrs Dornorn and the boy had got their stride on leaving us in a trail of dust (well mud) very nicely hidden micro. A nice downhill slope back to the car we went through a field of vicious looking sheep and little miss Dornorn dawdling at the back of the pack got chased by some "bears" (an elderly couple who thought it was amusing and suggested they dress up next time). All in all a great series and the rain didn't ruin the day although there will be a lot of washing tonight!
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