South West holiday - West Quantoxhead

Monday 10th August
The Bristol rally finished today so we packed up the caravan and after managing to get off the field, which had dried out, we drove to West Quantoxhead, Somerset which only took about 90 minutes. This site is a THS run by Somerset DA at just£6 per night. The weather was clear when when we arrived and we were parked with a panoramic view over Bridgewater bay. Tuesday 11th August

A decent walk was called for this morning and so we left the site, walked along the lane and then headed uphill into the woods. It was lovely and sunny and dappled in the woods.

We searched for and found a cache next to an enclosure full of young pheasants and then walked on and emerged onto the hill. We sat near the top and ate a sandwich, with the sheep looking on, and a wonderful smell of heather and gorse. We walked over Beacon hill and then onto Stowbarrow hill. There were views across to Wales and Bridgewater and Minehead. We walked through the woods, found another cache and then descended to the pub (without stopping!) and back to the caravan.

Wednesday 12th August
We left at 12.30 and drove to Blue Anchor where we parked the car and bought a ticket to Minehead on the West Somerset railway -£4.60 each. The train arrived at 1.30 and we enjoyed the 15 minute journey. We watched the steam train turned round on the turntable and then walked into Minehead and along the front to the start of the South west coast path. We weren't walking that way today, but as we have done some of the other end of the SW coast path we thought it would be nice to visit the end! We were going to walk the other direction along the North Somerset coast path. We walked along the sand and towards Dunster beside a golf course most of the way and with views of the castle in the distance. We had an ice cream at Dunster and then found a"defence of the realm" cache. This was a series of caches near to pill boxes along the coast. At Dunster bay we were treated to a flypast by the red arrows, which was strange having seen a display by them at the balloon fiesta on Saturday. We carried on walking along the beach until we were back at Blue Anchor.

Thursday 13th August
It was a lovely day so we decided on a drive to Watersmeet. We drove to Porlock and parked, meaning to do some caches but we were in the village and not at the weir, so we just looked round the village and then had fresh crab sandwiches for lunch at a nice restaurant. We then drove onto Lynmouth where we had spent our honeymoon 31 years ago! Porlock hill was fun and we were glad we didn't have the caravan attached; we stopped at the top to admire the view. We enjoyed the drive over the moor with bright gorse and heather and lots of sheep and Exmoor ponies. We had trouble parking in Lynmouth but luckily I spotted a car coming out so we grabbed the space. We set off for a walk up to Watersmeet. There were lots of people but we managed to lose them so enjoyed the peace and the views. We stopped at Watersmeet House and had a slice of pie and clotted cream, yum and then walked on to Hillford bridge where we found 2 caches -1 good and 1 rubbish. We walked back beside the river and stood and watched a heron fishing for a while. When we got back to Lynmouth we had dinner at the Village Inn, rissoto for John, and salad with chicken, mango and goats cheese for me. We drove home across the moor with the sun setting behind us.

Friday 14th August
We had a quiet morning and then after lunch drove to Kilve and parked in the village hall. We had a bit of trouble finding the start of the walk but located the bridleway and headed steeply uphill through a covered path. At the top was a small field of cows. I was a bit nervous after our experiences in Bristol, but we walked straight across with no problems. We walked along the lane to Kilton and stopped to look at St Nicholas church, a wayfarers church. It had a very interesting chandelier made of wire mesh. We then continued along the lane to St Andrews church at Lilstock which had been abandoned but still holds one service a year.

When we reached the coast path we diverted East to find an interesting cache in an abandoned house. We couldn't find it, but it looked as though someone had moved in. We walked West along the path towards Kilve beach, finding 2 caches on the way. The beach consisted of layers of sandstone and shale and you could see the folds clearly. When we got to Kilve there was an oil retort where oil had been extracted from the shale before being abandoned as it was not profitable. We had walked 10.5km.

South West Holiday - Bristol

Wednesday 5th August
We had a bit of a tour of the South West this year.

The weather was awful when we left home but we had a good journey,and arrived on site at about 2. It was dreadfully muddy and we had to be towed onto the site. Not a good start! We are staying with the Avon and Bristol DA for the Balloon rally. It was not a brilliant site being on a slope and sandwiched between the railway and the Bristol flyover but was a good base for seeing the hot air balloons and visiting the Banksy exhibition which was showing in the city.
Thursday 6th August
We were up earlyish, and after breakfast set off for a walk to the park and ride into Bristol which was good value at £2.50 return for both of us. We got off near the city and after getting a bit lost we found our way to the city museum to see the Banksy exhibition. There was a 3hr queue but it was quite fascinating watching the people in the queue. It turned out to only be a 2 hr wait, but it started to rain so we were soaked by the time we got in. It was very good but some exhibits were quite moving whilst others were clever. His art was placed among the real art as though to mock it. We also saw some of his work on walls of buildings and suspect a tour round the city spotting art would be interesting.

After tea we went up to the Balloon fiesta. Where we took part in the Geocachers Flash Mob event. At 8 pm a cacher blew a whistle and all the cachers converged on the spot. The idea was to blow up a balloon, sign the log, take some photos and then disperse within 15 minutes. There must have been about 200 cachers there and it was a very surreal experience.
We then walked to the arena and watched the night glow. It was very good, about 30 hot air balloons in the centre and burners round the outside, switching on and off to music followed by a firework display. We fought our way through the crowds and got home at about 11.
Friday 7th August
At 7am there was a mass balloon launch with about 100 balloons taking off. After watching the balloons we set off on a walk. We followed a footpath along lanes and through woodland. It was very overgrown in places and we were followed by a herd of cows in one field although they lost interest. We had lunch at the Welford arms, very good value, and then continued our walk. This is where it went wrong, it was not well signposted and there was a locked gate beside the sign.
We climbed over and found the next stile, which we crossed into a field of cows. They followed us across the field and we only just got across the stile. We walked across the next field where the cows also followed us. We got across the busy A38 with difficulty and had trouble finding the path, which had been diverted. We found a path, crossed the field where a herd of young cows chased us. And at the next field larger cows surrounded us snorting. I was terrified by the time we got through the gate. We followed the diversion but still found we were off course. We climbed a gate and walked back to the road and walked further down the road to the lane. This turned into the lane our campsite was on. We got back feeling very stressed and found the gas had run out!
Sunday 9th August
We woke to another mass launch, this time with the wind in a different direction so the balloons were coming much closer, 1 right over the field. The RAF balloon did not get enough height and came down next to the railway. We managed to move the car out of the field which had dried up quite a bit and drove to Weston super mare for the UK 2nd geocaching mega-event held at the Winter Gardens. We met the Web Rat and the Rascal Gaskels, geocachers from our local area and then went to find some lunch - fish and chips eaten on the prom, and then found some caches which had been placed specially for the event. We found about 8 during a very hot walk around the town and then went back for the closing ceremony.We got home in time to see the last mass balloon launch.

Ross-on-Wye, 21st to 28th July

A few highlights from our trip to Ross on Wye.

Tuesday 21st July
We had a leisurely start and left home at about 12. We got to Carthage farm, Foy, Ross on Wye at about 2 having driven for about 3 miles down a single track road -very scary when towing the caravan! We are on the top of the bank overlooking the river, we were advised not to go too close to the river as they were unsure how high it would rise after the recent rain.

Thursday 23rd July
We were up reasonably early (mainly because we had a wagtail tap-dancing on the roof and peering through the skylight) and decided on one of the walks in the Walk this Wye booklet.

We drove to Goodrich where we parked in the castle car park and found the clues for a cache to be found on the walk. We walked down to the village and turned towards the school and followed the footpath behind the school and through a field to St Giles church. We passed through the churchyard and along a grassy path to a road and then into a Herefordshire Nature Reserve which was a small orchard with cider apple and perry pear trees. We realised our path did not go through the orchard so retraced our steps to the road and turned right passing the home of Joshua Cristall a watercolour artist.

We walked along the lane and into a field of alpaca, one of which was particularly interested in us. They had recently been shorn and only sported nice little curly tops on their heads. We crossed two fields and then across a busy road, and then up a steep track and a path into Rocklands wood. This was a lovely ancient woodland with lots of beech mast and hazel nuts on the floor. We looked for deer but did not see any.

We emerged into a field beside the river Wye. We spoke to some other walkers, who had seen deer and then we saw a bird of prey come out of the woods which was possibly a goshawk.

We passed under Yat Rock, and saw a heron fly over, and then walked through a field of Hereford cows. At the end of a field I saw 2 deer disappearing down a track. We realised we had missed our path so walked back through the cows to the path. We walked up the long steep path through the woodland onto the top of the hill, seeing several deer, one with a fawn as we went. We walked along to Coppett hill and found "Welli's wander cache", and then on a bit further with lovely views of the Brecon beacons and Goodrich castle. We arrived at the Folly, a ruin of a rabbit warriner, where we sat for a while and then found our 2nd cache, Coppets folly. We passed a trig point and then zig zagged our way off the hill and back to the castle where we had coffee and cake! 11km

Friday 24th July
We were up early, breakfasted and out by 9 so that we could drive to the Severn Bore Inn as a bore was due today. We got there by 9.40 and walked to the river where several people were already waiting. It started to rain and thunder but we were wearing waterproofs so were ok. The bore was due at 10.21 but did not arrive till 10.45. There were about 40 people waiting to see it and 3 surfers. The bore was not as impressive as when we saw it in 2006 as this was a 2* and last time was a 3. But it was still worth seeing. The water level rose by about a metre.

We left after the wave and drove to the Forest of Dean where we parked in the visitor centre. After a light lunch in the café we headed off to follow the Sculpture trail. The trail consists of 17 sculptures of which I can't say I was impressed by any. Especially not the pile of coal dust with wood stuck in it. The Place and Cathedral of the Forest were quite good though. We collected answers to clues on the way round so that we could find 2 geocaches. Unfortunately I did the sums wrong, twice, so we were looking in the wrong place for a while. We found them in the end though. We were lucky to spot a small lizard scampering across the path on the way round.

Sunday 26th July
Heavy rain was forecast for today but it was dry all morning. We went out at 12 and took a very narrow road to Sellack, where we went into the Lough Pool Inn. It was a lovely black and white pub with 2AA stars where we had a sunday roast. It was a bit light on vegetables, but the beef was local hereford and was lovely, beautiful light yorkshire puddings and nice roast potatoes. We had a nice desert too, I had goosberry and white chocolate mousse with tuille biscuit, John had lavender crème brulle with short bread. After coffee we continued our drive and went through Hoarwithy, where we stopped to look at St Catherines church which had been Italianised in 1870. It was beautiful. Lots of columns, mosaic floors, the apse columns were made of cornish and French marble on green marble, and the altar was made of lapiz lazuli and tiger eye.
We then drove on to Dinedor to the hill fort. We drove along a very narrow lane, John was cursing me, the gps pointed up an even narrower hill but we were worried that we might not be able to turn round so I walked up on my own to check. It was very steep and I was puffed by the time I got to the top. There was a small car park at the top so I walked back down to tell John. We parked at the top and found the cache we wanted wasn't the closest! We walked onto the hill fort and solved the clues for Dinedor camp cache and then hunted for High above Hereford. We couldn't find it so walked down to the car to get my stick, for rummaging. We came back, hunted again and was about to give up when I spotted it. It had now started pouring down. We went back to the car and sat for a while, then put on waterproof trousers and headed off through the woods to find the cache. We got back to the car and drove home. It was raining hard but was nice to be able to leave the wet things in the new awning.

Monday 27th July
We had torrential rain all night but it had stopped by the time we got up. After breakfast we drove to Symond Yatt East and after driving across a single track bridge and a very narrow lane, we parked at Symond Yatt. After wandering around trying to make sense of the map we realised we were parked in the wrong place and should have been at Yatt rock. We followed the footpath up to the top of the rock, very steep and wet, got caught in a rain shower and eventually found our way to the start of the walk. We treated ourselves to an icecream and went to see the view from the rock.

We looked down on where we walked the other day. The RSPB were at the top showing the peregrine falcons. After seeing them we walked down the road we had just walked up and headed off along a lane to Welsh Bicknor. It was steep and slippery and down wooden steps and stone steps to the river Wye. We were caught in another shower here but soon continued walking up the hill again, round huge boulders and ruined houses to a road. We walked across a field to the river on the other side of the Yatt. We stopped at the Saracens head for lunch, hot smoked salmon sandwiches and then walking along the river and through the woods to a rope bridge at The Biblings. There was a troop of scouts waiting to cross and they had to go across in groups of 6. We had to have a go once they had all gone, it was very bouncy.

We realised we had gone wrong so walked back and headed up the correct path. We were going to see the Suck stone but decided it was too much of a diversion so followed the path round and eventually got back to the top of Symond's Yat. We were very tired and had to walk down a very steep path to get back to the river and the car park. We had walked 14.4 km.

Catching up

We have been very busy lately, away on several holidays, trips to Kent and also trying to make some headway in the garden - a hopeless task, which means I haven't blogged for a while.
I will now make some attempt to catch up with details of some of our walks.
Wednesday 15th July
A local geocacher had laid out a series of 18 geocaches on a walk around South Ashby so when the rain had eased we set off for a walk.We parked at Packington and set off along the road and across a stile into a field. We found the Brookside cache quickly and moved across the field. After finding a sneakily hidden cache near a footpath sign we continued across fields and along the path to Normanton le Heath. We walked past the pretty church, finding another cache, and then took the path through some very overgrown fields. One of the advantages of caching is that it encourages people to use the footpaths, and when these have become overgrown, they do tend to have ways pushed through them. This was the case with the next cache. The path was very overgrown but a few cachers had been through recently and so there was the beginning of a path through. We battled our way through and found the next cache, the path now emerging onto a lane. We followed the lane and this was where our luck ran out with the next 2 caches unfound. The skies were now beginning to look very heavy so we followed the road back into Packington having walked 9km and finding 8 of the 18 caches.
Saturday 18th July
We set out today to do the second half of the South Ashby walk. We parked in the same place at Packington and waited for a shower to stop and then walked back down the lane to try to find the cache that we had missed on Wednesday. John found it tucked in a hole almost immediately this time. We walked back up the lane to do "Stylish" cache, but although we hunted for ages we still could not find it. We eventually abandoned it and walked across a field and over a stile, to cross a field of corn. We diverted here to go into Sunnyside, a National forest wood to find another cache. We had to walk through very long reeds and although we could see where cachers had been before we could not find it.
We walked back to the footpath and crossed onto the road where we searched for "North Pole South Pole". This again took ages and just as we were about to give up I found it, tucked inside a gate post. From here we folowed the footpath across fields and walked parellel with the A42. Here we found "Hitch hiking", though I don't know why it was called that. We crossed the A42 and walked towards Ashby but diverted along Packington Lane and along the back of the school and quickly found "No way out". After this we walked down the road towards Packington finding "Foot high", on top of a footpath finger post. We walked through Mill Farm where they are converting barns and followed the footpath signs, unfortunately the path is not walked much and it was deep with thistles, brambles and nettles. We battled through and emerged onto a bridge where we sat to eat a biscuit. Two rams came over to see what we were doing although when it was clear they were not going to get any treats they waked away. We walked across the field and stopped to find "Stoned", a clever hide in a tree and then left the field and the rams. We crossed the A42, again, which was very brambly, and did the last cache. We then walked down the bridleway and back to the car. We had walked 9.5km and another 7 caches.