January 30th Part 2 "No Pain....No Gain"

January 30th 2010 Part 2

How did this photo come to be taken? How did the pushchair get so muddy? and why is Mr Shiltonpig looking so happy with himself?

Read on and all will be revealed....

Bacon and egg sarnies in our bellies, toilet stops had taken place and Josh had come back from the land of nod....we were fighting fit to tackle another round of caches....this time in a village called Ashby Woulds. For more info on this neck of the world, click on the following link...

http://www.nationalforest.org/visit/index.php?fuseaction=location.showlocation&loc_id=1664

The first cache that we started to look for on our afternoons mission to complete at least 3 caches to break our January target was a nano cache. Whats a nano cache I hear you ask? a teeny tiny cache that can barely fit a log that you can write on. If you look on the photo you can see that it is the size of Joshs finger....it was attached to a key ring on some barbed wire and would have been much harder to find in summer than it was in winter.

After a bad morning caching, team Shiltonpig were relieved to find the cache and we were 1 down on our quest to get 3 caches. We carried along the road and started looking for a public footpath. We were fortunate that it had been particularly cold overnight as the ground was frozen....we were able to use an old pushchair to transport Josh around. This walk would be lovely in spring, the trees had bent so far over eah other that it was like walking through a natural walkway...some kind of scenery that you would find in the land of Narnia!!

This was were the pain started...in order to find the second cache...Mr Shiltonpig had to climb through several thorns and brambles and scratched his legs all over....next in a place that was clearly not related to the clue, Mr Shiltonpig found the second cache of the day.

But this is where pain struck again for poor old Mr Shiltonpig, while opening up the second cache....(drum roll please) he broke a nail. Yes he was reduced to being a big old girlie in the woods, as he rolled around the floor in absolute agony...plus (and you may not believe this readers) but he actually drew blood!!!

It was that sore that in a rare moment of affection Mrs Shiltonpig tried to look after the nail....she even put aside the cache for a moment while he acted as Florence Nightingdale....talk about dedication!

Next up we carried along the path....Josh kept crying out "Bird" even 2 minutes even though there wasn't any around....while team Shiltonpig catched up on all the latest gossip for the week.

Now the afternoon was starting to go much better than the morning as the 3rd cache was so easy to spot....another clay pipe! If you look closely at Mr Shiltonpigs nose (and I would advise against it, as its so big and ugly) you can see a scratch on his nose...yet another geocaching injury to add to his growing collection.

The photo is the first that shows all 3 members of team Shiltonpig....Josh is hungry (does that lad never stop eating!!)

But this is where things started to get interesting, the woodland walk suddenly ended and broke out into a new open field...which had a few farm animals around. It was great to see Josh cry out the names of the different animals, as it was the first time he has ever done so.....tears welling up as we speak!

The photo to the right is the second photo that shows team Shiltonpig together....you have Josh on the shoulders of Mr Shiltonpig and then if you look closely in the barn, you get to see Mrs Shiltonpig peeping out.....(Mr Shiltonpig ducks for cover)!!

We were hoping we were going in the right direction as it initially appeared we were going the wrong way...but just when all was lost we spotted a very very narrow footpath, that opened out to the "Moira Wilderness"....the wilderness is quite a strange area and one that we had not seen before...so if you find yourself in this part of the world check out the cache.

As we started walking the frozen mud turned to loose clay and very quickly the pram got so much mud on it that we couldn't push it any further. Mr Shiltonpig was going to give up there and then, but the sensible Mrs Shiltonpig pointed out that we only had 200 feet to go and that we might as well just abandon it and collect it later...I mean who is going to nick a pushchair in the wilderness!!

The photo doesn't really give a feel to the place....but it unlike anything else in the nearby area. Mrs Siltonpig was rewarded for her persistance as she found our 4th and final cache for the day!! So we broke our monthly record by 2 today which was great....January 2010 has been a good month for caching so it has! New records for caches found in an hour, day, week and month have all been broken....only the annual one to break now!

As we headed back to the pushchair, we laughed at the state of it..hence the first photo at the top of this blog was taken with Mr Shiltonpig doing his Geoff Capes impression holding up the pushchair....

The day wasn't over yet, we had been so busy on getting the mud off the pushchair that as we got back into the woodland, we noticed poor Josh was hatless and so Mrs Shiltonpig went back to get the hat!

So in summary 4 caches today, one broken nail, several scrathes on legs, 1 scratch on nose and mud all over the pushchair......was it worth it?

You bet....roll on February!

January 30th 2010 - Part One "More hands up holes than a vet"

Plenty of talk abounds about how good geocaching is and how addictive it is....one cache is never enough...you always find the desire to do one more.

We have been caching now since 2007 and athough our meager amount of finds doesn't show it we are always trying to break new records....If team Shiltonpig could find just 3 (yes just 3) caches today we would break our record of total amount of caches found in a month!

Occasionally however things don't always go to plan and this is the first part of today. For a start the wheelchair had a puncture so Mr Shiltonpig decided to carry the "big old lump" aka Josh on his shoulders as they headed back to last weekends success of 8 caches in one day. There were two caches to finish off the series....

So back we were at Conkers with people asking us if we were going to plant a tree....nope we had other things on our mind. It was a quick 5 minute walk up to the first of the two caches..."Batty strikes back". Based on all the others last week they all have a bridge in common....so we started looking. Then the gps started playing up and a couple of times we had to switch it on/off again to try and make some headway on it. Eventually we got it down to where we thought it was going to be, the clue was not that great and then we spotted 3 holes in the wall. It was about time we asked for expert help...Josh to the rescue.

Josh and his nimble hands tried to find the cache....but to no avail the caches weren't there. We don't have the most fancy gps in the world (it does the job) so we couldn't access the cache online to find out about more clues.

Mr Shiltonpig then spotted another drain half way up the bank and started to crawl his way up to see what he could find inside. Much to his disgust when he put his hand inside all he could find was a series of snails glued to one another, he quickly dropped this back where he found it and dragged his way back down the path.

It was then after quite a while looking for the cache we decided that this one was going to beat us for now and that we would have to move onto the next one. It was then in a rather grumpy mood Mr Shiltonpig exclaimed that "he had his hands up more holes than a vet for this cache".

Its hard to describe the disappointment of not finding a cache...you are unsure whether the cache has been stole or "muggled" or its just your skills of hunting for a cache are rubbish. In addition the owner of these caches are known for his clever hiding abilities.

We started walking to the next one and passed something that can only have been an extra in a sci fi movie at some point...haven't a clue on what it is for though.

Ok, ok so we hadn't a good start to the first cache...but we could still make amends with the second cache. We quickly arrived at the co-ordinates and again the clue was a little vague....trees are always plentiful in this area....plus there was a steep bank....

Again we searched and we searched and we searched....Josh started getting grumpy too as it was his sleepy time...but it was a competition between him and Mr Shiltonpig as to who was the most grumpy!!!

Mrs Shiltonpig in her calm and patient way recommended that we call it a morning, go home and have a bite to eat and see what we could do in the afternoon. After seeing sense Mr Shiltonpig decided this was the best idea yet....bacon and egg sarnies were calling...

So after a whole hours geocaching...we had nothing to show for it except being grumpy....would we ever find 3 more caches? would we break our monthly record? and more importantly does Josh have to put his hands in any more holes to get us the caches....?

To Be Continued......(to the sound of big epic music...dun, dun, dunnnnn)

28th December 2009

December 28th 2009


In true Shiltonpig fashion Mr Shiltonpig is showing off in the photo to the left. But to fair to him it has been many years since he was last able to stand by himself on a frozen pond. The big freeze is in full on mode. This photo was taken at Pick Triangle Wood which is not too far from our house. It used to be a slag heap but now on the hill behind us lays a clay pipe with a cache somewhere near it. Again this is land reclaimed for the National Forest.


Josh decided to run after us and fell over in the soaking grass, but he enjoyed the walk...so much so that he feel asleep a short while later. It was a nice area and a surprising walk so close to our house, and one that we hadn't done before. The problem with winter is that team Shiltonpig have to wear their hats to keep them warm however as the photo shows we both look awful in them. Some might say that its nothing to do with the hats, buts thats for a different conversation! After walking alongside suicide lake we then headed to one of the caches called "the curse of the first time find - Leicestershire". Basically these series of caches work on a chain letter type basis, if you find the cache first then you have 30 days to hide another cache within Leicestershire or be cursed never to find another cache first again. No such worry for us, firstly we are already cursed, just look at the face on Mr Shiltonpig and secondly we were the 117th person to find the cache....



We were the only ones around in this wood so no muggles to worry about thank goodness. The clue didn't really help us to be honest, it suggested we look for a certain type of tree the only problem being was that there were so many of them and it took us quite a while to get there. Mrs Shiltonpig came to the rescue though and sure enough we found it. The log was soaking wet, the frost, snow and cold weather recently will have damaged many caches out there. Josh was so excited, he couldn't control himself and when we gave him the cache he went beserk. The photo opposite shows what happened really....but teach them young and who knows we may have the worlds geocaching champion in 2028 (geocaching will be an Olympic sport by then).


The final one took us back into Swadlincote, or Swad as it is affectionately known. Interesting website http://www.swad.com/ One of the town parks has one of the better caches we have done, it took us 3 attempts to find it as well and I have to admit we did have to ask for help on this one. Without spoiling it too much the cache is a large screw, cleverly hidden and the cache owner has clearly taken time on this one and it shows. Team Shiltonpig love caches like this. Josh was wide awake by now and saying "miaow" every time he saw a dog. Can we just say how cold it has been today please.....

23rd January 2010

January 23rd 2010....

Shiltonpig decided to go for a new record and sure enough today was already looking like a good day. It had rained all week and somehow today it was dry...cold but dry. Team Shiltonpig parked up at Conkers and sure enough within 2 minutes the first cache of the day was found. A small micro with a rather strange yellow sticker on it, it was wet inside. Josh aka "Shiltonpiggy" was far too busy making duck noises as you can see on the picture to the left. However "Waterside Wander Number 1" was in the bag and away we went to the next one.

The ducks gave us one more deviation before Josh finally decided he would join us. The next cache was next to a disused canal near Ashby, more of a reminder of the heritage this area once had. Of course Mr Shiltonpig soon found the next cache, even though it wasn't his turn much to the annoyance of Mrs Shiltonpig. Caches come in all shapes and sizes, the hider of the series of caches that we were doing today must have had a lot of vitamin C, as all the caches were vitamin supplement tubes otherwise known as micro caches. Plenty of "muggles" or non geocachers around today along with some of the most wildest dogs known in this part of Leicestershire.

One of the most disappointing things about geocaching is turning up to the location and not being able to find the cache. Sadly our next stop on this canal series meant we were hunting through bricks and old beer cars but sadly no cache. Not to worry, as we carried on our journey we passed Moira Furnace, for further information click on http://www.moirafurnace.com/

Of course there was an opportunity to gain another cache along the way, the third in total so far. Mrs Shiltonpig found this one and this cheered her up, we found it alongside what must be mechanical remains of the furnace. It was around this time that the familar sound of the ice cream van has heard in the background, more on that later.

Off to another bridge in the area and after we had crossed it, we found the cache hiding under one of the steps, the log inside was soaking wet and was very hard to write on, but we managed. Josh was amused by the ducks in the area and we played peekaboo with him, and took a few photos of him from the top of the bridge.

Next up onto our 5th cache was near some electric pylons, perhaps not the best loaction for a cache. The clue said that it was the tallest of the Xmas trees, from our point of view all the trees looked big. Mr Shiltonpig picked the right one and sure enough in what can only be described as a very peculiar rubber pouch was another micro cache. But then the dreaded sound of the ice cream van struck again!! And we were a good mile away from getting close.

A good walk across the National Forest ensued next and Josh finally fell asleep. The next cache was unusual, it was tied up next to some dreadful coloured plastic plants. The crazy thing is that at first glance you couldn't tell the difference between the plastic and the real vegetation, even though due to winter the grass was yellowish lol. But as we had just found the cache and celebrated the most we had ever found in one day (6) along came the familar noise and up showed the ice cream van...two Mr Whippies with flake and raspberry sauce if you please....yum yum yum.

The rather smug with itself team Shiltonpig was now in a state of geocache hunger and they could smell more success around the corner, so on they went further and further down the path. Seconds turned to minutes and minutes turned to hours....and guess what another bridge was up the way...would it be the site of another cache. The answer of course is yes! Mrs Shiltonpig was asked to help in this one, but the first place she looked, she didn't use her geo force (Star Wars meets Geocaching) and Mr Shiltonpig looked in the same place and hidden behind the grass another vitamin C tube was there.

The view from the bridge was typical of this area of the world. But the best cache was just waiting for us ahead today, otherwise known as Moira Madness. It lead us all around this small wood, and I am sure we made a meal out of it, but thats the problem when you have a pushchair. We spent ages getting the gps signal and then in the end we had to use the clue. Firstly the clue was very long to uncode and then it said to look for 3 logs next to a Holly tree....incredible, every tree in this wood was basically a Holly tree and for some reason there were loads of logs lying everywhere.


Mrs Shiltonpig had got stuck behind pushing Josh when all of a sudden Mr Shiltonpig fell over in the mud covering his jeans and coat. Joy of joys! We looked and we looked and geocache fever struck us as we kept looking. It was starting to get frantic as the worry that yet another cache couldnt' be found started to creep over us, however at the last minute we found it. It was a large size and loads and loads of trinkets were inside and also the muggles geo coin was found, which we took. Our second travel bug "Shiltonpigs Nature Bug" was placed inside and off that travel bug starts. Our 8th cache found in a day and a new team Shiltonpig record. Yay to us! Weary, hungry (especially Josh) and muddy we headed back to the car!