Finally 100 Caches....and a reward!

Wednesday 3rd March 2010 Evening

On a hot summers night on the 18th July in 2007, a Josh free team Shiltonpig set out on their first geocaching adventure. It took hours of preparation to find the cache in question in the North West part of Stoke on Trent, but we found it and were on our way to lots more geocaching adventures....

Our adventures have taken us to the canals of Cheshire, down dark unused railway tunnels in Staffordshire, climbed mountains in Spanish Catalan, around old castles in Leicestershire and to Swadlincote, Derbyshire!!! We have tripped, slid, scratched, fallen, broke fingernails, born a child all in the process of the next 2 years and 8 months...but finally the wait was over 100 caches milestone was finally achieved on March 3rd 2010 at roughly 6.35pm.....it wasn't without its problems though.

We had planned a long time ago that we would go for a slap up meal on our 100th cache and sure enough that is where we were heading tonight, it helped that there was a cache at the pub we were going to.....when we arrived Mr Shiltonpig forgot that he had brought the gps....aaarrrggghhh! So we deciphered the clue anyway and started driving around a carpark trying to find a cache, much to the amusement of some Eastern European lorry drivers....we couldn't find it....disaster. However Mr Shiltonpig had a back up plan and sure enough started driving down the road to the next cache, again deciphered the clue and started looking. It was cold, it was dark and we were getting hungry.....

But when all seemed doomed, Mr Shiltonpig turned over the last stone quite literally and found the cache....100 cache finds! Hooray to us! So we could now rightly go and have the most amazing carvery and most amazing cakes at the most amazing pub in the area....if you don't believe us have a look at the website below.

Of course Josh has joined us along the way and has completed himself 56 of the 100 caches, not bad for someone that isn't 18 months old yet....so he too had his reward, a play in the adventure playground and you can see him here enjoying Bob the Builder!

So there was only one last thing left to do and that was present to ourselves our "100 finds achievement geocoin"....gimmicky yes, but we deserved it and will have pride of place somewhere in the house....

To some people geocaching is all about the numbers, how many caches can they find....they miss the whole point of the sport. Its about having a good time and making happy memories...and we have had plenty!!

Oh and the pubs website....check it out if you haven't already (and if the owners ever read this and want to treat us to a free meal, we would be much obliged!)...http://www.cherrytreefarmpub.co.uk/foodanddrink.htm