Cache and Poo!

Feb 14th 2010

Apparently the world record for caches found in 24 hours is 324. Which means 1 cache is found every 5 minutes...clearly however these amazing record was not completed with a 17 month old toddler....in particular one called Josh.

Some geocaches are called "cache and dash" because they are close to the road and can be quickly found. We wanted to get some paint from the newly opened Wickes and thought along the way we could do a few sneaky caches.

First up was a cache near a wood....this wood had clearly got into the spirit of geocaching as it has hidden a millenium stone in the woods for the public to find....the rather smug looking Mrs Shiltonpig however spotted the cache within 30 seconds....(the fact that it had a 100 foot high neon light above it saying "Find me" was not the point).

The cache in question was indeed "lucky" as it had a horseshoe around it to identify where it was....strangely we didn't notice that until after we found the cache.....

Josh however was starting to smell and as soon as Mr Shiltonpig put him on the shoulders...it was clear that this was not going to a be a cache and dash it was going to be a cache and poo!

One nappy change later and we were ready to tackle the next one....this was to take us down the very busy main A road in this part of the world...as we walked down it, we realised just how crazy we were...and the lengths that geocaching had taken us to.

But yet again geocaching came up trumps...we were walking in what would be considered an unattractive part of the world, the clouds turned a dark grey and looked like rain...Mr Shiltonpig turned to the left and saw this corn? field and took his favourite "moody" picture to date..something about the colurs just make it a nice shot...of course you might be looking at the photo and thinking whats special about it...but lets face it "beauty is in the eye of the beholder".

Now caches come in all shapes and sizes and we knew from the records that this was going to be a unique container, didn't realise just how unique. In fact even though the gps took us right slap bang to the correct location, and Mr Shiltonpig spotted the correct cache, because of the nature of what it was, we almost discarded it instantly...but a double take meant that we looked again and sure enough it was a cache.

Josh is holding and looking curiously at the cache...to be honest we could not believe that it was a cache.

Now some caches are collated together in what is known as a series. Some series then go on to have clues in them, which in turn once you solve the clues will lead you on to one last final cache. This cache was the first of one such series and as we have never successfully done this type of cache, we look forward to more as the weeks go by.

So back in the car and we drove to the nearby Tescos for one last cache of the afternoon. Josh started grumbling, but Mrs Shiltonpig was in form today as she walked on ahead and within 10 seconds was shouting what Team Shiltonpig always wants to hear "I've found it". Again a very very strange container and one that we couldn't get into fully, plus the log was soaking wet so we couldn't write on it...instead we used our brains and stuck a very appropriate "piglet" sticker on it. Josh was still grumbling so we started heading back to the car....as we got into the car Mr and Mrs Shiltonpig couldn't help wondering if we had trod in dog poo...we took all our shoes off and checked and thankfully we hadn't. But the smell continued to linger....

As we got home it became evident that the smell was in fact our dear son Josh...the biggest poo we have seen...so big that the only way was to get rid of the smell was a long bath!

There are many reasons why this blogger enjoys the hobby of geocaching.....today like most days, its just nice to get out and be with family.

Oh and by the time we got to Wickes it had closed...oh well...who needs DIY anyway?