Resistance is Futile!

Monday 15th March

Believe it or not the photo that you see to the next of you is the location of the cache that we found today....this cache is by far the hardest of the caches we have ever looked for as it has taken us 3 attempts to find it...

The clue for this cache relates to finding a certain tree and then looking for a fallen tree. Problem being is that the gps bounces all around due to the tree cover, next trying to find the spoiler tree is impossible and there are hundreds (and for once I'm not being sarcastic) of fallen trees everywhere! Hence the reason we couldn't find it....using the local geocaching website we were able to get some more clues, which included

being told that the cache was hidden under a large flat stone....it turned out to be a kind of pinky orange type stone under an Everest proportion monutain sized bunch of leaves! But not to worry the fact is that we finally found it and so once and for all we could turn around in a Jean Luc Picard accent and say to the cache "Resistance is futile!"

Of course like all good geocaches the area also required some exploration, we went around Willesley Wood. In 1943 coal mining ended in the area and like a lot of the National Forest it was reclaimed for woodland. One of the beauties of this particular part of the world at this time is the fact snowdrops cover the woodland in parts and as soppy as this is to say, it really is beautiful....like a land of little fairies lives nearby....(no I haven't been drinking!!)

The walk takes you past loads of bullrushes (Mr Shiltonpigs favourite) and then you head to Willesley lake which is a private lake full of man eating fish....well ok perhaps not man eating but big enough to eat Josh..we kid you not!

http://www.fisheries.co.uk/willesley/index.htm

The lake has apparently been here for 200 years after it was founded by the Hastings family and is now a pleasant walk although part of it means you have to dodge golf balls from the nearby golfers.

It was at this stage in the walk that the obligatory chocolate and juice came into play, with Josh eating a 3rd of the chocolate bar? How come someone so small still gets to eat so much? All of a sudden the winds started picking up and the cloud became darker than black itself. Quickly team Shiltonpig made a run for the car....when I say run I mean jog.....and when I say jog I mean walk....and when I say walk I mean leisurely meander back.

We all agree that this is the nicest walk in the vacinity that we have done so far....the National Forest is not well known outside the local area and that is a shame, as we are beginning to feel a connection to the land....we are not saying that we want to go out and hug a tree or anything, but it is nicer than its given credit for.

On the way back we came across this sign...seems that local geocachers have been getting so mad at not being able to find the caches in the area that they have taken to shooting.....

So this ends another afternoon of caching, on the hardest cache we have come across yet....but walking always seems to make the world seem better...not sure why but it does....you can go out the angriest people in the world and yet come home feeling as if you love every person on the planet.....

Challenge to the readers...next time you go for a walk, just how many species of tree can you name correctly?