Shiltonpig meets Dave

Thursday April 8th 2010

Wild Orchids....red mushrooms....frogs sunbathing...and nano "evil caches"....all in the same place? That can only mean one thing...team Shiltonpig are at the Gravel Pits nature reserve in Derbyshire. Now granted when you picture "gravel pits" in your head you can hardly imagine a picturesque spot....instead you imagine 2 fat sweaty road workers digging in a hole somewhere. But team Shiltonpig have a new favourite spot in the National Forest...and its here. For a start the sun was shining, the birds were singing and Josh was whinging.

We did encounter in the lay by that we pulled up in some ...how can we say it...extra curricular activity....but we just ignore them and walked to the cache that was in front of them. Can't think of anywhere we have been that looks like the wetlands in this photo...and to see frogs a plenty in the wild...was great. Oh and our tadpoles are all alive and well....which is good. Josh is really starting to understand this whole caching thing....when we found one nano, he grabbed it and handed it to Mr Shiltonpig...think we have the 2028 geocaching world champion in our midst.

Hopefully not too long from now we can send him off into all the places we don't want to put our hands...nettles, hawthorn bushes, brambles....we may give him gloves...but there again depends how many times he has been nice to us....(again social welfare does not need to be called....we really do love our Josh, were just teasing...and if a future older Josh is reading this, we humbly apologise for being so mean!). So if you have yet to visit this wonderful area, stop reading this blog...get on your shoes, turn on the ignition or your pedal power and go right now...even if its 3 am in the morning....you won't be disappointed...and if you are don't blame us, blame Josh....

In 1987 (a year that seems to feature far too much on this blog, in Mr Shiltonpigs opinion) a film came out called "Mannequin"...you may remember the cheese on bread song....(cheese on bread song). So whats this got to do with caching...well firstly Mr Shiltonpig is hoping you wont notice the big spot on his forehead in this photo...and secondly its to do with Dave. Dave believe it or not is the largest cache we have ever found....as Dave is a mannequin...granted without a head...or arms...or legs....some might say hes 'armless...(groan, tomatoes chucked in my direction). So would you like to know more about Dave? no? well tough I'm telling you anyway.

Dave had a tough life as a mannequin...he was a males but often mistaken for a female, this lead to mannequin problems. But it was to get worse....in the original location Dave was placed, someone tried to steal him and worse still someone tried to drown him (thankfully he didn't have a head so this proved impossible)...thankfully his loving owners sent out a mountain rescue to him....and after many hours of intensive therapy and care he was now sent out to bring joy to geocachers everywhere. Mrs Shiltonpig and Josh are two happy geocachers treating Dave properly...just look at their happiness! Though we are not quite sure why Josh is squinting...must be another stage he is going through. So next time you walk past BHS or M&S, spare a thought for those poor mannequins, and perhaps when nobody is looking you could nick one and release them out into the wild to be geocaches...(team Shiltonpig will not be held responsible for you going to jail for 25 years in a cell for stealing, we do not endorse such naughty behaviour).