Caching in the Mud and Ice!


Brrrrrr. Bit chilly today wasn't it! My first job this morning was waking Scott up so he could take me out

 

My field was all frosty and white this morning for my walk. It made my feet quite cold!

I wasn't sure it was a good idea when Dad suggested we went for a walk in a forest this afternoon as it was cold and windy and raining!!!

The rain stopped though and there was even a hint of blue sky so Mum put my harness on and off we went in the car!

The forest we went to was Hatfield Forest. It's a beautiful National Trust property near Stansted - a huge place to explore and, of course, there are caches hidden there! Lots of planes flew over while we were there

Some are hidden by the National Trust Elves and some are independant. There were too many to do in one day so we just had a wander round to see what we could find. Some were fairly quick finds - some are maybe too well hidden for us!

This bit of the forest has been cleared recently to be the forest meadow it would have been when Henry VIII used this as a hunting ground. Mum says you can often see herds of deer around the forest but I didn't see any although I jumped up and down and ran around a lot

It had rained so much that a lot of the paths were very muddy but it had been very cold so a lot of the puddles had really hard, cold water on top of them. I thought it was very strange and needed checking

 

It was starting to get dark when we got back to the car. A bit of a shame as the little cafe was shut so no chips for Mum!

There was only one thing left to do when we got home!

Caching Catch-Up!

Goodness Gracious - what a long time since I wrote anything on this blog!

I do apologise. The summer seemed to go in a haze of Olympics and ferrying boys to and fro and Mum didn't have any time to help me with my blog!

I even had to go into work to help her out one day!

Now she's gone and bought a new lap top-a-ma-jig and said she had to install all this new stuff before she could help me

We had lots of fun over the summer

Mum got to go up to the Paralympics with her friend Alison. They got to watch the Wheelchair Tennis and had an amazing day! The Olympic park sound like a wonderful place. I wonder if I will be able to go there one day!
We had a great day out caching in Thetford Forest with all our friends. Bit of a twisted route home but it gave my little paws a chance to recover in the car!

We wetn for another  lovely walk today. We had to go on a bit of a twisted route today as well

Dad wanted to do the circuit round Hartest but he wanted to do the 11th cache as his eighth of the day so that it would be his 1500th altogether! I hope you understand  cos all I know is it meant we had to walk up the road and down the road. Across the field and back to the start and down the hill and up the hill!!!

Two DNF's did not help but in the end we made it!

Here's Dad, Ryan and Scott at his 1500th cache! Mum went down to look too but it was not designed for four-pawed cachers so I waited at the top!

We had to wait for this big bit of machinery to pass on the way home

We stopped a few times on the way home too so Ryan and Scott could climb some trees. The things these cachers do! It's lucky Mum isn't there to see them all the time!

Mega Excitement

On Saturday, I was a bit tired from all the exciting things I had done and our long walk so I stayed in our flat while Dad, Mum, Ryan and Scott went to The Mega Event at Cartmel race-course. When they got back, Mum said I wouldn’t have enjoyed it much anyway as there were loads and loads of people in a big tent and lots of dogs too.

There were lots of people selling GeoCaching stuff like coins and collectables and T-Shirts. I think Dad and the boys could have spent a lot of money there!

There were food and coffee stalls too and Ryan and Scott got to have a go at archery – I’m glad I didn’t get in the way for that!

I would have liked to visit the cheese shop though – I’d have liked to help test the cheese we should buy! I don’t suppose I would have been allowed in the Sticky Toffee Pudding shop or the shop selling all the china and toys and pictures!

I was pleased when everyone came back to the flat with some lunch. It was so lovely to be able to look across the bay while we were eating and watch the way the view changed as the tide went in and out

After lunch we all went back to the racecourse and took our food to go on the barbeque in the evening.

All our friends got very excited when Mum’s name was called out by a man with a microphone as we arrived. She wasn’t quite sure what was going on but someone said she had won a prize from Garmin, the GPS people. We went over to collect a whole bag they said was full of goodies but it didn’t look very exciting to me! There were some books and a pen. A nice green sandwich box with a note book and pencil in and something that Dad said would go “Chirp”. I looked really closely but couldn’t see any little birdies – I do wonder what he was going on about!

John did a great job manning the barbeque – it all smelt delicious and Donna was very good at keeping us all supplied with tasty fried potatoes! We all had a lovely time, sitting round with our friends, chatting and comparing caching swag! Any muggles watching would have wondered why there were so many people taking pictures of stickers on cars, coins from pockets and even tattoos on legs!

On Sunday, a lot of the people from Essex had to go home so we made our way around the coast to a walk we had been told about that was quite near Barrow.

There was a lovely smell coming from a building at the start of the walk. It smelled like flowers and fruit and jelly beans. I really wasn’t sure what it was

It was a lovely walk, up through fields with cows and sheep and cabbages in! Dad, Ryan and Scott found all the caches and Mum and I looked at the stunning views across the fields. I got a bit tired at the end – I can’t believe how far I had to walk this weekend – so I let Mum carry me for a while

Back at the beginning, I had a lie down in the shade and everyone else had some lunch from the café. Mum went into the nice smelling building and came out with a whole carrier bag that smelled yummy. The building was a candle factory and they had a shop there too that was full of bargains!

Again, I was a bit tired when we got back – after all, I only have little legs!! I stayed in the flat again while everyone went out for Chinese food and then we all settled down to watch the closing of the Olympic Games. Despite the serious lack of dogs taking part and the fact that my walks have been a bit short sometimes so Mum could watch someone called Tom jumping into a paddling pool, I have loved the Olympics. So many happy smiling people and so many people doing whatever it is they do so very well!

The Closing ceremony was fun too. Lots of music and dancing – although I’m not sure Ryan, Scott and Mum should have sung along quite so loudly!

Monday was our last day in the Lake District so we thought we’d better explore a bit more.

First, we went back to Cartmel to say good bye and thank you to the people who had organised it all so well. It helped that there was cake for us to eat!

Then we set off up to Lake Windermere to see what we could see. The weather wasn’t as good as it had been so we didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere in the rain!

At Lakeside, we decided we would get one of the boats that chugs up the Lake to Bowness. I helped Scott and Ryan look on the map to see where we would be going.

The boat was great fun and I enjoyed looking out to see where we were going. We went past all sorts of houses and boats and boat-houses! It was beautiful and I’d like to come back and explore a bit more although all this being a sea-dog is very tiring!

Bowness was very busy and not my favourite place. Being a dog of less than giant stature, people didn’t always see me and I had to dodge out of their way quite a bit. Luckily, we found a very nice café, St Martins Tea Room and Grill (http://www.facebook.com/pages/St-Martins-Tea-Room-Grill/225077064177500?rf=121775517899486) tucked off the main street so we had a lovely lunch there

The duties of a Chache Hound are never done! After lunch I had to take Dad shopping so he could buy a new water-proof coat. The man in the shop was very helpful so hopefully Dad has got the right coat now. We even had to buy Scott a new coat too as it had started raining for the first time in our holiday! Luckily, once we had got these new coats and put them on, it promptly stopped raining!

We went back to Lakeside on the boat and I was fascinated by the big birds that flew along beside the boat. I think they had worked out that if they flew there, people would through them bits of bread!! Now, can I get more treats if I run around a lot?

In the evening, I decided I had walked quite far enough so I let everyone else go off on their own for a walk up Orrest Head in Windermere to watch the sun set.

They said they had a lovely walk, but it was very cloudy so we’ll have to go back another day to see a prettier sun set!

That was nearly our holiday over. Just a long, hot drive home and a lot of washing and that was it for our adventure

We had a really good time. All the people at the Mega were great and it was so well organised. The Lake District was as beautiful as we’d been told and we will certainly have to go back there to explore more.

Holiday!

Well, what an adventure I’ve had.!!

Mum spent all last week doing lots of the boring washing – she won’t let me steal the socks – and the scary ironing and putting it all in bags. She even packed up all my things!!

Apparently we were going on a holiday!! The GeoCaching Mega Event at the Cartmel Racecourse was beckoning so off we went.

 

We had to set off early in the morning and I sat in the car with Ryan and Scott. I helped Scott read his book and listened to Ryan’s music with him but it was very boring and we were in the car for hours and hours and hours!

Eventually we arrived at a very tall house that we were going to stay in for a while. We had to go up hundreds and hundreds of stairs but the view from our window was amazing!

Once we had unpacked the car we had to get back into it and drove a short way to a whole field full of GeoCachers who were camping at the Mega site.

When we got there, we were told that we were just in time for a Duck Race so we hot-footed it down through the village and found the ducks. I watched them carefully but I didn’t have the winner!

Back in the car again and home via the chip shop. I wish Mum and Dad would share the chips with me more often!

There was a Night Caching Event on that evening and, as an intrepid ChacheHound, I thought I had better go along to make sure everyone was safe.

According to the story, there was a witch loose in the woods and we had to track them down. I think Evie and I did the best job at finding the way and it was good fun hunting around in the dark!!

It was late when we’d finished so I was very pleased that my bed was all set up in the flat so I could curl up and sleep!

My holiday was full of adventures!

There was a big walk across the bay planned for Friday so I got to ride on a train as that was the best way to get to the start

I’ve never been on a train before!! It was good fun especially when Mum lifted me up so I could see out of the window!

The walk started at a pretty Pub at Canal Foot near Ulverston and we walked from there across the sand to a little island called Chapel Island. The sand was mostly dry but there were a few places where I had to paddle across

We had a picnic on the island and then set off to the other side of the bay.

This time the sand was dry at first but it soon got very wet. In fact the water started to come a long way up my legs and I had to walk on tiptoe for a while.

Eventually, the water got so deep that I had to swim!!! I didn’t know I could swim!!

Swimming is very hard work and I got very tired so I let Dad carry me for a while. The water got so deep that everyone got very wet!

We went back to the flat on another train – more fun!

In the evening we went back to the camp-site and John cooked us a delicious paella. At least it looks delicious. As usual, I wasn’t allowed any of the people food!

After the food, there was a rodeo!! I’m not sure what that is but I think it involved Ryan and Scott falling off a bucking bronco and some very dodgy music being played!!

This holiday business is very tiring isn’t it!!

I’ll write some more soon!!!

I see the Sea and the sea sees me!

Wasn’t it a beautiful weekend!

On Saturday Mum and Dad had to get up really early to take Scott to catch the train to somewhere called Scotland for a big Scout adventure! They got back almost before I had woken up it was that early! He’s been gone for ages now. I don’t know when he’ll be back!

It was such a beautiful day that we decided we needed to go out for the day. A chance encounter with a coach meant that Southwold became our destination. We had to go in the car and I was in my travel crate for ages and ages and ages

When we got to Southwold, there were lots of people and quite a few dogs too!We went onto a thing called a pier first. It’s like a long path but there is water moving around underneath – very strange! Ryan and Dad were geocaching again so I had to help them find something. It was a bit difficult when you only have little legs and what you need to find is very high!

We walked along the prom, past lots of little huts near the beach where families were all out enjoying the hot and sunny day

We had to walk past the beach-huts a lot and look at all the names and numbers! I was very hot when we had finished so I was very pleased to stop for lunch

After lunch we walked even further along the marsh land just away from the beach. It was even hotter there so I took the chance to have a little lay down in the shade

We walked all the way up to the boats but Mum said we couldn’t go crabbing this time. Shame – it looked like fun!

We walked back on the beach and I got to paddle in the sea. The sea kept running away though and it tasted funny!

We did walk a long way – I think I wore Ryan out!

After we’d walked along the front, we had to get back in the car then get out again a moment later and go and hunt around a church yard. I tried to help but it wasn’t very easy to find all the information we were looking for – some of it must have been in some very obscure corners of the graveyard!

Dad had to go into a shop on the way back to the car. I don’t know what Adnams sells but he had a very clinky box on the way back to the car!

More geocaching on the way back, stopping at another church – more information very well hidden! - and something called a Martello Tower.

Eventually we stopped at a shop that smelled very nice in a town called Aldeburgh. Mum, Dad and Ryan had fish’n’chips from the paper sitting by the beach but they wouldn’t let me have anything. Mum said something about my tummy and the long car journey – I don’t know what she meant!

I’ve been staying home this week and looking after Ryan while Scott was away.

It’s been very hot but I feel a lot cooler now I’ve had my hair cut. Do you think I look smarter?

Got to finish up now. Mum says we’ve got to watch something called the Olympic Opening Ceremony. I don’t know what’s going on but she seems very excited and I know Dad and Ryan have gone to ring the church bells to celebrate it!