Pages

Saturday 28 March 2015

The Essex Way completed

Today, I did the last part of the Essex Way, ending up at Harwich.

I've visited Harwich a couple of years ago, so there weren't many additional caches for me to do. This one presented a challenge:



There was a foot race going on. I cycled through the middle of it, went a few yards past the finish line, and stopped. The cache is just a bit past where the guy with the yellow jacket is sitting on the wall, and as well as him, there were several dozen spectators, all overlooking the cache. Should I skip this one? Hell, no, as Ed Milliband said. Stealth was needed. And stealth was applied. I grabbed the cache just as Annette crossed the finish line (I knew she was Annette because of all the encouraging calls). And they didn't notice a thing.

Here's something I found while doing a cache after lunch.



And then I got to the end of the Essex Way. Actually, I've been here before, when I cached in Harwich a couple of years ago. But this time it was special, because I've cached along the Essex Way, all the way from Epping to here, 81 miles. It's taken me several outings, and in the course of doing the 450-odd Essex Way caches, I've done a total of several hundred, because of all the extras.


The high point of the trek was, of course, getting trapped in a bog and only managing to get out by gnawing off one of my boots. But the whole journey was great fun. It needed careful planning each time I did a segment, because they aren't all trads (there were multis and puzzles) and the midpoint bonus puzzle was really good.

For the last couple of months, I've known in advance where I'll be going caching - it's always been the next segment of the Essex Way. Now I'll have to find other circuits to do.


2 comments:

  1. I walked it, some 10 out-and-back visits. Great series. I'm not sure if anyone has attempted the whole lot in one go, that would be a serious challenge taking several days, on bike or foot. I DNF'd one, so am slowly slipping down the leaderboard: http://infin.ity.me.uk/Essex%20Way/The%20Essex%20Way.html

    ReplyDelete
  2. Because I did it on the bike, each time I did a section, I returned to the car alon the roads, so I picked up several more caches. I must have done more than 700 altogether. When my latest finds are added to the leaderboard, I'll be one of the 459s.

    Some people did this on foot in four days!

    ReplyDelete