Apsley forest

I went out with SimplyPaul yesterday. We did three circuits; Charlie's 3rd loop, Charlie's 6th loop and Charlie's 4th loop.

By the time we finished the last circuit, I was cream crackered, and my back was hurting - the state of my back has been my limitation for a long time. But I'd solved the starting point for a night cache, and it had taken me a couple of hours to do the necessary jigsaw puzzle, so I really wanted to do it.

So we drove to the jumping off point, hopped over a stile and set off. I saw the first fire tack immediately, and that was a comfort.

Following the trail of fire tacks went well at first, but they weren't close together. And at one point, I missed the turn, and continued forward. Then I saw a point of light in the distance, and reassured by that, pressed on. I saw the point of light a couple more times, and we carried on. Then I saw the point of light move. And then a second point very close to it. It was a pair of points of light. A pair of eyes. A deer.

Cursing the deer, we turned back, and after retracing our steps, found where we should have turned off.

After that, we were more careful, and although we had to cast about at times, we found the trail, until eventually we found the final, which was, of course, not far from the starting point.

Then on to an event in Milton Keyes to meet lots of other cachers, old and young, old and new.

A good day out, with about 50 finds and 2 DNFs.