2. Find 40 Geocaches (Part 4)

I've had an interesting year of Geocaching and I actually reached the big FOUR-OH.  You can read below what I did.  I'm hoping I actually remember the stories behind these as some were so long ago!

The first one of 2015 I found whilst spending time in Holland between Boxing Day 2014 and after New Year.  I was staying with Mathijs' family.  We happened to have a look on the app to see if there were any local to where we were in Makkum and indeed there was, right by the supermarket.  Mathijs and I decided to pop to the supermarket with his mum and have a little search while she was shopping.

It was pretty simple to find.

The statue - the geocache is hiding around here

The statue

The souvenir you get for finding a geocache in the Netherlands

What the cache is called

Where it is on the map

When Mathijs and I got back to the UK we were on a mission to find more local ones.  We saw there was one around the corner from my flat so we went there the weekend after we got back.  It was quite cold out but we forced ourselves to go as it was around the corner.

Fencey that!

Where's the geocache?

Oh, there it is!

After finding my 14th cache there was a bit of a break where the weather was quite rainy and temperature was cold.  I received an email from Geocaching.com to say that they were celebrating 15 years of geocaching on 2nd May and those who find a cache that day will get a souvenir.  The weather was nice so we thought "why not".  We had a look at what was around and saw there were a few in Shenley.  We tried to find the first cache before this next one but it was missing (we found it later on in the year when it was replaced).  Another couple of geocachers were also trying to find it.  They had been doing the Shenley loop and recommended we do that at some point.  We decided to find the second one we were planning to do that afternoon and the couple had just found that one and said it was a pretty easy one to find.  We headed off in the direction of The Old School House and, as they couple had told us, it definitely was an easy one.

Standard cache size and container

The Old School House

Sign to prove it

The souvenir I got after I logged it "found"

Mathijs and I decided to celebrate 9 months of being together by having a meal at the place where we had our first date drinks - Paradise by way of Kensal Green.  It was a really lovely Sunday roast.  It was also such a lovely day so we looked up some geocaches for our route back.  The first was in Willesden - All Souls Avenue.  Mathijs was proud of himself because he found this one.

Where could it be?

Is it a pen?  No, it's the cache!

Here it is on the map!

We were on a roll so we decided to find the geocache at Fiveways Corner in Mill Hill.

We parked up and wandered around trying to locate the cache.  We had the hint.  The hider had actually used a 3D printer to make the container for the cache.

Protecting the cache

Where could it be?

Clever container

On the map!

The following week was also a lovely day.  Mathijs had the geocaching bug and insisted we go out again.  There were three more geocaches to find around the back of where I live in Parkfields.  However, the bridge to get over to Parkfields was closed as they were doing works to it until late October.  There's another entrance which meant driving over to the other side of the open space to get to it.  We did a lot of walking around trying to find the caches and at one point took a scenic wrong turn.

It's got to be here somewhere

We found it! "Hole knot of fun" cache

The bigger picture

Lost but pretty!

What a mess!

Found it! "Golf Ball Graveyard" cache

Lego man!

The third cache of the day is somewhere here

The "Out of bounds" cache

Map including one I'd previously found (the one at the top)

Geocaching.com promoted its Roadtrip and people had to find caches on 3rd July,  We had plans to go to my friends David and Sarah in Archway for dinner.  We decided to leave a bit earlier to try and find a cache that was only a minute away from where they lived.  We spent ages trying to find it and once we did find it we felt silly as it was fairly obvious.

Heavy container and magnetic too

Cache name - "From pillar to post"

Pillar and post

Here it is on the map

My cool souvenir

This brought the total to 21 geocaches found.

In July, Mathijs and I went to stay with his parents in Holland.  I was keen to visit Amsterdam as we hadn't gotten around to it the last time we were there.  Obviously, I wanted to find a geocache there and Mathijs (who had decided to create his own Geocaching.com account) wanted his own Netherlands souvenir.  We saw there was a geocache near the Anne Frank museum and thought that would be the perfect one to find.  The queues were crazy and we thought we'd got there early!  We didn't want to stand in the queue all day for the museum so decided to find our cache and wander around the city.

"Behind the monument" you say!

Magnetic cache

Anne Frank statue

Where Anne Hid

So many geocaches - so little time - only time for one!

The next one we found was the one that needed to be replaced in Shenley - this was the day after we got back from Holland on the way back from my parent's annual Summer BBQ (which coincides with my brother's birthday weekend).  I've often found Shenley Gate to be a fascinating "building".  The geocache isn't actually hiding there but the clue is!  From what I remember from history at school is that "gates" were actually "prisons/jail cells".

The sign says
"Village sign drawn
by Phoebe Young
Year 3 Puffin Class.
Painted by Roy Monk,
local scenic artist.

Shenley Gate which has been "refurbished" to keep it in good condition

"Do well and fear not"

"Be sober. Be vigilant." - a rule I constantly live by ;)

The GPS co-ordinates.

Good sized cache container

Goodies inside

Between the gate and the cache

Orange one (classed as a multi-cache) found. On the map with Old School House one.

On 15th August it was International Geocaching Day and a souvenir was available to get if a cache was found.  Also, as part of the Geocaching.com roadtrip, if you found a "Mystery" cache then you'd get a souvenir for that as well.  The point of a Mystery cache (which are the blue points on the maps) is to solve a clue which would then give you the co-ordinates of the cache.  This particular cache (Ducks at Dusk) was in Letchmore Heath and involved pictures of ducks on scales.  My very clever boyfriend managed to work everything out.

Eventually worked it out

Found the footpath

Where could it be?

Bit mucky

SOUVENIR!

Our mystery cache souvenir (Mathijs wore out his thinking cap)

Blue one found!

Up to 24 found now!

Off to Cyprus we went in September.  We looked before heading out of the country to see if there were any Geocaches near where we would be staying.  Low and behold - there was!  We were on our way back from scuba diving and the instructor dropped us off near the site.

The war memorial at the site of "Hermes #2"

So tiny and magnetic

It's all Greek to me

Beautiful sunset caught as we were walking back to the hotel

Paphos!

You can just about see the smiley face on the west coast!

Unfortunately, there was no Cyprus souvenir.  Mathijs will tell you how mortified I was!

The next one I found by myself.  I went to Liverpool on a work conference and there was a geocache right out the back of the exhibition centre.  I'd been on our stand for so long and needed some fresh air so it was a good excuse to go out there to have a search for it.  I spent my whole little break trying to find it and came up with nothing.  I went back inside defeated.  I tried at lunchtime - still no joy.  I went back out in the afternoon determined to find it and it was then I noticed something that didn't seem right so I tested out my theory and came up trumps!  VERY clever hide!

The ACC in Liverpool

The "Dazzle" ferry on the Mersey designed by Sir Peter Blake as part of WW1 commemorations

Tiny cache!

The view across the Mersey

Quite a few in the Albert Dock and surrounding area

At this point I'd found 26 geocaches.

On 27th September it was a beautiful day, so much so, I was actually willing to go for a walk and do some geocaching.  Mathijs and I decided to do the Shenley Loop and find all of the geocaches in that area.  I think we were probably out for about three hours and walked three kilometres.  We had 11 caches (or so I thought) and a mystery cache to find.

The start of our journey

The signs point the way!

Cache hiding within "The Fallen Giant" #1

"Where The Trolls Live" #2

The treasures inside!

"The Chapel" #3

"The Sculptures" #4

It's hiding!

"The Pathway" #5

Mathijs modelling the cache we found

We walked uphill towards a viewpoint in Shenley which was, funnily enough, where one of my besties, Taryn, lives.  Thought we'd give her a call to say we were there but she didn't answer so thought she was out (I found out she wasn't).

A good hiding place

"The Viewpoint" #6

On the way to the seventh cache, Mathijs saw a tree swing.  There is video of him swinging on it but I don't think he'd appreciate me posting it.

Tree swinger!

SO clever - this is one of my favourites

"Cow Bank Woods" #7

"Back of the Houses" #8

Me posing near "The Bottom of Porters Park Drive" #9
Don't want to spoil this one so not posting a close-up

After finding #9 we looked up #10 but it had disappeared from the list but it had been there in the morning.  It had been temporarily disabled as it needed mending so, unfortunately, we had to skip this one until it was replaced.

Onto #11.

Mathijs searching for #11 "The Field"

Here it is

While we were collecting these, there was a clue in each one to help with the twelfth cache - the mystery cache.  We solved the clue and worked out the co-ordinates for the mystery cache.  

The Bonus Cache #12

After blitzing the Shenley Loop I ended up at 37 geocaches found.  Only three more until the big FOUR-OH!  I knew I wanted to find #10 when it was replaced and I knew I wanted to find the 40th on my 36th birthday therefore I needed to find another one before this time.

I was at work and thought to myself, "I wonder if there are new caches near my office".  I did a search and there was another in a similar place to one I'd found before in Lincoln's Inn Fields.

Near my office - lots of colours!

I noticed during the following weekend that #10 in the Shenley Loop had been replaced so Mathijs and I made the time to go and find it.

Another clever hide. "The Alleyway" #10

The full Shenley Loop which also includes others I've found in the area

My 40th cache I wanted to find on my birthday but I also wanted to take my niece, Lexie, out for a few hours.  I told her about geocaching but told her it was like a treasure hunt.  I looked up caches in the area that were large enough to have things inside them.  I went out in the morning to buy something to put in the container to replace anything Lexie may want to remove for herself.

I picked Lexie up and we went to find the "treasure", pretending we were pirates (she wanted to be Captain Seadog) interspersed with singing and "are we nearly there".  We parked up and held hands as we crossed the road.  I saw where the cache was and went to let go of Lexie's hand to reach for the cache but she gripped it hard and wouldn't let go.  She then said to me, "You can't let go, mummy said I'm not allowed to let go of your hand".  I replied: "I'm sure mummy won't mind if you let go and don't move as I need both hands to get the treasure".  She reluctantly agreed.  I got the treasure down and we opened it.

Just need to reach it

Lexie pointing out the treasure!

We opened to box and found loads of "treasure".  Lexie found what she wanted - a "gold" medal that says "winner".  To this day she doesn't stop going on about her medal!

Proud of her treasure

So, I found my 40th cache with my gorgeous niece (part of my "spend 1 on 1 time with my niece" 40 list item).  

My 40th cache.

Proof I've found 40!

So, I've found my 40 geocaches - that didn't take long at all.  I can now casually continue to find the geocaches without any pressure.  However, I am considering the option to actually hide a few.

If you want to check out my Geocaching profile my username, as you can see above, is RockChick1979.  Go to Geocaching.com.

This is a fun hobby especially on a lovely day of weather.  I recommend this to anybody - with or without kids - it's good fun and highly addictive.

18. Do 40 cover versions and post online (Part 3)

Well, I'm slowly getting through these and I know those people who pledged for covers will think that I'm a little slack but it takes me a while to learn songs I don't know (especially if I don't know how to play the chords - I only have little fingers and can't play all the chords).  I might need to recruit Andrei to play a couple of them.  I'm really keen to do one of them on my electric piano but I need a tripod for my video camera.

Anyway, the ones I have done are below.

19. Silver Lining (originally performed by Kacey Musgraves)

Last year I did a gig at The Golden Fleece in Chelmsford only a few days after I was discharged from hospital.  I'd already had to cancel my gig at the Watford Live Festival because I'd been admitted.  The pub was great and there was a good vibe.  I had a handful of those decent chaps at Hospital Radio Chelmsford come along to see me play and also my mate Neil and his brother.  One of my besties (Esther) came with me for the ride.  The weather was lovely and sunny.

I decided to do this song because it drew me in as soon as I heard the original and also, the chords were easy to play - ha!

Neil recorded me performing it.

20. One Week (originally performed by Barenaked Ladies)

I'm going to be honest with you...this isn't the best cover I've ever done!  I wasn't feeling very well when I recorded it but it had been pledged for by a slightly impatient Stuart Woodhead.  This song is seriously difficult to learn because of the mahoosive amount of lyrics (watching X-Files with no lights on; like Snickers guaranteed to satisfy; big like LeAnn Rimes).  I think this might have been the 7th take.  Stuart likes it so that's the main thing, I guess.

21. In These Shoes (originally performed by Kirsty MacColl)

This was another pledge video for Marion Brown of a song by the late, great Kirsty.  I think Marion chose it because it was a song with personality that would go well with mine (correct me if I'm wrong, Maz).  It has a great summery, upbeat, Spanishy vibe.  The fact that I'm learning Spanish helped a little - the translation of the Spanish lyrics I find quite amusing especially because I think it sounds better when sung in Spanish - No le gusta caminar She doesn't like to walk; No puede montar a caballo she can't ride a horse; Cómo se puede bailar? Es un escandalo how can you dance? It's a scandal - I'm happy for anyone who is ACTUALLY Spanish to correct me if I'm wrong (it might be Como not Cómo).  I also thought I'd tack a little something special on the end in a mash-up kinda stylee).  You'll have to watch it to find out what it is.  Thanks to my amazing boyf, Matheus, for filming!

There will be more covers to follow so stay tuned.

14. Donate £40 a year to charities (Year 3)

Another year of philanthropy to some very worthy causes.

It's not a full year yet but I've already donated more than the £40 I set out to donate.

Back in November I donated £10 to my mate Tim Spoerer for Movember.  He did a good job with his moustache (although you can't tell from the photo!).

Part of the way through his Movember challenge - nice one Spoz!

My friend David Summer raised money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer.  He did the 25K Action Challenge London Walk from Blackfriars to Canary Wharf and back to Blackfriars again.  I sponsored £10.

In January this year, one of my friends passed away.  Daniel Aaron was a good guy and he just died unexpectedly at the age of 34.  He did a run in June 2014 for Chai Cancer Care in memory of his father so I decided to support that cause in his memory with £10.  RIP Daniel.

Daniel Aaron - such a good heart and such a tragic loss - typical "mensch"

My friend Jill Birghall did an abseil for Comic Relief so I sponsored her £10.

This already brought me to the £40 mark but there was more sponsoring to follow.

I popped £1 in the Marie Curie Cancer Care collection tin at City Thameslink station and got a lovely daffodil pin which I attached to my coat. 

Photo I uploaded to Instagram

I sponsored my gorgeous niece £1 for her "bounce" she did at her school.  I think the money was for a fund at the school.

The lovely Katherine Williams is participating in the Running4Women Windsor 10K for Help the Heroes.  If you'd like to give to this cause here is the page link.  The race festival takes place in September.  I sponsored £10.

Lastly, I sponsored Marion Brown and her friend Emma in the MS Walk for the Multiple Sclerosis Society.  Another very worthy cause that received another £10 from me.

Grand total for the year: £62

I'm sure there will still be more worthy causes to support for the year ahead.  

17. Hot Air Balloon Ride

I don't have a fear of heights at all (only a fear of falling from a height e.g falling down stairs; off a balcony; or the Empire State Building.  I have always wondered what it would be like to travel in a hot air balloon.  I was pretty sure my Mum did too but I couldn't remember.  I asked my Dad but he didn't think she was so I spoke to my sister who said she thought Mum would love it.  I decided to book a balloon ride for two for my Mum's Christmas/Birthday combined present.  Mum was over the moon.

We decided to wait until the Summer (you'd think that would make sense).  I had some leave booked from work in July so I thought I'd tack another day on the end and go then.  The weather most of the week had been up and down so we were quite worried.  It was bad enough that the meeting time was 5:30pm but, on calling the Adventure Balloons "hotline" because of the weather conditions/wind direction, we had to be at the Stevenage take-off site for 5am!!  This did not particularly please us because we were hoping for Watford or Hemel Hempstead.  We finally found the car park where we had to meet for Fairlands Valley Park (the "nearby" postcode supplied was way off and didn't help that we didn't know the area at all).

It was actually a beautiful sunrise considering how tired Mum and I felt.  We had to help set up the balloon and learn a few safety instructions from Gav (our pilot), not Steve as was indicated on his sweatshirt!  It was a good team building exercise as well. We all climbed into our sections of the basket.

Sunrise

Panoramic view of the balloon we spread out ready to fill with air

Chirpy mood considering it was about 5:30am!!!

Getting the air in with 2 massive fans and flames!

Upright

Flying high up in the sky!

We took off pretty quickly once we were all in and headed off over Stevenage towards Hitchin then Letchworth and Baldock.  We saw some lovelycool sites including Stevenage Football Club ground, Knebworth House, Luton Airport runway (in the distance), Chesfield Downs Golf & Country Club and Letchworth Hall Hotel.  Gav was asked how long he'd been flying balloons and he replied that it was his first day (haha).

Altitude just over 1200ft at this stage

Stevenage Football Club ground

Knebworth House in amongst the dark green trees

Chesfield Downs Golf & Country Club

Just behind the sandy coloured patch is Letchworth Hall Hotel

Half way through our journey we saw a Virgin hot air balloon preparing to take-off.  They travelled ahead of us once they got in the air.  Further on Gav rigged a camera to hang off the balloon which freaked me out thinking it might fall off.

Virgin balloon ready for take-off #balloonwars

Low flying

Camera hanging off the balloon

Still doing well for so early in the morning

Where the gas flames come out.

It was great to see people down on the ground waving up at us (even if they were up ridiculously early).

We saw a double rainbow on either side of the Virgin balloon.  

Rainbows either side of the Virgin balloon (a sign of rain ahead)

Pretty colours!

It was time to land.  So Gav brought us down slowly.

Ooooh flames!  It was very warm under there.

Interesting roundabout that looked like a pizza

Gav took us toward a field and told us to sit down and adopt the brace position.  He thought the balloon may drag across the ground or, at the very least, bounce.  We all had to be silent.  He brought us down to land and it was a great landing - only one bounce.

The field we landed in was locked which meant the balloon couldn't get out but luckily we could.  We helped to pack the balloon away.  We had to make sure all of the air was out and that it was folded up and tied up ready to get back into the balloon with Tony (on the ground team) while Gav went off to look for a key for the gate.

Tony served us all Champagne and Bucks Fizz and I found an amusing sign that reminded me of a joke I once heard.  

Me and my Mum with our Bucks Fizzes

Cycle path = psychopath...you know the joke right?  (Joke below)

We waited what seemed like an age for the minibus to take us back to Stevenage.  We then made our way home.  I had Mum home by 9:15am!

Our certificates came in the post a few days later.  We paid for the photo that was taken from the balloon and some of Adventure Balloon's own photos which you can see below.

View from the balloon

Promo photo from Adventure Balloons

Promo photo from Adventure Balloons

All in all a great experience and one I would recommend to others.  Another item scrubbed firmly off of the 40 list.

Here's a very short video of the experience.

JOKE

A strip of tarmac goes into the pub and orders a pint. After serving him, the barman asks if he wants to join his mate in the corner. Sitting in the corner is a strip of red tarmac. The strip of tarmac shakes his head violently: "I'm not going near him" it says, "he's a cyclepath!"

20. Take 40 photos of interesting tattoos (Part 2)

I feel like I'm stalking people with tattoos, especially when they are random people on the bus or train.  It's really hard for me to approach people to ask them about their tattoos.  I'm actually quite a shy person in real life - I'm not the same person who gets up on stage to perform her own songs.  I do get incredibly nervous talking to strangers.  So, a couple of these photos were taken in secret.

There are 13 more tattoos in this blog bringing the total to 30.

18 & 19.  These two tattoos are quite possibly my favourites so far for obvious reasons.  I was on a night out last June with friends in Islington at the Wenlock & Essex but needed to get money out first.  My mate, Phil and I walked down the road to the cash machine and bumped into his friend, Linda, at the same time that I noticed the tattoo on her leg.  We chatted about them and she let me take a photo of her lower leg.  She then said she had another tattoo I'd like on her other leg on the thigh.  So brilliantly tattooed.

THE BEATLES! How amazing and lifelike are these?!

20. This next tattoo is my cousin (in-law)'s brother, Tim's tattoo.  Tim got this tattoo after his granddad, Francis McDonnell, passed away in 2004.

For Tim's granddad

21. My first "stalking" tattoo.  A lady on the bus - I was very impressed with the content on the lady's arm.  I was too chicken to ask her what everything meant.

Lots of lovely colours

22. Someone who is also a Beatles fan is fellow musician, Stephen Gilsenan.  I noticed this tattoo on his arm when we were doing a gig together at Bar Vinyl for Zarathustras Live Events.  Stephen said it was a spur of the moment decision.  He'd just completed a drug trial which meant he actually had some money to finally get a tattoo done.  He chose the heart tattoo and instead of it saying "Mum", he asked for "Ringo" as Ringo Starr had been a big influence in his life; given that the reason he moved to London from Ireland was to study drums.  He does also love The Beatles as much as I do.

I get by with a little help from my friends...

23. I knew my colleague, Claire, had a tattoo on her leg (noticed it through her tights once) and at our Annual Congress in Brighton last year I asked her if I could get a photo of her tattoo.  When she finally kept still for one second, she let me take a photo (although she said she had better ones she could email me but she forgot and so did I...until I started typing this blog).  I think she was wearing tights so the colour is lighter than it's supposed to be.  This is a better than average skull.

A pretty skull in a weird way

24. At a Halloween party at Matheus's house, I spotted that his housemate, Sara (dressed as a pretty sassy Cruella De Vil), had a tattoo on her arm.  At that point in time I didn't realise how into music she was.  After I took this photo I later found out she was quite musical herself - she plays piano and sings.

Treble Clef

25. My friend and songwriting collaborator, Mark Holland, invited Matheus and I to his "Around the World" themed birthday party.  Everyone had to dress up as a particular country.  If I recall, I had a gig earlier on in the day so couldn't meet up with everyone else until later.  We finally caught up with everyone at a pub on Charing Cross Road.  I was introduced to Mark's friend, Caroline, and as she put out her hand to shake mine, I spotted the tattoo.  I had to have a closer look and then I asked for a photo.

Impressive Owl

26. Another random person - this one was a lady (possibly from India) on the train.  I'm pretty sure she's Indian, especially from looking at the tattoos as well.  It's an Indian elephant and part of what looks like a Hindu Deity.

Intricate detail

27. The next tattoo was taken on the same day.  Matheus's housemate, Sara, had organised a baby shower for a colleague at their house and we joined them after jamming in a tree (long story).  We chatted to everyone and I saw part of her other colleague, Siobhan's tattoo.  She showed me her whole arm but said she had a better photo on her phone she could text me (which she did).  It's of a gypsy head and roses.  It took five hours to design and shade and a further five hours to colour in - hardcore.  She did have other tattoos but I didn't want to drive her mad!

Gypsy head with roses

28. The next one I received in the last few days.  Randomly, Phil who I mentioned in my previous tattoo blog post messaged me.  His tattoo was the one of Dante from the game "Devil May Cry".  He asked if I was still blogging about tattoos so I said I was.  He sent me a few.  I'm posting this one as it's a follow-up from Dante.  This is a symbol used in the game "Devil May Cry".  He also has another tattoo which isn't quite finished but I reckon it will be epic.  I hope to include it in the next tattoo blog.

Devil May Cry

29 & 30. The last one (well 2 - 1 on each arm of the same person) I took a photo of just this weekend gone.  I did a gig for Beatnik Events at The Old Queen's Head in Islington.  The girl on the sound desk (Jo) had some amazing and colourful tattoos.  Her left arm was inspired by the fact she studied classical music and her favourite was Tchaikovsky.  Her right arm was because she loves sailing.

A tattoo on each arm

If you have a tattoo, let me know.  I'd love to hear all about it and hopefully see it.

Only 10 more tattoos to go!

31. Learn to restring my own guitar

I had never been shown how to restring a guitar.  I used to get Hooters in Watford to do it for me but they closed down.  A couple of years ago, Zack tried to show me and I think I managed one string.

I then bought my lovely purple guitar last year and the guy who "set it up" for me also restrung it.  To be fair, it hasn't been done since then...until now!!!

After getting a few recommendations (mainly from Mark Holland) I decided on going slightly thinner for the strings and got 11's instead of 12's.  I wanted to see if thinner strings made a difference to the sound on my guitar.  I ordered a two-box set (probably wise).  As luck would have it, they're in a purple box!

Purple box!!!

So, as proof of this momentous occasion, I thought I would film it (with a little difficulty) on my phone.  I thought you'd be bored of the video in real time so I filmed it on time lapse.  I think I did good.  I've done a gig since and it was all fine.

Here's the evidence.

Very proud of myself for not snapping any strings.

There's a cheeky song overdubbed which fits into the time frame!

Thanks to Zack and Mark for their input.

28. Plant a tree

I know this item is completed but I wanted to give you an update on it.  I planted this tree back in mid-November.  Six months later and it has sprouted many leaves.

Leafy tree for my darling Grandpa

The next update will hopefully involve some kind of plum growth!