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Circular Walks for Caching


La Fifi

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Hi there, having read the Power Trails thread, I identified with 2202's comment about a growing interest in circular walks and I think there may be quite a lot out there with similar opinions.

 

We usually only go out caching once a week or less. ( Boo! ) As can be seen from our low finds total, we're not into the numbers game, but really enjoy if we can plan 2 or 3 caches on a set route or circular walk. But it takes a bit of organising and research or just plain luck that some kindly cachers have set out a number of caches near to each other.

 

I know its not really on to plug your own cache, but this is slightly different. I picked up a couple of ideas for walks from the Power Trails thread that I hope to get around to doing and wouldn't have found them otherwise.

 

So if you'd like to mention any enjoyable circular or set walking routes with one or more caches on the walk, please share them with others.

 

Cheers.

 

La Fifi

 

Edited to add a couple that I added to a bookmark list I started after reading the PT thread.

 

Marham Fen

 

Wickers Hike

Edited by La Fifi
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There was a very good site called GeoHikes.co.uk that had lots of good walks with caches on it - sadly it seems to have gone :blink:

I can recommend the Ridgeway which has a good trail of caches on it, or various canals (also good to do by bike) but neither of these are circular...

 

While I think about it, there's the Woburn walking series, and a lot north of Linslade/Leighton Buzzard that make a good circular walk. I did these two on Wednesday and with a few more in Milton Keynes hit 51 in under 12 hours :wub:

 

There are a lot around the edges of Otmoor in Oxfordshire, making a 12 mile circular walk, and two good-to-walk clusters to the south east of this. Have a look on Googlemaps.

Edited by Simply Paul
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There was a very good site called GeoHikes.co.uk that had lots of good walks with caches on it - sadly it seems to have gone :blink:

I can recommend the Ridgeway which has a good trail of caches on it, or various canals (also good to do by bike) but neither of these are circular...

 

While I think about it, there's the Woburn walking series, and a lot north of Linslade/Leighton Buzzard that make a good circular walk. I did these two on Wednesday and with a few more in Milton Keynes hit 51 in under 12 hours :wub:

 

There are a lot around the edges of Otmoor in Oxfordshire, making a 12 mile circular walk, and two good-to-walk clusters to the south east of this. Have a look on Googlemaps.

 

Thanks, Paul, I did used to check out Geohikes but it really didn't take off, did it?

 

I've also got a note of the Silverstone caches, as we're at a do at Whittlebury Hall next weekend and thought they might blow away the cobwebs on Sunday morning before we set off home!

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Here's a few near Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucs:

 

Sezingcote Stroll series - 10 caches starting with GC198WT,

Hinchwick Vally series - 6 caches starting with GC18JNN,

wrightys 100th series - 5 caches + a few nearby, starting with GC18WF5,

Cotswold Lions series - 6 caches + 2 extra on the way starting with GC19CJB.

 

We've done a couple and they are well worth the effort!

 

L&H

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I loved that big walk we did as part of the "shrops" weekend last year - Philosopher's stone I think it was...

 

About 5.5 miles with 12 or 13 caches on it. Great walk - lots of diff types of terrain, but easy non the less.

 

Link for the first one in the series - The Philosopher's Stone. As Hazel said, 13 caches in all, set by Mark and I for the Shrops 2007 event and subsequently adopted by wrighty. Can't remember exactly how far it was but somewhere between 4.5 and 5.5 miles. :blink:

 

Edited to add: Good thread - more circular walks please :wub:

Edited by The Cache Hoppers
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There's Andybug&Ladybird's Universally Challenged series of 10 (9 planets plus the sun) caches along a very nice 6 1/2 mile walk in west Herts.

 

Not far away is Alibag's Ashley Green series of 13 caches (plus another one or two just off it) along a nice circular walk.

Edited by Simply Paul
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The interest in circular walks has risen in my view, partly due to the price hike in fuel.

With petrol at £1.05 and diesel at £1.10 a litre (glad I get over 65mpg in my Megane), dashing around the countryside after a cache here and another there starts becoming questionable.

The ability to arrive at one destination and then get a very decent walk in with a number of caches thrown in somewhat ameliorates the pain emanating from ones pocket.

The only draw back I can see with them is that the hides / containers become slightly boring as they have been set by one person. What I think is required is a collaborative effort, under a theme, where different cachers place caches along a prescribed route, thereby achieving a degree of variety that previously was not available.

 

So calling all Oxford based cachers, would you like to collaborate in a 6 mile circular, great views etc in the vicinity of the city? It already has a great theme and four caches have already been placed of different shapes and sizes (not a 35mm cassette in sight) but not published. If you are interested then contact me off thread. Otherwise it will be summer before I can put it all together by myself.

 

Two to recommend though. Chilterns Ramble and the Ridgeway Ramble, all close to Nettlebed, just north of Henley on Thames

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We enjoyed the Fowlmead series, a circular walk around a fairly new country park. Although the caches were set by one person the hides themselves are innovative and interesting.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...43-4b6c34c12e8d

 

There is a circular walk through the countryside surrounding Canterbury, part of the Cathedral View series with a bonus cache.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...ab-4a638b56d2b7

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If you find yourself in Londinium you could have a go at the WTF series.

It's not about the numbers of course, :P but you'd sure bag more than a couple. :D

On a personal level,most days out are circular walks as I find I need to get back to where I started.Otherwise I plan to start at cache A,finish at cache B and then get public transport back to A. :D

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How about BikerKats' Tour of Ickenham which is a circular walk taking in 9 caches around the London suburb of Ickenham? There are three tube stations and one mainline station on or close to the route and three bus routes (only two on Sundays). It combines four small or regular-sized caches and five sneaky micros.

 

We did a circular route yesterday starting at Pimlico in Hertfordshire, looking for Bones1 caches.

 

We've also done sections of the Grand Union Canal series on bikes and on foot.

 

A bookmark list of circular walks is a good idea as this is the sort of caching we like to do.

 

Edited to correct Bookmark Link

Edited by BikerKats
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How about BikerKats' Tour of Ickenham which is a circular walk taking in 9 caches around the London suburb of Ickenham? There are three tube stations and one mainline station on or close to the route and three bus routes (only two on Sundays). It combines four small or regular-sized caches and five sneaky micros.

 

We did a circular route yesterday starting at Pimlico in Hertfordshire, looking for Bones1 caches.

 

We've also done sections of the Grand Union Canal series on bikes and on foot.

 

A bookmark list of circular walks is a good idea as this is the sort of caching we like to do.

Don't think BikerKats link is a very good, or right one come to that.......Bookmark deletion?.

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How about BikerKats' Tour of Ickenham which is a circular walk taking in 9 caches around the London suburb of Ickenham? There are three tube stations and one mainline station on or close to the route and three bus routes (only two on Sundays). It combines four small or regular-sized caches and five sneaky micros.

 

We did a circular route yesterday starting at Pimlico in Hertfordshire, looking for Bones1 caches.

 

We've also done sections of the Grand Union Canal series on bikes and on foot.

 

A bookmark list of circular walks is a good idea as this is the sort of caching we like to do.

Don't think BikerKats link is a very good, or right one come to that.......Bookmark deletion?.

 

Oops - will sort this out later, sorry.

 

Edited to say: now corrected, see above.

Edited by BikerKats
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There was a very good site called GeoHikes.co.uk that had lots of good walks with caches on it - sadly it seems to have gone :unsure:

 

The Book of Shadows took it over. See This Thread

This is the current address : link

 

Anyway, without wishing to appear to undermine geohikes, which I supported and to which I contributed, I recently came across www.wikiloc.com This is a site that allows you to upload GPS tracks, pics and waypoints for sharing.

 

(before the "off topic" police try to pounce, I am getting there ... slowly)

 

I've only spent a little while playing around with it, but it would seem to be a useful mechanism for sharing caching walks. It displays your uploaded routes using a google maps api thingy, or else you can display them in Google Earth (if you have it installed) so enabling the route to be displayed alongside latest up-to-date caches (albeit with wonky co-ords) from GC.com

 

You could, of course, also upload your track to the (rather buggy) Groundspeak caches along a route thingy.

 

Just thinking aloud ...

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Don't forget the Claverton/Woodborough Circular series north of Nottingham. It's a 9.5km walk with 12 micros (stop muttering at the back), three of which will contain clues to the final. The walk takes you over fields, through a wood, along a stream and through a couple of villages along the way. Recommended.

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There are plenty of circular walks/ Cache Series in the Cotswolds, for example by wrighty, Stag Ramblers and Blockley Blower (wrighty's 100th, Cotswold Lions, CacheWalker Five, Hinchwick Valley, Seizincote Stroll etc)

 

Also why not check out CacheWalker? Kind of an informal Geohikes. As well as having members who hide Cache series with circular walks (inclding those reprobates above!) we also create & share walks which take in unrelated Caches (for those who can't be bothered to do the map-reading & planning themselves :unsure: ) e.g. Bredon Hill

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There is a new series of 10 Meeting Hill Meander Near North Walsham.

 

Ooh - what a shame that set wasn't around at Christmas, when I was visiting family in Stalham. There's an afternoon planned for when I'm next over that way.

 

For those a bit more centrally located, can I suggest the Leighton-Linslade trail near Leighton Buzzard.

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/gmnearest.a...mp;lng=-0.67562

 

I only managed to complete the dry half of the circle last Friday afternoon - but then I didn't start until quite late. From what I saw, they're a good mixture of cache types and styles, and I certainly intend to return for the other half of the set next time I'm in the area.

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I've just planned a couple of circulars for this weekend in Shrops.

 

1. Around Dudmaston Hall - Covers the "Wacky Races" series and the "Ickle- Fisherty" series as well, total of 14 caches in around 5-6 miles.

 

2. From Nordley - The Nordley Wallk series, 8 caches (GC19KFK is first - there is a map of the route on the listing page). This is a new series, only one find on each cache so far.

 

1 and 2 are not too far apart, so you could do both in one day. There are also a number of other caches in the area too.

 

I have them in Memory Map, so if anyone wants the routes, mail me!

 

Stokesy

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There is a new series of 10 Meeting Hill Meander Near North Walsham.

 

...and I see another circular, set by the same people has appeared very close by too. I reckon that my mum must have bribed them to set local caches so that I'll go and visit her.

 

[Edited to remove typo]

 

I was thinking that too - my Mum also lives nearby! She'll be dead pleased. Maybe I can drag her out (she keeps threatening to find out about this Geocaching lark)

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It's been mentioned in this thread already, but I've completed the Otmoor Ring series today. 28 caches (plus a tribute nano at the end!) in 12 miles.

 

Very muddy in parts, wellies recommended at this time of year (I didn't have any by the way, and it will take a week to dry out my boots!).

 

I can highly recommend this series, great fun, and nigh on 30 caches to your total!

 

Stokesy

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Oh yes, the Otmoor Ring. 12 miles in wellies might lead to chafing (chaffing?), but regular boots won't cope at the moment. Plastic bags make a poor subsitute for wellingtons:

 

346120a3-438b-4ed4-8e08-3b6d0dd352f7.jpg

 

Photo by Yurtgirl, who was in up to her knees at some points. While I'm posting, perhaps I can draw circular-walk fans to my Dusk 'til Dawn - Through The Night 'Caching Event. It's a way away (July) but it'll feature 40+ caches and a long stroll. One for night-owls :D

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There is a new series of 10 Meeting Hill Meander Near North Walsham.

 

...and I see another circular, set by the same people has appeared very close by too. I reckon that my mum must have bribed them to set local caches so that I'll go and visit her.

 

[Edited to remove typo]

 

There is a new series of 10 Meeting Hill Meander Near North Walsham.

 

...and I see another circular, set by the same people has appeared very close by too. I reckon that my mum must have bribed them to set local caches so that I'll go and visit her.

 

[Edited to remove typo]

 

I was thinking that too - my Mum also lives nearby! She'll be dead pleased. Maybe I can drag her out (she keeps threatening to find out about this Geocaching lark)

 

You must mean This one

 

We also done A Stoney Stroll and Burbage Truffle this weekend whihc are both good circular walks

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The original point of CacheWalker was to add walks which linked caches. Unfortunately everyone went bonkers and just started making circular series of Caches with the walks listed on the Cache pages themsleves lol, so they never appear on the site itself! :rolleyes:

 

In reponse to this thread, I have therefore added a new list of circular Cache walks, which allows you to add the basic details of the Series, plus a link to it, giving far more walks to choose from with less effort (and duplication of data)

 

The list can be sorted by County, Hider - in fact by any of the columns, so hopefully will be really useful!

 

I encourage you to add your own Series, or others you discover! (Thanks Blockley Blower, who is obviously well on the ball!)

 

bikermel76

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Just thought I'd top this thread to share a couple of circular walks we came across when planning a day out for today.

 

I've wanted to go up on Ilkley Moor withoot me 'at for a while and fancied doing Swastika Stone

 

I'd picked up Country Walking magazine for the first time and was interested in the walks they publish and so was pleased when I spotted a circular walk about six miles long on Ilkley Moor.

 

Following the published route we did these caches in the order shown. Park at the parking area just north of White Wells. Head south to jemima's view, then on to Harvey's Dr Who Cache.

 

You could go for High M Q before Harvey's Dr Who cache at this point, but we were the wrong side of the dyke and too far along before we realised. ( Had already solved the puzzle too :wub: )

 

Then Don's Cache, then Just in passing......

 

From there follow Keighley Road north eastish. You could head back to the car park from here, but we decided to extend the walk and go for another three caches. We went off the published route, heading north west to pick up Ba Tat Box then on to For Their Tomorrow and finally Swastika Stone

Then it was a mile and a bit back to the car park along part of the Millenium Way. The walk was just over 8.5 miles in total.

 

When we were checking the caches we also came across another circular Ilkley Moor walk but this is probably a little farther at around 10 miles I think and as it goes off the moor and round by Addingham, we decided to save this for another day.

 

A great day out, warm and mostly sunny. Now sat at home, soaking my aching limbs with G&T! :rolleyes:

 

Cheers.

 

La Fifi

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Craven Arms Shropshire is great walking country and an ideal base,

We stayed in/near Craven Arms (in a B&B in place Halford) some years back. It's lovely there.

 

I must admit to a vested intrest in that area :rolleyes: but it is fab walking country. Around Wenlock and Ironbridge is also a good place to park your car up and go caching. I should take my own advice now and do a few there. :wub:

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I was going to mention the Rife circular walk that I had found for my next visit home. I would like to ask that people who set up these wonderful circular walks should make public bookmark list available on their cache page so it would be a quick thing to download a ready made list instead of having to make my own!

Jane

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