Challenging caching routes in England

[berry121]

Hiya,

 

After starting caching about 4 months ago, I have become a little bored of the usual cache at the base of the tree and base of fence post.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions to liven things up? Any routes that are recommended? I currently live in Oxford but am willing to travel to enjoy some good routes

 

Would appreciate any advice; Im sure I cannot be the only one with the same problem!

 

Thanks,

[+Malpas Wanderer]

To the North look at what Delta68 has to offer, across to the Cotswolds try Griff Groff ones or if you like long walks but plainish hides look at wrighty but there might be a hill or two there.

 

East Midlands

Air station 106

Behind Enemy Lines

Eternal Triangles

Granville Country Park

 

North Wales

Dragons Den

Aber Falls

Or any by Team Marzipan or ZaggCat

[team tisri]

Anywhere with more rugged terrain should offer you a degree of variety. In London a lot of caches are film pots and keysafes behind signs on the basis that's often about the only option available. In Dartmoor you're more likely to find caches that involve more walking and over more challenging terrain.

 

I've enjoyed a few on Dartmoor, a few in Cornwall and similar areas.

 

If you want to head to southern parts of London (out of town into the suburbs) you'll find a whole stack of difficult puzzles and 5/5 caches. Cache U Nutter has a number of hides - personally I ignore virtually all of them because with my climbing skills they might as well be on the moon but those who have done them seem to universally praise them.

[+Amberel]

After starting caching about 4 months ago, I have become a little bored of the usual cache at the base of the tree and base of fence post.

 

Does anyone have any suggestions to liven things up? Any routes that are recommended? I currently live in Oxford but am willing to travel to enjoy some good routes

 

Would appreciate any advice; Im sure I cannot be the only one with the same problem!

Depends on what you mean by "route".

 

If you mean a good walking route with some caches on the way, they as John says, Dartmoor, Peak District and places that that are hard to beat. I live in London, but visit Dartmoor regularly. It's a long way, but if I leave at 04:30 on my scooter I am walking on the moors by 08:00.

 

If you interpret in the sense of route to the cache rather than simply a walking route, then search for caches with a higher terrain rating.

 

You could do worse than look at my TOP CACHE web page http://www.amberel.com/topcache.htm , obviously my view is subjective but I do like caches that are challenging to reach.

 

Rgds, Andy

[+Delta68]

Hiya,

 

After starting caching about 4 months ago, I have become a little bored of the usual cache at the base of the tree and base of fence post.

 

200 finds and they are ALL Tradaitionals!

No wonder you're getting bored

I think you ought to try and find some other cache types

 

Multis can be a bit more interesting as they take more effort to place

Puzzles can give a great sense of achievement in solving the puzzle as well as finding the cache

Oxford has some great Virtuals

 

Mark

[+redsox_mark]

All good advice.

 

It depends on what you like, and what you find boring. And what you mean by route.

 

For me - if the caches take me on a good walk to interesting places, and the caches are maintained I'm never bored. In fact if you mean route to be a trail with multiple caches, I don't want them to be hard to find. For example: 8 mile walk with 20 caches in route. I don't want to (and can't afford the time to) spend 1 hour looking for each one. If all 20 caches are ones I can find quickly I'm more than happy. I want to find the cache and move on to continue my walk. Now even with this example I do appreciate a variety of hides - I would enjoy a variety of containers and hides (as opposed to 20 film pots by 20 fence posts). But I'm not particularly wanting a big challenge to find each cache - the distance of the walk itself is the main challenge for me.

 

I also like to seek out specific single caches for their interest. For me, these mostly have the challenge in the terrain, and/or puzzle or number of stages, as that is what I like. I agree with Delta68, you should look at other cache types; most of the single most memorable caches I've found are non-traditionals. In fact - I just had a look at my favourites list and statistics. About 85% of my finds are Traditionals, 15% the other types. But my Favourites list has 60% non-traditionals.

 

If the terrain is easy, there is no puzzle, and the difficulty is purely that it is hard to find, I tend to be not so keen. An exception is if the cache is known for being a particularly clever hide - then I will seek it out. But as an example - there is a series near me of nanos hidden in the woods with no hint - that doesn't appeal to me. But it will appeal to others.

 

Long way of saying:

 

- Find different types

- Find out what you like, and look for other caches like them.

- Favourite points can be used as a guide to help find those "special" caches.

[+redsox_mark]

I just took a quick look at the OPs finds.

Most of them are series of caches; in what looks like nice countryside. It seems then it is the ease of the caching finding which is the issue, more than the terrain.

In which case - apart from trying other cache types etc, also look for high difficulty ratings.

[+The Patrician]

Quite a lot of the more exciting caches are premium members only. That would obviously cost you money, only you can say if it is worth it to you.