Christmas 2010

With snow on the ground and the very cold spell continuing, it wasn't the time to venture too far.  Instead we headed for Allesley Park for a romp in the snow.  Well, Shadow had a romp and we just followed. 

It is not worth taking a toy along for Shadow when there is snow as all he is interested in is having snowballs thrown for him. 

Sometimes he doesn't quite manage to catch them



Bath Youth Hostel

Part of my venture of staying in the Youth Hostels in alphabetical order.  this was the first of the Bs.  Bath Youth Hostel is in a residential area on a hill on the outskirts of the city.  Where else can you stay in such an old villa for £18. 

I first stayed here about 30 years ago.  I think in those days we were all given a job to do before checking out in the morning and being given my membership card back.  No jobs to do now and a nice refurbished Members Kitchen.  The lounge is spoilt as ever by having a giant TV in it - one of the things that I think has spoilt youth hostels over time. 

Scenes of child labour on the wall inside Bath Youth Hostel

I didn't meet any fellow walkers here.  Most people staying seemed to be families, couples or students taking a break before their upcoming exams.

More scens from the walls of Bath Youth Hostel

Gloucestershire and Bath

A day out in Gloucestershire and Bath visiting HuMPS (hills with a 100 meter prmontary), trig points and collecting geocaches.  The weather was cold and frosty with lots of fog at ground level but when I climbed the hills I found myself above the cloud and in the sunshine.  A smashing day out!

The Trig Point on Tinkers Hill - the original concrete trig has been encased in bricks. 

Dropping off a travel bug.  I thought this was an apt place to drop it as the cache is specifically for doggy related trade items.

A Christmas sceen at St Bartholemews Church on top of Tinker's Hill.  The berries and bits fir tree that had dropped onto the top of the grave made a lovely picture with the frosty grass in the background.

Robin's Wood Hill, Gloucestershire.  A hill in the middle of an urban area with the added benefit of free parking.  I think I dropped a travel bug up here.  The first one I have ever lost.  I have had to appologise to the owners.

The beautiful view from the top of Bathampton Down just outside Bath.

The highest point on Bathford Hill is this folly.  I found that the door had been vandalised and ajar so went in and climbed to the top.  Pretty scary as the handrails were missing for much of the way up.

The stone stairs inside the folly on top of Bathford Hill.

View from the top of Bathford Hill.  One hand holding the camera, one the wall to stop me shaking.

Geocaching in Tallinn

When you live in a place that receives a lot of snow you need extra ingenuity to place caches.  The ones I found were all easily accessible even though there was lots of snow around - as you can see by the photos.  The trick was to keep the gloves on till the very last moment so that by the time you came to sign the log sheet your fingers were not too numb. 

I'm sure it's under there but what is this thing?

As with all caching, these took us to places in the city we may not have found otherwise and offered a good break in sightseeing and museums etc.

Bet you can't guess where this one was!

We only got in trouble with the police once, and we weren't even caching at the time.  We were in the middle of trying to pay for a tram ticket when the driver kept shoving the money back at us as she didn't have any change.  The police (two of them) wouldn't let us get away with it even though they could see we were trying to pay.  In the end another passenger took pity on us and gave us a ticket.

Tallinn in winter - pretty but chilly.

Bedworth Miners Welfare Park

The snow may have gone but its still pretty cold.  Time for a few caches in Bedworth.  I haven't been around this park since I came orienteering about five years ago. I liked the sculpture and mine wheel.

Miners sculpture - Bedworth

Balsall Common - the Greenway

This unusual cold spell we are having is making for some great scenery and some good walking weather.  The Greenway is a former railway line and now popular with walkers, bike and horse riders. Oh, and geocachers. 

Now how do I make this into a Christmas card? 

A frosty day on the Greenway

It's a bit cold Dad - can we either get moving or go back to the car.

I dropped off the travel bug Noodles and Piggy, Io and Callisto named after some hairless rats - yuck! 

Grand Union Canal

These dark winter evenings give me a change to catch up on some difficult puzzle geocaches.  This particular one has been puzzling me for a couple of years but after a lot of Googling I got a lead as to how to solve it and find the final coordinates where the cache was hidden.  The cache is called Paper/Scissor/Stone? though I am not sure why.

The clues for Paper/Scissors/Stone geocache.  Can you crack it?

Visited the cache location on a cold winter's day and then went for a walk along the nearby Grand Union Canal.  I wonder what it's like living on a narrowboat at this time of year?

These barges ain't going nowhere today.