Sunday Geocaching - Godshill and Appuldurcombe

Trip report for Sunday 15th February 2009. None of us were exactly accquainted with this part of the Island, so what was a proposed 5-cache outing in Godshill ended up with us discovering only two caches in the area, and one in Knighton on the way there.

So first up was cache GC1D02H, a quick cache and dash near Knighton Gorges - supposedly one of the most haunted spots on the Island. Being midday there were no ghosts to be seen but I wasted no time in locating the first cache of the day in which we left one of our Team Panda keyrings.

Back in the car and off to Godshill. We parked up in the Old Smithy car park and headed on up the the church for cache GC19WBR. A wonderful view from the top here, and the graveyard was of much interest due to how amazingly old it is here.

We weren't really sure how far away the next two caches on the list were, so we decided to hop back in the car. Turns out we should have walked at least the first two as there was no parking near the beginning of the trails. No problem, we'll be back in the future!

The last cache (GC19WA6) was located outside the fence at the front of the impressive Appuldurcombe House. Only a short walk from the car park so there was definitely a lot less walking than we had planned on doing. But we had a cache of our own to place this afternoon, so we headed back to the car to go and get that sorted out...

Sunday Geocaching - Freshwater Railway

Trip report for Sunday, Feb 1st 2009. Less 'caching, more walking was the order of the day for today - and probably a good thing too! In freezing cold weather, our hands were getting numb whilst opening caches and writing on logs!

We started out at the site of the old Yarmouth railway station looking for cache GC1AWPE. It was COLD and the GPS was being very inaccurate so it took a little bit of scrabbling about to find this one. Even when I did spot it, there were muggles abound so we had to wait around even longer. Signing the log with icy fingers was not too much fun :)

Then the 1.75 mile walk to Freshwater began (briskly!), along the path of the old Yarmouth to Freshwater railway line. It's quite an enjoyable walk, with plenty of scenery along the route.

At the the Freshwater end of the path is the End of the Line cafe and the site of our second of three caches today (GC1AWPC). With plenty of people walking the path today, it took a while before we could dive into the hedge and retrieve the cache and we had to sign and place the cache back pretty quickly to avoid prying eyes.

A short walk down the main road led us to a circular walk around Afton Marsh. The name should have given us some warning, but this cache was muddy! A walk that should have taken ten minutes tops took quite a while longer as we tried to avoid getting stuck ankle-deep in the mud. Eventually we made it to the cache (GC1E049). It was in this really rather scenic place, with the lake and ducks and a wooden bridge that it started to snow. Cold, but very picturesque. We decided it was time to call it a day, and headed back the two miles we had travelled to the warmth of the car.

Sunday Geocaching - Newport

Report of the day's caching for 25th January 2008. Due to the shoddy weather we decided to ditch our plan A for the day (a visit to west Wight) and instead drew up a plan B which took us to Newport on a reasonably long stroll, mostly in the rain.

First up was cache GC1JAJY, which led us to the bottom end of the Island's only dual-carriageway road. We scratched our heads over this one for a while and were very wary that the drivers on the busy road were wondering what the heck we were up to.

Eventually, Monkey found the ingeniously-placed cache (just a log), and we were able to move on away from the prying muggle eyes.

The next cache we found (GC1B0XK) had unfortunately seen better days. Positioned near water, recent heavy rain had bought the waterline up over the cache and had flooded it. It served as a reminder for us to get together a cache repair kit (locking bags, waterproof tape, spare logbook etc.) to bring along in future.

Cache GC197G9 was up next, just a couple of streets away. Monkey and I found this one the previous day in a quick cache and dash, so we left Fishamatician and Cibby figure it out for themselves. We'd already signed the log as Team Panda, so no further signing was needed.

A short walk led us to one of the tunnels that made up the old railway lines here on the Island, this one in particular is now a footpath under a busy main road. Cache GC1ARBC was an easy find for Fishamatician, who was very on the ball with the finds today.

The next cache (GC1AVWH) was located in the picturesque grounds of St. Paul's, Barton church. A quick find with some decent swag. We left behind some of our new Team Panda Elite merchandise (Keyrings and Badges) before having a quick look around the graveyard and spotting the burial plot of John Milne, pioneer of seisomology.

Back to the car and then a short drive up to Carisbrooke Castle for cache GC1HBHD. Muddy was the walk around the outside of the castle, stopping to say hi to the donkeys before heading in the right direction using my new compass!

Fishamatician was once again on the ball for the find and Cibby signed us in. It was starting to get dark at this point so it was time to head back to the car and to the last cache of the day.

The final cache (GC1GCVV) was a quick one but arguably the most interesting of the day due to the geocoin (CCJBNX/TB1AB7Q) located therein. It was the first trackable that we had come across, and this one had come all the way from the US, and was one of only ten coins in its series.

We chose not to move the coin as we're not going anywhere interesting just yet, and we left behind a badge and a keyring for future finders.

Another successful and interesting day's caching leaving us with around 85 more caches to find on the Island.

Sunday Geocaching - Shanklin and Ventnor

Sunday, January 18th 2009 - Our first day out 'Caching as a team. We found a total of five caches during a lovely day out in Shanklin and Ventnor.

First stop was Rylstone Gardens for cache GC1E2QB. It proved to be the hardest find of the day as the location wasn't exactly clear from the hint and our GPS signal was all over the place, especially when we were under the canopies where the cache was located.

Fishamatician eventually found the well-hidden container, and we logged in. All-in-all, a great cache in pleasant surroundings.

Next up was Sibden Hill for cache GC1E2QH. None of us are particularly familiar with this part of the Island, and we were very surprised by this little bit of countryside that backs onto a quiet little estate. It took us a while to find one of the entrances to the footpath, but sure enough a short climb later I discovered the cache exactly where the hint said it would be.

Absolutely wonderful views from up there, by the way!

A short drive later found us at the bottom of the rather imposing Nansen Hill, out towards Ventnor. After climbing the slope, we stopped at the top for a quick bevvy then got ahead of ourselves and climbed up the next (shorter) hill rather than double-checking our GPS co-ords. It turned out to be one hill too far and back down we went. I took a tumble due to my completely inappropriate footwear and ended up with muddy knees!

Fishamatician found and inspected the cache (GC1E058) whilst I took a couple of snaps from the top:

 

We stopped for a quick drink and a snack in Ventnor town, then made our way over to Ventnor Park for cache GC1E2QX. This one took a little effort to find, but after I climbed right into a bush I just about made out the canister well-hidden under leaves. It turns out the cache had previously been stolen, so we made sure to re-hide it just as well as we found it.

A quick cache and dash before we headed home - we stopped at Bonchurch Pond (GC15981) to log in to the micro that is hidden there. The ducks weren't interested in the bread that we bought for them so we all climbed back into the car satisfied that our day's caching was done.

Two New Caches Hidden - The Floating Bridge

We've prepared, hidden and submitted our first two caches. They're small magnetic nano containers as purchased from UKGeocachers. I think they're perfect for the locale, but they are a bit fiddly to log in as the log roll needs to be rolled tight to fit in the container.

One cache is located on either side of the Cowes - East Cowes floating bridge, on the Isle of Wight. This vehicular bridge is one of the few remaining in the UK as most have been replaced by fixed bridges.

Please enjoy our first two caches, and keep an eye out in future as we have some larger caches ready to place once we've finalised our hiding places!

Panda Elite Logo

You might find our logo on various items (Travel Bugs, Keyrings etc.) that we have placed in caches.

Hi from Team Panda Elite

Welcome to the blog by Team Panda Elite, a Geocaching team from the Isle of Wight. This blog will be used to keep track of our Geocaching days out, the caches we place and any Travel Bugs and Geocoins we put out there. Hopefully we'll post plenty of pictures along the way!

GarethIW, Monkey, Fishamatician and Cibby