Adventures of a Bolas Heathen

Every year we meet up with the cousins-in-law just before Christmas to see a show and then go out for a meal afterwards. We were not due at the Symphony Hall until 2pm on Saturday so I decided to head off early and find some caches beforehand.

We’ve done all but a couple of multi’s in the city centre so I settled on a series of caches by g6lpb along the Tame Valley Canal just by the M6 junction near Great Barr. If I have time, I’ll head over to alongside the M6 just north of the canal to find a few more caches by the same cache owner, before heading off into Birmingham.

Last, but by no means least, I planned a return visit to Cheeky Cache! in Edgbaston as we’d tried and failed to find this on the previous two years when we met up for our pre-Christmas event with the family.

I dropped Isaac off at school on the way and headed off to the M54 / M6. I was soon parking up on a side street near a cache called ‘Cliff N Bricks‘. Out came my bike and off I set down the towpath.

The first cache was just by the bridge near where I parked but I soon realised I was on the wrong side of the canal to get it. I decided to leave it and find it on the way back to the Jeep. The next cache had two consecutive DNF’s on it, but I spotted a skid mark in the mud on the bank as I pulled up and this lead to me finding the cache in the first place I looked (I was very lucky as there are quite a few places it could have been hidden).

The rest of the caches were good fun, with one down a slippery bank which was great fun and a few other nicely hidden caches. The last in the series was off the towpath and on a bridge high above the cut. I decided to drive round to it later on, but in the end I ran out of time and never got the chance. One for next time methinks :-).

After re-tracing my steps (or should I say tyre tracks!) along the towpath, I went off to get two caches the other side from where I parked before going back to bag the cache that was on the wrong side of the canal. I managed to DNF the oldest one of these caches but was in good company with the last person before me DNF’ing it too. I see today that someone has found it today, saying it’s their first cache find. I can’t begin to think how they found it as it was nowhere near GZ if it was hidden as per the hint. Very odd.

I then re-positioned the Jeep to near a cache called ‘Forgers Walk‘ and got the bike out again. A couple of easy finds, then a DNF. If I’d had more time I probably would have got this cache, but I needed to think about getting into Brum by now.

Just time for a couple more quick caches – Hollywood 1 and 2. The first I could not find, so I went off to get the second one, which was an easy find and a lovely big ammo box. I then returned to the one I could not find and eventually found it – a very sneaky hide it was too! Very satisfying :-).

Back at the Jeep, I drove into Brum, round the ring road and on to the Cheeky Cache!. Having failed on this two years on the run now, I was well planned and knew exactly what to do to find the cache. I can’t say what I did here (it’s a difficulty 5 cache and I don’t want to spoil the cache for others who have not yet done it) but the cache was a quick find – phew!

Just time for a couple more caches now before the show. Sidetracked Birmingham University was one we’d tried for last year and could not find anywhere to park so had to leave it. This time I parked a short distance away and cycled to it (much easier!).

Two quick caches on the southern ring road had me finished for the day and off I set to meet up with the others.

Only 15 finds for the morning, but some really nice hides and it was REALLY good to finally crack Cheeky Cache!