Cold but very sunny, said yesterday’s weather forecast. A perfect start to the half term week, and the perfect day for a treasure hunt. Auntie H wanted to go geocaching, and J and I needed to collect some autumn-y things for our half term project, so we put on lots of layers, made a packed lunch and set off on a long bus ride to The Woods. The Woods, where many a full day was spent exploring with my siblings during our childhood. Ive taken J to the nearby farm many times, but never taken him up the hill, so was excited to be showing him this place. We stopped off at the farm because we haven’t been in a while, and the baby pigs we saw a few months ago snuggled up to their mum were now very big and friendly pigs wallowing in the mud.
We set off up the woody hill to collect some autumness. J proceeded to fill his bag with every pine cone he could find, which was A Lot of pine cones. It got very heavy and I had to secretly remove handfuls of them at regular intervals. He eventually became interested in a few leaves of various wonderful colours of autumn, and also some pieces of bark. Taking a leisurely woodland stroll is something I havent done in years, and I forgot how beautiful it can be. No-one better to share it with than my sister and my son.
We reached the windmill at the top of the hill and had a well earned rest. I explained to J what the windmill was used for and plenty of questions were asked, while Auntie H used her GPS to begin geocaching. The GPS was fairly accurate, and along with a few clues, we searched for a while and she found the first. An exciting moment. Some geocaches have items inside, but most just contain a log of who has found it so far. This one had been at the bottom of the same tree for years. We added our names with the date and set off to find a second. We were unsuccessful, but J found a beautiful tree which he said was a wishing tree, and a puddle which was Very deep in the middle, and a low branch which he enjoyed swinging from.
The Wishing Tree
On the way back up past the windmill, we found lots more interesting and colourful leaves for our collection. J had a fall and a bloody knee and we were very tired from all the walking by this point so we began to head home. Onthe way out, Auntie H spotted a clue for another geocache and with a little searching, I found it! Strange to think I must have passed by it so many times on previous trips, but there it was, nestled in its hiding place. “We’re on a treasure hunt” I wrote on it, and put it back to be found again.
A Geocache - so much more exciting than it looks!
A very successful treasure hunt for all of us and a very tired little boy. Our collection of leaves and pine cones will be used for a little crafty project involving papier mache, which I will write about as we create it.
P.S. An apology for the dreadful quality of the photographs, taken using my phone whilst my much loved camera is away being repaired. Get well soon.
A Small Hand In Mine 