GRRR I just had a pretty bad one - caching-wise!
So we took Fizz the puppy out on a walk to find her first Geocache - she had a brilliant time, jumping around in a stream, meeting another dog, and seeing a new area! But she didn't get to see her first cache: it was getting dark and so we decided to turn back, as it was a quite a way to the car. That was all good, but what was bad about it was: there wasn't anywhere to park, there were grumpy residents who weren't happy to see us walking down the footpath, and, I'm not sure if people agree, but in principle those sole standing caches are always a bit annoying - of course there are exceptions - but this was one of those "are we on the right path, or is it the parallel one way over there?" - this is why I enjoy circular walks more
HOWEVER, I wouldn't say that was my WORST caching experience, just a slightly unpleasant one for the reasons above... I would say that my worst caching experience was - urgh, it makes me laugh now thinking about it - was when we were hunting for a 'large' cache, with plenty of favourite points, for my 500th... It was an unknown cache: you had to work out the puzzle to two more caches, and each of them contained half of the coordinates to the grande large finale. Found the first and noted the Westings fine, but then the northings...
It was one of those hanging-over-the-edge-of-a-railway-bridge-next-to-busy-road caches
I found the cache, but there were no coordinates inside
- just a riddle - and, you guessed it, it was one of THOSE riddles that you can't get your head around. So we left GZ thinking we'd be able to find the cache with just the North coordinates, anyway, it would be a great 500th after all... So I turned to common sense: the cache had to be somewhere in the area. I had studied the cache gallery in the days leading up to the hunt, and so I identified several locations on the map (and even by shouting STOP as we were driving) which looked remotely like the photos.
We ended up walking across a golf course, many fields, along many roads, through a couple of forests (trying to match the north coordinates) all in the hope that we'd find the cache. Of course, there were several "I FOUND IT!!!" moments, nope, just a turned over dustbin or large bucket each time (it was a large cache, after all). We just got too frustrated and gave up. We had wasted a day, and driven 40 miles for this cache
So, on the way home, in the pitch black, I decided we could find Starman for my 500th... On the way home and under the stars themselves and in blistering winds up on those hill tops we tried to find the cache but decided to call it a day in the end.
Returned the next day where I could enjoy the views and find the cache, a most worthy 500th - no silly riddles, no silly puzzles, no busy roads - just a good cache in a stunning picturesque spot.
So that's my worst caching experience - what's yours?? Could get some good stories on here (I hope I haven't made a fool of myself with mine!
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