Guilden Morden Gallop, Cambridgeshire.

The day started out with a couple of quick drive by caches which we were able to park right next to.

We then headed to Guilden Morden to attempt the ‘Guilden Modern Gallop’ circuit.

The first few caches were quickly found.

It was here that we encountered a very inquisitive horse, who wanted to know what we were up to.

After explaining to him, we moved off and saw these amazing flowers, which I now know to be hemp-agrimony (also known as ‘holy rope) – it seemed irresistible to the red admiral butterflies dining off it.

All the hedgerows along this section were bursting with fruit and berries which seemed to glow in the soft sunlight.

We then passed through a very atmospheric, wooded hollow-way…

… to our next target. This cache took some finding! It looks innocuous here but it was tricky ‘in the field’ but we triumphed in then end.

The next few caches were no problem…

…so we headed onwards towards the next cache which was hidden in an old BT phone box which is now brilliantly re-purposed as a book exchange.

After finding a few more caches…

We came across an ivy bush which was literally teaming with bug life – I really think ivy is underestimated as food for insects. There were butterflies,

…bees, wasps, beetles and this huge hornet hover fly,

This insect was so big and fascinating, that I watched it for some minutes, even taking some video footage of it eating.

Next we headed into the actual village itself where we completed a ‘village sign’ cache’,

And a church micro.

The church itself (St. Marys) was very cool, it had an original medieval rood-screen with brightly coloured original paintings of Edmund, King of East Anglia (who was martyred in 870AD) and of Erkenwald, Bishop of London in 675AD).

It was in here that I had a revelation about what had happened to the dinosaurs – but I’ll leave you to come to your own conclusions…

Then we headed off to find the church micro cache a short walk away, which was duly signed and replaced.

After finding a couple more,

… we stopped at a children’s play area for refreshments. Luckily it was deserted so The Man had a quick go on the play equipment.

After our refreshments we were off again and we found this very cute ‘rabbit’ container.

After finding a couple more caches (including a ‘Little Bridges’ cache – which ‘The Man’ is currently very fond of)…

… we continued to the village of Steeple Morden and we bagged yet another ‘little bridges’ cache and a couple of others

We then found ourselves crossing between some fenced off fields where some very friendly, and very handsome; goats were.

After this there was one quick find in a wooded area…

… then it was back to the car for the journey home, with a very brief stop for a look for a puzzle cache – which we found and I managed to pick up a travel bug.