25th April – An Amble in April

Meeting up with friends between Cheltenham and Gloucester we stayed at Briarfields Touring Park, a child-free zone, with garden landscaping, trees and space. Our awning hadn’t been put up since the autumn and so it took longer to remember what went where, however it was soon up followed by a late lunch. Kenny and Maureen had started a new hobby of finding Geocaches and we were keen to know all about it, along with Gilly and a not so curious Alan! A container of varying sizes ranging from micro to large, is hidden about the towns and countryside with GPS coordinates and a clue giving the location where it’s to be found. There is usually no treasure in the container, just a log to sign and date, job done and satisfaction that you found it. We embarked on a countryside ramble and succeeded in finding the cashes hidden in random locations inside a variety of containers; a mini sandwich box, a long tube, a round tin, an old camera film canister, etc. Luckily our clever leader had sorted out a route going via a pub for refreshments later on.

We all took a day trip by bus to visit Cheltenham which is a pretty town with various styles of architecture; the old brick built theatre, stone town hall, and elegant mews houses and the ultra modern and no doubt expensive flats overlooking a park. There were tree lined streets with shops and coffee bars, a weird sculpture and a really impressive Gaudi style shop front. It was a beautiful sunny day and there was much to admire so we walked around the centre for a while following a route Chris had printed from the Internet with various notes to inform ourselves what we were looking at.

It wasn’t too far into the amble around Cheltenham that Kenny told us there was a cashe hidden close by and it was found quite quickly hidden at the foot of a large of tree, seems they are everywhere! Thirsty work meant we found a sunny but very expensive place for a drink, rest and recuperation but after another walk around we found a cheaper venue for lunch and returned to the campsite.

The following day we walked over fields and tracks located several more cashes, stopped for another pub lunch and after 3 pints of beer, Alan had his first cashe, obviously refreshments are a necessity! Nearly all of us found a cashe cunningly hidden in a variety of locations, we’d walked nearly 6 miles and a good time was had by all.

Another bus trip took us to Gloucester and on a cold, grey day it had a much more rundown look and feel to the immediate area. We headed over to the Old Dockyard to find Queen Boadicea II for a boat trip down the Gloucester & Sharpness Canal. On board for our 45 minute trip we wrapped up in the blankets provided and enjoyed a commentary telling us how the pleasure boat worked in London on the Thames, it had also been part of the Dunkirk Little Ships evacuation of soldiers. Following that and a return to London, eventually she was used to cross the River Dart between Kingswear and Dartmouth, and also worked as the ferry for a while from Portsmouth to Cremyll on the Rame Head Peninsular before finally being used in Gloucester.

On our return to the dockside and after a hot lunch we thawed out sufficiently to venture into the centre of Gloucester which was much better than our first impressions had been. Heading to the imposing stone cathedral dating from 1089 with square tower, the ornate carved figures looked down on us as we went inside. The long nave had a high vaulted pale ceiling, numerous colourful stained glass windows, huge ornate tall organ, mosaic floors and more beautiful intricate vaulted ceilings to the closed cloisters around a central garden.

After our four night get-together taking in some countryside, culture and geocaches, we started thinking about next year and settled on the Isle of Wight in June, sounds like fun!