Wherigo- Treskilling Trek

This geocache deserves a post of it's own- its the best geocache we've done so far. A truly interactive way to play geocaching hide and seek. 


The wherigo took us to a section of the Clay Trail from Bugle to the Eden Project.  The view was amazing...

It was a good path that we nearly didn't take as we had parked quite a long way from the start of it as we wanted to do 3 other caches first and when we got there we ummd and arrrd over whether to leave it for another day as we knew there was a possibility of rain. Fortunately we carried on...

One of the wonderful things about geocaching is that you meet other friendly people. We bumped into two cyclists who had stopped to watch an adder asleep who was sluggishly laying across the path. We all stood taking photos and admiring the natural beauty of Britain's only venomous snake.


The snake was much smaller than I thought they would be, and I was surprised that it was so reluctant to move- though it does look as if it had recently eaten- notice the bulge in it's middle.



The wherigo led us to a hidden lake where we saw some geese and goslings.











There were rafts of lilies spread around the lake- I had never seen lilies like this before






Nearby were some cliffs which not only looked like amazing sand sculptures, but were also home to a colony of rare sand martins- there are estimated to be only about 200- 300 breeding pairs in Cornwall so it felt like a privilege to see them flying in and out of their burrows.




The scenery is very artificial if you look closely...
the lake is actually an old pit that was last worked in 1971. It has since been allowed to flood and is now 15m deep.


In the background, a spoil 'mountain' and an old chimney, man's interference with nature is all around here...



The Wherigo took us all along the trail but on the way back we diverted to look for another cache. How do people find these locations? We wouldn't have found this place in a million years without being led there by a cache.


It truly looked quite swampy in places... appearing like a different world from the clay trail, but only a hundred metres or so from the lake in the clay pit.


We took some photos of each other on this walk which I will post on my personal blog Creative Serendipity ( http://creativeserendipity-gmg.blogspot.com/ ).


So until next time
Gillian

Clay Country

Today we went geocaching along the Clay Trail from Bugle to the Eden Project.

At the start of the trail was this stunning statue. I don't know why they chose to put a horse here but it a beautiful sculpture.

The path is unexpectedly well developed given that it is in an area that is essentially man made as a result of the extraction of china clay and other minerals which has resulted in an artificial landscape.

We found three geocaches along this part of the trail, two were cleverly camouflaged adding a nice bit of interest and challenge- though it didn't take us long to find them.

We then walked further along the trail to do a Wherigo geocache- the only bit I didn't much was the section we had to walk along the road itself- you can be as careful as possible but you are putting your life in the hands of other peoples careful driving doing that...


As we walked along I noticed a mine chimney sticking out of a field. We walked to take a closer look and found it, with some stables built right next to it. I really like that in Cornwall the old stacks are all around but are just being absorbed into the modern landscape.




You can't go far in Cornwall without seeing a mine chimney...






Most of the landscape in this photo is artificial, being built on china clay mining waste.

Two more spoil heaps; locally they are sometimes called the Cornish Alps. I actually quite like them, they are being returned to a natural state and are quite a sight.

I've got loads more photos of the Wherigo cache walk itself that I'll post tomorrow
So until next time
Gillian