Camping and Caching Club

A trip to the Forest of Dean

My mate Kev (caching handle MattAAQ) and I have known each other since the early 80's... we were at uni at the same time and geeked together, particular in the radio club of which we were both members. He's got a camper van and I've got a sense of adventure; both of us have Garmin GPS receivers (he's got the eTrex 30, me the 30x). Our 2019 spring break adventure took us west, first in to the Forest of Dean and then on to the Brecon Beacons.

I know the Forest of Dean well. With the glorious River Wye flowing through stunning forested valleys I had a period in my youth where I did a lot of camping in these areas, mountain biked the many hill trails, potholed and caved in many troglodyte shafts, and kayaked on the rapids at Symond's Yat. It was this latter point that was our destination for our first day's geocaching. On the east side of the river is the Saracen's Head, a pub that has glorious views across the valley.

Starting at Christchurch at the campsite we headed off and soon met some hikers who were interested to know all about geocaching. Reaching the riverside path we headed north and swiftly picked up a number of caches on the way, following the track of a former railway. As we journeyed, my geobuddy videoed the proceedings (hopefully it'll be published on my YouTube channel in May).

Eventually we arrived at our destination and collapsed into a refreshing pint at the pub, forgetting for a moment that we had to make the return journey via the Yat rock at the top of the hill. In all, we found seven caches but the adventure was worth it!

There's now a video of our trip on our YouTube channel.