Although it hadn't really been our intention we started having a look for caches on the way and when Mrs SC announced there was a cache within a few hundred meters of the road we were on it didn't take much persuasion for me to take a turn off to go and have a look. The cache in question was called Birdoswald Fort and as its name suggests is at the site of another Roman fort. The current name is taken from the farm that the site is now within however in Roman time this fort was known as Banna. This name apparently means tongue or spur which reflects the landscape where it is built. The cache was an easy park and grab from the English Heritage car park and we sent the kids out to get it on their own.
A bit further on we stopped at a small junction next to a cottage to have a look for Key to the Road. This was a tricky one to find and after I'd had a good hunt around looking at sign posts, a post box and everything else around I had to call out Mrs SC who'd stayed in the car. Even this didn't help and we were about to give up when I spotted something which looked like it should be there at first glance but not when you really think about it. Unfortuantely I can't really give much more away without spoiling the secret hiding place but this was a very special cache and very clever. We're now thinking about creating one like this around our area too.
Back in the car and on to a little town called Newcastleton where a number of caches were showing on the map. When we got there these turned out to be part of a trail. Our first find here On the trail of Cassie was located at a sign welcoming us to Newcastleton. Myself and Super Girlie walked back to this and spent a while looking around before finding it in an obvious spot we'd overlooked.
The next cache in the trail had lots of DNFs recently so we skipped that and moved the car to the centre of town. After a spot of lunch got our walking kit on and headed off into the woods in search of more plastic.
We didn't have to go far when we found the next cache On the Trail of Cassie - E. This was a simple base of tree find but was a decent sized cache in which we found a TB. Signing the log and rehiding this one was rushed as we spotted a muggle with duggle approaching from the town.
Third find on the trail was On the trail of Cassie - 29/12/01 and was well hidden. The clue given was "The Drifters sang about this place..." and sure enough we were having some fun. Just before reaching this we'd passed a couple of women in the wood who seemed to be struggling with a GPS. We suspected them to be other cachers but didn't ask. Having a look at the logs however I don't think they were as noone logged these caches on the same day as we did. Or maybe the didn't find them.
Next came On the trail of Cassie - I for which we still don't get the clue. We didn't need one however as eagle eyed Super Girlie spotted some rocks which looked out of place as we approached. Sure enough it was the cache!
Out of the woods and onto a track and we reached an old bridge over what was once a railway line. Here we again spotted some rocks which looked suspicious however there was no easy way to reach them as they were behind a barbed wire fence. Eventually I got over but had to then go under the bridge and back up the other side to reach the rocks. It was all a bit muddy and the undergrowth didn't help either but thankfully the suspicious rocks were guilty and so On the trail of Cassie - C was soon logged and returned.
Further down the railway line was yet another cache On the trail of Cassie - A and yet again Super Girlie spotted it before we were anywhere near. It was then a long walk back (getting lost a few times along the way) to town and down to the river to look for On the trail of Cassie - 13/05/11. We looked for this one for ages but unfortunately had to eventually and reluctantly call it quits and log a DNF.
By the time we got back to the car and had a look at the map it was pretty clear we weren't going to reach the Kielder Forest so we decided to head back a slightly different route and see if we could bag a few more caches around Brampton. On the way we pulled up and bagged another roadside cache called Riley's rest TB Hotel. It didn't live up to it's name however as there were no TBs in there on our visit.
Upon reaching Brampton we headed out Old Church Lane which as it's name suggests leads to an old church. Along this road we pulled into a layby and Mrs SC and Super Girlie jumped out to go and find Old Grey Oak before we drove on and parked at the church. The cache here The Old Church is located behind the graveyard which was soft and wet. It wasn't as soft and wet as the area where the cache was hidden however. We had a bit of bother getting down to the GZ and even more trying to scramble back up the muddy slope again. Thought Mrs SC wasn't going to make it home.
Back to Brampton and Mrs SC and Super Girlie once again headed off solo to find Holly Lane. Their first attempt was a failure as they couldn't get to the cache from the lane they went down but after moving back up the road a bit the correct lane was found and they were soon back having found and logged it.
Last of the day was Sam's 21 which was a sneeky hide in a small wood. The hide wasn't far from a path but I just couldn't find it and eventually had to call in reinforcements. As is often the case, Super Girlie found it within a couple of minutes. The cache was simple but clever and somewhere I'd seen but overlooked. I was just glad to have it found so we could get back in the car and head home as by now I was knackered.
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