Job hunting in education. AGAIN!!!

Throughout my adult life I have been continuously told that the best way to find and stay in a job is self-promotion. Compile a good curriculum vitae with a detailed section on personal interests, on job applications always describe other skills that may not necessarily be relevant to the position you are applying for; something that I did when I applied for work in secondary education last summer, resulting with a position at a new academy in Kent.

I was awarded a position within the academy on my own merits and for that I am grateful. I enjoy my work supporting lower ability students in the classroom and I am confident that I am making positive progress with the young people I am assigned to.

I am not just a newly qualified teaching assistant (Level 3 obtained Summer 2010), I bought with me several years’ experience of 1:1 and classroom support at both KS1 and KS2 education, therefore understanding the needs and difficulties of students who are struggling to rise above SATS levels 2 and 3. Many of the children I have supported since 2005 have not just had learning difficulties; they have also been diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum, emotional and behavioral issues or have ADHD.

In addition to providing support in schools, during my free time I started a successful Beaver Scout colony in 2007, once established I progressed to Cub Scout leader, planning and running balanced programs for 8-10 ½ year olds. I am now in my sixth year as a fully qualified and warranted Scout leader. This position is not just about sparing an hour and a half a week, but often includes extra time planning and researching a wide variety of subject matter and then delivering it to the young people in a fun format, teaching them new skills in a way they understand and remember.

Having this experience and relatively new skill proved invaluable when faced with a KS3 class, whose teacher, who in unforeseen circumstances, failed to arrive for a lesson and no cover or supply had been provided, leaving me to deliver a lesson without preparation or back up.

In addition to this skill, I have developed my own learning, mostly with an interest in the outdoors; walking, hiking, map reading, camping and geocaching, all of which I have obtained and maintained over the past six years. During my teen years I was an avid archer. Regularly breaking club and county records, some of which I still hold today. Thanks to this talent I have often assisted other Scout leaders (who hold GNAS qualifications) to deliver taster sessions on activity days and camps.

After having been informed by human resources just a few weeks ago to look for work as there was no guarantee of an extension to contracts, the principle hosted a compelling assembly to the lower school. Explaining to the students about taking risks, find their hidden talents and not to wait for opportunities to fall into their laps. That they would have to work for their goals and dreams, In essence self-promotion!

Following on from that assembly, I read an article in a local paper about the principles pledge of “Local jobs, for local people!” This compelled me to write to him, outlining my existing skills, and as a local who supports his school and his vision, in the hopes that they reconsider their position on continuing existing contracts.

Support assistants are often the image of consistency in secondary education, especially in an establishment that still has a high turnover of teaching staff due to the ongoing changes and teething problems that come from having a brand new school.  Is it fair for pupils to continue to put up with a long list of supply teachers and cover supervisors? Only to have all the support staff laid off at the end of the academic year!

I am not just a little upset that twelve months on I am having to look for work again and self-promote to schools and academies that may not necessarily be looking for someone with my skills and talents, but I am saddened that I may not be there to see the students I have helped this year, to grow, mature and achieve to the best of their abilities. They are great children and I have developed a good working relationship with them, in that I am a common face with common interests, a familiarity when they are faced with yet another new member of staff!

History & Geocaching – Chaldon Church

St Peter & St Paul, Chaldon, Surrey

In the UK we have a series known as Church Micro’s which was started by Sadexploration in 2007 and now boasts around 3000 cache listings, not all owned by Sadexploration but by many others around the country. The series also boasts a league table, challenges and awards and the lists are maintained by Andy33, BaSHful and Sadexploration.

The Mural circa 1170-1200

I hadn’t been too interested in whether I was on the league tables or even what award I had achieved, I was just grabbing Church Micro’s wherever and whenever. Until recently!

I work in secondary education and often assist in History lessons, one of the subjects I love most. Last term we were teaching Year 7′s about Medieval English History, which included Churches and the progression of religion through that time. In particular, Doom Paintings, a style of art work used by Monks in early British Churches to enable the Peasants to understand the teachings of the Bible.

An extract from the Doomesday Book

During the 1100′s Priests would give sermons in Latin (and the Bible was also written in Latin), therefore the British population, despite having had the Romans here several centuries before didn’t know what was being said, let alone being able to read! So travelling Monks would go from Church to Church painting Murals that explained the difference between Heaven and Hell.

The original stone doorstep that has been worn through by countless generations of visitors over the past 1000 years.

As a result of this particular lesson I was having a discussion with friends on Google+ about that style of art, when I was told by one of them that they knew of a Church near them that had “a freaky looking mural on one of the walls”. I needed to know more so he told me of a Church in Chaldon, Surrey that he used to muck about in when he was a youngster, he went on to say that he was so freaked by it, he would never go there at night. By this stage my interest was already piqued and the first search I did was on Geocaching.com to see if this Church was in the Micro series.

A plaster cast of the ancient bell of St Paul which was stolen in 1970 after having resided in the church porch for more than 750 years.

Sure enough, it was there and was one that was placed by Sadexploration him/herself. The Church of St Peter & St Paul, Chaldon. A date was set during the Easter break with my family to take a trip out to Surrey, just so I could see the Church and the painting.

The Church dates as early 727AD and is of Saxon foundation. It came under the overlordship of the King of Mercia who founded Chertsey Abbey in 666AD which was the first religious settlement in Surrey, run by Benedictine Monks.

The Normans set up the manorial system in England and in 1085 made the Great Survey which resulted in the Doomsday book. Chaldon was recorded as “Chalvedune, being of two hides (200 acres) and a church”

It remained part of the Charter of Chertsey until the Dissolution of the Monastries by King Henry VIII.

Made from lizard oak, the pulpit is one of very few specimens left from Cromwellian times.

We were not disappointed either. After having got the co-ords needed to find the final cache hiding place we checked the front door and were pleased it was open.

The Pulpit inscribed with Patience Lambert 1657

From the minute we entered we could “feel” the age, it is beyond my ability to describe this place to its full potential and I would urge anyone who is interested in buildings or history to go there and look for themselves. Instead I will just provide a selection of photo’s and links for further reading.

Left side of the painting

“At the lower left hand edge of the wall painting on the west wall is a well defined cross from the original consecration of the church.”

Right side of painting

“The picture depicts the ‘Ladder of Salvation of the Human Soul’ together with ‘Purgatory and Hell’. Wall paintings of this kind were intended as a visual aid to religious teaching.”

“ Wall painting: west wall c.1200 one of the most important English wall paintings of that date. A type of purgatorial ladder in yellow ochre, red and white. 17ft x 11ft. Divided in two by cloudy band with the lower half decorated with torments and punishments of the wicked, the upper half devoted to the judgement and salvation of souls. In the centre is a ladder with Christ above. The main figures include the tree of knowledge, with the serpent (bottom right), the seven deadly sins and a cauldron for boiling murderers. Across the top are depicted the 3 Marys and Elijah and Enoch ascending to heaven, Christ defeating the devil and Christ preaching to the spirits in prison.”

Further Reading & quotes from:

Surrey History: Exploring Surrey’s past

Chaldon Village Council/History of Chaldon Church

British History online -Parishes – Chaldon

Historic environment Record – St Peter & St Paul

Chalk and Cheddar – Cozendon Woods

Heading out to Cozendon Woods

Over the past 12 months, geocaching has taken us to many interesting places, with many stories to be told about each one. However today’s story is one of the more interesting ones.

After getting a referral on the Geocaching UK group on Facebook from solesearchers, we followed a trail out to Cozendon wood near Ifield. The hunt for Chalk and Cheddar began. Parking up at the suggested co-ordinates and following the restricted byway out to the woods, hoping that the few spots of rain wouldn’t turn into a large downpour.

Snowdrops in bloom

Bluebell carpet

 

 

 

 

We thought this would be a normal afternoon stroll in the woods and for the most part it was. We followed the footpath into the tree line and were soon marveling at nature’s garden. Gorgeous snowdrops and scented bluebells carpeted the ground, the beautiful architecture of the century old trees, many still standing yet there were many others that had come crashing to the ground. Leaving natural sculptures in their wake. These woods were quickly becoming a calm and serene place to wander.

Resting in the bivouac

As we were using my garmin oregon 450 to navigate (using the map), we took a path to our left when we really needed to have taken the path straight ahead. If we had have taken that path then I don’t believe we would have seen the man made bivouac just to the right of the footpath.

Further along this path we looked on in awe at the wonderfully different ways the roots on the trees had formed. Some root formations had widened so far that they had split and created two trees, others had gaping holes right through them creating mini

Ivy roots wrapped around a fallen tree

bridges. One of the fallen trees had once had creeping ivy wrapped around its trunk and resembled a python hugging its prey.

After having walked this path for more than ten minutes, I took another look at the GPSr map and noticed that the little blue pointer attached to the pink line with the blue dot on the end was in direct line of the part one co-ordinates! At the same time Smif247 pointed out that we would need to change direction and head west to reach our first goal.

This was where we discovered that others had cut through here too. There were definitely recent tracks through the undergrowth, watching our steps

Is this a washing line?

and being incredibly careful not to damage any of the foliage, we headed westwards towards the plotted co-ords.

This was when things began feeling a little odd! We came across a large clearing, well off the path, and most definitely recently used as some sort of camp.

A thin rope was tied between a couple of trees with energy drink cans attached to it. On the right hand tree, someone had hung a saw up using the same rope as the make shift “washing line.” This saw however was incredibly weathered and covered in rust.

About 20 foot away someone had begun to build a shelter and had a bonfire

The framework of a shelter and the other saw to the right of the picture.

circle just in front of it. To the right of that there was another saw embedded into a nearby tree. This one was in much better condition than the last and looked as though it may have been used not too long ago.

We begun to turn ourselves towards the direction of stage one, when we found an upturned wheelbarrow, blackened from wood smoke and flames, residing by a smoldering tree root.

The smoldering tree root

Why on earth was there a smoldering tree root? This wasn’t a small one either, and most certainly being kept under control as the greenery within its perimeter was pretty much damage free. We came to the conclusion that the wheelbarrow was being used to control the flames. Someone, it would seem, was living out here in the woods, because that tree root would only need some extra tinder & logs to re-light the flames. Not only that, someone had even piled some good sized fallen logs nearby, which looked ideal for creating a new fire near the part built shelter. Hence keeping the root smoldering perhaps.

This was when I began to feel a little jittery, and strangely like we may have

Stage 2

been getting watched. I wasn’t the only one, Cadence was also getting agitated and bought us back to the task in hand.

Turns out we were only about 150 feet from part one. We departed the camp quickly and came across our prize fairly soon. Despite me going round in circles waiting for the compass to catch up and point me in the right direction. Smif247 on the other hand had already found the container with the new co-ords and was already programming them into the Groundspeak app on his phone.

Cadence was the first one to GZ

Still feeling a little jittery after finding the camp, we hastened up the footpath towards stage two, still discussing the unusual find. It wasn’t long before we found where we needed to go and Cadence was the first one sliding down to ground zero. We didn’t need to borrow the tool from stage one, which saved us the walk back, as we always carry at least one with us in our tool kit.

While I was more intrigued by the chalk formation and snapping photographs, Smif247 and Cadence were busying themselves with the final geocache. Investigating the contents and signing the log book.

We spent quite a bit of time down there investigating the cut out “rooms”

Brick work chalk

under the beautiful woods above. At some point in the past someone had actually cut through the chalk from one “room” to another. Just the right size for a small child to crawl through. The way the chalk sat together looked like brick work. I’ve never seen anything like it before and am so glad that solesearchers had found this spot and left a cache there so that others could also see nature at work.

Easy tree climb

After replacing the cache and scrambling back to ground level we found the well used bridal way and headed back towards our point of entry. We were back to marveling nature at work, me snapping pictures, Cadence climbing fallen trees and Smif247 pointing out the man made mud ramps along the path and the random trials bike wing mirror casing.

When we reached the bivouac we decided to investigate this area further. The people who built this, also had a stash of firewood close by and a fire circle behind their shelter. Not too far from this we noticed that someone had spray painted arrows and dots on trees along a route, so we followed this and came across a large tree that had a ladder built on to it and the starting frame for a tree house.

Not only that, there appeared to be many “hiding” places all over the woods.

The beginnings of a tree house

Most were reminiscent of geocache hides using stick-o-flage. All of the ones we looked at were empty though.

I would highly recommend that geocachers and muggles alike come to these woods, not only for the natural beauty but because there seemed to be so much to discover here. One of the best afternoons I’ve ever had.

 

by Luminesence

 

Cadence and Smif247 underground

Geocaching for children

Hi from CadencetheGeokid and Luminesence!

We’ve been thinking that some geokids may be getting a little bit bored of different types of geocaches; for instance Jellybeansgeokid doesn’t enjoy cache & dashes along with me (Cadence). So we thought that it would be nice to share some of our favourite hides with you.

CadencetheGeokid and Brainy Smurf

One of our whole families favourites was Smurf Safari by pooh, tig and lala. Smurf Safari is a small multi cache hidden around a tree farm not far from an area called Bluetown.  We all think that it was placed near Bluetown because Smurf’s are blue. This was a fun multi because it wasn’t too long or too little a walk and because we all love Smurf’s we couldn’t resist it.

We had to find 5 different smurfs, each had a code to help us find the final hiding place of stage 6. It took us a little while to find number 1 because we were not sure what we were looking for. Number 2 was not as hard as number 1 but it still took us a good 10 minutes to find it. Number 3 was easier and fun to find because we were getting used to the idea of this multi. 4 & 5 were a blast, just like the rest and finally stage 6 was a trackable heaven. We found 2 trackables and quite a bit of stash. The lid of the final stage was relevant and funny. This multi cache took about an hour to complete.

Pirate Treasure in the woods

Mum (Luminesence) finds it difficult to find caches that keeps us interested, but one she knew we would love was Toms Treasure Chest by major tom. This was a small walk from the car but a whole load of fun.

After finding the chest, one of the largest containers we have found to date,

The pirates entry book

we saw a large amount of treasures, coins from different countries and the amazing “pirate” themed log book.

I picked up three bracelets and a go-go crazy bones in exchange for a large stash of jewellery and badges (to keep the treasure chest well stocked). Watching Jellybeansgeokid was like a replay of Christmas day. She was most definitely in her element. Smif247 and Luminesence were certainly more interested in the coins, trackables and log books, however Smif247 did have a moment of childishness when he tried on some “piratey” hoop earings.

Smif247 trying on Pirate jewellery

After I wrote my “essay” in the magnificent log book, Luminesence photographed it so that I could re-write it on the cache page. Toms Treasure Chest was certainly a family favourite and gained a favourite point from each of the grown ups.

A great hide

As Cadence said, it can be difficult to engage the geokids when most of the geocaches are nano’s or 35mm film canisters, and it can become a real struggle and drag for them when we are out grabbing micro’s left, right & centre. Jellybeans prefers to go on the long circular walks with a variety of cache sizes, whereas Cadence is more interested in the shorter walks with plenty of swap boxes as she is in the process of collecting go-go crazy bones.

Saying that though, both of my geokids seem to have a penchant for the slightly extreme cache types.

Inside the zero station

One of which they pestered me for several months, insisting that I had to take them there, even though I already had the smilie in place for it. I couldn’t believe that I was going back there again!

Jellybeans ducking for cover

It was PWU #5 Hollingbourne Zero Station/Arachnophobia. This was my second trip into what was once a communications bunker during the war. Now though it is just a shell underground which has become a popular nesting place for Meta bourneti, a species of cave spider.

Both the girls are pleased that they went through with entering the underground bunker, but Cadence has discovered that she doesn’t like spiders anymore. I think it was the egg sacs that put her off.

Jellybeans on the other hand said it was her most enjoyable find so far, but

Meta bourneti

has since changed her mind, because 10 days later her bedroom mirror had at least 30 tiny baby spiders creeping all over it. On later inspection she discovered 2 oval shaped egg sacs within her wardrobe, very reminiscent of those within PWU #5.

This experience however doesn’t seem to have put the geokids off from entering other underground cache sites.

Jellybeans leading the way

One of which CadencetheGeokid has now visited twice. She enjoyed it so much the first time, she didn’t want to appear to be a chicken when it was Jellybeansgeokid’s turn to visit LA:RS Lights the way.

I’ll give Cadence her due, the first visit was in the dark and she is scared of the dark, heights and spiders. So I am very proud that she decided to re-enter the ROC underground bunker, home to a micro cache (and a couple of dead rabbits!).

Okay, so the last two caches are not what you would

Cadence follows on (looking a little anxious)

normally describe as family friendly, but when you have a 10 year old and a 15 year old, something a little out of the ordinary and somewhat challenging really is on the menu for a good trip out. These experiences (are what they asked for) will stay with them right into adult hood and I can already imagine the stories they will tell their children & grandchildren.

If you can recommend any other interesting or child friendly geocache’s within Kent, feel free to comment with the GC code.

By CadencetheGeokid and Luminesence

Geokids & muggle friend inside the ROC bunker after finding LA:RS Lights the way

Extreme Geocaching

I have got the bug for extreme caching at the moment, Lumi  is hoping it will pass soon after having to fill in for me on the latest supermarket sweep 11.

As it had her down an undergrouond tunnel in a river bed.

SS #11

So anyway on to todays adventure, by early this morning I had a call about a new cache that had been placed, but not through the usual channels and here were the coordinates.

Out the door I rolled at 0214 to meet up with two other cachers that share the madness and off into the night we drove. It took about three hours to get to GZ, we overtook two “cut it squirt it” trucks on the way, both on a blue light but hey ho!!

At the intersection

At GZ we jimmied open the outer shell so to speak and found our selves in a long tunnel heading west for a quater mile. We came to a cross section, looking to the left it was a small corridor that had a cave in at some point, turning right looped all the way back to the start, but came out five foot to the left, over the river.

Starting back to the cross section we went straight over. ‘By now it must be getting light’ I thought, as I could see the occasional air vent on our route. After about 400 yards the tunnel took an upright turn linking in with an underground rail track.

We could hear the occasional rumble of a tube train; but it seemed safe so we continued on our way. Ten minutes later we overheard voices in the

We'll go this way then

distance! ‘It must be someone else’ we thought, looking for our award. But no! Turns out it was the boys in blue securitiy checking the new olympic tunnel structure. After getting chased down one of the tubes we made it safely into a side room, about 4×8 feet and it had a small ladder leading up, so we followed it, up and out into what was fast becoming the worst caching experience ever. As we broke into the light it was only then we realised we had just been caught in an april fools blog.

Happy caching and keep out of strange holes in the ground!

Herman ; The Edible Travel Bug

I have been meaning to write about travel bugs & geocoins for some time now, because they really intrigue me. Some are beautiful, some are downright ugly but each and everyone  has a story behind it and a journey to undertake.

A small selection of trackables that have passed my way

What are travel bugs, geocoins and trackables? I hear you ask! These are generic names given to items of all shapes and sizes, that geocachers send out

"Bad Boy" Geo coin

“into the wild” or keep as a means of tracking their personal mileage. Each item is personal to the geocacher in some way and quite often has a story attached to it. They each have a unique tracking number etched on to a tag (or on the geocoin), geocachers then make a note of the number and can add logs on Geocaching.com. Some “owners” have created some great goals and stories for their trackables and I have a lot of fun discovering them and reading about their travels.

Herman the travel bug

But none have been as interesting as Herman! My story of Herman begins on 18 Feb 2012 at Kent Cachers Best Bib and Tucker Meet in Maidstone, Kent. At our monthly meets we have the TB pot, where we all drop travel bugs & geocoins  for swapping. At this particular meet there was a particularly unusual travel bug, placed by little-miss-naughty.  At first we just assumed it was baby food for Little Car, how wrong we all were! This strange little tub was picked up by borrowed-wine at the end of the meet and was looked after for 10 days.

Then came the special Leap Day event organised by Sir-Lancelot, and the strange tub of mixture put in another appearance. Now after having read up on Herman I was adamant I was not going to go home with this strange looking liquid. Famous last thoughts! Before I knew what was happening Smif247 had picked up the mixture and informed me it was coming home with us.

Once home, smif247 had to find the detailed instructions on how to look after Herman, the most worrying of which was “You CANNOT put me in the fridge or I will die. If I stop bubbling, I am dead.”

Herman's new home

First things first was to empty the tub into a mixing bowl, stir it and cover with a tea towel. That was when we first noticed the yeast smell. On reading the instructions we discovered that Herman would be getting hungry the following day and that “it” would need feeding.

Already we starting to feel quite responsible for this strange mixture bubbling away in the kitchen.

After Herman's first meal

In no time at all Herman began to integrate himself into the family. All of us would check on his progress every day to make sure he was still bubbling. All of us panicking that Smif247 may end up killing the first edible trackable in Kent! Thankfully this did not happen. Smif247 looked after Herman as if he was his own child.

I must add however that we did not take him out on geocaching adventures with us (only logged him as visiting the nearest cache to home), unlike another cacher in our community who had been given a share of the first round of Herman!

Herman got very hungry

Then day 9 arrived and we had to feed Herman again before splitting him into 4 equal portions. We had to give away two to friends, refill the TB container so Herman could continue his journey and prepare ourselves for cooking up our portion.

By this point Herman really had become another member of the household and it was quite a daunting feeling knowing that we would be cooking him and then eating him. Word of advice – don’t ever name a cake! It makes it harder to eat!

On day 10 we added all the final ingredients and set about cooking Herman: The German Friendship cake. Then the inevitable happened! The reviewer for our area started publishing brand new caches within 3 miles of our home location!!!

Argh! What to do? Easy really, we left Jellybeans behind with strict instructions on when to turn off the oven, so we could go out and grab the FTF”s. One of which was the Supermarket Sweep series that Smif247 is crazy about.

Upon our return and in need of some celebration (we grabbed 2 FTF’s), Herman was cooked and had cooled enough for eating with a well deserved cup of tea.

Herman is ready for eating

Our cake sitting didn’t quite end there. We still had another 2 days before we could pass on the travel bug mixture to another geocacher at the Kent mini meet, High Tea, and one of our friends who was to have one of Herman’s “babies” decided to go away for a few days. So Smif247 had to go through the whole process a second time. I personally think he really enjoyed it.

Herman is now well and truly on a journey from cacher to cacher. Last heard he was dropped off at the Surrey Cachers monthly meet and is now residing in the home of sidjoloo. I wish him all the best of luck traveling across the country and I hope he touches the hearts and homes of many, just as he did ours.

Auf Weidersein Herman!

By Luminesence

 

Kent Cachers go Barking Mad in Boxley

Barking Mad

The sleepy little village of Boxley, near Maidstone were not prepared for the invasion of Kent Geocachers last weekend (Saturday 10th March 2012).

Lardy-bloke & GCmozart

 

 

 

 

A little while ago TopropeIan publicised an event entitled High Tea,

“Afternoon tea, is a small meal snack typically eaten between 2pm and 5pm. The custom of afternoon tea originated in England in the 1840s. At the time, the various classes in England had a divergence in their eating habits.

The guys on the "pull"

or for those being a little more adventurous stay for HIGH TEA”

for the geocaching community which just so happened to be taking place in the vicinity of a particulary high cache.

There were many instructions given for this “event” including

• You will not “have to climb a tree”
• There are no picnic tables to stand on
• Specialist equipment is required (and will be available)

To name just a few. This seemed like a challenge! More investigation was required so a quick log on to Geocaching.com to see what caches were nearby.

A few minutes later we discovered a traditional cache within a few feet of the

Mrs Bacass taking a rest

event. But not just any kind of traditional cache. This had a D/T (Difficulty/Terrain) rating of 3/5 and went by the name of “Barking Mad”. On further investigation we discovered this is considered to be extreme caching.

Not a lot of thought came next, Smif247 & I were most definitely going to the High Tea picnic, in the hopes we got a chance to try for this cache.

We were not disappointed. The day arrived and early on the day our email alerts began pinging! An added bonus, along the route in to Boxley new caches were being published. Result!

High Tea picnic

Bag packed, food packed, travel bugs packed. Boots on, lets go!

Arriving in Boxley we discovered that it was very difficult to find anywhere to park. Which could mean one of two things; The event was bigger than expected or Boxley really is a tiny little place. Turns out it was both.

At the site of the event there was a massive tree, easily 60ft tall and was adorned with ropes and pulleys.

Beneath said tree there were many people all awaiting their turn to climb up the tree, mingling, eating, and logging travel bugs. Swapping stories of geocaching exploits, sharing puzzle solutions and enjoying general chit chat.

Kalles crew

Little Miss Naughty

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More than 50 geocaching teams were in attendance throughout the day and

Smif247

many people attempted the climb with the assistance of TopropeIan, Sir-Lancelot and Ginger4x4 with others chipping in to help along the way.

Such a well attended event and cache, the logs on the pages say it all really.

I wonder if the guys will do it again sometime, perhaps for another extreme cache such as Let’s Face it!

 

By Luminesence

FORT MICRO #13 – FORT DARNETT

Fort Micro #13 – Fort Darnett

The trip out here started several weeks ago when LA:RS said he had a mate with access to a boat. Of course smif247 and & I jumped at the chance to join him. Little did we know of the trials and tribulations that were to follow.

Fort Darnett

Today was the day, Sunday 11th March 2012. We started out at Brompton Barracks, at 09:30 to meet LA:RS and Mug L. Guy for a brew before heading out to Borstal Marina, arrival time 10:30.

Seriously?

We are not seriously going in that?

Upon arriving at the marina I began admiring the vessels wondering just which one we would be using. The thought of traveling out on a 30 foot yacht was quite overwhelming as we walked the jetty’s trying to find our mode of transport for the day. Mug L. Guy lead the way trying to tell us he knew where he was headed, when he decided to double back towards a small(ish) boat with a life raft tied to it. He proudly announced that here was our ride for the day! Needless to say my nerves started to jiggle a little.

Smif247 sunbathing while we wait for the engine to start

Now we had to play a waiting game on the jetty for the tide to start coming in, this was because the boat was still on the mud and was obviously not going anywhere. Half an hour later and Mug L. Guy with the help of LA:RS decided it was time to start firing up the outboard motor. And not with much success. The engine coughed, spluttered, fired up and then stopped. This happened many times, until…

Even the swan felt sorry for me

Captain LA:RS & Skipper Mug L. Guy

…It finally started!

After an hour or so of false starts all because Mug L. Guy forgot to flick the switch on the motor, we finally headed out off up the Medway at Midday, doing nothing more than 4 knots an hour on a two stroke/4hp engine boat. Better than a canoe but a speed boat would have been faster!

Our pride at finally gliding across the river was soon short lived! Soon after we had steered round the second jetty the engine decided to cut out once again. We coasted in towards the jetty, Smif247 and I hanging onto a cleat while LA:RS and Mug L. Guy had a few more attempts at firing up the motor. Which they did! With the throttle fully open and without warning to Smif247 and I we sped full pelt towards a moored 60 foot house boat (with residents still on board). Smif247 grabbed the nearest rope as I fell backwards on to the battery to power the bilge system.

Why does LA:RS look miserable?

Grinning like an idiot!

Trying to look innocent!

Heart attack over and the motor finally still running we managed to get ourselves out of the predicament fairly quickly and without the residents of said boat being alerted to our little bump (thank goodness).

We enjoyed a gentle slog around the curves of Rochester, Chatham, St Marys Island and Hoo Fort. Traveling against the incoming tide, bouncing across a few swells here and there, when Smif247 announced he needed to relieve himself. Oh dear me! There goes my half bottle of water!

Gun Wharf

Rochester Bridge

Rochester Castle

Not too long after, in the distance we spotted Fort Darnett. Excitement and adrenalin began pumping. The motor was still running. We really were going to make it there! It felt like the boat had started to speed up now or was that just our anticipation.

Fort Darnett just visible in the distance, only about 10 minutes journey time left

We moored up just behind a couple of rusty looking sunken barges, finding what was the metal remains of a jetty, I believe, (just a note, don’t use it to tie your boat too, because as the water reached high tide the metal bars lifted out of the water and LA:RS had to wade in to rescue the boat [:)])Arriving at approximately 13:40.

The sunken barges

Soon after a long and well deserved comfort break, we quickly found the entry point to the fort, a solid plank of wood (maybe a sleeper) perched from a curved tunnel onto solid ground. This did not look particularly safe to me, just as LA:RS informed me that I was going first. I am not sure if this was because I am a female or because I was the lightest! Needless to say after taking 2 or 3 shuffled steps I decided to crawl across as my legs were still shaking from the immense vibration of the boat journey.

The only way in

Once on solid ground the awe factor really began. new had finally made it to Fort Darnett in a boat that reminded me of my Mum’s old Austin Allegro )Sorry Mum)! What an amazingly well preserved Fort! You can see why the hippies camped out here during the Kingsnorth Power Station protests.

LA:RS makes the crossing

And Smif247's turn doing the smif shuffle

Now Mug L. Guy's turn

The four us soon had our varying gps units in hand (smart phones and Garmins) and started creeping around the inside of the fort looking for the geocache hiding place. Watching our step as we all kept going round in circles

 

“4ft this way”

 

“NO, 50ft this way”

 

“I’m sure it’s over here”

 

 

 

 

We eventually gave up trying to use gps signals as they were bouncing all over the place, when smif247 remembered one of the logs that Henly had written in the past about a “place holder” and went straight to that GZ and after a quick rummage around he had the cache in hand.

WE FOUND IT!

We dutifully photographed evidence of Ginger4x4′s visit from 2009 before

Ginger's phone is somewhere down there

writing our own names on the log sheet and again photographing it as evidence that the “place holder” really does exist. Oh and we did consider looking for Ginger’s phone that he lost in the flooded lower floors, but well, we just thought better of it as none of us had a spare set of dry clothes. So I imagine it is still down there. Don’t think it will be of much use now though!

After replacing the container to its resting place, the

Mug L. Guy on the roof

exploration of the site really began. With smif247 climbing

Smif investigating a hole but needed help to get out

down holes, Mug L Guy climbing on the roof for a better view and LA:RS still determined to find the original cache container, while I enjoyed walking around the site (safely, unlike the others) taking as many photo’s as possible before settling just inside the fort near a strange looking contraption for a bag of crisps and a flask of tea.

Then at 15:00 we all headed back to the shore line to our rescued boat to start the long journey back to Borstal Marina (the boys couldn’t have picked a further starting point really)! Gingerly creeping back out in to the wash round bits of wood that now couldn’t be seen as the tide was now high and trying desperately to steer clear of the ship wrecked barges, home was only a couple of hours away.

Feeling smug & Happy

Basking in our success at reviving this cache so that others know that it is still out there, we began to calm and feel the adrenalin leave us, I even dozed off on the way! Not sure how as that engine was mighty loud. We touched down on solid ground just after 17:00, very happy cachers in deed. We not only found the 4/4 micro container but had actually managed to arrive back at the marina in one piece, dry and with the boat engine still running.

Stop hanging about and look for the cache

Magazine lift

Today has definitely been my most amazing day as a

Casemate

geocacher and I would love to be able to thank Henly in person for dreaming up, setting up and maintaining the geocache on this site. Instead my thanks will have to go to Dave-Harris for adopting this geocache so it can remain alive and have many, many other total nut cases out to it in the future.

Truly from the bottom of my heart, TFTC [:D]

By Luminesence

The "real" log

 

CadencetheGeokid:sequel/200 mark!

HELLO HELLO HELLO! Since I last talked about myself and my geocaching AS a geokid life, I have released Traveling keyring collecting pirate, my travel bug, that well wants to collect keyring pals!

Traveling keyring collecting pirate & me

Now you’re …YES YOU(!)… are probably wondering about the title of this blogISH thing, well wonder no more because I am going to tell you now!

Last night (7 March 2012) I DID THE MOST SCARIEST MOST AMAZING cache by LA:RS. It had a 20 ft ladder down to it, a nearly empty room, an interesting find AND LOTS OF MAHUSIVE SPIDERS!

This “wicked in a good way” cache was my 200 mark yay! Now even though

Hoo ROC as it looked in 1997

I’m not scared of spiders it was still bad cos ‘I scared of heights and da dark!’ But unlike the cache name LA:RS DIDN’T light the way !

Now I’m gonna say it was probably the best cache ever and what makes it even better is the fact that me, smif247 and Luminesence got FTF on it – woo hoo!

SORRY i’m going to stop gibber gabbering and go now!

bye bye

CADENCETHEGEOKID over and out!

Kent Cachers Midnight Bimble

The filled container!

Those of you who have been following our blog may remember Friday 13 January and the appalling devastation of our local Forest Night Cache,

well Saturday 25 February 2012 marked the publication/launch of Kent’s newest night cache.

After having read of the destruction of the Forest Night Cache back in January, LA:RS set to work informing our Facebook group that:

“I sat last night with a 1m long strip of reflective tape, box of drawing pins, Scissors and some superglue. Currently I have 27 tacks for making a replacement night cache, (more to be made tonight when wife’s at work…) I plan on rolling it through some woody areas into open land and then into an urban finale.”

Well, you can imagine our excitement! We were overjoyed…. That was when smif247 started to get the texts from LA:RS about night time recon’s and tree climbing in the dark. The hairs on the back of my neck were beginning to get a little tetchy by this point, and every time the 2 of them went out, firstly to set up, then to make sure it worked okay and finally to add a little twist & surprise before the launch night I ended up sat on the edge of my sofa awaiting a safe return of smif247. But my panic wasn’t necessary, he returned safe & sound each time.

Posh Caching

Then came the email notification of an event-that can’t be right? An event? We already have a Kent Caching meet booked and publiscised for the week before, Best Bib & Tucker! Something is not right here. Kent Cachers Midnight Bimble was to be a mini meet, just an hour long in a pub in Brompton, close to the Army Barracks. Interest piqued and suspicions aroused for local cachers, and talk began of what may be in the pipe lines. Turns out that it wasn’t just the local’s showing interest! Not long after the publication smif247 (and LA:RS) were contacted by an international geocacher Mikro-John from Norway, who was visiting England for a geocaching holiday and wondered whether he too could join us at the meet. Well, us Kent Cachers are a mighty friendly bunch and so the lads said they would be pleased if he could fit it in to his agenda.

Then just a few days prior to the event smif247 received yet another contact,

Jellybeans & Cadence Glam caching

this time from a trainee reporter from the Medway Messenger asking if she could come along and interview geocachers as she wanted to write a story about geocaching within Medway. Obviously the answer was yes, seeing as for us the meet may be marking a new chapter within the Medway Towns.

The day of the meet arrived and believe me, smif247 was a nightmare during the day. Very fidgety, nervous, anxious & worried that the night would not go well. Then a new log for the meet came through, this was for a geocaching team from Portsmouth (Rolfeclan) saying that they would be in attendance to mark their 1000th find!! This was getting more exciting by the minute.

When we arrived at GZ for the meet, I thought we were in the wrong place. A small squaddies pub which was pretty packed when we arrived became a hive of activity and was bursting at the seams as more & more caching teams streamed in through the doors. By half 6 there had been 26 teams signed in to the meet log book and 69 TB’s dropped into the meet box. Mikro-John & Rolfeclan had arrived, as did Becci Hughes, the reporter. A lot of chatter ensued as everyone became quite excited by sharing their caching stories and milestones. Then at 19:01 there was almost mass hysteria as all those with premium membership became incredibly animated due to the publication of a brand new geocache listing very close by. This was the moment we had all been waiting for….. The launch of a new night cache, Kent Cachers Midnight Bimble

I have never seen a pub clear out as quickly as I did last night! Teams teamed up with other teams, and depending on how fast their smart phones were loading, depended on when they set off up the road. I’m sure some of them set off running!

I went as part of the last team, with Jellybeans & Cadence and their new friend Mikro-John and a few other stragglers. It felt very odd walking the residential streets as part of a night cache but we soon came to park land and I began to feel more comfortable with my surroundings. Torches trained at eye level waiting for the elusive glimpses of fire tacks leading us to our final destination! On we went following the route and we quickly came across a large group of torches, it was one of the other teams just heading back. They quickly realised they had missed a little something, turned around and walked towards the final destination with us.

At the finish we were pleasantly surprised by the cache log book container and as we all logged our names gave muttered congratulations to Team Cannon 1 for obtaining FTF within 26 minutes of the cache being published, then I shone my torch up into the tree we were all stood around. About 12 feet up there appeared to be another container – This must be the TB Hotel that is mentioned within the description. No sooner had I mentioned it Jellybeans was up the tree like a rocket! Unclipping the lid of the container, there was a little shriek of excitement as she discovered the tub had been filled with packets of Haribo, just for the children who had come along for the discovery. What a lovely little twist, thanks LA:RS & smif247. Down Jellybeans clambered and began devouring her sweets, just as someone mentioned wanting to put a TB in the tub. Up she jumped, like she had ants in her pants, grabbing the TB, she scrambled up the tree again like a monkey in pursuit of a banana! Ready for the next set of finders.

Kent Cachers Midnight Bimble

What a great time we had finding this, made especially good by the anticipation of the meet, the new connections made with national & international geocachers who turned out for the occasion, and of course the sweets and socialising at the pub afterwards. Once again I would like to thank LA:RS and smif247 for setting this geocache as a replacement of our old one. Lets all keep our fingers crossed that it survives the test of time.

by Luminesence