Black Park

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Hidden On: 01 Nov 2001
Waypoint (Landmark): N000E2
Open Cache:  Personal use only
Cache type:  Multi-Part
Cache size:   Normal

Difficulty:  (hard)
Terrain:  (easy)

Misc:

Comments:

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to run the gauntlet of walkers, picnickers, and old men sailing model boats, to find the geocache: but not just find it: to log your visit and return it without revealing the location to those around you.

This is one of the oldest caches planted by Robin - and one of the more difficult. You will be partly judged on the logs that follow yours. i.e. if it's gone missing, maybe you did not hide it well :-)

You will need this clue: "wire in crack in concrete" with the lat/lon above to take you to the first clue ticket. This will include a similar clue and the lat/lon of a second clue ticket. This second clue ticket will enable you to find the cache itself, hidden inside an old tree stump. Yes, it's the one in this picture below - but I think you will find it easier to find those clue tickets rather than inspect all the old tree stumps in this large forested area :-)

Black Park is in a nice patch of old English Park north east of Slough and south west of the M40/M25 Motorway junction. June's dad Jack and Robin planted the first cache here but did not have much time to see the more scenic part of the park, further north around the large lake. Near the lake you will find a place to buy snacks and plenty of things to amuse the kids. Car Parking is a problem if you do not want to pay the £2. However, you may find a muddy lay-by, such as that above right, where it is safe to park.

The nearest pub is the other side of the busy A412, and not located for a nice walk - but you may wish to stop there anyway :-) If so, it is "The Crooked Billet" and is at N 51° 32.101 W 000° 31.810

The cache container is a plastic sandwich box inside a black waterproof bag with string at the neck.
This new cache was planted on 30th August 2006 and replaced the old geocache, first planted on 1st November 2001.

You will find more Lovelock caches on
www.gpss.co.uk/geocache

If you wish to contact Robin and want a reply,
please email him direct on gpss@compuserve.com

If you do this through a geocaching web site,
please make sure you include your email address.
Robin regrets that he may not reply to those
who seek to hide who they are. Please include
at least your name and email address.

So near, and yet so far!

I had been out caching all day today. I was riding home in the late afternoon when I realised I was passing close to this cache, so despite the hour I decided to give it a try. The day had started out bitterly cold, turned into a lovely winter's day for a few hours, but now the temperature had plummetted again. I walked quickly round the lake to try and warm myself up.

The first stage was a surprise. I found two of the tickets just lying on the ground among the dead leaves - and easy start. I replaced the tickets where I thought Robin and June had left them, and set off to stage two.

Stage two was as tricky as stage one had been easy. Without giving anything away, the stage two tickets are on two levels - quite low down, and very low down :-) Unfortunately, the "quite low down" ticket had gone - it was possible to see what had attached it, and the corner of the ticket where it had been torn off. And Robin knows just how easy (not) I find it to get down very low :-) There was nothing for it but to lie down full length on the ground. In the first two places I looked there were no tickets. The third place it was obvious that a ticket had been torn off. But in the fourth, and final, place, one still remained.

But I couldn't read it :-( The light was fading, the writing had faded almost to nothing, and my face was so close that I couldn't focus on it - and to get further away meant it was at an oblique angle, making it even harder to read.

There was nothing for it - I had to remove the ticket in order to read it. This I did, with cold hands and some difficulty. This made it much easier, and I thought I was able to decipher the faded numbers, so I reaffixed the ticket to its hiding place.

The co-ordinates I had seemed very plausible, and I set off most optimistically. But I never found the stump :-( I don't know if I mis-transcribed the numbers, or if the stump has been removed - I'l email Robin to see which it is.

A shame to get so far without finding it, but by now it was too late to go back and check the numbers. And it was too cold! Back home for a much needed hot drink!

Rgds,Andy

Tried this out between showers today.Parked in layby in main road to avoid car park charges. First stage needed clue as gps kept pointing me towards a large fallen tree. After that an enjoyable walk through the Black Park spotting the mountjac deer etc. Second clue still in place, which led me on to the final cache. Unfortunately the final cache was full of water with the logbook and goodies soaked as the box is of a non sealed type. Emptied out and dried cache as much as possible and placed back in position, trying to shelter it as much as possible.
Overall a very enjoyable cache, and as others have said very similar to Black Park Bamboozle (no bad thing)
Thanks again

Went with Sandvika to find this one found that we had a few problems finding it so I rang Robin who was most helpful indeed, so a big thanks. once found we marched on to do the rest of tyhe cache. This was a very enjoyable cache do to.

Signed the Log 14:45hrs 1/12/2007
Thanks for the Cache
Heffalump007

Heffalump007 and I returned to Black Park today in daylight and first completed "Black Park Bamboozle", an excelent multi-cache, then tackled this one. Unfortunately, I'd left the cache listing at home and all we had was the coordinates of the first stage in our GPSrs. GZ seemed to be a large fallen tree trunk. Underneath the tree trunk was a huge amount of detritus, including many leaves and most of the bark that had been on the trunk. We figured that if the clue ticket was here, we would be looking for it all day, so we resorted to PAF and Heffalump007 called the cache owner. He provided the clue to the first stage (as appears on this listing) and whilst Heffalump007 was still on the phone to him, I found the first extremely cunningly hidden clue ticket. Extracting it from its hideyhole was another matter and regrettably, Heffalump007 had left his tweezers behind. Those who follow might care to bring their tweezers with them.

Of course, clue tickets are like busses, and having extracted the first, we found a second. I then found a third, quite possibly an original, underfoot. I hid it well in like manner to the other two. A very neat hide, Robin. that's what makes this cache a tougher challenge.

Off to the second stage, and as we approached, a family with young children arrived there for their picnic. We were not in the mood for waiting, so decided to look like idiots instead. Once the clue ticket had been found. A quick bit of digital photography acquired the required information and we could leave the bemused family in peace whilst we fiddled with our GPSrs.

We got a chuckle out of the final coordinates and thank Robin for his kind consideration. Now, I must recommend "Black Park Bamboozle" to Robin perosnally, because the similarities between these two neighbouring caches are amusing - the cache was swiftly in hand once the seasonal detritus had been cleared. The log book was a little damp and mouldy - most probably because the cache container is not of the fully sealed type.

Took nothing, left the last of my smiley face stickers. We rehid the cache as well as we found it.

TFTC Sandvika

I forgot to mention earlier that I found old clue tickets with no problem, but added so more identical ones to be sure - just in case one or two go missing :-)

As written by Robin in the paper log book: 1530 Wed 25 Feb 2007 : checked by Robin the cache planter, on a "heavy shower and rainbow" day. The book was a bit damp but not too bad. Noticed a little mouse had been nibbling the black bag. Writing this in the car, waiting for the shower to stop before putting back and then checking the clue tickets. Well done all those who found this. Robin. P.S. took nothing and added nothing.

Seen in the paper log book by Robin when he checked the cache on 28 Feb 2007: "found on 10/9/06 by The croc hunters in memory of Steve Irwin. CROCS RULE!!! Took batteries left Sally.

Have just replaced the old cache by a new one in a better spot within a minute or two walk of the old spot. It seems that the old spot has changed a lot since the old cache was planted in November 2001. They've put down concrete and some new memorial seats. If the old cache is still there, it's probably buried - and not worth looking for. I've updated the details above including a photo of the old tree stump where the cache is hidden. I also visited the second clue ticket and updated it with the correct lat/lon. Thanks for reporting that you couldn't find the cache - I've emailed you the lat/lon direct so you don't need to find the second clue ticket again. As you know, finding it is not the problem - it's what happens if the seat is occupied :-)

Found the first two clues, both in great condition,
Did the hunt during the Bank holiday weekend, very busy, had to hide in bushes like ninjas!

couldn't find third though :(
[Modified 2006-08-29 08:40:12]

Congratulations ! This cache was planted way back on 1st November 2001 and I think that was the last visit I made to it. Thanks for the report on it being soggy - I shall try and visit it to replace it soon. You may wish to consult the advice on www.gpss.co.uk/geocache but make sure you use navicache to access cache details and log your visit, etc. Many Thanks again.
Robin Lovelock, the planter of this cache.

Nice easy finds although I initally thought that the first clue had been taken from it's hiding place as I found it lying on the floor nearby. There was another one there as well so I placed them back both together.

Picked a busy Sunday to do this one and had to wait ages to get the clues and cache due to the amount of people.TNLN

SL but seemed to be the 2nd person to do this as the last entry was in May 2003??
Found cache partly uncovered so did my best to conceal again in the short time I had to do this.
Could to with some TLC as contents wet as well as log