The JACK's cache London!!!

Ahhh here I am again after not having anything to write about as I haven't been doing much caching over the last few weeks, so I thought it was about time to put fingers to keyboard again. Now that I'm sitting here and thinking what to write, I realise that I have actually missed my blog, nearly as much as I miss my trips out caching. For me writing about my exploits is part and parcel of my addiction to caching. I just can't get enough of it.

Our first caching expedition in what seemed like ages took us to London. A few weeks ago I promised the geokids a trip away to somewhere that was their choice and after what seemed like forever they both decided that the would like to visit the Imperial War Museum. Rather than take them to Manchester we thought it would be a great idea to go further afield and take them to the city to show them the sights. I've never seen the girls so excited leading up to a trip, it got so bad that they could hardly sleep. On the journey down it felt like I had a pair of crickets in the back of the car chirping away.

We arrived at our destination mid Friday evening and settled in to our travelodge. What we didn't realise at the time was the travelodge that we had chosen was situated in such a great place for easy access to the city. Secure carparking right next to the hotel and the train station to Waterloo just 3 minutes walk. We also had a 24 hour ASDA right next door to us. What more could you ask for.

Day one, Saturday morning we were up bright and early and with a hearty breakfast inside us we all trooped to the station.

The Girls at Feltham Station ready for the day

We caught the train from Feltham to Waterloo station where we met up with one of my very old friends Greg and his partner Lorraine. For a number of months now, Greg has constantly taken the mickey out of me for my geocaching addiction so imagine my surprise when he said that he had bought himself a GPSr and that he wanted to join in the fun of caching. I jumped right on this and throughout the day we managed to complete a total of 10 caches whilst seeing the sights of London. Greg and Lorraine now are fully addicted to this great hobby and even went out the next day and completed a couple more caches on their own. Thats it Greg....mickey taking over matey....when's our next trip?

We R Lost 2, The Bignall Boppers & Leprechaun JACK

Outside the Lyceum Theatre

The girls really enjoyed seeing the London Eye, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. They were also impressed with Horseguards parade and pretended to march across the parade square then giggled as they tried to tick tock, which had us falling around in laughter. We then ventured along Pall Mall towards Buckingham Palace before hopping on the tube train to take us to Covent Garden. This was probably one of their highlight as they had never been on a tube train before. We finished our day stuffing our faces with a Macdonalds in Leicester Square before making our way back to our hotel tired but happy.

The Girls outside the barracks

Day 2 had us visiting the Imperial War Museum. By the time we had packed, loaded the car, had breakfast and travelled, it was nearly lunch time. They couldn't wait to have a look round and to learn things that they could share with their class mates. This term they are learning about World War 2 so although it might have been surprising that 2 girls would choose a war museum to visit on a weekend, there was a good reason why. They certainly weren't disappointed with what they saw. Our favourite part about the whole day was the Blitz Experience and although we had to queue for about 20 minutes to get in, they were still enthusiastic. We went into a little room which was all made to look like the interior of an Anderson Shelter and listened to the voice of the warden with the sounds of aircraft above and bombs going off all around us. It felt very real especially when there seemed to be a bomb going off right beside us and all of the seats jolted us forward making everyone jump and scream. We then went on a tour of what it would have looked like when they left the Anderson Shelters after the bomb had hit. We walked along a cobbled street with houses demolished all around us and fires burning in the distance. What a fabulous exhibition that was and very real.

The Imperial War Museum

We took a break mid afternoon to go back outside for fresh air and couldn't resist finding the nearby cache in the Tibetian Peace Garden. The area was just as it said, very very peaceful and a place for quiet contemplation, not rally the place to be rummaging around in bushes I suppose, but nontheless, a fabulous place to hide a micro.

Tibetian Peace Garden

Unfortunately it was all too soon time to leave the museum and head towards home, but not before walking the 0.35miles to Elephant and Castle for another cache before catching the tube back into London and onwards from Waterloo back to Feltham. We then had the long drive back to the midlands and after eating a lovely dinner in a small village somewhere near Marlow, we joined the M40 northbound and ticked off the miles. Within minutes the girls were softly snoring in the back of the car signifying a happy but tiring trip. When will we return.....knowing the girls, they will want it very soon.