Geocaching craze continues

We spent the last Sunday of summer holidays geocaching. Our first pick was a multi cache hidden in the area surrounding three railway bridges above a non-existent railway. The plans to build a railway there were interrupted by the outbreak of World War I  and discontinued. What remains there is some flattened area where the line was supposed to be and three (or maybe more) decaying bridges.

The first cache was hidden in a forgotten graveyard in close vicinity of one of the bridges. Barely anything was left there apart from a couple of tombstones and crooked crosses. Some dates on the graves were still legible so we gathered the cemetery was at least 150 years old. A beautiful place with truly romantic spirit!

The cache was hidden in a rotting tree stump. We knew it must have been there cause the stump bore signs of tampering left by previous cachers but nonetheless locating the cache was not an easy task!

The first cache contained only one word of  a password needed to register the final one online.

The second and the third cache were located nearby two sister bridges (the first one looked different). We found the second one, which looked exactly like the first and contained another password, in a hollow in a birch growing on the embankment.

Getting the third and final one involved an element of danger which meant sliding down a very steep and slippery slope full of rubble and and risking being squashed into a pancake by some large and chunky pieces of the bridge which do sometimes tumble down (we could see them scattered here and there).

The cache was hidden in the hollow between some remains of masonry in an airtight container and wrapped in a dustbin liner for extra security. It contained the logbook and a couple of travel bugs and the final word of the password.

It's hard to explain why we loved the cache so much. The bridges or rather viaducts were in the middle of nowhere. The graveyard was really picturesque and serene and we'd have never got there if it hadn't been for the cache. It wasn't marked and I'm sure its existence is only known to the local people. But apart from the graveyard the countryside wasn't particularly beautiful, especially at this time of the year with ploughed fields and wilted potatoes and farms in the state of neglect. 

In spite of all these things this cache was really exciting to find.  The boys like everything about trains and Kuba is more into the history of the region and the railway as well so they enjoyed it a lot. But I was surprised at my own reaction to this trip cause I really really enjoyed it!

After all this excitement we needed to eat something so we went to out favourite picnic place by the lake near Koscierzyna. I wished I'd taken my swimsuit with me cause the water was so warm and inviting even though the weather wasn't that hot and the whole summer was real shit.

I was happy cause I picked some cones for my winter handicrafts. I have a vision of a small X-mas tree made entirely from cones.  

After a little break we hit the road again, this time to search for some caches left by our favourite geocacher whose caches are such a challenge to locate and such a pleasure to find. His hiding places are the most deliberate and devious of all, he really puts a lot of effort, skill and imagination into his work and never fails to surprise us. 

We returned to the place where we went geocaching for the first time in our lives and caught the bug despite the fact that we failed to locate the cache. We needed months of practice to be able to face the challenge again. This time Kuba found the cache within minutes (simply because he had exactly the same idea). As you  have already guessed, the container was disguised in a bracket fungus! Can you imagine that? No wonder we couldn't find it first time!

Not only was the cache a real challenge to find but also to get there cause it was in the middle of this charming swamp. Once I saw the right tree there was no holding back... had to go back home in my plimsolls all muddy. Peppa Pig springs to mind.