The Essex Camping Event

Essex has been buzzing with great Geocaching events this month! We had Essex Meet #15 by Unobtainium on Wednesday 16th May, Mr. Crow/Kitty!!’s Goldhanger Meet and Cache Trails on Saturday 19th May, McWomble’s Heading Down Under by Hollyncharlie on Wednesday 23rd May, and now Grimmerscotting’s Essex Camping Event on 25th May near Dengie on the Essex coast! Anyone would think we’d all be sick of the sight of each other by now!

We arrived at Waterside Holiday Park on the Friday night and managed to get our tent pitched up just before it got dark. Over 200 new caches had been released to keep us busy for the weekend so we headed off early on the Saturday morning to get cracking on the new St Peter’s Ring series. There were 77 caches in this loop, however it could be split apart into sub-loops. We decided not to try and conquer the entire series and picked a loop that started within walking distance from our tent (about 200ft!)

St Peter’s Way

Camping food

After our last camping trip we started thinking about some quick, easy and cheap meals we could have whilst away. We had a Vesta curry each one night which were a steal at 99p each, however took quite a while to cook and tasted a bit like dog food. So I had a look around at the special “camping foods” that exist. I thought they were quite pricey for what they were, £4-£5 each pouch.

Then I stumbled on some food that I’d seen in the Supermarket before. The range is called “Look what we found” and is apparently available in most supermarkets, but I’m yet to find it in Tesco. I have found the best place is Waitrose and today paid a visit and stocked up on 3 different pouches: Chili con carne: £1.99, Spag bol: £1.99 and a Lamb hotpot: £2.99. Also for £2.99 was some beef stew, and Meatballs. These can be cooked on the hob, or boiled in the bag. You will have to add a carb to have with them, but I think some of that rice in pouches, fresh pasta, and crusty bread for the hotpot would help produce a cheap meal in under 5mins that actually tastes half decent.

You can find the products on MySupermarket here. (Click Sainsburys or Ocado as you won’t find anything under Tesco). Alternatively you can order them online from Look What We Found! or The Jolly Gourmand. The online stores charge about £5 Next day delivery postage, but they have quite a variety to choose from!

Teddy picks which one he wants for dinner

The Tent is up! :)

The tent!

Camping Adventures – Getting the equipment

Well, I’ve mentioned in a previous post that I’ve decided to give camping a go! I thought I’d add a little bit on my journey so far. It’s not been a very exciting one, I’ve just been getting the bits and pieces together that I need…

Trust no-one! (not even cachers!)

On Saturday we went caching in Chelmsford (for about the 4th time and there are still loads left!). We were hoping for a big yield of 25-30 but sadly came away with 15-ish.

We spent about 3 hours shopping for camping stuff in town first. As I mentioned in my last post were running out of local caches! Yeah we still have the ones dotted around everywhere but I don’t really enjoy driving from cache to cache especially when it’s hot! We like big cycle rides and long trails and they are running out! So my big brainwave is CAMPING! I’m really surprised that I want to do it as I remember saying I would NEVER go camping! I guess since starting geocaching I’ve become a more outdoorsy person and camping sounds like amazing fun!

Anyway, I digress…