H
hg137
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- #1
Hello, Mrs Hg137 here.
Christmas was just gone, and we’d spent (too many) days sitting around, doing little, and eating. December 27th dawned bright and sunny, if a bit chilly, and we set off for a day’s geocaching in and around Bishop’s Sutton , east of Alresford in Hampshire.
Parking near the edge of the village, we set off for our first cache, Waving at Steam Trains. Why steam trains? The Watercress Line runs just to the north of the village. Trains run through much of the year with Santa specials and illuminated trains in December; but today, Santa was having a well earned rest, and it wasn’t dark, so there were no trains today, illuminated or otherwise. Instead, we crossed fields to where a footpath crosses the line and looked for the cache. No success with that either: no trains and no cache. Oh well.
The main part of our walk followed a geocache series called A Grand Tour of Bishop’s Sutton, which provided us with a good tour of the notable sights of the village. We started by following a short section of St Swithin’s Way , which we walked back in pre-caching days. It’s the first section of the longer Pilgrims’ Way which goes all the way to Canterbury.
We went along the main road into the village; luckily there was a pavement. On the other side of the road, there was a line of cherry trees (and incidentally, also a geocache). The trees comprise a living war memorial, the Avenue of Remembrance .
…” The Avenue of Remembrance was planted in 2018. 19 cherry trees mark the lives of the 19 Bishop’s Sutton service men who lost their lives in the First, Second and Korean wars. The avenue has recently also been filled with daffodil bulbs, making a beautiful entrance to the village for several weeks in the spring.” … A great idea.
Once in the village, we reached the village hall, finding a handy seat for a coffee break. We passed a house with an unusual name … Cloister … which won the 1893 Grand National; the house was built by the winning jockey, using his earnings from the ride.
Watercress beds
We passed some watercress beds, fed by the infant River Alre; at this time of year they are bare, waiting for the coming season. The stream lead us out to a lane which led to the church. We looked inside – rather startling the church warden, who hadn’t been expecting visitors! – to see the war memorial plaques inside the church which had inspired those cherry trees. So many of the village’s young men died during the first half of the 20th century.
Just up the hill from the church is a splendid wooden granary, raised up on staddle stones to deter rats. We noticed a yellow helicopter circling, low, over the bypass to the south. Hmm – air ambulance, we wondered? After a few minutes more, we crossed a shallow ford (always fun, but not always shallow, we were told). We could now hear sirens in the distance, and suddenly there was a lot of traffic for a little lane. A passing dog walker told us that the bypass was closed after an accident and traffic was finding other routes.
We briefly returned to the main road to search for our final cache of the day. But we weren’t alone – the A31 was closed after an accident and traffic, lots and lots of traffic, was making its way through the village and up the main street and side streets, looking for a way round. We searched up and down, feeling rather conspicuous, but failed to spot the cache – shame, as the logs all say it’s well worth finding. The cache owner says we were in the right place so we’ll return another day to try again, when the eyes of lots of motorists aren’t upon us. With the sun dropping and the traffic beginning to clear, we returned to the geocar, well pleased with our final caching trip of 2026.
Here are a few of the final caches we found in 2026:
Christmas was just gone, and we’d spent (too many) days sitting around, doing little, and eating. December 27th dawned bright and sunny, if a bit chilly, and we set off for a day’s geocaching in and around Bishop’s Sutton , east of Alresford in Hampshire.
Parking near the edge of the village, we set off for our first cache, Waving at Steam Trains. Why steam trains? The Watercress Line runs just to the north of the village. Trains run through much of the year with Santa specials and illuminated trains in December; but today, Santa was having a well earned rest, and it wasn’t dark, so there were no trains today, illuminated or otherwise. Instead, we crossed fields to where a footpath crosses the line and looked for the cache. No success with that either: no trains and no cache. Oh well.
The main part of our walk followed a geocache series called A Grand Tour of Bishop’s Sutton, which provided us with a good tour of the notable sights of the village. We started by following a short section of St Swithin’s Way , which we walked back in pre-caching days. It’s the first section of the longer Pilgrims’ Way which goes all the way to Canterbury.
We went along the main road into the village; luckily there was a pavement. On the other side of the road, there was a line of cherry trees (and incidentally, also a geocache). The trees comprise a living war memorial, the Avenue of Remembrance .
…” The Avenue of Remembrance was planted in 2018. 19 cherry trees mark the lives of the 19 Bishop’s Sutton service men who lost their lives in the First, Second and Korean wars. The avenue has recently also been filled with daffodil bulbs, making a beautiful entrance to the village for several weeks in the spring.” … A great idea.
Once in the village, we reached the village hall, finding a handy seat for a coffee break. We passed a house with an unusual name … Cloister … which won the 1893 Grand National; the house was built by the winning jockey, using his earnings from the ride.
Watercress beds
We passed some watercress beds, fed by the infant River Alre; at this time of year they are bare, waiting for the coming season. The stream lead us out to a lane which led to the church. We looked inside – rather startling the church warden, who hadn’t been expecting visitors! – to see the war memorial plaques inside the church which had inspired those cherry trees. So many of the village’s young men died during the first half of the 20th century.
Just up the hill from the church is a splendid wooden granary, raised up on staddle stones to deter rats. We noticed a yellow helicopter circling, low, over the bypass to the south. Hmm – air ambulance, we wondered? After a few minutes more, we crossed a shallow ford (always fun, but not always shallow, we were told). We could now hear sirens in the distance, and suddenly there was a lot of traffic for a little lane. A passing dog walker told us that the bypass was closed after an accident and traffic was finding other routes.
We briefly returned to the main road to search for our final cache of the day. But we weren’t alone – the A31 was closed after an accident and traffic, lots and lots of traffic, was making its way through the village and up the main street and side streets, looking for a way round. We searched up and down, feeling rather conspicuous, but failed to spot the cache – shame, as the logs all say it’s well worth finding. The cache owner says we were in the right place so we’ll return another day to try again, when the eyes of lots of motorists aren’t upon us. With the sun dropping and the traffic beginning to clear, we returned to the geocar, well pleased with our final caching trip of 2026.
Here are a few of the final caches we found in 2026:
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