A lesson learnt from a big mistake.

Last weekend I set out to do the HGH Series in Hapton, Lancashire.  Click HERE to view HGH1.  I made a silly mistake and didn't go prepared.  I had baggy jeans on, my new walking boots that I must say are brilliant, a bag with GPS, Camera, note pads, swag and a few other bits and bobs.  I also had a jacket on.  It was already raining and the wind was blowing a little, not that any of that bothered me.  I pulled up in the car and for some reason I thought I should put my camera in a plastic bag before putting it in my back pack.  THAT WAS MY FIRST MISTAKE!  Why on earth I thought I needed my camera I do not know (well actually I was going up a hill that is called 406 hill because its 406 meters high and I thought a few good snaps where on the cards!).

So I set off, picked up HGH20 first, supposed to be the last in the series but a few had done that first looking at the logs.  I then went up the country road and did HGH1, 2 and 3.  By this time I am thinking this is a bad idea, getting wetter by the second.  But I carried on, THIS WAS MY SECOND MISTAKE!  I went across a cattle grid where the road turned to a track.  A man in a van coming from the only house out here waved at me, probably thinking what a crazy fool I am to be out walking in the rain and wind.  I must admit I was rather enjoying myself but a few doubts started to kick in.  My camera is in a plastic bag, but at this point I have realised the backpack is totally not waterproof and my jeans where soaking up more water than a sponge!  To top it off my jacket was not water proof and I was starting to get a little chill (which isn't like me at all).  So at this point I started to think about what I was going to do.  Only about a mile into the good 5 mile walk I made a brave decision to turn back and admit defeat.  I then decided that HGH19 wasn't that much off the track I was going back on so I decided to pick that up as well PROBABLY MY THIRD MISTAKE!  So I got back to the car, soaking wet, looking a little like a drowned cat.  I got into the car and drove home.  When I got home I found out my camera has got wet, at this point I started to swear a little, then I dried it off and this is when mistake 1, 2 and 3 came into play.  The camera was broken.  Too wet to start up I was thinking I should never have gone out in this weather.  So I thought no worries its probably the batteries, I changed the batteries and it still didn't work, this is when I started to swear a lot, then I swore some more and then a little more.

I learnt a really important lesson on that day.  That was to be prepared for the environment and make sure you have all the equipment you need to do something like Geocaching.  Not only had I completely busted a £200.00 camera I had gotten totally drenched!

In my annoyance I decided that my Christmas money that I had would be spent on a few things to prevent this happening again.  You see Lorna and I said we wouldn;t buy anything for Christmas for each other and we would go shopping between Christmas and New Year, we where ill so this didn't happen and we said if we thought of anything we would buy each other the thing we thought of.  So my thought was this!

Well before I go into what I bought I have to say thank you very much to Kelly who I work with for getting an exchange for my camera as it was still under warranty.  She may not have told them 100% the truth of why it wasn't working but I feel that I work for that company as does she and the wages are not all that good! Haha my bonus!

Okay so this id what I bought:

Firstly I thought a good pair on waterproof trousers for when it rains.  I could just put them over my trousers (baggy jeans as well I am stupid enough to wear them again!).

The one good thing about the trousers is that they fold away into a bag almost as small as my GPS,  This means I can put them into my bag!  Oh hold on the none water proof bag, yep I bought one of them as well.  Probably the better buy of the three (jacket later is the third).  Here are the pictures.

First is the front.  It has loads of pockets, front and sides.  Also at the top.  I like the two loops at the bottom that can hold a walking stick each with a strip a bit further up to hold them in place.  I don't use them but I still like it!

This is the back.  It has two thick strips to distribute the weight and a strap to go round your body to give extra weight distribution.  And this strip also has another small pocket, maybe to keep your travel coins in!  Another great thing, that I haven't got to use yet is the small circle on the left of this picture.  Basically the bag will hold a drinks pouch and the tube comes out of the circle so.  This is so you don't have to carry bottles of drink with you.  Also this means you don't have to take off the backpack every time you need a drink as the tube goes over your shoulder.

This is the best part of it due to my recent experience with the British weather.  At the bottom is a small pocket that contains a waterproof suit to fit over the whole bag.  It is attached so you can never lose it.  It is also great if you where the leader of a group so that you can easily be seen when walking out in front.

And finally here is my water proof jacket that was a bargin.  I got it for £15.00 and it retails at about £50.00.  The one thing I like about this (appart from it been waterproof) is that it has adjustable cuffs.  So if you have gloves on you can strap the end of the jacket around the gloves to keep warmer.

In a nutshell I want to say that you really need to read up about walking in the middle of nowhere, and make sure you take the advise on board.  I did the good thing and read about it, but then I totally ignored it.  Not only did I ruin a £200.00 camera but I made what could be a good day into a bad one.  If I did go on and got onto the top of the hill (more like a mountain if you ask me) then I really could have put my life in danger.  I learnt the lesson the hard way, please don't do it my way and ask for advice on the Geocaching Forums or the GAGB Forums if you are not sure.  I was eager to get out there and that was my downfall.  I am now 100% kitted up for the elements and should be okay.  Remember always tell someone where you are going if its rural just in case!

Sorry this has been a long Blog post but I feel like this is really something you should consider when going out!  My three mistakes basically saying carry on and not knowing what the weather can do was my downfall.  Think about it!!!

Happy Caching!