A very cold and finally snowy week

-12 Celsius this morning. Brrrr!

It was rather cold yesterday morning and while I was feeding the song birds my nose nearly froze. The whole week turned out to be really cold with -14 or -15 in the early hours of the morning. This thermometer was photographed at about 8am, so it started warming up a bit by then.  Until yesterday evening there was practically no snow all week, other than a 2-3mm sprinkling on Thursday, even though it would have been so nice to have about a couple of feet of the powdery stuff to muck about in.  In this cold it would have not melted and could have stayed pristine white. However, after last evening's 3 or 4 inches, this morning the whole of the village looks really pretty.

Roy busy clearing a path to the road

The barn photographed from the Kottage garden

Needless to say that the weather stopped us going outside for any length of time all week, so most things were done indoors. I bought myself a few tickets on the internet and booked some accommodation for a couple of stay aways later on in the year. The two tickets are for next week when we are back in town: 1. On Tuesday I am going to see Son of Saul, the Golden Globe winning and Oscar nominated Hungarian film about the one remaining aspect of the Holocaust which is still tabu, the Sonderkommando.  I'll post about it after I've seen it. 2. On Thursday I am going to see Winter's Tale with Kenneth Branagh and Judy Dench in the Uránia cinema, which should also be good.

Gyügye church interior

The two lots of accommodation were for April and May. In April we are going away to the East of the country, staying in a hotel in Nyíregyháza, from there visiting some of the beautiful wooden churches and restored chateaux worth looking at and as there are caches by most of them we should also be geocaching a bit. A couple of friends are also coming with us for that trip, but they will be staying with family in a nearby village joining us on the trips only.  The other bit of accommodation was for the time when Sheila is with us in May. We are off to the South, into sand dunes country to orienteer, geocache and have some long sessions in one of the thermal baths in the area. While the hotel in the East came in at about £120 for four nights for 2 people bed, breakfast and evening meal on the first two days and just bed and breakfast the other 2 days, the little B&B in the South, near the thermal baths and with quite good facilities including WiFi in the rooms, was £65 for three nights for 3 people B&B over the Whitsun long weekend. Why do you think Roy likes being over here?  :-)

On Thursday I finally managed to catch the practice nurse for my repeat prescriptions (she only comes twice a week!) and this time Nelly asked me to get hers as well, so I got three months' worth of paperwork done for both of us.  I really don't know why I haven't discovered this method of getting repeat prescriptions before? No queueing, hardly anybody about and no hassle with the stupid doctor.  I am starting to really like Christine, the nurse, and we usually have a little chat while she writes up the prescriptions.

The false birdbox

Another project that I have started to work on is the renewal of one of my own caches.  This one is in the forest just outside a village where there seem to be either wild animals or local vandals who are ruining the boxes. It wasn't a year old when it was totally broken, sometimes in the wrong place and often just lying on the ground in any old place when it had to be replaced. That was 8 months ago and it is in exactly the same state again. I was thinking that I must do something about it, as this is not a happy state of affairs. I investigated if I should put it near the old, now derelict looking, uninhabited villa of the person whom the cache commemorates. I found a good place where to put a microcache, but the villa itself is in a sorry state, so I didn't like that idea really. Then I had a brilliant brainwave and asked Roy to make me a phoney birdbox. I have found several caches in the last few years which were hidden in what looked like a bird box, but basically just a wooden box, hanging up a tree with the cache in it. He duly made it and it looks absolutely splendid. Finally, I thought why not make it into a multi cache and have a two parter, one micro by the villa and one birdbox up in the woods? Obviously, this would constitute quite a substantial change, so I will have to go through a new moderating procedure, which is never particularly enjoyable with that lot of morons (with a few honourable exceptions) for moderators. Never mind, I have now written the new cache page and we are set to attempt the changes next week, assuming it goes through the moderation. Even if it doesn't, I'm not that bothered. I will leave it as it is on the web site, but change from the broken box on the ground to the false birdbox in the tree. Let us hope that that should protect the poor box a bit longer!!

Xander, Lucy, Stephen and Elian

Xander and Elian with Daddy

During the week, while not having any Skype calls from any of our little monsters, I saw some gorgeous pictures on Facebook which ought to be posted here as well. Stephen was doing a professional photo shoot for his new web site and not having any childcare that day they had to take them with them.  Well, they behaved really well, occupied themselves with their toys and each other and finally at the end of the shoot the photographer took some family photos too.  They are absolutely gorgeous, probably the best pictures ever taken of them together.

The palinka in cans and the bottles waiting to be filled

And finally Roy's pálinka arrived this morning. All 34 litres of it. As you can see in the picture, it arrived in seven 5litre cans and only one of them missed about 1 litre at the top. As I write this he is pouring it into bottles, as it doesn't like being in plastic for too long.  Later my job will include writing up the labels with the date, 2015. I added it up what it costs nowadays to have it. Even though that this year it is costing the most ever, partly because for the second year running we could only fill one barrel with our own plums and had to buy another 350kg for the other three, partly because the government reintroduced exise duty on it, it still only costs £6 a litre, which is about a third of what it would cost in the shops and this way we know what went into it, not to mention the glorious taste which is uncomparable to anything commercially produced.

Son of Saul

I am glad that the pálinka is sorted and now we can leave for town, knowing it is in the bottles, safely stashed. Once there I'll have a really busy schedule. On Monday I have theatre tickets, Tuesday and Thursday the cinema,  Friday we have a book launch about the father of Hungarian orienteering with which we have been involved for years, as it took that long for the book to come out. I might have to make a little speech at the launch. That's in the afternoon and in the evening I have a clash of two performances, one of Verdi's Falstaff in the Opera and the other a classical concert at the Music Academy.  I am going to the latter as that is a one off, while Falstaff will be on for a while yet, so I can see it later. I have offered my opera ticket and that of Bozsa, who is in the same boat, to Ros and Ian, who have happily accepted. It'll be nice to have them there with me up at the organ seats, which are high above and behind the orchestra.  I love those seats, they give you such a unique perspective on the auditorium, not to mention a chance to face the conductor.

Felix Mendeslssohn Bartholdy

Robert Schumann

And then on Sunday I have tickets for 4 concerts between 10.30am to 9pm at the Palace of the Arts, where they are running an 11 concert marathon of works by Schumann and Mendelssohn all day.  The final concert is Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream, performed by the Budapest Festival Orchestra, directed by Iván Fischer.  That should be a good day, although knowing my current state of health, I should be lucky if I'll be able to stay awake for the last one.

Iván Fischer, principal conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra

On the Monday following we will be coming back to the village and Roy will be staying for a full three weeks, while I will be making a couple of forays into town in those three weeks, once for 2 days and once for 4 days for various theatre and music events. And then we are off to Hassocks for a couple of weeks to see the little monsters and their parents.

A two-centered week (for me at least)

The staff of the Katona József Theatre

A week ago we were still in town and I had my first (and probably last) full hour's massage.  It was great, but I think I will return to half hours and only my back being massaged in future. In the evening I went to a theatre that I have not been inside for half a century. Its look changed somewhat in the meantime, but its pioneering spirit, interesting take on stuff, the excellent company, good actors, directors and a way out repertoire is still with us. The program (as I can't really say play) was about one of Hungary's martyred poets, Miklós Radnóti. It has been on for about a year as the premiere was in 2014, the 70th anniversary of his death. In the autumn of 1944 he was marched on foot towards Austria in a column of Jews and died en route. When they dug up the mass grave he was shot into they found a lot of poems, letters etc. in his coat pocket.  The performance included 5 people: 2 actors and 3 musicians. Some of his poetry was recited and sung as well as excerpts from his widow's diary which has never been published. She died at the age of 101 last year and that is why the diary became available for the performance. It was mind blowing and both touching and powerful.

Miklós Radnóti cca. 1930

On Tuesday we came down to the village via my cardiologist at the hospital.  He did some blood works and I had an ECG. All seems to be well and I have to go back in 3 months for a cardiac ultrasound and possibly for a Halter to be worn for 24 hours. Dr. Al-Assaf is probably the nicest, most caring and professional doctor I have ever met. I am not sure if he is Syrian, but probably he is. Whatever nation can claim his origins, he is a credit to it.

Graves in the cemetery opposite the hospital

When we finished in the hospital we took some sneaky photos of the Jewish cemetery, which was situated right opposite the hospital.  There seemed to be too many graves for Roy to want to catalogue them and they were in perfect, well cared order, so we gave it a miss and carried on to Tesco and then home. It was also very lucky that we identified a good shop for bird seed on the main route home, as the little birds are hungry and we are at the end of the last sack of seed. We bought another 25kg sack; let's hope that lasts until the end of the winter!

Csécse Jewish cemetery as we were approaching from the village

Wednesday was dark, grizzly and miserable, but on Thursday morning the sun shone bright, so we decided to go and have an outing. We planned to visit and photograph a couple of Jewish cemeteries not too far from home, then have lunch in one of our favourite local restaurants and if time left, find one or two geocaches as well.

Csécse cemetery with the village in the background

The Jewish cemetery project can throw up some weird people, but few of them could be weirder than the caretaker of the one in the village of Csécse. I found an excellent database of all the Jewish cemeteries in the countryside and his name and phone number were published, so I rang him. I got through to his wife who in no uncertain terms told me to basically forget about it and take a hike. She said that the cemetery is locked and her husband has no intention to let us in unless we bring written permission from MAZSIHISZ, the central organisation of Jewish communities based 50 miles away.  I pleaded, saying it is really nice and sunny, which is necessary for photography in the winter, so we need to go today etc., etc. Roy was going to leave it, but I could not let it go. How pathetic to take advantage of the fact that you have the key to the gate. I couldn't understand where the vehemence came from.  Obviously, many Jewish cemeteries have been vandalised, ransacked and looted in the past and even now there is the odd atrocity one hears about, but I thought she got stroppy long before I said anything. Well, to cut a long story short, finally I managed to ring MAZSIHISZ, who then rang him and then I rang him again and finally he said he would let us in. As it happens, the old man was actually quite amenable and we parted good friends.  He even showed us those very precious graves that had little buildings built round them and were also under lock and key.

One of the few legible, good condition gravestones

Needless to say that after all this toing and froing, the sun went about 20 minutes into the photo session. The last village had a large cemetery and we couldn't face looking for the one and only Jewish memorial there so we scarpered and went for lunch. Roy had a rib-eye steak and I had forest mushrooms and linguine in cream. Yum, yum!!

We were running a bit late, due to our earlier troubles, so there was only time for one cache, which turned out to be quite an adventure. A nice helpful old guy showed us the way, which turned out to be about a whole kilometre longer than it needed to be.  Still, coming from the wrong direction I managed to take some very atmospheric pictures where the countryside and the little chapel I was heading for was lit up by the low, setting sun. I also found the cache quite easily, which does make a change. After that we got home just before it got dark, so last Thursday was definitely a good, if initially frustrating, day.

On Friday I went back into town on my own by bus, as I had a night of ballet and two nights of concerts in succession. Roy had to stay as the cefre was due to go to the still that particular weekend and anyway, he doesn’t care about classical music. On Friday night it was a performance of Romeo and Juliet by Prokofiev and the ballet was magical.  It had such good dancers with an ability to not only dance but to act the roles too.

János Balázs

Saturday was a piano recital by János Balázs when he played lots of romantic music, which included Schumann, Chopin, Liszt and one of my absolute favourites, Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. János Balázs's magic is based not only on his virtuoso brilliance, but on his own personality, exuberance and sense of fun.

On Sunday I wasn't feeling too brilliant, so I didn't go hashing in order to stay fresh for yet another incredible treat: Kristóf Baráti playing all J. S. Bach's pieces written for the solo violin. The first half had the three solo sonatas and after the interval he played the 3 partitas. This is an incredible feat that only very few violinists attempt. To hold the audience's interest with no orchestra or accompaniment for about 2 and half hours with only one interval in between, that is some achievement. I was sitting only a few meters from him in the first row of the choir seats.  Magic indeed!!

Kristóf Baráti with smile

And then today I got on a bus and met Roy, who came to meet me at the bus station, so that we could go to Tesco's for doing the shopping and then get home together.  The weather was absolutely brilliant sunshine, although it was below zero. I felt that spending it shopping is an awful waste of such a lovely day, but such is life. Still, en route home we suddenly realised that we are near one of the forgotten and completely hidden old Jewish cemeteries that the old man in Csécse told us about.  So we popped in at the mayor’s office in that village and the mayor was most helpful explaining where it was.

The cemetery from a distance

When we got there we couldn’t believe what we saw.  It was a small forest surrounded by eye height jungle of high grass and other heavy vegetation.  I suspected that if there are any graves there they must be in the woods and I was proved right.  We found 5 or 6 graves which looked as if they were restored a bit and they were all standing. 

The jungle around them was cut down and I could take some nice pictures.  Considering that when I rang the neighbouring village council they said they have no idea about any such cemetery and when the mayor that I asked 20 minutes earlier said that all stones are lying on the ground, what we found was really great.  I suspect that my belligerent friend in Csécse - which was actually visible from the cemetery - is responsible for the restoration and cleaning up of this long forgotten corner of pre-war Jewish life, or rather death. I think I will have to ring both authorities and tell them that they indeed have a Jewish cemetery, albeit tiny, but in reasonable condition, just outside their villages, even if they do not know about them.

Once we came home we unpacked and then realised that the songbirds are awaiting their food yet again.  I hung up the piece of fat that I bought for them and filled up the feeder with seeds. Roy had already lit the stove and I could smell the burning wood.  There are few things more comforting than the smell of turkey oak and acacia happily burning away in a large pottery stove. We are staying for about a week, after which we’ll be back in town.

Still in town

An interesting shaped tree

The New Year started with a rather cloudy, miserable and cold geocaching day on Saturday 2nd Jan,  with Zsuzsi and Jutka North of where we went earlier in the week. It was a shame that we didn't have sunshine, so the photos are not brilliant, but the day itself was great. As we were aiming for the same village where we finished last time, but left one undone, we approached it another way and took in 2 extra caches en route in another village. Then we walked to the shrine in the forest that was left on the previous visit, followed by a short drive in a westerly direction to pick one up very quicky, then going North to pick up two more.  These last two were exciting, although we couldn't find them.  The environment, however, was impressively steep and rocky. I used my new little GPS, which is very simple, but so am I when it comes to geocaching. I have no idea why it stayed in its wrapping for a year, before I realised how useful, handy and brilliant it is.  Admittedly, it is the simplest version of its kind and doesn't have the facility for downloading maps onto it, but I don't use maps to navigate to caches, I do it by the coordinates, and it has those.  It also has a super quick and sensitive receiver which gets information not only from American, but also from Russian satellites, which explains its speed and accuracy.  It gives you a +-3m accuracy, which is excellent.  I'll never use Laci's big old slow GPS ever again, in fact I will probably give it back the next time I see him. As for the girls, we decided to go caching again together, once the weather cheers up a bit.

Jutka in the cave we explored

On Sunday I braved the Hash and as the sunshine was back with a vengeance, it was pretty enjoyable.  Unfortunately, the temperatures have dropped and the wind got up, so with the promise of some snow we got going from our usual meeting place. Rabies suggested that we climb to the top of one of the biggest mountains in the city, so it was my job to remember from the last time how to find the lane at the edge of town to approach the hills and forests above.  We did manage to find it and then struggled slowly but surely upwards.  It became obvious why we had to go there when we spotted all the lovely parapenters launching from one of the usual places near the top.

The three graces

We managed to get a soup and some beer in the recently opened restaurant at the very top and the little rest there was most welcome. Rabies chose a really steep and rocky path to descend on, which was totally new to me, I have never been either up or down that one before. We walked all the way to Cool Valley to a really sweet, small and dirt cheap little restaurant where Roy joined us for an enjoyable meal. It was only 5 of us, Rabies, Marina, Peddling Pussy, me (Red Haring) and Roy, but we had a really good time. I was also happy that albeit slowly, but I managed all that distance and climb without any obvious ill effect.

Parapenters

Monday was the first day that I went for a massage session with the guy Eva recommended.  Well, I am eternally grateful to her for the tip, because he is an excellent masseur with good, strong and skillful hands at a reasonable cost.  I returned for another half hour session on Wednesday and am going again, this time for a full hour, tomorrow.  That leaves two more half hours (or another full hour) already paid for, after which I will probably buy some more.

After the two days of physical effort, the following few days were spent resting and watching TV. In the New Year many series are returning, those that have taken a hiatus over Christmas are restarting and a few specials are also thrown in for good measure.  The New Year special from Sherlock was absolutely brilliant. Not surprising as that bunch of brilliant writers, producers, directors and actors never disappoint.

Sherlock and Watson in Victorian getup

Other activities during the week included a bout of clothes shopping, which netted two pairs of trousers, one skirt and one lovely jacket. I also went to see my orienteering friend, Jutka to teach her how to get on Facebook, which took us several hours, but hopefully she is now enjoying it. I also had an appointment with my naturopath, which was the first this year after a gap of several months. She put me back on probiotics and my favourite Lapacho tea from a South American tree bark.  That is certainly an acquired taste, but I love it now.

The food at the party

And then we came to this weekend which included a lovely 70th Birthday Party and a fantastic concert. The family of an old university friend decided to organise a surprise party for her 70th birthday and I got an invite. She is married to a famous comedian and actor and the party was full of prominent showbiz and political figures.  It was very nice to see her, her family and friends after so many years and we even made some new friends of our own too.

The Birthday Girl

In the evening I went to the Music Academy for the first concert of the year and it was superb. The pianist playing was Ivett Gyöngyösi, a young and very talented artist.  The program was all Chopin, much to the delight of my friend Bozsa, who is Polish and was there with me. This year we managed to get better seats and our enjoyment was enhanced by that too.

Ivett Gyöngyösi

Today I decided not to attend the Hash, due to feeling a bit tired and the weather being rather awful. I have a feeling that the rest of them made that decision also, and if they did I am glad I didn't get out of the nice warm flat for no good reason. Tomorrow I have a massage appointment and a theatre trip in the evening. We are off to the village on Tuesday via the hospital where I have to go for a checkup.  We have been away for over two weeks, so I am looking foward to getting back home.

Happy New Year!

The Regős restaurant in festive mode

We had probably the best New Year's Eve in years last night and this morning. About a week or two ago, while having lunch at the Regős restaurant, one of our local favourites, the governor, whom we like a lot, mentioned that he is planning to be open all New Year's Eve and would we like to come over for dinner. He promised that there were no special set dinners with high prices and all we have to do just book our seats and eat a la carte. I decided to opt for that instead of the usual staying at home and doing nothing special. So, we did it last night and had a really good time. Roy had a blue steak, which even he said should have stayed on the grill a bit longer, and I had an enormous trout. The atmosphere was buzzing, with guests from all corners of the globe.  We could hear German and Russian near us, with other nationalities, no doubt, also around.

Our New Year's Eve repast in the Regős

Once we finished dinner, which was around 10.20pm, we moved on, which is not something we have ever done before.  This was due to me spotting a very late ad hoc invitation on Facebook from some good friends of ours we have not seen for a while. It suggested that if anyone was in the vicinity of their flat around midnight, or even earlier, to drop in to see the New Year in.  So we did that. They only had a couple of friends there, so with us there was a happy band of 6 of us eating, drinking, chatting and toasting the New Year at midnight. Around 1am we made our way home which was quite nicely facilitated by the 4 and 6 trams running all night. The temperature was 5 or 6 below zero, so we were very grateful for not having to walk home.

A happy ending for Edith and Marigold

A production shot from the kitchen

We were very lucky to be in town which enabled us to take advantage of that last minute invitation and it turned out that this year's split between town and country worked very well. We had a good time in the village before Christmas with Nelly and on our own and on Christmas Day and had a good rest. There was a lot of TV watching on Christmas Day, including the last ever Downton Abbey and the return of Call the Midwife. I enjoyed both, although I must admit, Downton was pushing its luck with all that syrupy wrap up story.  Lots of peopl e said since that the storyline was pushing the limits of credibility, but my objection was only to the ludicrous extent to which the scriprwriters managed to pair up absolutely everyone with someone, except poor Barrow who is still single, presumably as a punishment for being gay. However, one still had to suspend disbelief when faced with the once evil Barrow becoming this simpering, pitiful and very nice character, the way they turned him out. As for Call the Midwife, I am sure the family of the original diarist is still totally cheesed off with the series carrying on, but I like the nuns and the occasional pro-NHS propaganda in this series, so I am happy with them too.

Three of the current crop of angels

It was on Boxing Day that finally we came into town, which was mostly because I wanted to attend the Hash on Sunday as well as go to the theatre on the 29th.  In the meantime some other activities cropped up too.  The hash was not particularly well attended as the final count was 4.  Still, we managed to get out of the thick fog at river level and once in the forests and hills, the sun shone brightly. Unfortunately, the trail dropped sufficiently to get back into the mysterious murk, but at the end we were back into the sunshine.  Lunch was taken in the Trombitás again, and even with Roy we were only 3 there as the other 2 had to tear home for guests and such.

Rabies, Nata, Hulk and Red Haring

Monday's highlight was Star Wars 7, which delivered everything it promised. I think Daisy Ridley and John Boyega (both British actors by the way!!) are excellent finds, the story, J. J. Abrams' direction, as well as the real (or realistic) models, as against awful CGI, were pretty good and generally I had a good time.  Even Roy agreed with me, which is something. Since then I have read some criticism (including George Lucas) that it was a bit too retro, which is absolutely true, but even that didn't bother me much.  Yes, the storyline was more and more familiar the movie went on, more than a little reminding you of previous storylines, but as I was seriously fond of the 1970's and 1980's films, that was a positive feature for me anyway. And as for the bloody trolls taking the piss out of Carrie Fisher for her (lack of) looks - they can go and take a running jump, preferably over a tall cliff!! Her response on Twitter was superb, just as one would expect from someone like her and was enjoyed by feminists and others worldwide. I can't wait for the next instalment: it is apparently due out in May 2017. Yippeeee!!!

Daisy Ridley and John Boyega

The final episode of Homeland was not bad either, although I have no idea whether they have written Quinn out or not.  Probably, I should think, which would definitely be a shame, as him and Carrie are made for each other. I think probably the one strength of this show is the fact that it can reinvent itself every time without it seeming too artificial to do so. There is a feasibility to Carrie moving countries, the one constant, however, is that she can never shake her past and will always be in trouble. The next series is due to premiere on 6th October 2016.

Lear and his court around the big round table

On Tuesday I went to the theatre to see King Lear in an amazing modern interpretation. It was so good that it proved, that once the concept, direction, acting and staging is of high quality, it really doesn't matter what they wear or what century the scenery represents. Shakespear's thought provoking emotions and universal truths about the human condition, character and dynamic are so relevant and timeless, regardless of setting, that you just sit there spellbound, having an excellent night out and being entertained as well as enriched.  At least that is how I felt.

Three of us in front of the lookout tower

On Wednesday I went geocaching with Zsuzsi, who has been asking to come with me for a while now, and with Jutka, who joined us at the last minute. As I wanted to go and see if I could hide one of my own existing boxes in a different place from where it is now, but in the same village, we went there and after I recced the area we went for several shortish hikes to various caches from there. The new hiding place is possible near the old villa of the guy the cache is about, but I am now not sure if the whole idea is OK on account of the villa looking abandoned, uninhabited and almost derelict. I'll think about it in the next few weeks and decide later.

The first cache we went for was a fairly new lookout tower on top of the mountain right behind the village. I managed to drive straight past the street from which the path went up and parked a bit further out. We did find a perfectly good path from there as well, but as I suspected it didn't lead to the tower.  We met a couple who explained that we are quite near the tower, no more than 600 metres, but with over 100 metres of climb up a very steep, rocky and slippery forested mountainside. Thankfully none of us was afraid of a bit of a climb, but on account of my dicky ticker I was seriously slow.  Still, finally we made it and the views were magnificent from the top. We did take the route down on the path we should have been on in the first place, and once we were back in the village I realised why I drove past the start of it.  With no signs to it, no obvious location and slightly to the North of where the map showed it, no wonder I missed it.

En route to the spring in the depth of the forest

The second cache was a lot further South, so we got in the car and drove to the Southern end of the village. From there it wasn't too far and thankfully we reached it with a lot less climb than the previous one. The spring that it was near was pretty much invisible.  Obviously the summer drought is still having its effect, even though the recent rains should have replenished some of the underground water levels, there was still no water coming out of it.

Once we got back to the car we drove about 10 miles to a nearby village where there were 4 caches. The one that was a few miles outside of the village got left, as the other three were on one mountain, fairly close to each other and by the time we finished those it was almost dark.  Still, the climb up onto that mountain, then walking its ridge and then the hair raising decent off it was fun. The first one commemorated a poet who was local to the place, the second one was on the op of it at the pinnacle of a sheer cliff face which looked awfully intimidating from the bottom, but walking up to it from the side only took us 25 minutes.

Cross, flag and info board at the top

Finally we walked the ridge with some fantastic trees and rocks on, as well as gorgeous views, with the third cache hidden in a very tricky way in the forest.

One of the old trees on the ridge

I have seen hides like that before, so it didn't take me long to find it.  The one on the top was hidden in a rock crevasse, but the last one was a great trick, much enjoyed by all of us. The guy who hid it hinted at the nature of the hide, so I worked it out quickly what was the likely method and I was right.  He chose a tree with two trunks and space for an extra, phony cut off trunk, in the middle. He actually prepared a short bit of a tree trunk about the same width as the other two, looking like it was naturally there, but chopped off at about a foot off he ground.  In reality, he cut the top of it off, gouged out the middle of what remained in order to hide the cache in it and then reattached the top with a hinge, so you could just flick it open to find the cache.  Brilliant idea and excellent DIY skills for the execution. Very little chance of accidental finds, but seasoned old geocaching pros like me, saw it first off. The girls were so pleased with our day that we decided there and then to go out again on Saturday, provided the weather didn't turn too bad in the meantime.

Beautiful limestone pavement everywhere

The sun setting behind the forest

A Dachstein limestone outcrop with the village below

Dry oak leaves left on a little tree

Alex and Meaghan above Bogota

The only other news of the week were the appearance of some delightfully happy, colourful and interesting photos from Alex, Meaghan, Callum, Heather, Lyle, Nancy and Delaney in Bogota. After that dreadful beginning of a 36 hour delay to their trip, since then they seem to be having a whale of a time.  Their stay so far included trips out to markets with produce, both ethnic as well as culinary, some horseriding in interesting countryside and in temperatures about 20 to 30 degrees Celsius above what's ambient currently in Toronto. I am so glad to see them happy, relaxed and enjoying themselves, they definitely deserve it!!

The Magnificent Seven in Colombia