From the looks of it, the sale ended years ago. In fact, it was probably the last event the little tumbledown church welcomed, closing its wooden door and saying goodbye to the last of the bring-and-buyers. But, it was nice to be sitting in the porch of the fourteenth century All Saints Church in Berners Roding, while the summer rain hammered down in the graveyard.
Making pinging noises on the leaves and wild ferns, and gushing off the rusty and broken drainpipes, the wet stuff had come with no warning. We’d been pleased we’d broken the back of our months-long geocaching hiatus, and we came so close to finding the treasure.
But, it was then that the heavens opened and decided that the cache was going to remain hidden. We had an inkling something might happen, what with having been such an oppressive and close weekend, and we could see the streams of showers some distance away over the flat Essex fields. Why then, though, when we were only a few metres away from a find?
Never mind. We’d had foresight to grab the cameras, and after running back along the soil public footpath, sidestepping the farmer’s peas, we settled for an hour in the church porch and took pictures of the natural world around us. Close-ups of watery and overflowing pipes, insects collecting nectar from purple thistles, and atmospheric and abandoned church furniture were our treasure yesterday.
Once the rain had decided it was staying, we came to the conclusion we didn’t need the extra exercise anyway, what with cycling 12 miles to Galleywood and back on Saturday morning for breakfast. And, with the sound of wasps buzzing around a nest in the trees above, and no-one else around, we enjoyed being on our own, chatting and snapping before running to the car and heading home.
A non-find, yes, but for once, one that we didn’t mind.
Tags: East Anglia, Essex, Geocaching