The weather was so nice today that I decided I would perform a maintenance climb here. All was well with the cache and it was lovely and peaceful, with only wild flora and fauna for company. Both physical stages were checked.

The tale of this cache is a long one with twists, red herrings and moments of revelation. I must credit 4littlesomersetpigs for making a breakthrough that turned out in the end not to be a breakthrough and then a suggestion, which turned out to be very good indeed. After a bit of work I was spiralling, hopefully towards, the cache, but what to make of what I had? BradLad and I mused on what might be meant and were completely wrong. Then I had my epiphany, when drpljg made what might have seemed a totally irrelevant comment. There are multiple, often cache-related tales that explain how I gradually made my way to the next stage and I'd be interested in how tricky others find this stage.

With the puzzle solved there was a problem, as we needed antpeng's expertise to tackle what sounded like a Laputan giant, but he was nowhere to be found. I went on a wild garlic picking expedition with drpljg and managed to find the giant's plinths and further instructions. Then we gazed up at the real giant and I could just make out what we were searching for.

Finally, today, we organised ourselves to make a final assault but not before antpeng and I visited a tree on another island and discovered a well-deserved abanazar "Top Cache"coin. We sailed on to meet BradLad and made our way to strain our eyes at the challenge that awaited.

antpeng went first and it was him who battled with the final challenge once he was aloft. At the base of the giant, BradLad and I suddenly realised that we were being observed not by wise Houyhnhnms but by a crowd of dim-witted YaMoos. They seemed inquisitive, though, rather than aggressive and were safely on the other side of a fence.

Once antpeng descended it was my turn and I started upwards. It didn't take long for me to feel more unsettled than other times that I've climbed with ropes. Maybe it was the open visa but I found the acrophobia triggered that I usually feel in tall buildings but not tree climbing. BradLad and antpeng were very patient while I started muttering and moaning around half way up. I even went so far as to unclip the hand ascender and put it on my belt but then I realised I could see the cache not too far away. Struggling to get the hand ascender back on actually relaxed me, as I had to use both hands rather than cling on to the rope with one hand. In no time (?!?) I was at the cache although I didn't make my own solution (We stupidly forgot our AAA batteries but the owner's worked a treat.)

As usual, by the time I got to the ground I was a bit battered and bloodied from scraping around branches. Do not wear shorts and climb trees I keep failing to remember.

Thanks, as ever, for a great adventure that tested my nerve more than maybe any other cache, although I remember having far too much time to think about the rock just above my head while antpeng and BradLad fiddled with the computer under a low ceiling during the Stargate opencache. I'm not sure which Swiftian race would be most suited for this cache. Would a Laputan man of science (and they are all men) be ideal for the puzzle solving or would he be too distracted by an even more pointless academic exercise? A Lilliputian would probably have failed at the first field stage but maybe they are skilled little free climbers. A Brobrobdingnagian would have been able to reach branches easily but perhaps they would have proved too heavy for Laputan trees or human ropes. What would a Houyhnhnm make of the whole bizzare adventure?

Pictures for this log entry:

A map of our journey

YaMoos

I've been out of the caching loop recently and so it required pljg to bring this to my attention - I have the expertise and kit to tackle an adventure of this nature. I needed some help with the puzzle but eventually ended up with the information needed to find the cache, although the finer points of the instructions were worked out by pljg. It took a bit of to-ing and fro-ing to come up with a mutually convenient date for pljg, bradlad and I to attempt the cache. In the meantime, pljg and his better half conducted a recce mission and tracked down the exact location of the final so we knew what was in store.

Before heading to the cache, Pljg and I visited the Ascent of Man final to discover the top cache coin (please can I enter a request to discover the inevitable top cache coin for this cache before it's placed in situ :o) - thankyou!

We then met Bradlad and headed to the Laputa final, following the described route. I spent a good while hurling a bag at the tree to little effect, almost permanently losing it to a snag on a dead branch (freeing it by tossing the other end of the line over the offending branch and pulling it back over from the other side), until I eventually got it over a satisfactory branch and shortly after had everything in place to begin the ascent. Once up into the canopy it took a mixture of re-pitching and free climbing alternating the lanyard and my climbing rope as security, to reach the cache. It's one of the highest cache's I have attempted, and as usual, abanazar has chosen his cache location perfectly. It's a great mixture of technical climbing and adrenaline, without being too hard.

It was much less of a formality to sign the log than usual, and I'm not sure I particularly enjoyed it, but the deed was done and then it was a chance to abseil down picking a less tortuous route that I took on the way up.

Much enjoyment was then had as pljg ascended. We contributed to the debate he was having with himself about whether he could make it up to the cache or not, and we also made some helpful, and some not so helpful suggestions. Given how early he started having doubts it was a good effort to make it up to the cache and back down safely (well, with only a little blood spilled). Bradlad chose not to climb with his dodgy back, so we packed up and headed back to the car examining the impressive FTF prize (thanks very much), on the way.

Thanks very much for an excuse to get back up into the trees.