Welcome to December’s Calendar Quest Adventure Lab Bonus. On the first day of every month a new cache has been released containing bonus information for the final on the last day of the year 2019. Please refer to the Calendar Quest Bookmark List for the other caches in the series.
December
As December is associated with giving, you will be awarded with SIX SMILIES when you have finished this cache! The cache is not at the listed coordinates, but this is the starting place for an Adventure Lab, ‘Robert Bloomfield’s Shefford’. Robert Bloomfield (1766-1823) is regarded by some as the first of the rural bards and the most successful of the self-taught ‘peasant poets’ of the Romantic period. Choosing to rhyme his poetry, as he could remember long sections in his head, he composed The Farmer’s Boy, while at the cobbler’s bench. The poem which is a celebration of rural life, has over 1500 lines divided into the four seasons. It sold over 25,000 copies in two years.
The associated Adventure Lab contains five locations which all count towards your geocaching statistics and total finds. To get started first download the Adventure Lab app onto a smartphone, which I would recommend doing prior to leaving home.
For Android phones it can be installed here
For iOS phones it can be installed here
Once the Adventure Lab app has been downloaded onto your smart phone, sign in using your usual Geocaching details, then either use the ‘Discover’ or ‘Explore’ option on the actual app to select the Adventure titled ‘Robert Bloomfield’s Shefford’.
Or use a QR code scanner on your mobile phone here
Once at the location, read the description and then start the trail to visit 5 locations along a linear walk of just under 1.5 miles. There are options to park near all the locations, if required. At each stage a question will require a numerical answer. Once the correct answer is given two lines from Robert Bloomfield’s poem ‘The Farmer’s Boy’ will be displayed, prior to continuing onto the next location. After the fourth location, the final coordinates for this cache will be displayed. Either make a note of this information immediately, or view it later in the ‘Journal’ at the bottom of the screen.
IF YOU ARE WALKING FROM THE FOURTH LOCATION TO THE FIFTH, PLEASE USE THE CAMPTON ROAD UNDERPASS TO SAFELY WALK UNDERNEATH THE A507 TO GREENWAY.
PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE FIVE LOCATIONS TO VISIT TO COMPLETE THE ADVENTURE LAB. IF YOU DECIDE TO FIND THIS CACHE AFTER THE FOURTH LOCATION PLEASE RETURN TO THE ADVENTURE LAB TO GO TO THE FIFTH AND FINAL LOCATION TO COMPLETE THE WHOLE ADVENTURE.
I would like to thank Peter Cochran’s family for permission to quote lines from Peter’s version of the poem, The Farmer’s Boy, as Robert Bloomfield had originally intended it to be published. This sample of the poem is from the season spring (lines 27 - 36) where Jiles is introduced to the reader.
Twas thus with Jiles; meek, fatherless, and poor;
Labour his portion, but he felt no more,
No stripes, no Tyrany, his steps persu’d;
His life was constant, chearful servitude;
Strange to the World, he wore a bashful look,
The Fields his studdy, Nature was his book;
And, as revolving Seasons chang’d the scene
From Heat to Cold, tempestuous to serene,
Though every change still varied his employ,
Yet each new duty brought its share of joy.
Congratulations to annemkuk for FTF