Well, this one is going to be an interesting write up! What can I say about the Mainstone trig point bag…? Turns out, not much… However, I will try!
On paper, and by paper I mean Google Maps, there was nothing to this one. I’d even put it in the roadside bag bracket. I parked at Berries Unlocked first off. Bought a few strawberries and cherries as they looked amazing! I didn’t need anything else but I had to try out the cool vending machine they are famous for. It did not disappoint! Easy to use and I think it was even refrigerated! Best of all, it’s open 24 hours a day! You can call by anytime to buy fresh fruit, nuts, drinks, cordials – the list goes on!
I asked the guys manning the little stall they had next to the vending machine about popping into the adjacent field to bag the Mainstone trig point. They had no idea what I was on about. However a lady appeared (who I later believed was the owner) who was genuinely intrigued about the trig pillar! So much so, I invited her along as she was curious!
We went out of the Berries Unlocked car park and through a gate into the field. She said the farmer wouldn’t mind. The field was full of wheat so we kept to the edge. However, the trig point should have been there… But it wasn’t. i scoured the hedgerow and after bigging it up – I couldn’t for the life of me find it. It was properly buried in a prickly, dense, stingy hedge.
I could feel the anxiety building. I needed this one otherwise the challenge wouldn’t feel complete. The Mainstone trig point was have scuppered the Herefordshire trig point bag challenge!
We went back to the Berries Unlocked car park, peering through the equally dense hedge on that side to see the trig pillar. It was in there. However, it was proper inaccessible. Even more so that the Dionscourt Hill trig point. I searched and searched and I (think) I could see it. Couldn’t even get photo proof but it’s there. Somewhere!
I reached out to the lady on Instagram after this underwhelming (dare I say it, ‘unsuccessful’ bag) to see what they should look like and what the average bag entails.
I’ll revisit this one around Christmas time, in the hope that the hedge might reveal the trig pillar for a proper photo. Until then, this challenge is going to feel technically incomplete.
I’ve still got to count it regardless, so this was 49 / 50!
Grid reference: SO 66210 39562 | T:UK waypoint: TP4616 | Taken from www.streetmap.co.uk
