No update last week due to the death of a friend - See Toby.
Ill get out tomorrow somewhere though.
Okay, i had the urge last night to find a bit of history, so this morning i went to the local playing field. Unfortunatley it was in use by the local team, so i went back to a park ive hunted before. That was also a no go area. Seems i arrived on the annual BMX try outs, no space in the car park anyway. I drive around for a bit looking for somewhere decent, i dont know this area, its a few miles from home. I spy a good looking football pitch but for some reason drive past. While im looking for somewhere to turn round, i do the usual and keep going. Ive never been one for retracing steps, been there seen it, find a different route back i say. Anyway i see a field twice the size of the previous so i pull over and gear up. Within minutes im searching, strange i think, its bleeping every few feet. Id expect that from my previous machine but not this one. I turn the discriminate up slightly, no affect. I turn it up all the way, some effect but not much. The constant chatter is really getting to me, i lower the sensitivity, no effect. I think. Hard.
Batteries? No.
Power lines? Yes, straight overhead.
Blast.
Im amused to say that i walked over the field a few times just for show to the people watching before heading off.
I called past both park and playing field on the way home to see if the crowds had cleared. No such luck so i hang up (literally) the detector for the week.
This week i have taken reciept of 3 new things I wanted to try.
1) A Wizard Probe,
2) A bungee harness
3) ?A new spade (Ive broken 2 in the last 2 months)
Therefore (in my mind) i have no option but to put the above to the test. Cleethorpes is getting to be a bit routine so i figured Skegness would be a nice change. With the alarm set for 7.20am i was planning an early start. As (bad) luck would have it, the dog started barking at 6.10am so i got an earlier start than planned. I was in Skeggy by 8.25am. The weather was mild, a bit of drizzle and a cold wind. First find was a 20p, so far so good. The next few finds were all nails and wire. Then a couple of 2p's and another 20p. I thought id try the discrim, i notched out ringpulls and set the discriminate to its max level, just to see if id miss the nails. I missed the iron nails, instead digging a steel nail at 18".
The bungee harness and spade are great. The probe wont settle because of the wet sand so i leave it for now. The problem with the Minelab Sov XS2A Pro is that it finds such small objects at such depths that it takes ages to pinpoint what youve found. Today i dug 3 or 4 pieces of wire no longer than a fingerail from anything between 6" to 14". Trying to find a piece of metal this size in sand is impossible.
I was passing handfuls of sand across the coil, finding the handful with the signal, then literally picking grains of sand out of my hand, looking for anything metal.
Totals for the day, 46p, a dozen or so nails, half a dozen bits of wire and a few foil wrappers.
The 46p at least nearly pays for the toll bridge i had to cross to get there and back.
After scouring the O/S maps for an hour or so i pick out a suitable looking area for me and Ben to search. A quick check with Multimaps ariel photos to make sure its accessible and were set.
We park in a castle car park. Not much of a castle, more a single turret. Not older than 200 years id say. This time we have the GPS, in which ive programmed the best search place. A kilometre and a wood later, we start searching. First target, after 15 mins of trying to pinpoint, is a ringpull. Joy. The next few targets are all iron lumps, i really should start to use the discriminate setting. 2 1/2 hours later, pockets stuffed with iron and junk we call it a day. Not even a decimal coin found.
We can t have that so I take us to a local park that ive searched a couple of times before. Ben, gets first coinage with a 2p, then another. I meanwhile have found a toffee hammer with Bluebird written on the back. Ben pulls out an old George 6th Penny which i am rather impressed with. We gain a little helper following us around and offering to dig the holes.
Its dropping dark so we head home.
