Day Seven-Our Last Day

We were in search of gold again today but had no luck. We walked all over three fields where Celtic gold has been found. I guess it just wasn't our turn. After a roadside lunch of hot pasties, crisps and fruit juices, we returned to the faire site. When we arrived, the farmer was just rolling one of the areas we had great success in yesterday. As soon as he left the area, we hot footed it right back there. Clarence banged out a hammered silver that appears to be foreign (not British). It has yet to be identified. One of our doo dads from yesterday turned out to be a stirrup mount of a type not seen before. It needs more research as do lots of other things.

Tonight is our last night and it is also our 22nd wedding anniversary. And they said it wouldn't last... We had a wonderful day together, in the sunshine and English countryside doing what we both enjoy. I can't think of a better way to spend the day.

Thanks to all of you for following along in our adventure. Stay tuned for more installments . It looks like we will be back next year.

Mary and Clarence

Day Six - The Faire Site

Today's hunting took place at the location of a faire. This would be where people came on horseback from as far away as London to trade goods and livestock. They would stay for several days so there was a lot of activity there. The site had just been plowed which meant it was really soft and fluffy. Every step you would sink about 3" into the soil. It made for hard walking but easy recovery of finds. We had lots of stuff to show at the end of the day. Clarence found two milled silver coins and I had a hammered silver coin. WE also found lead bale seals, decorative mounts, greenies, Georgian watch winders, buttons, pot handles, and the usualy bits of lead and trash.

This morning we hunted with another fellow who lives in a neighboring town. We hunted with him one day last year so it was nice to see him again. He brought along his gorgeous Roman hammered gold coin that he had found earlier. It's a beauty and reminded us of what we could be finding any time you dig a target.

Tomorrow is our last day of detecting and our last chance to find a gold coin. It looks like we will have another good day weatherwise. We have been very, very lucky so far. No rain! More tomorrow...

Day Five

This morning we returned to another new field, adjacent to yesterday's new field. By lunch time, we were getting desperate to hear a tone that wasn't an iron tone. We did find a lead token, bale seals, an interesting weight, and more mini balls, buttons, shotgun shells, and greenies. I also found a racing pigeon band, without the pigeon. OH...I can't forget my big coin find...a 1994 Two Pence...not exactly a rare coin.

After a lunch of Cornish pasties we went to a huge area near a old church. We were in search of a gold coin and this field has given up many in the last couple of years. I wish I had a pedometer today because I know I walked miles trying to find a Celtic gold. Once again, we were skunked. At least we came home to a fabulous salmon dinner with roasted potatoes and baked squash. Yummy!

Tomorrow, we have picked two areas we haven't been to this week. With only two detecting days left, the pressure is on. The weather has been fabulous, if not downright warm. All the layers of winter weight clothes are still in the suitcase. Will tomorrow be the big day with gold or silver???? Stay tuned...

Day Four

We started our day on a new field that has never been detected before. It is along the road to Colchester which is the same route as the old roads. Previous gold coins have been found in the area and on either side of the road. We had great hopes today...but it wasn't to be. We did find some interesting doo dads, a trade weight, bale seals, greenies, buttons, and some things we were hoping were really special and old. Turns out a lot of our treasure items were trash. I thought I had found a cut quarter hammered silver...nope...wrong color. The jury is still out on what it really is. I still think it's neat and it is really tiny. I found it in a dirt clod.

We enjoyed another sunny day today. The clouds came in about 2pm and the wind kicked up. I thought we might get some rain but it didn't happen. It definitely got colder though.

Today for lunch we had Cornish pasties and hot cream of chicken soup. They have the strangest assortment of crisps (chips) here...steak and onion, chicken, shrimp, very odd stuff. I have a new favorite food..lemon curd on our morning toast. Think the middle, lemony part of a lemon meringue pie and you have lemon curd. Yummy!

Another brand new field tomorrow. We got chased out of the abby field by the tractor. The farmer is planting potatoes so looks like we are done there this season.

That's all for now. More tomorrow. I hope we have more finds to report then.

Day Three

We are both feeling much better today. It's amazing what a little sleep can do. We were in bed by 9pm last night. I apologize for all the typos in yesterday's post. I couldn't stay awake long enough to proof read it.

This morning we returned to the Abby fields in the rough ploughed area. It was hard work but it paid off. We found some interesting bits and bobs such as a cloth bale seal, several nice Roman coins, a really neat bronze dice like gaming piece with letters on the side. a few lead tokens, the top finial of a Georgian tobacco container and a bunch more pottery shards and buttons.

Tomorrow morning, we have picked a field that has never been detected.
We also plan to return to the field we were on this afternoon where a half dozen Celtic gold coins have been found over that last few years.

The sun was shining again today and we left the fleece layers at home. There was a beautiful sunset tonight as we were leaving the field. I wonder what tomoorow will bri

Day Two - The Celtic fields

I had this brilliant idea to start early this morning. We were picked up at 7:30 and hunted until 6pm. We did two different Celtic fields today, both known to have had Celtic gold and a torc found. The larger field is at least 1/2 mile in each direction, probably more. AS they say over here, we got our brains sucked out today. Not a lot of stuff found but we did manage a plain bronze ring (band) some greenies (copper coins), buttons, tons of lead junk. There were quite a few broken pottery shards, too.

Sorry, this one is going to be short. We are both so tired, we can hardly keep our eyes open. I have come to my senses and we will start at 8am tomorrow. We haven't picked our fields choices for tomorrow yet. We'll have to do that tomorrow over breakfast. It is really different with just the two of us. We can't just follow along with the rest of the crew. We are the whole crew.

ONe more thing...it actually flet hot here today. I'm guessing it was in the 60's but I don't really know. I do know, we were shedding exces layers of fleece by lunch time. Quite a change from teh snow and rain from last year.

First day in the fields

The first day and the weather gods we being nice. It was partly cloudy, and fairly good breeze and NO rain. We detected for about in one of our favorite fields from last year. Unfortunately, it is in rough plow and was quite a challenge. You can only take short swings and are walking over deep plow ruts as much as a foot deep (or high).

Clarence and I each found a nice little hammered silver coin. I found a couple of buttons, bits of lead, a clay pipe stem (visual)and some common junk. Clarence found a nice little watch winder and an interesting little something still unidentified.

Tomorrow, we are starting earlier than normal with a pick up time of 7:30. We will probably hunt until 6pm. Lorna, our hostess, made us a fabuous dinner tonight of pasta, garlic bread and salad with avacado slices. Dessert was ice cream and fruit. You will see in this blog that food plays an important role. Expect to see it as a regular feature of our blog.

Time to get the suitcases off the bed so we can climb in. We still haven't quite caught up with our sleep yet. It sure is nice to be back here. More tomorrow...

We're here!

Made it to London and are settled in our hotel room near Heathrow. We just had dinner at the hotel restaurant and we are stuffed. Clarence even ordered duck pate for his appetizer.

A car will be picking us up at 10 and then it is about a two hour drive to Colchester. It is supposed to rain tomorrow and that will affect which field we choose for the first day. One of the most exciting fields , right now anyway, is rough plowed and will be difficult to walk in, much less detect in. It has given up countless hammered silver coins and two gold rings in the last year. We might let that one wait for a couple of days so it can dry out. The weather is on our side for a change.

I hope to have some exciting finds to share with you tomorrow night. If we get skunked, as can certainly happen, it just makes those great finds even sweeter.
More tomorrow...

Getting closer...

The carry on bags are packed with all our detecting gear, rain gear, boots and one set of clothes. If the checked bag gets lost, we will just have to wear the same clothes for a week. I guess we have established our priorities.

We are off to the airport tomorrow. We will be out digging in the English dirt on Saturday afternoon. Right now, there is only a 10% chance of rain and highs in the upper 40's. We can handle that. It sure beats the downpours and gale force wind, not to mention sleet and snow, from last year.