The Doris chronicles...
Posted by lordspudz | Labels: detecting, Doris, metal detecting, minelab, safari | Posted On Thursday 1 October 2009 at 21:33
Doris, in case you are wondering, is my pet name for my detector. These are some of the adventures we've had so far.........
Doris & I go to Rackheath
Last Sunday was to be a real tester for Doris as the Aviation group returned to familiar territory at the old WW2 US Airfield at Rackheath (Norfolk). I'd previously found some coins (Victorian Crown, George II and III amongst others) with my X-Terra 30, and was hoping Doris would yield similar results.
Off we went and the gentle hum of the Threshold popped on and off intermittently accompanied by the odd squeak and squawk and I remember thinking "I'd have dug about ten holes by now only to find rusty nails and other such rubbish!"
My first real signal came moments later and produces an old button hidden behind a piece of something that could have fallen off a tractor.
The morning progressed with just a couple of 'phantom' digs and a collection of buttons, some unidentified scraps of metal and 6 coins - A tea token from a Norwich tea trader, 2 that had no details on them at all even after cleaning, a Napoleon III Dix Centimes (how did that get into a Norfolk field???), what could be a George the ? which I'm still cleaning, and one with a hole in the middle which had Chinese symbols on it and the words Hong Kong. Unfortunately, I must have dropped this one somewhere as I didn't have when I got home!! :-(
The weather took a turn for the worst early in the afternoon and the dig was abandoned.
Doris & I go to Bacton.......
.......and wish we'd stayed at home!!
The day started early, leaving home at 7am and arriving at Bacton around 9am; after stopping for petrol and getting stuck behind the days first 'Sunday driver' for what seemed like an eternity! But the weather was good and stayed like it for the rest of the day.
There were a few there when I arrived, nobody I recognised, so I had a wander round until some people I did know arrived; fellow members of the East Norfolk MDC.
10am, the start-time of the rally, eventually came round and Doris was by now desperate to get going. 5 minutes in and I'd found a Victorian penny dated 1866. Another 15 minutes had turned up a regimental button, Royal artillery I think, and a couple of other buttons.
Then...........
Doris and I changed fields and, up to now, she had been fairly quiet, making noises in the right places and only twice messing with my mind by insisting there was something in the hole I had dug when there clearly wasn't anything there!!
The second, and third, fields had an effect on Doris. She seemed distant, vacant and, above all, quiet........very, very quiet. So quiet, I had to constantly check whether she was turned on and wave my shovel across the coil to see if she'd been struck mute!
For two hours I trudged across the fields without a single signal. In reality, there was not much to be found on any of the 3 fields on offer although some items were found, namely a Saxon coin which won find of the day.
Speaking to a few rallyers, I found I wasn't the only one with mute detectors and noticed some leaving as early as 2.30. Now, I know that not every field hides a hidden treasure and on this occasion, we'd found 3 that were next to devoid of artifacts.........maybe I exaggerate slightly...but not much.
Oh well, better luck next time :-)
Doris & I go to Rackheath
Last Sunday was to be a real tester for Doris as the Aviation group returned to familiar territory at the old WW2 US Airfield at Rackheath (Norfolk). I'd previously found some coins (Victorian Crown, George II and III amongst others) with my X-Terra 30, and was hoping Doris would yield similar results.
Off we went and the gentle hum of the Threshold popped on and off intermittently accompanied by the odd squeak and squawk and I remember thinking "I'd have dug about ten holes by now only to find rusty nails and other such rubbish!"
My first real signal came moments later and produces an old button hidden behind a piece of something that could have fallen off a tractor.
The morning progressed with just a couple of 'phantom' digs and a collection of buttons, some unidentified scraps of metal and 6 coins - A tea token from a Norwich tea trader, 2 that had no details on them at all even after cleaning, a Napoleon III Dix Centimes (how did that get into a Norfolk field???), what could be a George the ? which I'm still cleaning, and one with a hole in the middle which had Chinese symbols on it and the words Hong Kong. Unfortunately, I must have dropped this one somewhere as I didn't have when I got home!! :-(
The weather took a turn for the worst early in the afternoon and the dig was abandoned.
Doris & I go to Bacton.......
.......and wish we'd stayed at home!!
The day started early, leaving home at 7am and arriving at Bacton around 9am; after stopping for petrol and getting stuck behind the days first 'Sunday driver' for what seemed like an eternity! But the weather was good and stayed like it for the rest of the day.
There were a few there when I arrived, nobody I recognised, so I had a wander round until some people I did know arrived; fellow members of the East Norfolk MDC.
10am, the start-time of the rally, eventually came round and Doris was by now desperate to get going. 5 minutes in and I'd found a Victorian penny dated 1866. Another 15 minutes had turned up a regimental button, Royal artillery I think, and a couple of other buttons.
Then...........
Doris and I changed fields and, up to now, she had been fairly quiet, making noises in the right places and only twice messing with my mind by insisting there was something in the hole I had dug when there clearly wasn't anything there!!
The second, and third, fields had an effect on Doris. She seemed distant, vacant and, above all, quiet........very, very quiet. So quiet, I had to constantly check whether she was turned on and wave my shovel across the coil to see if she'd been struck mute!
For two hours I trudged across the fields without a single signal. In reality, there was not much to be found on any of the 3 fields on offer although some items were found, namely a Saxon coin which won find of the day.
Speaking to a few rallyers, I found I wasn't the only one with mute detectors and noticed some leaving as early as 2.30. Now, I know that not every field hides a hidden treasure and on this occasion, we'd found 3 that were next to devoid of artifacts.........maybe I exaggerate slightly...but not much.
Oh well, better luck next time :-)
Post a Comment