28 Aug 2011

Ebay Shop

There has been an increased amount of traffic on the blog for the last couple of days, and I happy to report that due to this more people have been linking to our Ebay shop and sales have increased remarkably. As goes to show, any publicity, in whatever situation is good.

Just to let you know, that new stock will be in within the next few days.

Current stock on show in the shop includes

Victorian and King George V Post Box geocoins

Gemini North Telescope geocoins

Border Collie Geocoins

UK Map geocoins

Metal First Stage multi cache tags

Metal Munzee tags

Due in soon,  Icache coins, Apple coins, World Traveller coins and many more.

Keep an eye open, many more due soon.

Happy caching.

27 Aug 2011

Forums

Boo.................................

Hope you had fun being directed here, now for a shameless plug:~




http://jacaru.co.uk/

www.antondigital.co.uk









23 Aug 2011

Caching, Challenges, Munzees and Caches

877 + 1

Caching

It was good to get back on the bikes this weekend and it gave us a chance to continue with Paneke's Bilsthorpe Southwell Trail caches. Although we still didn't complete the series we are kind of glad that we haven't. The caches found so far have all been different and a lot of thought has been put in to them. It is a shame that one of them has been made too easy because of a spoiler that has been posted on the internet. The series starts with this one http://coord.info/GC2Q9J1 which we did a while ago along with number two. On our last attempt we got to No. 3 and failed miserably! Guess what, we got to No. 3 again http://coord.info/GC2Q9JJ and again failed. We spent an hour on it and got nowhere. We were stung, we were scratched, we were hot, bothered and thirsty, but we didn't find out.

Frustrated we carried on and found a few more of the series plus another series that Paneke had put out in the area. Without giving too much away, (I DON'T LIKE SPOILERS) the other series was animal related and had some interesting containers. Towards the end of the day we were determined to go back and find number 3, and having seen some of the others in the series now, we had more of an idea. Sure enough, after a little while and with a lot more determination we had the rascal in hand and finally managed to sign the log. The arch enemy cache of the moment was finally beaten.

I'm sorry that there are no photos this week, I didn't have the camera with me, that in fact is a total lie, I did have the camera with me, what I didn't do is have the memory card with me, I had left it in the computer back at home.

As you will see my cache count at the top has a + 1 on it, which leads me nicely on to talk more about,

Challenges

Wow, what a furore these have caused over the last week. It seems that most loathe them at the moment, I don't, and I do think that as things develop they will have their place in the caching community. I don't think things were helped with the fact that Groundspeak set the first challenge, a photo challenge to Kiss A Frog. Basically what you had to do, was find a frog, real or not and kiss it. That was it, challenge over. Upload the photo and say that you had completed it.

Obviously Groundspeak needed to set the first challenge to try to explain what it was all about, and yes, as you can see, I completed the challenge.

This put a lot of people off, and they put walls up. However, I think that given time and some thought some interesting and valuable challenges can be set. I set up my first challenge Kiss A Lion http://coord.info/CX102 in a similar vain and now really wish that I hadn't. Not the best way, again of setting a challenge. Then after thinking for a while I set my second, The Hemlock Stone and I set this one in such a way that people couldn't easily fake it using Photoshop, which has been one of the main criticisms as far as I can see. The Hemlock Stone http://coord.info/CX69D guides people to an historical area of Nottingham and I have also mentioned in the challenge that while people are there they could also complete Northking's Earthcache The Hemlock Stone - Fact Or Fiction http://coord.info/GC20EW1

It will be interesting to see how Challenges do develop, but do think that as with anything time needs to be given to them rather than just writing them off completely. The same goes for

Munzees
When the game first started I was really in to it. The game has really taken off and a lot of people are putting time and effort in to developing it which I think is great. However, it has lost its appeal to me. I'm not letting it go completely but we aren't  actively going out to find them. We check the phone when we are out at a cache and if there is one near we might go and find it. I am sure that it will develop further and can see that it has potential, but at the moment the initial pull has gone for me.

Caches

I have had four new caches published in the last couple of weeks including a 5/5 cache which I am really pleased with.

They are all a little different and hopefully people will enjoy them.

Middle Of The Road http://coord.info/GC326E2 was the first of the new ones published, followed by Trent Approach http://coord.info/GC32C01 and then Up By The Trent http://coord.info/GC32HHM and finally last night Cold War Cache http://coord.info/GC32REK

I am really pleased with these four caches and the reactions that they are getting. There are two more to go, one of which is the Nottingham (UK) TB Hotel. Then I think it is time to give it a rest for a while with placing new caches.

I did say that I would give more details about the North West Mega in this blog, but I haven't got all the information together yet as to what to tell you.

The exciting news that I told you about, well we are looking at forming a committee to put a bid in for the 2013 Mega here in the Midlands. Obviously that is in the very early stages so there isn't really much more that I can say about that just yet.

For now, have a good week, and happy caching.


17 Aug 2011

Challenges

864

Challenges


I have now found out more information about the new virtual, these are, as I mentioned before, going to be called Challenges.

Still in the early stages but being released very soon,  I have copied what Jeremy Irish had to say on the official GC blog.


"To me, the core geocaching experience is the “eureka moment” when finding a cache.







The word, Eureka, comes from the ancient Greek εὕρηκα heúrēka, meaning “I have found it.” I love this word. It represents that elated feeling of discovery when you move a few leaves to discover that container in the woods, or reaching under a park bench to extract a magnetic key holder. It is a sense of accomplishment and marks the end of a successful journey.






Finding a geocache is fun and rewarding, but I’ve always been frustrated of the limitations of a geocache. As a physical object, some places are inappropriate for placing a cache. They can’t be hidden close to each other to reduce confusion, many locations have to be regulated by land managers, and some locations just can’t support a hidden container. But there are lots of cool and interesting eureka moments in the world. So how can we get people there without a cache?






We tried this before. Our early attempt was to support virtual caches, which weren’t geocaches at all but unique locations on the world for people to discover. The best of those virtuals still exist today as grandfathered listings, but there was a time when virtuals were hard to qualify. The biggest reason was that we were applying the guidelines of geocaches to virtuals, which required a reviewer to publish them. No one could determine what the subjective threshold for what was a virtual was and wasn’t, so the constant angst resulted in the retiring of virtuals. For years we have focused on the core game of geocaching, but have always wanted to find a way to bring virtuals back.



Spring forward to 2010 when we added the feedback section of our web site. It became quickly apparent that the community wanted virtuals back as much as we did. However, knowing the history of virtuals, we couldn’t just flip a switch and have the same process again. So we sat in a room and tried to distill the idea of virtuals into one sentence. The result was “go somewhere and do something.” This evolved into Geocaching Challenges.






Find a location of interest and challenge someone to take a photo or complete some kind of task unique to that location. Make it fun! Take a picture of yourself holding up the Tower of Pisa. Pull statue Lenin’s finger in Fremont (Seattle). We’re looking for the community to define the best challenges in the world.






We also know in the early days that there won’t be many Challenges, so we’ll be issuing Worldwide challenges daily. For those old timers, these challenges will be like the old Locationless caches. For example, we’ll challenge you to take a picture of yourself on a boat, kissing a frog, or dressed like a pirate. We’ll be using our feedback site as a way for the community to suggest Worldwide Challenges.






What are the guidelines for issuing a challenge? Unlike caches, there aren’t any official guidelines. Instead, you can rate challenges with thumbs up or thumbs down, and there are reporting tools available in the case that a challenge is inappropriate or unavailable. We’ll be tweaking these tools and introducing new ones as the activity grows, to ensure that the community can collectively decide what is appropriate, and what isn’t. For example, there is no 520’ guideline and Challenges won’t be blocked from being issued at Disney World, or even a pub.






There will be some restrictions at the start. To reduce the growth during the early days, only Premium Members can submit challenges. Premium Members will be limited to creating a Challenge once every 24 hours. Our hope is that we’ll be able to open this up further once we tweak our system to address the feedback we get from the community.






We’re also releasing a whole new set of mobile applications for Challenges, on the iPhone, Android and Windows Phone 7. We expect that this new activity will be primarily accessed through these free applications, though we’ll continue to support GPS devices.






I’m very excited about Challenges, and look forward to seeing what the community can do with the new concept. I also look forward to constructive feedback on how to improve the activity and make it a part of the core geocaching experience."

This all looks exciting stuff and I for one can't wait to set my first challenge. Hopefully the smilies will eventually be allowed to join your main cache finds rather than being separate.

It will be interesting to see how this all develops.

Anglesey

As you may have gathered from the fact that I am posting on the blog, Anglesey fell through for one reason and another. So, caching has been at a low ebb again this week with just a few finds.

This weekend we are, come hell or high water getting out there and finding some more. I have a load of TB's and geocoins that I picked up at the North West Mega launch to drop off in some caches.

Next week I am going to do more of a feature on the North West Mega. There will also be some exciting news about the 2013 Mega.

Have a good week and happy caching.

12 Aug 2011

More Soon and Virtuals

More Soon


I am sorry everyone for the lack of an update this week. We have done a little bit of caching including 3 FTF's.

None of the caches have really been anything special to tell you about though, so rather than bore you with a none blog will leave you with the knowledge that the next edition will be in a couple of weeks time. We are off camping on Anglesey for a couple of weeks and there are some great caches to find up there. I am sure that there will be plenty to tell you about then.

Virtuals

Some good news though, it looks like a form of virtual caches are going to be back with us in the very near future. They are going to be called Challenges, there isn't a lot of information about them yet, but this is a quote from Jeremy Irish's own forum posts.

They (challenges) are location-based and for everyone to do.
When you complete a Challenge (the new virtual) it will now be included in your overall "find" count. That's the only change to my original comment. I was resisting but was worn down by my fellow lackeys.
To clarify, it isn't going to be a cache listing at all, so posting a new cache listing as a placeholder for a virtual would have no point to it.
Just who will be allowed to list virtual listings on this site? Lacky's? PM's? Any member?
Premium Members during the initial release will have the ability to post them, and even then they only post one every 24 hours (max). This will open up later, based on how the system is holding up.
Still no real news on this, but it looks like caching is going to have something new and exciting happening.

All for now, have a good couple of weeks.

My holiday starts tonight, with a visit to the launch event of the North West Mega, from this evening the actual event will be published and you can log your intent to visit next year.

I also pick up my first two event coins, photos will follow when I next blog.

Blog TB

A quick update on the Blog TB that I set off on 17th June at a cache in the West Midlands. So far it has travelled 264.7 miles and was last picked up in the Lake District. It is currently in the hands of HO4 who live in the North East.

Finally for those of you who are interested in the Nottingham to Nottingham TB race that starts on September 10th, I now have in my posession 29 racers for the UK with some more promised and Balrgn has so far received  20 trackables, again with more promised.

For those of you who haven't entered but still want to, details can be found here http://www.usuktbrace.blogspot.com/

The hotel container is now in place so that it can weather in over the next month. There are a couple of launch events planned over here, this one http://coord.info/GC2Z53W and then this one the morning after which isn't too far from where the hotel is placed http://coord.info/GC30VN4 There is also a launch event in America http://coord.info/GC2Z51J

I am really pleased with the way the race is shaping up. There will be a mention of it also on the next broadcast of the ukgc podcast. If you have never listened to a podcast, have a look at http://www.ukgcpodcast.com/

Happy caching.

4 Aug 2011

A Brief Video From Cumbria

I thought I would just add a very brief video of some of the sights in Cumbria that we saw when we were there last weekend.

2 Aug 2011

The Lakes, Cache Bag Top Ten and a Social Traveller

853


A busy week. Hardly anything was happening apart from a quick cache and dash at new caching friends Tank0115's home cache. Then a phone call to remap a Mini up in Cumbria came. A pocket query later and we were on our way. So since the last blog we have clocked up another 32 finds.

We picked up a few caches once we hit the welcom to the Lake District signs. The first was a bit mental, a roadside cache and dash, it was actually more of a cache and scramble! FNF - Crag Fast (Eastbound) http://coord.info/GC2XKQ9 had Keith doing the climb before bringing the box down for us to look at and sign. If this first cache was anything to go by we might just be having some fun. This is the most difficult cache and dash that we have done (so far)


More of a cache and scramble!
I had quite a few TB's and geocoins to drop in caches over the weekend so the first one went in to this cache. Another quicker drive by was FNF Leven Bridge. This is a bridge on a fast road heading in to the Lakes and you really wouldn't know what was beneath it if you weren't searching for a cache. We were surprised at what we found and, had we had more time, it would have been a brilliant place for a wild swim. http://coord.info/GC2YBC8


FNF Leven Bridge

After arriving at the campsite we were more than a little frustrated to find that although we had the tent, we didn't have the tent poles to go with it. Camping Rule 1 broken, always check that you have your camping equipment.

A quick check for a local Tesco superstore that sold tents had us on our way up to Millom. Once the necessary was purchased it was time to get in to some serious caching. The day was getting hotter as we started caching in earnest.

Feeding The Ducks
We were actually quite near the coast and the GPS showed us a series of coastal caches to do with superb views. However, our first cache in this section was called Feeding The Ducks http://coord.info/GC1RXTZ a nice little haven near a rubbish tip. 

Sea Dragon
Onwards we went, getting hotter as the temperature continued to climb. The series took us to some interesting places.  Haverigg Heaven http://coord.info/GC2NAKN had a great sculpture  by Josefina de Vasconcellos that is dedicted to inshore rescue teams throughout the country. It depicts a human escaping from the jaws of a sea dragon.



Escaping The Sea Dragon
This was a busy little spot on a sunny day and we had to sit a while before we could retrieve the well hidden cache. It was time to stop for an ice cream before continuing on.

As I say, this series did take us to some interesting spots. Another cache that was in a good place was Haverigg Lighthouse. http://coord.info/GC1RXV3 The lighthouse itself has been adopted as the symbol of the local primary school who campaigned a few years ago to have it restored and the pupils have been appointed honorary lighthouse keepers. It is fitted with a solar powered light. The light can be seen 12 miles out to sea. The lighthouse was restored with the help of a Lottery Heritage Grant of £20,000 a few years back.


Hodbarrow Lighthouse




It is slightly confusing as the cache is called Haverigg Lighthouse whereas in fact the structure itself is called Hodbarrow Lighthouse.

This area was originally an iron ore mine and is rich in stories and mine buildings. Another couple of good caches were Kneeling At The Alter http://coord.info/GCMCJ9 another of those long standing caches that have stood the test of time. This one has been in place since 2004. It seemed fitting with the name of the cache to leave a geocoin in there that I had picked up in Sheffield called Ian & Sharon's Lovespoon TB2Q7DF The geocoin was small enough to fit in the tightly packed container.

Kneeling At The Alter (a tightly packed container





By now we were steaming along picking up caches at a good rate of knots (sorry couldn't resist the nautical term) As we continued onwards the sizes of the caches meant that I was able to leave a trackable in most of them. The next trackable that I left was in a cache called Hodbarrow Point,  http://coord.info/GC1Q0GJanother another structure, and this time the cache was hidden inside. I always like caches where I have to enter a building. I left a geocoin in here that had been left in my Ye Olde Trip cache back in Nottingham by its German Owners. Black Spider TB3KBXA  wants to see the world.

Me at Hodbarrow Point


As our days caching came to an end we were feeling pretty lucky that not only had we had really good weather and a few decent sized finds, but also that they were all in good condition and well maintained.

The following day was an early start again, only to be expected as not only was it very warm, but we were also cramped in the new, extremely small two man tent. We were just glad that the dogs had settled in the Jeep overnight okay.

After a couple of basic, simple drive by caches it was time to look for an Earthcache. To be fair, we haven't really done that many before, in fact we have two local ones here in Nottingham to do yet by our caching friend Northking.

This particular Earthcache is called Donkey Rocks http://coord.info/GC1DG2V and is in a strange little location. With the early morning bird sounds you could almost imagine that Pterodactyls were calling and flying above you.!

Donkey Rocks
The formations are around 400 million years old, more details can be found here http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/50803 

As we hadn't eaten breakfast at the campsite we headed for the nearby village of Broughton to find a cafe for a bacon butty and coffee. However, when we got there it was still too early and everywhere was still closed. Time to look at what local caches there were and we found three on the old Foxfield to Coniston railway line. We thought that once we had done those we would turn back and the cafe would be open. However, once completed we noted that there were more caches quite local to where we were so we continued with those. A nice little series,  dedicated to winners of the Dickin Medal, the highest award that an animal can receive. Each of the series has a story about why the medal was awarded. Quite often the medals were awarded during wartime, but this particular cache was dedicated to two dogs who helped their owners when the WTC was attacked back in 2001. http://coord.info/GC2FW56 The Dickin medal is named after Maria Dickin, who founded the PDSA. This seems an appropriate moment to post a photo of our three enjoying their latest caching adventures.

Rum, Fen & Meg
A local dozes in the sunshine
All in all we had a great couple of days, and here are another few photos of things that we found during the weekend, some of them had caches in them, or near them. I am not going to say anything else about which is which, as I don't want to spoil it for you if you are looking for caches in the area. Let's just say that one of them had us looking for over two hours over the weekend, yet the cache was staring us in the face the whole time.



A crafty little fella





This was fun!




















Cache Bag Top Ten


So, what's in your cache bag? Our top ten are:~

  •    Pens and pencils
  •    Spare logsheets (various sizes)
  •    Stamps for logs, in case we get lazy writing
  •    Pencil case with trackables for moving on
  •    Pencil case with trade items
  •    Tweezers
  •    Walking pole, well not actually in the bag, but attached to it. Handy for poking around
  •    Magnifying glass
  •    Emergency money, usually just a couple of pound coins
  •    Hand sanitizer, just in case
The Social Traveller

Finally, I wanted to tell you about an idea that our caching friend Andy of The Walker-Clan up in Warrington had. He decided to set off travelling a virtual TB. He wanted to see how far this TB would travel, just by word of mouth on social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. It started off slowly but has now quickly gathered momentum and in just over a week has travelled almost 61000 miles. If you would like to move this trackable on, Andy has given me permission to post a photograph of the TB here on the blog. Have a look at the mission, and if you want to grab it and move it on, then get in touch with me for the tracking number. It doesn't matter where you are in the world, any amount of miles, from 1 to 10000 would be a welcome addition.



Don't forget, get in touch and I will give you the tracking number so that you can move it on.

I don't know what this week will bring, but in a couple of weeks time we are off to Anglesey, so hopefully we will have another good bunch of finds then that I can tell you about. There will also be an update on the TB race, including news about Groundspeak getting in touch with us about the race.

For now, as usual, happy caching.