14 Mar 2012

Trespass Anniversary

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Mass Trespass

On 24th April it will be 80 years since the mass trespass on Kinder Scout by ramblers from Manchester, Sheffield and further afield took place. The trespass led to several arrests and subsequent imprisonment for some of those involved. However, the event has been a cause of celebration since.

I was lucky enough to be born just a couple of miles down the road from Hayfield where the trespass began, and so grew up knowing all about it and what it meant. Indeed hearing about it when I was around 10 or 11 is what first inspired me to take up walking in the countryside. I did my first walk up to the Kinder Downfall not long after and made it a tradition to go up there every New Years Day. Something that I did for a good number of years.

Getting back to the trespass itself, it eventually led to legislation in 1949 to establish the National Parks, and to walkers' rights over open country and common land in 2000.


A number of events are being held to celebrate the trespass, so if you are in the Peak District around that time it would be well worth you having a look at what's on. Aside from that, there are plenty of good caches in the area, including some on Kinder itself. Without the trespass all those years ago, who knows whether we would have had access to all the land that we have now, not only for walking, but for caching as well. More details of the events and the trespass can be found here on the official website. http://kindertrespass.com/

I have been thinking for a long time that a trackable celebrating those events was overdue. Scouring my photographs taken over the last few years I found one that I thought would be suitable and after submitting it to Groundspeak for approval it is now being made in to a TB which will be available in time for the anniversary.


Gathering at Bowden Bridge ready to trespass
If you do get to Hayfield where the trespass began, make sure that you have a look at the plaque that was unvailed there some years ago.


The Plaque commemorating the trespass

5 Go Mad In London

An early morning start was called for when I decided that I wanted to go caching in the capital for my birthday. So at 6.30 in the morning Keith and I were knocking on stormjak and MFB Trackers door to pick them up for a trip down the A1. After parking up at Cockfosters we tubed in to the city and started our caching the only way caching should be started, with a cup of Costa's.

My main target for the day and the cache that we did first has been on my hit list for quite a while. The British Library http://coord.info/GC2M0AF is fairly new in the scheme of things, having only been live for a year. However with so many favourites (as I type it is up to 128) it really was begging to be found. Now I know not everyone likes multi's, me included, but this was fun. Not only educational, it took us to a place that might not be on your top ten of buildings to visit whilst in town. However, even if you are reading this and don't go caching, please do go and visit as it is well worth spending a few hours in there. The cache itself took us about an hour to complete but the container at the end has to be the biggest that you will find in any city centre, never mind a capital city.

stormjak and the cache
Our aim of the day wasn't to go out and cache cache cache, it definately wasn't a day about the numbers. The thing with caching in London is that it takes you to some amazing places that are well off the tourist trail. One such cache, The Winchester Geese took us to an unconsecrated graveyard where it is believed up to 15,000 bodies are buried. You arrive at GZ to find a gate covered in ribbons, teddy bears and messages.



 It isn't too far from Tower Bridge and should definately be on your list to find if you are around the area. http://coord.info/GC13ZAG

By the way, yes, there were only four cachers but we also had a little glove puppet with us, Timmy The Dog, hence 5 Go Mad In London, and yes, we do have the photo to prove it!


Us 4 & Timmy




Fools

After seeing that April Fools day falls on a Sunday this year, I couldn't resist organising another breakfast event. http://coord.info/GC3EB1H After the amazing turnout for the last breakfast on February 29th, including someone travelling from Northamptonshire, and that was a workday, it will be fun to see how many turn up to this one. This will be the fourth such event, and they do seem popular with people who decide to use it as a start to a full days caching, either meeting up with old friends or tagging along with new ones to do some.

Cache4u

Some eagle eyed readers may have noticed that I have overhauled the links at the top of the page. There is now a new link there for a website called Cache4u. This is run by old friend and cacher Rob. Rob is one of caching team the Two Anchors. He recently left work and has now set up his own site selling caching goodies at really reaonable prices. Have a look at what he has to offer. Chances are, you will also see him at any of the events that I run, so if you want to grab some good value bits and pieces get in touch with him, or turn up at any Jacaru event.

Finally, the Border Collie TB's have now gone in to production and should be with me in the next two weeks, along with the Kinder Trespass TB's. The Jacaru website http://www.jacaru.co.uk/ is due to be overhauled in the next couple of weeks and the new caching stuff added. As you know, I no longer have the Ebay shop as the fees that both Ebay and PayPal charge were getting ridiculous. I will still be selling coins and TB's through Ebay, but I am aiming to sell more through the main Jacaru site.

Have a good week, weather is improving and spring is coming. Longer evenings, rubbish on telly, so there's no excuse. Happy caching.

7 Mar 2012

From 1/1 Extreme To Another

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LQ Series

We have never really taken much notice of the LQ series, but we were in Lincolnshire with work the other day and noticed that the LQ Lincs cache was nearby so we decided to go for it. For those who haven't heard of it before, you are tasked with finding a cache in every mainland county which you lead you to a final micro cache. As I say, we have never really taken much notice of it, but if you like a challenge, it may be another one for you to aim for. More details can be found here. http://www.nwcaching.co.uk/quest.php

GPS Blocking

Some more dates have been added for GPS blocking excercises during the coming months, so if you are planning a caching trip it may be worth you knowing about them. These dates are regularly posted on the GAGB site.

RAF SPADEADAM, CUMBRIA, 9TH APRIL 2012

Dates: Between 9th and 20th April 2012 inclusive (weekdays only).

Times: 0700 - 1800 GMT.

Location of MULTIPLE jammers: Land based within 5km of N55° 04.000’ W002° 34.000’.

Frequency: A 24 MHz band centred around 1575.42MHz (GPS L1).

Total Power: Up to 10 Watts EIRP.
and

NOTIFICATION OF GPS JAMMING EXERCISES RAF SPADEADAM, CUMBRIA 21st MAY 2012


Dates: Between the 21st of May and the 1st of June 2012 (Inclusive).

Times: : 0700 - 2000 GMT.

Location of MULTIPLE jammers: Land based within 5km of N55° 04.000’, W002° 34.000’.

Frequency: A 24 MHz band centred around 1575.42MHz (GPS L1)

Total Power: Up to 10 Watts EIRP.

and

NOTIFICATION OF A GPS JAMMING EXERCISE SENNYBRIDGE TRAINING AREA, WALES


Dates: Between 11–15, 18-22, and 25-29 June 2012 inclusive

Times: : BETWEEN 0900 BST AND 1800 BST.

Location of jammers: Land based within 5km of N52° 00.881’ W003° 38.518’ (SN873365 – Dixie’s Corner)

Frequency: 24 MHz bands centred around 1176.45 MHz (GPS L5), 1227.60MHz (GPS L2) and 1575.42MHz (GPS L1).

Total Power: Up to 10 Watts EIRP. Whenever possible the transmissions will be at lower powers.


With the holiday season beginning to kick in it is worth knowing if these are areas that you are planning on visiting for a caching break.

29th Event

The Breakfast 29 event went exceptionally well. In fact I think we frightened the pub staff with the amount, over 40 in the end, of people who turned up. It was great to meet up, as usual, with familiar faces, but also with cachers who had travelled from as far away as Hertfordshire for it. The breakfast culminated with a group of us rushing out for the FTF on a particularly evil new cache that was published during the event. Look Out For Foxes, http://coord.info/GC3DF9X  placed by stormjak and MFB Tracker had a group of experienced cachers, stood around scratching their heads in bushes. It took a phone call to eventually find it, and even then it wasn't easy!

1/1 Extreme To Another

Sunday was a good day with getting two FTF's The beginning of the day we were up and about feeding the puppy when the phones pinged with a new 5/5 cache published. Reading the description we decided we had to go for it and immediately got on the phone to friends, and aforementioned evil cache placers stormjak and MFB, to see if they wanted to join us. So, on a cold, wet Sunday morning by 9.00am we were stood on top of a disused railway tunnel ready to abseil for a cache. We dropped (pardon the pun) lucky that we knew where all our climbing equipment was.


Wemnog going down

Hanging About Scalford Tunnel http://coord.info/GC3DDW3 certainly proved to be a fun 5/5 cache, made even better by the fact that we had it in hand within 3 hours of publication. Who said getting up early on a Sunday morning isn't worth it!


stormjak descends
The end of the day finished at the other end of the scale and we got another FTF, this time a 1/1 with Eddy Grant here in Nottingham. http://coord.info/GC3DRQ6 So yes, Sunday really did go from one extreme to another.

New Trackable Ordered

It has taken some time to decide exactly what to do regarding commissioning a new trackable to sell. Ever since the last version of the Border Collie coin sold out I have been inundated with emails and phone calls asking when the next version would be released. I held back for a couple of reasons. The main one being that I felt guilty at having to charge so much to customers for a coin that they really wanted, and also the fact that I didn't know whether to go for the same design in a different colour or for something completely different.

Finally I found a company who could produce a TB trackable that I thought would be suitable. After receiving a prototype I am happy to announce that I decided to go ahead and have now ordered 100 of the TB's. Not only are they trackable, but after negotiation I have been able to use the same collie icon that was used on the coins. The TB's are collectable and this time numbered, from 1/100 up to 100/100 When I released the news on Facebook I received orders within minutes and have already sold on pre-order 20 of them. The other thing that I like about this trackable is that it has a QR code on the back. So if someone scans it with their Smart phone the code will take them straight to the trackables page so they can see what the mission is.


Border Collie Trackable Version 3 (2012)

Dates For Your Diary

Now that summer is coming (it is, really) he types as he looks out of the window of the office at torrential rain, there are some dates for you that you may want to plan holidays around.

Piratemania ~ Friday to Sunday 20th ~ 22nd July, 2012 http://www.piratemania.org.uk/

Geolympix ~ Sunday 22nd July, 2012 http://geolympix.com/ events happening throughout the week.
North West Mega ~ Saturday 11th August for the main event http://www.mega2012.org.uk/content2/ but events happening throughout the run up and beyond.

These are just three of the main caching events that are happening this year and may be worth planning a break around. Two of these events definately have Mega status with Geolympix looking like it is going to go that way as well.

New Caching Website

There is a new caching supplier on the block. Our old friend Rob, one of the Two Anchors recently left Anchor Supplies and has now set up his own caching supply business. His website has just gone live http://www.cache4u.co.uk/  We wish him well in his venture.

Finally, four of us of are down to That London next week to do some caching. There are three particular caches that have been on my hit list for quite some time in the centre of London. All large boxes as well as opposed to most of the micros that are planted in the capital. So no doubt some photos of our adventures,  currently titled Four Go Mad In London, next time.

Have a good week.