14 Jun 2012

Flashing and Camping

1260

Flashing

The weather wasn't perfect for rowing invisible boats in Nottingham city centre last Saturday. However we duly arrived at the market square looking around to see if we could spot any potential flashers. It was with relief that we didn't. All bode well for a successful flash mob then. Following a whistle malfunction on my part (I couldn't find ours) the job of blowing the whistle was passed on to Caroline of The Crabtrees.

As the clock struck six, the whistle blew and as if from nowhere paddles appeared (where people were hiding them upon their persons still beggars belief) People gathered at the fountain, two lines were formed, paddles raised for the group photo and the singing began. As quickly as the song finished, the group dispersed. Bemused faces from passers by as we were paddling certainly made for an amusing site, in fact I don't know who was more amused, us looking at them, or them at us. The logs have been fun to read, you can find them here. http://coord.info/GC3JAFH

Empty Square


All in all last Saturday, worldwide there were 312 events in 31 countries and the previous record for attendees was smashed. Our total on the attended list stands at 34, but with some cachers turning up with family members who also paddled I would estimate that we were nearer 70 people paddling. All in all a good bit of fun that shows the wackier side of geocaching.



Ready To Paddle

After the event some of us met up at Costa's (where else) for a coffee. As usual, talk came round to some of the caches that we had done. Conversation then turned to a puzzle cache by our caching colleague Spire67 that had had a few of us scratching our heads.

Crystal Ball http://coord.info/GC3ENDW After chatting for a while about this RoPeHe announced that he had a print out of the cache page on him so we all ended up looking at it again. This proved to be the turning point and after half an hour, and then being asked to leave as they wanted to shut up shop, we had the much needed coordinates to finally locate the cache. The puzzle and subsequent container earned another well deserved favourite point

Camping

I had been in two minds as to whether I was going to organise a camping event this year. However emails started rolling in a month ago asking if Summer's End was going to happen or not. Having held the event at two different sites in Derbyshire during the previous years I did have a site in mind to keep it in that county. However, I had been told about a site in Nottinghamshire that sounded perfect. Wemnog and I drove out and had a look at it  and it did, indeed, fit the bill nicely. Now for a name, as the county had changed, should the event name? I did toy with Camping It Up With Jacaru which would have brought a few smiles to peoples faces. In the End though we went for Summer's End. The location also ties in nicely with a breakfast event that is being held on the Sunday of the camping weekend.

Within minutes of the event being published our old friend The Imp had logged a WA which was good as he wasn't able to make last year. People from the Warrington and West Midlands forums have also stated an interest in joining us along with a rep from the 2013 Midlands Mega committee. With hundreds of caches of all types in the surrounding area it should prove to be a good weekend. Hopefully the weather will improve and be kind to us.

Nottingham and Nottinghamshire are busy with events over the next few weeks, with a CITO event coming up this weekend, an evening event in a couple of weeks and then the breakfast and picnic events at the end of the month things are looking good for a busy few weeks. All the events are listed below. It's great that the Nottingham caching community comes up with a diverse range of events, something to suit everyone. If you can make it, please do so, all are welcome.

CITO Colwick Woods http://coord.info/GC3KY09 16th June

The Dragonlady Invites You.....#4 http://coord.info/GC3MA0A 26th June

A Summertime Breakfast http://coord.info/GC3G58N 30th June and finally for now

Picnic In The Park http://coord.info/GC3G58J 1st July



Interview With A Cacher

If you go to the interview page you will see the latest interview, this time with Tracey of The Amasons, one quarter of the gang who broadcast the very popular Podcache Show.
Finally, as I type, I am looking out on the garden and I see sunshine. The first in quite a few days. The hens are busy pecking and scratching around and the newly acquired bees are buzzing around the hive that we have just put at the top of the garden. That sunshine just begs for us to go out and grab a few more caches. Hope that you get to do the same. Have a great weekend, and thanks for reading.

7 Jun 2012

Events

With Mega season fast approaching it seems an appropriate time to mention the events. Wemnog and I are attending the two events that already have Mega status. Piratemania http://coord.info/GC365FT is being held up in Derbyshire next month. If you want a great weekend with loads of fun and caches galore then this one is really worth a visit. There is a dedicated website as well that is worth looking at. If your other half needs a bit of persuasion then maybe having a look at that will convince them to go. The site can be found here http://www.piratemania.org.uk/



The second event being held the same weekend at Piratemania, that doesn't yet have Mega status is Geolympix which is being held in Oxford. http://coord.info/GC22T2T With loads of events planned around the main event this one is sure to go Mega and Groundspeak have said that if the Will Attends log reaches 500 the event will be made Mega in advance. A lot of hard work has been put in to organising this event and it should be well worth a visit. The only downside is that it is the same weekend as Piratemania so unless people are willing to make the journey to both and have a really busy weekend then people have a dilemma of which to go to. However as Geolympix is on the Sunday it is possible to do both.  As with Piratemania, Geolympix also has a dedicated website. http://www.geolympix.com/



Then we come to the main event of the year the North West Mega. This is the UK event of the year. This year it will be held up in Cartmel, Cumbria and follows on from last years event in Wales. The theme for this year is country fayre and loads of side events are being held throughout the week. The main camping event can be found here http://coord.info/GC3EKQV

For those of you who haven't visited Cumbria before but are heading up, you are in for a real treat. One of the most beautiful counties in England with something for everyone. Wemnog and I spend a lot of time up there with our kids and can often be found out in the boats, usually on Coniston. As with the two previously mentioned events, this one also has a dedicated website http://www.mega2012.org.uk/content2/

A series of geocoins has been made for this event which are joined together to form one large coin. This photo shows the Cheshire coin.



Finally for this edition more events. This weekend sees the 9th World Wide Flash Mob event. As the name would suggest, Flash Mobs are being held worldwide at the same time.

Some of the local ones to us are my own Row Your Invisible Boat http://coord.info/GC3JAFH and also:~

Is It A Bird? http://coord.info/GC3M6MG
Northampton http://coord.info/GC3JEAA
Stamford Splash Mob http://coord.info/GC3HY09

Worldwide there are 295 Flash Mob events and a souvenir has been announced by Groundspeak for those who attend.

For coin collectors out there, a specially minted coin has now gone on sale.


That's it for now. Whatever event you are attending in the next few weeks, whether it is one of the Mega's or one local to you, I hope that you have fun and enjoy it.

With our campervan back on the road we shall be out and about and have lots more to talk about soon.

Happy caching.