Low Numbers, New Faces, New Coins and A Race

Low Numbers

806

After reaching last weeks milestone of 800 and doing a lot of caching, this week has been really low. Three in total. Things started to look promising and we planned to do a lot more, but as usual, work got in the way.

Bricks http://coord.info/GC29BAW was the first of the three this week. One of the most local caches not ticked off our list, Bricks is a nice simple puzzle cache that can be worked out at home by doing some checking on Google. By local cacher svk616g. We have found a few of his caches over the last few months but still have a fair few to do.

A few days ago, we packed the bikes in the Jeep again and headed off to do a series of caches on the Bilsthorpe Southwell Trail . After parking up we left the dogs and the bikes in the car while we searching for Number 1 http://coord.info/GC2Q9J1 This took us a few minutes longer than it should. We blame tree cover and the GPS (it really couldn't have been cacher error) We had looked in the right place a couple of times, then suddenly, realisation came and the cache was ours.

So on to number two. http://coord.info/GC2Q9JD A nifty hide, a slightly different take on an old idea. We were by now looking forward to doing the rest of the series, but then................Number 3 http://coord.info/GC2Q9JJ Having read previous logs we realised that we weren't in for an easy time with this one. We were right. Luckily the dogs are quite happy to entertain themselves. We spent a good 50+ minutes on this one with no luck. We had to admit defeat and give up. Sadly we didn't have time to continue with the rest of the series as we had baking to get back to for the market. Knowing some of the cachers who had found it, I decided to do a PAF to one of them. It turns out we had been looking at the cache all along. Our cachers eyes certainly weren't with us. We will be back soon to complete this entertaining series by Paneke sooner rather than later.

New Faces

Earlier this week we had a Notts Geocachers getogether. These used to happen regularly but for one reason and another, including falling numbers, they hadn't run in a while.  Months down the line and a few of us had been talking about trying to resurrect them. I decided to go through my cache logs and see what new cachers were about and contact them to guage interest.

The good news was that on the evening we had a lot of new faces. I won't call them newbies, it sounds so condescending. So we took over a large length of the pub and had a good natter.

We met, Coopernets, AmadeusVersailles, DingDongMerilly, Noords and many more. It looks like Notts Geocachers are going to go from strength to strength. We have vowed to keep the getogethers going on a more regular basis now.

New Coins

Due to the lack of caches this week, I have dotted some photos around the blog of coins that I have now added to my collection. There are now 20 in total, most of them have been pictured on here before so I have only added the new ones.

A Race

It has been in the back of my mind for some time to try and organise a TB race. This has been somewhat inspired by Slightly Tall Pauls Travel Bug Knock Out Race http://travelbugknockout.blogspot.com/ which proved (and still continues to do so) to be very popular.
Not wanting to tread on his toes I decided to do something a little different from that.

I got in contact with a geocacher from Nottingham, New Hampshire in the US  (Balrgn) to run some ideas by him. After some discussion we came up with the idea of a Nottingham UK to Nottingham US TB race. The premise being that he will set up a cache over there and I will do the same here. We will have a launch of the caches on the same day and bugs that have been entered in to the race will set off from both caches on that day. Details of the competition can be found here http://www.usuktbrace.blogspot.com/  Going on from this we came up with the idea that we should do event caches as well to launch the race. So from little acorns the idea has really moved on.

Just because people don't live in either of the Nottinghams doesn't preclude them from entering the race. As long as bugs are with either of us before launch date of September 10th they will be able to enter. The details of the two launch events can be found here. http://coord.info/GC2Z53W & http://coord.info/GC2Z51J

If you are interested in joining in, get in touch with me and I can give you our addresses so that you can post, or drop off bugs to us.

I am going to finish this blog with a moan and a couple of name and shames.

How many of you spend a lot of time, effort and money in setting up caches for others to enjoy? Quite a lot of you I would guess. How many of you get more than a little peed off when all you get in return when someone has found it is a log like this. Found, or TFTC, or                          or Got it. Yes, the space between TFTC and Got it was meant to be there. I have had a few blank logs come through lately.
I know that Groundspeak have an opinion that logs shouldn' be deleted, however I have now got to the stage where I will email such loggers and ask them for just a little bit more, or in the case of a blank log, I just delete it.
I don't expect essays on a log, but something that just shows that it actually has been found helps. I often read previous logs when I am out in the field as this is often a prelude to having to resort to a hint. I would love you to add a comment in the comments box below about what you think.

Now for the name and shames, one affects me directly, one doesn't.

There is a cacher called ChibiDragon she hails from Braintree in Essex. She is an occasional cacher but still logs on to GC regularly. She has had one of my geocoins in her possession for exactly one year now. I have emailed her during the last few months to ask her to get in contact with me to either move the coin on or get it back to me. She hasn't bothered to get in touch at all. It is this type of cacher who brings the game in to disrepute sadly.

The second name and shame is Pirates of Penzance they take pleasure in taking geocoins from a TB hotel in Portsmouth, contacting the coin owners and telling them that they are keeping them.
They now have over 20 coins that they have kept. I have no personal experience of these people, but it does wrankle that it is happening and even though they have been reported to GC nothing, as yet, has happened. I do know that a few of the coin owners are thinking about contacting the police regarding this. Especially as they have stated in coin logs that they are keeping them. It does go to prove however, that coin owners do need to state on a coins page that their item is NOT COLLECTABLE. I wrote in a previous blog about this. If you aren't sure have a look through old blogs to read it.

Finally

This was brought to my attention last night. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leeds-13993411 The actual cache can be found here http://coord.info/GC2H9A2 

Comments on this have been flying back and forth on different forums. What do you think?

That's it until next week. We have an event next weekend, a barbeque in a local country park. Fingers crossed for decent weather.

A Picnic By The Abbey

773

Picnic By The Abbey

As you can see my find rate has gone up by a measly 3 in the last week. One of these was an event cache held by our caching friend Angellica. This is the second year that she has run this event and this year even more people attended.
It was great to meet some old friends including Angellica and her spin offs The Nottinghamshire Pirates and Slightly Tall Paul, as well as some new friends, Ketts, y8c, loop 1968, alcoman and yorkypudding.
The weather was mixed and inbetween picnicking and caching everyone managed to dodge the showers.

Dodging The Rain

There are a some great caches to be found around the area although Wemnog and I decided to leave these for another day.
They range from straightforward caches along with some decent puzzles which are very enjoyable from all accounts.

Some quiz sheets were handed out as well for people to fill in, including a geocaching bingo sheet which Angellica had printed out from another very useful geocaching site. The Geocacher University http://www.geocacher-u.com/
This site has some very useful information on it which is worth looking at.




The other two caches that we have found in the last few days are Sharper, a new cache placed by bl4ck4dd3r http://coord.info/GC2Y922  here in Nottingham and also Countryside TB and Coin Retreat in the West Midlands by Foraging 5 by Forager No 2. This cache was well hidden and when I found it had 6 trackables in which I removed to move on. http://coord.info/GC2W7J4 Not wanting to leave it bereft of trackables I placed 5 in, including the BLOG TB for the start of its journey.



Trackables ready to enter the cache

 As I mentioned above, BLOG started its journey in this cache, two days after I put it in there the cache owners actually picked it up and it is now in there hands, so I will look forward to seeing where it goes next.

Geotogs & Turtles

I have been made aware over the last few days that the link to Geotogs that I had at the top of the page is no longer working. I have tried to make enquiries but nobody seems to be able to tell me whether they are still trading, so unless I hear otherwise I have now removed the link tab. I have replaced with a link to Cacheshack who sell some geocaching equipment including the very popular turtle containers. These containers have screw tops and hold a reasonable amount of swag and are easily hidden. I have now used a fair few of these containers and swear by them. The link can now be found above.

More Must Do's

As I said last week, I have started compiling a list of caches that I must do at some point. Two more for you this week that take my fancy.

Firstly another boat cache, this one is up in Yorkshire, Titanics Funnels http://coord.info/GC2NKRN I think this one will be the one we do first.




Titanics Funnels

This photograph is one that I was sent by another cacher as is the following one for another, not just must do, but a definately must do.

Cold War Cache http://coord.info/GC1782Z down in Wiltshire is one of those rare caches that you visit where you know beforehand that you are probably going to end up giving it a favourite point, simply because it is something different.

Cold War Cache

The hint itself is enough to inspire me to do this one ~ "Find the small green hatch ...... 15ft below is another hatch, the cache is behind it."

I reckon once we have done that one a number of photos will be posted on here.

Geocache Tourist

Another website that I have found that could do with a bit of help from you is http://www.geocachetourist.com/ This site is trying to establish itself as a site to help you out if you are visiting an area that you are unsure of. It gives you information on caches, cachers and more.
The site is looking for people to contribute about their own local areas so that they establish a really good database. Have a look, and see if you can help out.

Personal Collection

I already had a few coins in my personal collection that I hadn't activated. I have now decided to activate them so that others can discover them at events. Whilst going through my drawers looking at what I still have available for sale I decided to add another couple to the collection as well. Quite a set of photos here.

                                                                

                                                                                             

     

                                                                                                    

Finally

Last week I told you that I had ordered two personal geocoins, one for Wemnog and one for myself. They arrived this morning, just as I was thinking about writing the blog. So brand new and never seen before by anyone else, apart from you who are reading this, here they are.

Until next time, whether you are caching or not, have a great week.

Caches, Rankings and Personal Geocoins

770

Caches

We haven't done as much caching as last week but still managed 3 + one DNF. The three caches found were all in Nottingham and have been those annoying "must do" list for too long.

It wasn't the best time to decide to do these three, ominous black clouds were gathering as we got in the car and headed out to them. All three were within walking distance of Wilford Crematorium and graveyard. There are many interesting gravestones in the cemetary and UK sould singer Edwin Starr was buried there following his untimely death in 2003 I actually met him once when my ex wife worked in Essex he did a cabaret at the hotel she worked out. He was a very down to Earth nice guy.

So, once we had parked up and headed off towards the first cache  Seventeen Soldiers http://coord.info/GC1X5DC the first rolls of thunder started. The cache itself was a quick find but not in the best of conditions, we couldn't have signed the logbook as it was more like papier mache. Luckily we had a spare new notebook that we left in there. Hopefully it will get sorted by the CO soon as it is a decent sized cache for the location.

Wemnog and I were now in competition, I had the trusty 550t in hand and he had his new geocaching app on his HTC phone. It has to be said that both performed equally as well. I have been sceptical of the caching apps that are around, having heard and read some bad reports. Having said that, I don't think that I would like to rely just on the phone.

Heading onwards with the thunder still rumbling overhead and the clouds darkening by the minute we found our second of the day Sharphill View http://coord.info/GC12JCY by Nottingham Nutters. Another easy find in an area of Nottingham that I didn't know. There were 3 TB's logged as being in the box and as they had been there for some time we were going to rescue them to move on. Sadly they weren't there (one of my pet hates as all regular readers know)

By now we were thinking ourselves blessed that the clouds hadn't yet opened to drench us, we were only in tee shirts and shorts. The final cache meant a walk along the top of a hill that gives magnificent views of the city. Sadly I didn't have my camera with me as the captured images would have been stunning with the white buildings and the black sky. The final cache of the day was called Sharp and was located in a small nature reserve that has recently been set up.

We all know how erratic a GPS can be with tree cover and neither the Oregon or the phone performed well. Even resorting to the hint on the listing and reading previous logs this one had us scratching our heads. As we continued our search and the three dogs rooted around in the undergrowth the thunder got louder and we heard the first drops of rain hitting the canopy above. Then bingo, I had the cache, another nice container here that was well stocked with marbles and other assorted goodies. Sharp http://coord.info/GC2B7DA by local cacher bl4ck4dd3r certainly was a puzzle but well worth a visit. After signing the logbook and retrieving the trackable and also leaving some of the signature keyrings mentioned last week it was time to head back to the Jeep and get home for a cuppa. As we replaced the cache the sky really opened up and the gentle tapping on the tree canopy above became a roar and the leaves didn't protect us in the least. As we headed out of the woodland and back on to the open hillside the two of us and the dogs were soaked through. Having been so dry recently the ground wasn't soaking the water in quickly so we were stepping in already quite deep puddles that had formed within minutes..........the joys of caching eh?

The final cache of the week was up in Warrington, a puzzle cache by Walker-Clan, Where's The Cache took a while to work out, in fact I resorted to contacting Andy, the CO to ask for a hint which he very kindly gave us. As we got in to Warrington we were confident of a quick find, but it still failed to appear. Where's The Cache http://coord.info/GC2KVN8 certainly does pose that question. After getting on to an island, sure that we must have the right location, getting over there resulted in Wemnog getting wet again by slipping in to the pond, I again phoned Andy, but even with even more precise instructions, after half an hour or so of searching we had to admit failure and record a DNF. We will be back!

Rankings

In case you didn't know there is a ranking system in place for geocachers to see where they stand in the whole scheme of things when it comes to number of finds logged. It is an interesting place to jump in and out of occasionally to see where you stand in the list. At the moment I am in 1861st joint place for the number of caches found in the UK. A long way to go before I catch up with the long time leader. Cacher drsolly has 20,251 finds under his belt as I type this. His first cache was found in September 2006 and the cache itself is still going strong. A cacher who is well known in the East Midlands and who can often been seen at events is stevo185 who has 11,250 finds. If you are interested in where you are in the listings have a look at the website http://www.cacherstats.com/United_Kingdom1.html and you can see for yourself.

Events

I can't believe how quickly the year is already going and that the camping event in the Peak District will be here quicker than it should be. If you haven't signed up for it and do want to attend I suggest that you book with the campsite soon as it is already filling up. The information can be found here on the cache event page http://coord.info/GC2PYFR

In the meantime I am organising another event which will take place next month. This one is local to us in Nottingham and will take the form of a bring your own barbeque. For more details have a look at the event page here http://coord.info/GC2XPF7
It would be good to see lots of new faces as well as some familiar ones at both events.

Want To Do

I read about a cache the other day that I really want to do, basically because it sounds like it will be just like finding real treasure. Toms Treasure Chest is down in Kent and is an old placing, having been in situ since 2003. I saw some photographs of this one recently and if you have younger children I am sure that they would find it fun.



There be treasure in that box




As you can see from the photos, it does look like a fun one to find. The gc number for this one should you be lucky enough to be in the area is http://coord.info/GCH1B2

It must be good, it has got 25 favourite points on it. If you get there first I am going to be jealous.




Personal Geocoins

As regular readers will be aware, last year for the Summer's End event I had some trackable geocoins made that were given out as prizes in goody bags over the weekend. Whilst these coins were okay, they weren't very bright, being just basic black and white.




2010 Camping Event Coin

I am now thinking about this years event coins but when making enquiries I found that the company that maade the above coins has now gone bust. Having looked at alternatives I have found another company that is reasonably priced, however they are still much more expensive than is reasonably affordable. My thinking now is that I may have just one event coin made and make it a special prize for something that I still haven't thought of.

In the meantime I have ordered two personal coins from the company just to see what the finish is like on them. I have designed the coins myself, one personal trackable for me and one for Wemnog, these will become our own mileage trackers when this years GAGB mileage competition is over. I will post photos of them once they arrive. If you want details about the company let me know in the comments box and I will post a link to them next time I blog.

Finally

The TB knockout race organised by Slightly Tall Paul continues, but I am sad to report that my Ferrari is not in the cache it is listed as being in over in California. Hopefully it will turn up, but chances are that will be me finished in the race. I will keep you informed.

I chased up 14 geocachers over the weekend, asking the same old question..when are they going to move my trackable on. These are people who have held on to my things for over three months. Since the emails 7 trackables have now moved, I have had a further three apology emails and the rest have just been ignored.

We plan to be out and about on the bikes this weekend, so there should be more caches to tell you about next time. Don't forget to post any comments that you may have, including caching questions and I will do my best to answer them.

All for now.

Staying Local, Isle Of Man Schools, New Caches, DNF's and UK Podcast

Staying Local


Last Monday we travelled up to Yorkshire to remap a car. The weather wasn't too nice so we decided to just do one cache http://coord.info/GC1R036 We were looking forward to this one as it had had good comments in the past. Knowing it had just been replaced after a muggling incident we thought that we were on to a winner. Sadly after a prolonged search we had to record a DNF on it. I emailed the CO when I got home and the next day had it confirmed that the cache had gone missing again.


As far as distance with caching was concerned that was the furthest that we have been in the last week. We have indeed been staying local. We have been very lax in mopping up local caches, including those of friends Northking and Baira. So as the week went on we ventured out and found a few. It is a sad state of affairs when it has taken us so long to do some caches that are only a mile or so from home. One of Baira's caches that I particularly enjoyed was this one, only for the fact that the cache was located somewhere different from the norm. http://coord.info/GC1XNYQ I really do need to get out locally, I have visited the park many times, but didn't know this existed!!!

Keep Crossing Clear cache site

Over the next few days we did a few more caches. One that intrigued us after reading comments about it was Time For Tea? by new cacher Noords. The cache http://coord.info/GC2ER2N was a real surprise. A lot of thought has gone in to the placement and design of this one. I am not going to give anything else away about it. It is in the memorial gardens just off the Embankment here in Nottingham. If this cache from such a new cacher is anything to go by then s/he is definately going to be surprising us in the coming months.


The gardens where it is placed are lovely, no matter what time of year you visit, so if you are ever in Nottingham, pop in and have a wander round. The statue of Queen Vicoria that is in the photograph (below) was originally in the market square in Nottingham but was moved when the square was redeveloped back in 1953, it had been in the market square since being unveiled in 1905.



Not too far from the Time For Tea? cache, Memorial Gardens, Nottingham



Also over the weekend we have done some of Northking's caches. Not as many as we planned to do. We really have waited far too long to do these and we aim to try and finish his by Christmas. We did his A-Road Anarchy caches this weekend. In the past we have found some ARA caches very boring. A film canister chucked in to a lay-by. These had a bit more about them and larger containers. I was able to leave some trackables in a couple of them and also retrieve one from another. Jeff, aka Northking has a reputation for putting out quality caches and I look forward to reporting in the next few weeks on some of his other caches. From reading logs, they may just have Wemnog and I scratching our heads!



Isle Of Man School

Whilst up in Barrow last week, I picked up a trackable TB3QHVJ, I won't give the actual tracking number for it on here for obvious reasons. This trackable is owned and being followed by a group of school children from the Isle Of Man. Having picked it up I decided to set a bit of a quiz for the children, not actually telling them where I was going to take it, but giving them hints. So, at the moment I have brought it home to Nottingham, some Robin Hood hints for them there. In the next few days I am moving it down south, so again I have given them some hints without actually saying where it is going. I had a lovely email yesterday from their teacher thanking me for doing this. Now I enjoy moving trackables anyway, but this has made it a bit more special, especially as the kids are enjoying it so much. This is a photo of the trackable in question, so if you see it out and about, please try and take it somewhere interesting for them.

New Caches

Following on from doing the A-Road Anarchy caches by Northking, I felt inspired to put one out myself last night. So far it hasn't been published so I can't say too much about it apart from the title A-Road Anarchy - A612 - Time For A Picnic! I'll report next time on how it is doing. I have another cache ready to go out in the next few days, this is a nano cache in a well loved area of Nottingham. Going back to the ARA caches, I do already have one which has been in place for a while http://coord.info/GC24942



DNF's


Many cachers seem to be reluctant to record a DNF when they have been unable to find a cache. Whether they are embarrassed to say that they haven't found it, or simply don't feel that it is important to register that they haven't found one. As far as I am concerned recording a DNF on one of my caches, or my recording one on a cache that I haven't been able to locate is important. Not only does it inform the CO that there may be a problem with their cache, it also informs other cachers that they may have to either look that little bit harder or be prepared for a DNF themselves. The same goes for Needs Maintainance reports. Sometimes, rightly or wrongly cache owners don't get a chance to go and check on their caches, so a NM report is their only way of knowing if some work needs doing. So please, don't be emabarrassed about reporting. We all have DNF's at some point!


UK Podcast


I am glad to report that after a brief hiatus, the UK Podcast is back online. If you haven't heard the podcast before, it is very informative and worth a listen. You can find it here http://www.ukpodcast.com/ Not only does it inform you of what's going on in the caching world, it also contains news from cachers around the UK.



Finally
Having entered the Great Travel Bug knockout race that has been organised by Slightly Tall Paul, I am pleased to say that my TB was picked up in Cumbria and having been placed in an event cache in Scotland has now been picked up and is on it's way to America. If you want to follow the knockout you can find it here http://www.travelbugknockout.blogspot.com/ My TB is called Knockout Ferrari, Wemnog also has a TB in the race, his being The Skylark. Keep your fingers crossed that these two TB's travel far, we both quite fancy winning the final prize of an engraved glass paperweight.




That's it, another weeks news over, so until next time...............have a great caching week.