A Picnic By The Abbey

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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.

GAGB, Geocache Trails and The Last Few Caches

Hi and welcome to the latest installment of the blog.

GAGB

As I mentioned last week, I am now one of the committee members on the GAGB ~ the Geocaching Association of Great Britain. This is a great association to be a part of and if you are not already a member, please do think about joining us. It doesn't cost anything, unless you would be so kind as to offer a small contribution towards the cost of running the site.

The GAGB is a mine of information regarding landowner agreements, news about what is going on in your area, CITO, and much more, including monthly competitions and an extremely friendly, non judgemental forum, where you can express your views, ask questions and offer advice to others. The association web pages can be found at http://www.gagb.co.uk/ We are even having a geocoin mileage game next year, not a competition, this is just to see how far your personal geocoin and you travel from 1st January to 31st December. The details are again on the forum pages of the website.
GEOCACHE TRAILS
Geocache Trails http://www.geocachetrails.com/ is another website that is well worth a visit. If you want an easy way to find some caches in your area, or an area that you are unfamiliar with, this site can give you valuable information about cache trails, whether they are circular or linear. The caches range in number from 3 upwards. All you need to do is type in the location that you want and the site will give you a guide to different caches in that area. We recently found it useful when we visited Barrow and have used it on quite a few occasions now.

THE LAST FEW CACHES
We have been a bit quieter on the caching front since the last blog. We have only found 6 caches, having said that, two of the finds have been slightly different.

Following on from last weeks tunnel cache Tunnel-Tastic, we felt compelled to do another one, and seeing that it was only a few miles from home it had to be done sooner rather than later. This cache came in two parts, and without giving too much away the first cache that you needed to find, was virtually on top of the final part of the cache! Confused? Well read the logs and it may become a lot clearer, as clear as the mud we encountered getting to the final cache!!! The first part is called Shrodinger's Ghostly Paradox - The Happy Outcome http://coord.info/GC2HK2Q This was soon located on our trip out and we were soon transported to the second part Shrodinger's Ghostly Wormhole Paradox http://coord.info/GC2HJYV As we got transported to the second part we encountered all sorts, a ram that had seen better days, we couldn't work out whether it was the guardian of the cache or had entered the wormhole to die! We even encountered a very friendly toad, who was to lead us to ground zero! Here are some photos.

The entrance to the Ghostly Paradox

Torture Cages in the Ghostly Paradox

A most helpful toad!

It was a great cache to find that was something a little out of the ordinary and a great way to spend a winter's morning. The two caches were created by Pinfold, who has obviously put some thought in to how to set them up. I even managed to leave a ghost geocoin in there that I picked up from the other tunnel.

Over the next few days we found a few more caches, the first of these was 'grave by bl4ck4dd3r http://coord.info/GC2JMDR We really made a meal of this one, I am blaming the cold weather for addling our brains. We worked out the hint, which had been further encrypted and headed off. We knew where it should be, the GPS pointed to where it should be and it still took us almost twenty minutes to find. We had hoped that we would be first to find after it was DNF'd just after publication. We got there though and Northking had beaten us by minutes.

Just driving around this week we also found Ruddington Grange by Fosiposi, http://coord.info/GC2DJGB
an easy drive by but with some history to where it is placed.
Then it was time to find another Northking cache, we are getting through them slowly but surely, this time we found Caching Practice 4 (waterlogged) A nice simple find for us on a cold winter afternoon, http://coord.info/GC27BAW  The same day we found Dead Centre of Ruddington by seasoned cacher Angellica, http://coord.info/GC1YNJR this one has eluded us a couple of times as the area seems to be a magnet for the lads of Ruddington to gather for a kickabout.

Our final cache of the week came to my attention a couple of weeks ago and immediately made my MUST DO list. Bomber Command by well known cachers, father and son team The Bolas Heathens http://coord.info/GC21WYM is placed in one truly atmospheric locations. I am not going to say much more about it, other than Wemnog, his son Tom and I + the three dogs spent well over two hours just exploring. The cache was located in minutes, but if you cache and dash you are really going to miss out.The dogs were wary, I am sure that they could sense ghosts of times gone past. Here are some photos, I am pretty sure that if you are near this cache it will be one that you also say you must do.

Don't think this will switch any lights on now!

The glassless window

The usually hyperactive dogs weren't too sure

Ghostly

The final parking spot

As you can see from the photos, this place is too good to miss if you are around at any time.

FINALLY

I hope that the snow isn't hampering your caching efforts too much this week and that you manage to get out and about. Have a good week.