Drought, The GAGB News, New In The Shop and New Caches

Drought

Somewhat of a caching drought again this week for Wemnog and myself. What started off as a good idea of trying to get one cache a day didn't quite work out and over the last few days we have only found two. The two found were local caches and both drive by's. You Cannot Be Serious, http://coord.info/GC2GCHK as you may imagine from the title this one was near a tennis court.

The second and final cache of the week was another Northking cache, this time, http://coord.info/GC2FPAK one of the nationwide A Road Anarchy series, as you can probably imagine though, this, being a Northking cache, was situated a little differently.

The reason for the drought this last few days has been purely ill health. Neither of us has felt on top of the world and it is only today that we are feeling 95% well. We are going to have to be well by Friday though as we are off down to London to see Priscilla Queen Of The Desert. Naturally, there are already some London caches loaded on to the GPS for the Saturday. Last year when down there with work we did a few caches on Hampstead Heath, as we are staying for the weekend we plan on doing some more on the heath on the Sunday so some of those are loaded on as well. We have one particular target for a heath cache and that is this one Stinky Hollow http://coord.info/GCF011 The reason that we want to get to this one is that it is one of the checkpoint caches for the NW/SE Travelbug Race this year, you can see more here http://www.jeremy-r.com/geocaching/tbrace11/ Our caching friend Angellica has a TB in the race and she started its travels in our home cache The TARDIS http://www.jeremy-r.com/geocaching/tbrace11/ and seeing that we are going to be near a checkpoint, it only seemed right to drop it off.

Hopefully, by the time we get back after next weekend there will be lots of fresh caches to tell you about.

GAGB News
A new chatroom for members of the GAGB was set up recently and is becoming a popular place to frequent, you can find it here http://www.chatzy.com/369171531960 It is free to join in and if you have a few minutes to spare a great place to go and have a natter with fellow cachers from around the UK.
We have just taken delivery of a new GAGB banner which you will be seeing out and about at events over the next few months, it will definately be at the Welsh Mega http://www.megawales.co.uk/ Keep an eye out for it and see what is occuring on the GAGB stand. The banner is trackable as well, so will be another one to add to your collection.

The all new GAGB newsletter will be online for members as well in the next few weeks. It is just in the process of being proof read. I have been lucky enough to see the close to final draft and all I can say is that I think our members will be really pleased with it. If you aren't already a member of the GAGB have a look at us and see what you think http://www.gagb.org.uk/

New In The Shop

A while ago I did say that I would let blog readers know what was going to be in the Ebay shop before anyone else.  As I haven't had anything new for a while this really didn't work.
However, I can now tell you about some newish and new things that are going to be in, if they aren't already.
Firstly we have been producing self inking rubber stamps for a few years now. Up until recently we haven't had stamps that we considered small enough for geocachers to carry around with them. Now we do. Good for 10,000 impressions and small enough to keep in you caching bag, us two are already using them.
We also have personalised keyrings in, basically, you tell us what you want on the keyring and we will make them up for you. Ideal for dropping in caches that you are going to add a favourite point to or just to have you caching name on. I drop them in to caches with the blog address on.

Sadly, I only have one First To Find card game to put in the shop. I am hoping that some more will be in stock shortly. This is a fun game, I played it myself over Christmas and was quite impressed with it. The object of the game, which is for two to four people to play is to geocache through the seasons, whilst coming up against obstacles.

I am awaiting delivery of a small batch of Gladiator coins as well. These have been on order for a while and this week I had confirmation that they should be here within a few days. These are lovely coins and I am impressed with them, what do you think?

New Caches

There have been some new caches published over the last few days, one on the hit list that we are still working on. I know this name crops up a lot in the blog, but I'd just like to say thanks Northking for the additional headache given to us whilst feeling ill. We have spent a few hours staring at the screen to try and get this one http://coord.info/GC2MEQA Capital Search 2. Now we did CS 1 pretty quickly, but this one is frustrating us. As I said, as much as anything I blame being ill!

Puzzles do seem to be taking the lead around this area of the country at the moment, a few people are putting them out. Not being able to resist, I have put one out myself Top Of The Pops http://coord.info/GC2MKKA not as detailed as some of the puzzles out there, this just takes a bit of pop knowledge and a bit of googling.
I do have another puzzle raring to go, it has been approved by the reviewers, I'm not putting it out just now though as it will be in the same area as another fun cache that is in the final stages of preparation. Hopefully people will enjoy them both, more news on those once they are published. I am also considering sorting out a Flash Mob with a difference, after seeing one that is happening in London. I contacted the people organising that one and asked whether they would be happy for me to copy their idea. There were more than happy to agree, so that one is on the cards.

Finally

That's it for this week, I'm sorry that there aren't more photos for you to look at, next week, after London should be a lot more entertaining. Most of the caches that I have put on to the GPS for us to do contain a warning about the police, so I wonder whether we will get stopped at any point. Knowing us two, yes we will!

The blog will be slightly later next week as we aren't home until Monday evening. Have a good week, try not to catch the lurghi and happy caching.

18 ~ New Caches and A Brand New Favourite and Finally

18


We have been lucky during the last week and managed to find another 18 caches, with DNF's on a further three.

There has been a real mixture of caches some run of the mill and some different ones as well.
The first cache since the last blog was this one http://coord.info/GC26281 A cache that had been borrowed from one that I had put out some months before. It was good of the cache owner to acknowledge this. Just near to ground zero was a very interesting (and rare) shoe tree with some strange coloured fruit growing on it!

Strange fruit tree

The next memorable cache of the week turned out to be a real treasure chest, full of money from different countries of the world. Called Funny Money http://coord.info/GC1VWQR we located the cache right away and it didn't take me many seconds to nominate Wemnog to retrieve the cache!

Caching continued throughout the week, between Nottingham and Warrington, there was one very memorable cache that we did, but more of that later. When we were in Warrington we did some more of the Woolston Cut series that we had started the week previously. http://coord.info/GC1M9DW was one of the caches.
Heading back home today we did a couple of Motorway Mayhems ~ South and Northbound at Sandbach Services, both simple micros that didn't take too much to locate. I worry more about all the security cameras around when doing these caches than anything else. The last one of the week was just as we were heading home. Christian's Box was another quick find and we took the opportunity to pick up a TB and drop another trackable off. I hadn't seen the name of the owner before, they have another couple of caches out, so no doubt we will be doing those shortly. http://coord.info/GC2FAXN

New Caches

Plans are afoot to get some new caches out in the next couple of weeks. I am not a great fan of puzzle caches but an idea popped in to my head the other night when I was trying to get to sleep. It is very simple compared to some of the puzzles that are doing the rounds at the moment, but I hope that people will enjoy it. Hopefully I will be putting the cache in place tomorrow and then sending it for review. We have also been working on another cache and that is now half completed, not a puzzle this time but a multi, that should be ready within the next month or so, dependent on finding a suitable location for it.

A Brand New Favourite

I mentioned earlier that there was a really memorable cache that we did this week. It is a puzzle cache and as I mentioned we aren't great fans of them but this was a challenge and very very enjoyable, though starting it at 11.00pm probably wasn't the best thing to do, although we did have the coordinates in an hour! All I am going to say about it is look at this http://www.360cities.net/london-photo-en.html and look at this http://coord.info/GC2MA73 and makes up. It has become my personal brand new favourite and I can't wait to read your comments on it on this blog. As I say we had the coords done in an hour and then went to retrieve the cache the next day and as usual the coords were spot on.

Finally

My home cache The TARDIS has had a couple of visits this week, so the trackables have been retrieved ready to transport to another time/space.

My GAGB coin has up until tonight now covered 552 miles, I wonder how many more by this time next week, that largely depends on work of course.

I spent another good hour this week emailing people to try and prompt them in to moving trackables on that they have had hold of for more than a short time. A couple of people have replied, but the majority have just not bothered. I am seriously considering not sending more coins out travelling but just laminating copies of them and attaching the name tags that you can get for dogs to them that we have engraved the tracking number on. It really frustrates me that people can't play the game in the good spirit in which it is meant to be played.

We met up with Warrington Forum cacher Andy, part of The Walker Clan last night, he has actually set up the Warrington Forum http://www.warringtoncachers.co.uk/ and he made us feel very welcome. It is good to forge links with cachers from different areas and get to trade ideas and information. One of the most bizarre things that he told us about was a cache that Deceagni had told him about. Have a look at this one! http://coord.info/GCTA5E Not sure it is one that I would fancy doing if I ever get to America.

That's it, have a good week, and happy caching.

Normal Service Resumed Events and Mileage

Back To Normal


Well we are finally back to normal now, christmas and new year are over. So I can get sorted with doing the blog on a regular basis on a Monday.

Firstly today, I am going to start with a joke....

Q How many people with ADHD does it take to change a lightbulb?

A. Can we go for a bike ride?

Not the best joke in the world,  but thanks to the person who sent it to me (you know who you are)

The reason I was sent this joke is because Wemnog and I have had the maps out and planning where we are going to go caching this year. Once we have located possible areas one of the first questions has been....Can we take the bikes? One of our caching buddies heard this joke and thought of us.

I am really in to cycling at the moment so whilst planning our trips this year I have been using the services of http://www.geocachetrails.com/ there is a link at the top of the blog. We have found this site really useful in the past and now trails and circulars that may be bike friendly have been added.

There has been so much going on again over the last few days that caching hasn't been at the forefront. We have only done five caches since the last post. None of them have been that outstanding and haven't exactly been photogenic, so sorry folks, but no pics this week. The best of the bunch though was up in Warrington  ~ Woolston New Cut Series 1 , Round The Bend http://coord.info/GC1M99A We were only able to do this one as we were heading back home to Nottingham as we needed to be back before dark to get the hens away. We will be back up there shortly though to complete the series.

EVENTS

We have said that we will attend some events this year, with 4 in the diary for a start. The first one is in a couple of weeks time Let's Go Public http://coord.info/GC2M0FC followed by Spring Madness which is being organised by one of our friends Staffs Geo http://coord.info/GC2G817
We then head down south at the beginning of May to The Annual South Wales Geocaching Event http://coord.info/GC2KBWH organised by Mushroom Mike who I mentioned in the previous blog. The final event planned so far is A Chough-ing Good Weekend down in Cornwall towards the end of May http://coord.info/GC2HB9P May is going to be a busy month!

GAGB MILEAGE

So far my GAGB coin has covered 302 miles since the beginning of January. You can see the graphs for where coins are up to at http://gagb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=3796 It isn't too late to join in. Mileage can be backdated to the 1st January. The last date for entering is Jan 31st so there are still a couple of weeks.

That's it, more news next week and hopefully more caches to report on.

Have a good week.

Happy New Year

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I hope that everyone reading this had a very happy christmas and some enjoyable new years celebrations.

It was certainly busy for us, in the caching sense! Following on from the distinct lack of caching in the last blog just before christmas, since then we have done 42 caches.

Just after I published the last episode Wemnog and I decided to go out and do a relatively new series that was pretty local to us. By svk616g the caches were placed around the old Gedling Colliery site. I have to admit that I have never visited the site before and didn't really know what to expect. It is quite a place. Brilliant for dog walking and cycling. We didn't complete the series on the day and there are still more to do. The weather got the better of us, it was windy, very cold and then the snow started again. The dogs loved it though, as usual.



Dogs enjoying caching in the snow again

The first cache that we did in the series was http://coord.info/GC2KEVA a simple first one of the day. As I said, it was a good series and we will finish them off soon.
It was good to get back in to action again after the lull over the last few weeks.

Then we were off to Wales to spend new year at the Travelodge at St. Clears. We did a couple of nowt too special caches on the way down, including my 600th. I would have liked it to be something a bit more special, but you can't always have what you want.

Then the serious work of caching began. We were both amazed that there actually very few caches in the St. Clears, Saundersfoot and Tenby areas. In fact there are none in Tenby itself! We thought that there would be at least a couple of nano's around. The first one we did in the area was Birthday Boy by Mushroom Mike. http://coord.info/GC1TA3X In fact, over the next few days we got to know his caches pretty well as he seems to be the more prolific of the cachers in the area, thank goodness for him we say!

We did a few more in Saundersfoot, including Muggle Mayhem http://coord.info/GC270JG a very simple cache and dash within a sensory garden. I have a similar one in place here in Nottingham, again in a sensory garden.




Muggle Mayhem ~ Saundersfoot

 Then we went on to Manorbier, this had been the one that I had been planning to do for my 600th. This was one of my favourites of the weekend. Now there is something strange about this one.
I tried to contact the owner to compliment them on the cache, however if you try and email them through their GC profile you come up with some strange things, there is no way of contacting them, they haven't been active since 2005! yet their caches that are active keep going. In fact in this cache there was a new logbook. Most peculiar. As I said this was one of my favourites of the weekend, just choosing which hole should say it all, it almost made it in to a puzzle cache. If you are ever in the area, it is worth doing this one. http://coord.info/GC1BEJP Here are a couple of photos, of the outside and inside.


As the hint says
It's In There Somewhere!




13th Century Manorbier






















So yes, the cache was in one of those holes. glad we had a torch with us as it was quite dark in there, feeling around we came across a fair few spiders webs as well.

At least the few caches that we did were successfully found.

Then it was New Years Day and really time to get caching seriously. Having looked at some maps, we decided to do a few series that were around. Again these caches were mostly by Mushroom Mike, hat's off to him, he has put some serious effort in to his caches and locations.
Firstly though we did some more one off's including Green Castle Woods by Munch Bunch http://coord.info/GC251C1 We arrived at this cache at 9 minutes past 11.00am. We decided to wait for a couple of minutes as it was too irresistable, and stamped the log at 11.11 on the 1 1 11
So that was our first cache of 2011.


11 11 on 1 1 11!

Here is a pic of GZ.

Continuing on we did far too many caches to name individually, but there were certainly a few that received favourite points from me, including Litter Bug http://coord.info/GC1YTP1 a very simple drive by, but with a container that I hadn't seen before.

Litter Bug

The first in the series that we did was called Magic Roundabout http://coord.info/GC259YP most of the caches in these series took me back to my childhood with all the TV themed names. Another cache worth mentioning is this one, only for the fact that I loved the view from GZ http://coord.info/GC252RN

View from Leat 1

We did a whole load of these and then went on to find H2o http://coord.info/GC2624Z This one took a bit of searching for as the tree cover had the GPS all over the place, but once found we managed to retrieve the logbook, without the use of water, but it would have made it more fun.
We had one DNF http://coord.info/GC252RC but I think that was a combination of the cold beginning to get to us again, plus the fact that we were getting cache blind as we had done so many.
The next day we did more caching well only two in fact ~ including two more ingenious caches of Mushroom Mikes, one called Hook Line and Sinker, a variation on a theme, and the other that I am not going to mention here due to the fact that a replica will be making an appearence here in Nottinghamshire in the next few weeks and I know that I do get some local readers so don't want to give too much away.
The reason that we didn't do too much was because the weather was glorious, 3rd January, 2011 we actually spent the afternoon on the beach, we even had sandwiches and a coffee there is was so warm, some folk were even in shorts. Here is the pic to prove it.

So that was it, our New Year's caching adventure was over and it was time to head home. Wonder what the year ahead will bring. My aim is to reach 850 finds by the end of the year, maybe it will be more, maybe it will be less, I will have to wait and see.

EVENTS

There are already a couple of  camping events that I am planning on attending this year, the first one being Spring Madness 2011 http://coord.info/GC2G817 by old caching buddy StaffsGeo. This one is at the end of March, the weather should be warming up then, but we will be ok as we are taking the good old camper van.
The next is The Annual South Wales Geocaching Event, this one is being organised by Mushroom Mike and I am really looking forward to it. http://coord.info/GC2KBWH

May is going to be a busy month as towards the end of it we are attending A Chough-ing Good Weekend, this one is down in Cornwall http://coord.info/GC2HB9P So we will be doing a fair few miles this year.
Sorry to those folks reading who are in the GAGB mileage challenge http://gagb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=3715 good job it is only for fun!

I am planning on organising another camping event as well, somewhere in Derbyshire, I have got to visit a campsite over the weekend to have a look and see whether it is suitable or not.

That's it, sorry if I have bored you with such a long one. I will be able to get back in to the habit of blogging again on Mondays now. Until next time, have a good one.

Happy Christmas

Forgive Me

Just a quick apology to say forgive me readers for I have sinned. I haven't added to the blog for 3 weeks now.
I guess that you all know the reason for this, I have hardly done any caching. The weather hasn't helped, of course.

I have done four caches in  3 weeks, terrible isn't it?

The best one that I found was another FTF, called Secret Santa by caching friends Baira + Darkfonz, this was a memorable cache. The guys had loaded it with wrapped christmas gifts and labelled them, boy, girl, adult boy and adult girl. It was a really nice touch to a christmas cache. I met up just before Christmas and Steve had even been out to the cache to top it up with gifts again. There have been some good logs for this one, have a look. http://coord.info/GC2K580

Wemnog and I met up with Northking in mid December, another cold and snowy morning. We decided to go and check out the Two Anchors new series, Hills View. These were a follow up to their original Hills View series. These proved a very challenging set of caches. The first one took us an absolute age to find, and then we couldn't retrieve the cache itself, it hadn't so much frozen in the ground as something else. I can't say any more as it would give too much away!  After phoning Rob from 2A he did let us have it as a joint FTF and went to sign the log on our behalf. This is Hills View # 3 http://coord.info/GC2K580. We then looked for another in the series Hills View #2 The Sequel http://coord.info/GC2JHQG we had no luck with this one at all and will have to return at some other time to find it. After leaving Northking he did decide to go back and try to find it. After another long period of searching he was lucky and managed to get a FTF on it. The easiest one in the series to do had already been found by some other well known cachers and proved easier to find, mainly because we know the Two Anchor's style. Jeff actually had his hand on the container first. This one is called Hills View The Sequel, just having looked at it again, it is still getting DNF's on it! http://coord.info/GC2JHR1

We decided that we would do one cache on Christmas Day, well you have to don't you? We went for Mainline To London http://coord.info/GC18T1F It really hasn't been the best caching few weeks, we didn't find it. We are off to Wales for New Year, hopefully we will have a lot more finds then.

GAGB Coin Race

The GAGB coin race has really taken off, a lot of people have now registered to see what it is all about. I won't go in to too much information here, nip over to the GAGB site and have a look. http://www.gagb.co.uk/

So that's it, last blog of 2010, I hope that you all have an enjoyable New Year and that you manage to keep caching throughout the year.

Take care and.............................happy caching.

S no W Caching and the GAGB Geocoin Race

S no W Caching


Well I guess a lot of us will have the same story. Over the last few days we haven't done any caching. It is been far too cold and most of the caches that we were wanting to do have been buried under snow! If you have been able to get out then I am very jealous.
We hope to get out this weekend, if nowt else we will be doing some drive bys, at least there are some nano's to grab out there that we haven't done yet.

GAGB Geocoin Race

Starting from January 1st, 2011 the GAGB are running a geocoin race. This is just for fun, there isn't a prize at the end of it. Basically, it is just to see how many miles a geocoin travels with you from cache to cache in twelve months. More details can be found on the GAGB website, http://www.gagb.co.uk/ and all you have to do is register a new coin on or as near as you can to January 1st. Mileage details will be updated once a week on the GAGB website.

Finally

I love driving in these conditions

I thought the colours looked good in the snow

The site of a previous cache that we have done

No caching photos this week, so I am just going to leave you with a couple of photos of us out and about.












Until next week, happy caching.

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.

News, Quality Caches, New Caches and the World Release Register

News


Two great bits of news for you this week. Firstly I was asked to become a moderator on the Staffs geocachers site. This is a fairly new site which welcomes members from all over the country, not just from Staffordshire. You can find the site at www.staffs-geocachers.webs.com

Secondly, and I am very excited about this, I have just become a committee member of the GAGB ~ the Geocaching Association of Great Britain. http://www.gagb.co.uk/
If you aren't already a member have a look at the website and do seriously think about joining. Not only does it offer some great advice and friendly banter, but gives up to date information on land owner agreements for the placement of caches, There is also a monthly competition with some great geocaching prizes.

Quality Caches

We haven't done as many caches as we would have liked this week. Having said that, the ones that we have done have been a really good quality.
We have also managed to continue to catch up on some more of Northking's caches.

The first cache this week was Slip Not, one of Northking's. A nice simple cache to start the week. On the banks of the River Trent this was found on the first really foggy morning of the winter. http://coord.info/GC1Z600

Near Slip Not

Not too far away were another couple of caches that we decided to nab. Coppers Cache by Riktor http://coord.info/GC2EB46 This cache was placed in memory of his grandad, a policeman whose beat was in the area. The final cache that morning was Dave and Andy's Duck Hunt http://coord.info/GC2FKFH The coords seemed to be a bit off for this one, but the subsequent photo from GZ is quite atmospheric!

Viewe from Dave & Andy's Duck Hunt cache

On Wednesday we travelled down to Portsmouth for a family reasons. We had Wemnog's son Tom with us. We couldn't resist but do just one cache when were down there. This is definately one to calla quality cache, Toadstool Trail 3 by AP&T http://coord.info/GC2DC3J It was definately a very wet and very muddy trek to this one. Luckily we cheated a little and drove as close as we could in the Jeep. Here are a couple of pics of the cache. I am sure some of you readers will be able to take some ideas from it and develop similar caches in your own style!



Toadstool Trail 3 ~ closed





Toadstool Trail 3 ~ open

This was a very clever cache that blended in well with the surroundings.


Over the course of the next few days we did a few more caches, a new one by Noords, I mentioned the clever cache of his that we did last week. He has put another clever one out, quite large in a very public place on the banks of the River Trent. Almost in full view, especially if you are looking for it. This one is called Fire In The Hole! http://coord.info/GC2J993  You get a really good view of Trent Bridge from this one.

Trent Bridge

After doing this cache we ventured over the river to another of Northking's caches. The appropriately titled Spender. This one had us scratching our heads. We searched for a good half hour before having to give up on it and got home only to log a DNF on it. It pleased me somewhat to note from previous logs that some very experienced cachers had also logged DNF's on it. It is certainly one of those caches that has you scratching your head, you know where it should be, you know where it is, but you just can't find it. We went back a day later and found it. Even if you never venture over to Nottingham, the logs are worth reading, purely for entertainment value http://coord.info/GC2HDDA

I have been keeping an eye on some of the bookmarked listings for a while now and have been wanting to do a tunnel cache. My wish finally came true yesterday and we did this one. Tunnel-Tastic by Chilli Slim Kid http://coord.info/GCRRB0 This is an old cache that has been up and running since December 2005. It isn't the oldest cache that I have ever done, but certainly an enjoyable one. Here are some photos.

The light at the other end!

Wemnog and three hyperactive geodogs ready to enter the tunnel

Cache In Hand



The return journey

We were armed with wellies and torches to do this cache and really enjoyed it. Us being us we didn't reach the tunnel by the suggested access point, that would have been far too simple. We parked up and descended to the entrance via a very slippery wet slope. We managed to stay on two feet though and didn't have to resort to sliding down! Armed with wellies as we had read in previous logs that the tunnel could get flooded we were pleased that it wasn't. We soon reached the cache, picked up a ghost geocoin that had been in there since the last visit on halloween and left a polar bear TB hibernating there until the next visitor ventures in. It was good fun this one, though we did say that it would have been even more fun doing it in the dead of night when it was really pitch black! We are already planning on doing another tunnel cache soon.

To finish off we did three drive by caches, two of which were called Nantwich to Castle to Nantwich 1 and two. Number two was placed very close to this little feature which I thought was worth a photo.

New Caches

I have had three new caches published this week, two drive by's and one in the centre of Nottingham

Suspension ~ http://coord.info/GC2JDGF

Off Yer Trolley - Carlton ~ http://coord.info/GC2JECT
and
Beggar's Belief ~ http://coord.info/GC2JDG0

All three were found within a short while of being published.

World Release Register

If you have a new TB or geocoin that you want releasing in a particular part of the country, or world for that matter, it may be worth having a look at the world release register. Someone listed on it may just be able to help your traveller to begin its journey. I have just joined this register and am able to help people out if they want something to start in Nottingham/shire. The address for this is http://www.geocoindesign.com/wrr2.htm You will find out all the details there.

Finally

The travelbug knockout race goes on apace. My TB is currently in California and so far has covered a distance of 5218 miles since I released it in Barrow a couple of weeks ago.

If anyone ever has any questions about either the blog, geocaching or the GAGB, please don't hesitate in contacting me, and if I can help you out I will.

All for now, until next time.............Happy caching.







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.

Lucky

Lucky

http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Jacaru-Geocoins

http://jacaru.co.uk/

For more information on remapping visit:~ http://www.antondigital.co.uk/


Just packed sandwiches, made a flask and loaded the Jeep. I am now sat here thinking how lucky we are that we can just take off for a days geocaching. It must be awful for people out there stuck at home for various reasons, kids or relatives with disabilities for example who can't just take off on a whim to go caching. Or those who hate their jobs but still have to go in, or those housebound with various debilating ailments.

This is one reason why we place so many magnetic nano's in places that can be done as drive by's. At least that way, people who don't have the time for one reason or another can often access them by driving up to them, without the energy, time or health to do lengthy walks. So for anyone out there feeling miserable, don't get stuck in feeling that you are alone and forgotten. There are people out there who plant caches just for you. If you don't have access to a car, try and persuade a relative, friend, neighbour to take you out, even if it is just for a couple of hours. A change is as good as a rest and it may just be all you need to stop you feeling isolated. .

Finally, all content of this blog is protected by copyright and always has been. No part should be copied on to any other site without my express permission.

Back In The Saddle, Ebay, TB Knockout

Back In The Saddle


Yay, after a long period without doing any caching at all, the visit to Barrow last week certainly got Keith (Wemnog) and I back in the saddle.

During the week we did in total 33 caches, we could have done more, but it was also nice to relax in the hotel and we seem to have encountered a years worth of wet weather in one week whilst up there!

So where do I begin? Well after doing a route planner for Warrington to Barrow we actually did a couple of caches on the way up. We left the main start of the caching until Tuesday though. One of them, Nuns In A Bunker? http://coord.info/GC1K7JT was strange, if you ever do it, see what you make of it. This pic shows GZ.

Barrow In Furness doesn't have the best of reputations as an area to visit for a week, but the caches certainly are worth it. We spent some time on Walney Island and did a couple of caches over there. It was very windy and the dogs cetainly got blown about. We left Meg at Keith's mum's as she is in season and Rum was taking too much notice of her.

Here is a pic of the dogs on the windswept walk to a cache. It wasn't a long walk, but what with wind, driving rain, and my new hiking boots making a nice blister on my heel, it was long enough.


All this for a nano! There again, I don't have anything against nano's and too be fair, GZ wouldn't really have allowed for anything else.

Over the next few days we cached, then cached some more. One of the more interesting ones was called On The Right Track, http://coord.info/GC2D8C1 it is a pity it isn't an actual sidetracked cache as it is about the nearest to a railway line that you could get.

Over the road from GZ three warships are moored. Deciding that we wanted to know more about how they got to be there, once we got back to the hotel we googled them and found out that they belong(ed) to Brunei. There has been an ongoing legal argument between BaE systems who built the ships and the Sultan of Brunei who ordered them. He says that they aren't up to his specifications. They have been moored at Barrow since 2007. For more information on these ships, you can visit this link .

http://z3.invisionfree.com/Defense_Philippines/index.php?showtopic=5978

The photos below show Wemnog and I at GZ and also with the ships in the background.

Wemnog at Ground Zero (couldn't get much closer!)






Jacaru and the Sultan's Warships

















I chose to leave my new TB CP1MDK here, it is a North West Mega 2012 tag attached to a turtle which I want to stay in the North West of the UK, as I write this blog up, I have read that it has been picked up by someone who is going to take it home with them to Norway!!!!! I have emailed them, asking them to leave it in a cache more local to its mission! We'll see.

We did a series of caches called Woodland Wander. http://coord.info/GC2CYW6 A nice little series, that took us to some woodland very close to Barrow itself, close to the main road in to the town, but a little escape from the hustle and bustle elsewhere. I decided to leave another of my new trackables in this cache, my Knockout Ferrari, more of that story later. No sooner was the TB in one of the caches and the cache replaced I heard a scottish lilt asking "So which one of you is Jacaru then"? It turns out that another couple of cachers had been following us around Sue from Perth Pathfinders and Snaik. We knew that they were in the area as they had already spotted the mobile TB on the Jeep, we read that log the night before. Sue picked up the Ferrari and said that she would get some miles added to it.
We walked on together to the last cache in the series, before parting ways, the Scottish contingent back up to Perth and us off for a spot of lunch.

After lunch we did a few more, one of the more interesting places, although quite a boring cache was Bow |Bridge, http://coord.info/GCR4DX this medieval stone bridge carries an old route to Furness Abbey, which was founded by Stephen, later King of England. This is all the more interesting for us at the moment as we are engrossed in watching Pillars Of The Earth on TV, which is about that period of time.

Bow Bridge

The next day found us doing a series called The Old Slaggies, not the most endearing name that I have ever heard for a series. This was a good morning's outing and gave us some good views (well it would have done if not for the driving rain) We did see a light aircraft battling the wind though to land on the airstrip over at Walney Island, which belongs to BAE systems. Wonder who was on it?

The series actually took us for a wander around the old slag heaps. The mountain of slag,known locally as "The Slaggy"was waste from the old iron and steel works,which in the 1870's was the biggest Bessemer steel production plant in the world,employing over 5,000 men.  http://coord.info/GC1YPPD Only seven caches in the series. but enjoyable none the less.


The final afternoon of our break took us to Walney Island again. There was a cache that I really wanted to do Sheep Island http://coord.info/GC11M6Y This was probably not attempted at the best time of day, especially with my ankle being a mess, but we did it anyway, just before dusk, again in driving wind and rain, it cried out to us. Armed with torches and mobile phones, in case we got stuck in the sand, we set forth. It took us a little while to get to the cache, but once in the right area it was soon located. The walk back seemed to take longer, us two and the dogs were caked in sludgey sand. In the distance we could see the wreck of an old car, obviously one that had got stuck at some point and couldn't be recovered before the sea claimed it.

We did a few more drive by's on the way home, but the caches that I have mentioned are the main thrills of the week for us. If you ever get to Barrow they are worth doing, along with a visit to the nearby Dock Museum.

Ebay

Now that I am back home I have updated the Ebay shop, it now has self inking rubber stamps in it as well as some new sign caches that have always proved popular. As Christmas is only a few weeks away these would make ideal pressies for any cacher out there.

TB Knockout

My caching friend Slightly Tall Paul has set up a new TB knockout race.  Information on it can be found here travelbugknockout.blogspot.com  I have entered a Ferrari in to the race, hopefully it will travel far. As I mentioned above Sue from Perth Pathfinders grabbed my TB from the cache up in Barrow and is going to pass it on to someone who is going to take it to America, not a bad start for its journey, let's just hope the miles continue to clock up once it is over there.

Well, you must be getting bored by now, this has been the longest entry in the blog for a long time.

Back soon, with more caching news and views.