Saturday, 28 May 2016
Wednesday, 20 July 2011
Thursday, 13 January 2011
Favourites No.8
My 8th choice is Funny Money, placed by Wellow cacher Goose S, a cache Favourited by 13 other cachers so far. I sort-of got FTF on this one, the log book having been already signed by Goose's daughter Sophie, who is not registered at Geocaching.com. I had already had a quick look alone, but the co-ords were out. Once the co-ordinates were corrected I went out with my daughter Eleanor and this is what Eleanor (then aged 4) found;
Not the cache, but a fiendish Red Herring placed by Goose under the stickoflage to Eleanor's left. After some wandering around, eventually we spotted the cache, it was...
SPOILERS!!
...up a tree! Well, this was a much easier tree to climb that the one that Cone Head was hidden up, so I clambered up it and passed the cache down to Eleanor, replacing it after signing the log. After we returned home, Eleanor quickly blabbed to her Mum that "I found a red earring and then Daddy climbed a tree in the woods!" Before I had a chance to correct her about the difference between a herring and an earring, her mum Joanne went mad shouting at me about climbing trees in woods and what would happen if I fell and injured myself and a 4-year-old girl was left wandering in the woods alone... yes, Joanne is what could be considered a "half-empty" type of person!
I'd also like to mention this puzzle cache, another superbly-made hide by darrach, and a close second choice.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Favourites no.7
Did you notice the comment in GC.com's favourite awards guidelines where they say that there is not a problem issuing favourite points to archived caches (except events)? I decided to give my seventh point to this archived cache, simply because it was hidden inside my all-time favourite hide item; a brilliantly made pile of concrete! This item was outside the compound of a working nodding-donkey oilwell, somewhere where you might expect to see a mound of dried unused concrete. This incredibly-realistic hide was a thin concrete shell filled with industrial expanded foam, with a cut-out space for a ClipLock box. Perfect and superb! I stopped off with my daughter Eleanor one morning whilst on our way to a nearby theme park. The hint was "Not as heavy as it looks" so I realised immediately where the cache was. Eleanor was amazed, heh heh!
Second choice from this ten? Probably this cache, also now-archived. Another one of darrach's homemade specials, this one had a red herring built in, but like most finders, we found the trick after finding the treat!
Second choice from this ten? Probably this cache, also now-archived. Another one of darrach's homemade specials, this one had a red herring built in, but like most finders, we found the trick after finding the treat!
Favourites no.6
Again, it's no contest when deciding which cache to award a favourite point to from my sixth set of ten finds; this cache is one of Britain's oldest and is in beautiful Sherwood Forest, close to my home here in Nottinghamshire. A fantastic, huge cache and only a few metres from historic Major Oak. As of 6/1/2011, no less than 18 cachers agree with me, including ones with years of caching and thousands of finds behind them.
My second choice from these ten finds would have to be an odd puzzle cache. I say odd because this proves my theory that some puzzle caches are incredibly easy for some cachers to solve whilst being difficult for others, whilst other puzzles are vice-versa. Case in point; I hadn't yet found a cache in Lincolnshire and noticed that this one hadn't been found. I recognised the song lyrics, so a quick think through of the clues soon gave me the co-ordinates required. The following day, after work, I raced out to Horncastle for the instant find of a very well-stocked ammo can cache. An FTF, Hurrah! Then, bizarrely, the cache wasn't found again for weeks and the Cache Owners remarked in a post on GC.com's forum that after my one find now no local cachers would be interested in it. I must admit, I was surprised by this comment, after all, I can't see how it matters where the FTFer comes from, and I still feel like that now that I own a few caches myself; I certainly don't place them just for cachers from North Notts to enjoy, I'm always delighted whoever bags a find on them.
My second choice from these ten finds would have to be an odd puzzle cache. I say odd because this proves my theory that some puzzle caches are incredibly easy for some cachers to solve whilst being difficult for others, whilst other puzzles are vice-versa. Case in point; I hadn't yet found a cache in Lincolnshire and noticed that this one hadn't been found. I recognised the song lyrics, so a quick think through of the clues soon gave me the co-ordinates required. The following day, after work, I raced out to Horncastle for the instant find of a very well-stocked ammo can cache. An FTF, Hurrah! Then, bizarrely, the cache wasn't found again for weeks and the Cache Owners remarked in a post on GC.com's forum that after my one find now no local cachers would be interested in it. I must admit, I was surprised by this comment, after all, I can't see how it matters where the FTFer comes from, and I still feel like that now that I own a few caches myself; I certainly don't place them just for cachers from North Notts to enjoy, I'm always delighted whoever bags a find on them.
Favourite no.5
Almost too much choice to pick a favourite from my fifth set of ten finds, but I eventually decided on this one, which has also been favourited by a couple of other cachers. I found this one in late June 2009, on the way home from a shopping trip to Nottingham with my daughter Eleanor and even my partner Joanne reluctantly dragged herself out of the car. It was a glorious day and the meadow was full of wildflowers, with the woodlands dappled in afternoon sun; it really was beautiful.
Second choice would be this cheeky one in the centre of Nottingham which caused me no end of troubles before I found it, even being muggled by a work colleague at 5:30 a.m. !!
Another cache that I just have to mention, is this controversial now-archived cache by Chesterfield cachers The Family Bu. The cache container was a huge pine cone hanging high in a tree. The FTFers (cats-eyes plus Worksop cacher angellica) combined to have one member climb the tree whilst the other two waited below for it to be passed down to them. When I, the next finder, saw the tree in question, I knew that there was no way that I was agile enough to climb it (although I did try!), so I had to look around for something to retrieve the cache with. It took about 20 minutes looking (really!), but I eventually found a long branch with a little Y shape on the end, so I could hook the nylon wire loop and ease the container from the tree, sign the log and then replace the cache the same way by sliding the branch through the top part of the Y-shape. I replaced the container exactly where I found it, and then took the branch back down the lane to where I found it (so as not to make it too easy for the next finder).
Later finders reported that they had knocked the cache to the floor, and when I passed by the tree some time later to bag another cache on the same lane, I saw that the tree was a real mess. The original branch that the cache was hanging from was now missing, the cache being much lower and the container appeared damaged. The Family Bu checked it out for themselves and wanted to remove logs from anyone that didn't climb the tree. This is unfair as it is an Additional Logging Requirement, which are now banned, although I can understand their anger at cachers damaging their cache and the tree it was hanging from.
Some Found It logs were removed from the cache page (some quite fairly, one cheeky cacher logged a find, but admitted that they hadn't signed the log and asked The Family Bu to sign it for them the next time that they did a maintenance check!) and various insults were passed about. Check out the surviving logs to see what I'm talking about; I like the comments about the lost dummy...
Second choice would be this cheeky one in the centre of Nottingham which caused me no end of troubles before I found it, even being muggled by a work colleague at 5:30 a.m. !!
Another cache that I just have to mention, is this controversial now-archived cache by Chesterfield cachers The Family Bu. The cache container was a huge pine cone hanging high in a tree. The FTFers (cats-eyes plus Worksop cacher angellica) combined to have one member climb the tree whilst the other two waited below for it to be passed down to them. When I, the next finder, saw the tree in question, I knew that there was no way that I was agile enough to climb it (although I did try!), so I had to look around for something to retrieve the cache with. It took about 20 minutes looking (really!), but I eventually found a long branch with a little Y shape on the end, so I could hook the nylon wire loop and ease the container from the tree, sign the log and then replace the cache the same way by sliding the branch through the top part of the Y-shape. I replaced the container exactly where I found it, and then took the branch back down the lane to where I found it (so as not to make it too easy for the next finder).
Later finders reported that they had knocked the cache to the floor, and when I passed by the tree some time later to bag another cache on the same lane, I saw that the tree was a real mess. The original branch that the cache was hanging from was now missing, the cache being much lower and the container appeared damaged. The Family Bu checked it out for themselves and wanted to remove logs from anyone that didn't climb the tree. This is unfair as it is an Additional Logging Requirement, which are now banned, although I can understand their anger at cachers damaging their cache and the tree it was hanging from.
Some Found It logs were removed from the cache page (some quite fairly, one cheeky cacher logged a find, but admitted that they hadn't signed the log and asked The Family Bu to sign it for them the next time that they did a maintenance check!) and various insults were passed about. Check out the surviving logs to see what I'm talking about; I like the comments about the lost dummy...
Favourite no.4
My choice of favourite from my fourth set of ten finds is this one. An unusually sturdy container well hidden in a nice partially hollow tree, with great views up to Palterton (just as it says on the tin!), found on a sunny day, and not too far from the M1 motorway if a cacher wishes to make a quick caching stop. I liked it so much that I felt that it was a suitable place to leave a "Love Your Cache" geocoin that I had in my inventory at the time.
My back-up choice would have been this now-archived cache; another superbly constructed hide by cacher Darrach.
My back-up choice would have been this now-archived cache; another superbly constructed hide by cacher Darrach.
Favourite no.3
For my third favourite choice, I just had to go for this unusual puzzle cache, and for once I'm not alone, as (as of 6/1/11) four other cachers have favourited this one. Not that I'm boasting or anything, but reading the logs on this one, I may be one of very few cachers who walked in and found the logbook immediately without any help required!
My second choice from these 10 finds would probably be this one, simply because it was my first ever FTF, and therefore the first appearance of my EFF-2-the-TEE-2-the-EFF!! celebratory exclamation (Yes, I really do shout it out loud when I FTF a cache!), and I also beat cats-eyes for a local FTF, quite a rare occasion.
My second choice from these 10 finds would probably be this one, simply because it was my first ever FTF, and therefore the first appearance of my EFF-2-the-TEE-2-the-EFF!! celebratory exclamation (Yes, I really do shout it out loud when I FTF a cache!), and I also beat cats-eyes for a local FTF, quite a rare occasion.
Favourite no.2
There was no contest when it came to decide on my favourite cache from my second 10 finds. This one has such incredible views and is in a beautiful location; and it didn't hurt that I found it on a glorious Sunday afternoon in May 2009. Surprisingly to me, despite having over 120 finders, only one other cacher has decided to favourite it.
My second choice amongst this ten would probably be this one by local (to me) cacher Darrach, who often uses excellent camouflaged hide items; Gritstone being my first experience of this type of hide (the clue is in the cache's name!).
My second choice amongst this ten would probably be this one by local (to me) cacher Darrach, who often uses excellent camouflaged hide items; Gritstone being my first experience of this type of hide (the clue is in the cache's name!).
GeoCaching favourites
Geocaching.com has introduced Favorite Points, a new system in which Premium Members of GC.com can award a point to any cache that they like. Premium members receive 1 point, plus 1 further point for every tenth cache found, to award.
I decided to use my points as if I had been receiving them from the start of my caching activities, i.e. 1 point issued to my favourite cache out of every 10 found. I did consider awarding the second point to my favourite find from my second 10 finds, plus the 9 left over from my first 10 finds, in other words 19 to choose from, 28 to choose from for favourite point no.3, 37 to choose from for point no.4, etc, but eventually decided to Play Fair and award 1 point per every ten cache finds.
For my first point awarded, I decided on this cache, my 10th find. I chose this one because I liked the hiding place; semi-urban, passed closely by hundreds of pedestrians and cyclists every day, unaware of the cache anonimously waiting there. I'm surprised that it's not found more often, how many cachers pass by this one on the Nottingham ringroad every day, but never bother to stop (there's convenient free parking very close)?
I'm the only one to favourite this cache so far, in fact the most popular cache with my fellow cachers amongst the first 10 that I found is this one, which has been favourited 5 times as I write this. It's certainly located at an interesting place, and conveniently close to the M1 motorway, and would have been my second choice.
I decided to use my points as if I had been receiving them from the start of my caching activities, i.e. 1 point issued to my favourite cache out of every 10 found. I did consider awarding the second point to my favourite find from my second 10 finds, plus the 9 left over from my first 10 finds, in other words 19 to choose from, 28 to choose from for favourite point no.3, 37 to choose from for point no.4, etc, but eventually decided to Play Fair and award 1 point per every ten cache finds.
For my first point awarded, I decided on this cache, my 10th find. I chose this one because I liked the hiding place; semi-urban, passed closely by hundreds of pedestrians and cyclists every day, unaware of the cache anonimously waiting there. I'm surprised that it's not found more often, how many cachers pass by this one on the Nottingham ringroad every day, but never bother to stop (there's convenient free parking very close)?
I'm the only one to favourite this cache so far, in fact the most popular cache with my fellow cachers amongst the first 10 that I found is this one, which has been favourited 5 times as I write this. It's certainly located at an interesting place, and conveniently close to the M1 motorway, and would have been my second choice.
Friday, 12 November 2010
Wednesday, 13 October 2010
Raging Racing Bull increases TravelBugBaja™ lead
The Detectorists' Raging Racing Bull Travel Bug has increased it's lead in the July 2010 TravelBugBaja™ after being placed into this Harrogate cache.
Sunday, 10 October 2010
New race leader in the July 2010 TravelBugBaja™
The Detectorists' Raging Racing Bull TB has leapt into the lead of the July 2010 TravelBugBaja™, thanks to a 160.3 mile move by cacher Postie!
Bl4ck4dd3r's '84 Pontiac creeps a little further
Bl4ck4dd3r's Travel Bug has moved along 1.1 miles in the July 2010 TravelBugBaja™ Race.
Friday, 8 October 2010
Is there a cache no.209 in the UK?
As a sequel to my previous post, I decided to check what is the highest number (of an unbroken sequence) available in the UK.
Obviously the famous Skeg to Ness series goes up to #207, so from no.208, what about the Church Micro series? Well, it's okay for no.208, but no.209 has been archived, and I can't find another 209 cache in the U.K., so it looks like a trip to Denmark, Sweden, Norway or the U.S.A. could be neccessary!
Obviously the famous Skeg to Ness series goes up to #207, so from no.208, what about the Church Micro series? Well, it's okay for no.208, but no.209 has been archived, and I can't find another 209 cache in the U.K., so it looks like a trip to Denmark, Sweden, Norway or the U.S.A. could be neccessary!
Countin' Bones is countin' caches
A few months ago I launched this Travel Bug, X400;
(whose name derives from the last 4 characters in it's logging code) with the intention of seeing if cachers who find it can take it to numbered caches in numerical order from 1. So far it has slowly worked it's way to number 3, although it wasn't logged into the cache. So, I figured why not try it myself with a TB that I carry with me, taking photographs at each stop?
(whose name derives from the last 4 characters in it's logging code) with the intention of seeing if cachers who find it can take it to numbered caches in numerical order from 1. So far it has slowly worked it's way to number 3, although it wasn't logged into the cache. So, I figured why not try it myself with a TB that I carry with me, taking photographs at each stop?
Introducing Countin' Bones, who made his first stop today at Dave & Andy's Stationary 1;
I've not shown the actual cache container, so as to avoid giving away the surprise!
Now, where to for a number 2 cache..?
TravelBugBaja™ update
bl4ch4dd3r's '84 Pontiac Travel Bug has moved up one position into 2nd place after being dropped into this cache in Lancashire.
Overseas blog readers will probably be bemused by the cache name!☺
Overseas blog readers will probably be bemused by the cache name!☺
Thursday, 7 October 2010
July 2010 TravelBugBaja™
For the benefit of all entrants in the July 2010 TravelBugBaja™ race, I've added a current standings list to the top left of this blog, which I will keep updated.
Check out The Great Travel Bug Knock-Out for more race action!
Check out The Great Travel Bug Knock-Out for more race action!
Sunday, 3 October 2010
How do you keep a cacher in suspense?
I'll tell you later!
Seriously, sorry for anyone who's been waiting for an update on this blog, but I've been too busy driving this:
Yes, I've left Boots and moved to these guys. The hours can be long as the entire country is covered from the one warehouse in Shirebrook, Derbyshire (the above photograph was taken in Watford, Herts), but I'm really enjoying it!
Anyway, check out my new blog for details of my new Travel Bug Race, open to all.
Happy caching, STP
Saturday, 19 June 2010
My FTFs
I was just adding up how many First-to-Finds I had made and figured as I hadn't posted on here this week, it might make interesting reading. As always, Your Milage May Vary!
Oddly enough, I almost had a First-to-Find with only my second cache. I had made the decision to look for just one cache a day, and after finding one of Angellica's local hides on Day 1, I spotted an unfound cache in Samson Woods, Calverton Branch Line 7 to go for on Day 2. A slim dark-haired woman with a boy passed me just before I reached the cache and I'm 99% sure that was First Finder Sephora and her son, so I missed the FTF by less than 10 minutes.
My eventual first FTF came on Day 29, with Sam's favourite places #3. What made this one more satisfying was beating Chesterfield cachers cats-eyes. I've since met Ginny and Dave and they're really nice people, but to a newbie that I was at the time, they really appeared to be hogging all the FTFs! Speaking of cats-eyes, I'd noticed that they always started their FTF logs with Yabba-Dabba-Doo, so I had to think up a FTF catchphrase of my own, but all I could come up with on short notice was EFF-2-the-TEE-2-the-EFF!! Well, it serves it's purpose I guess ;-)
Oh, and another good thing about this cache is that the owner, dog-walker had left a nice certificate for the FTF;
Oddly enough, I almost had a First-to-Find with only my second cache. I had made the decision to look for just one cache a day, and after finding one of Angellica's local hides on Day 1, I spotted an unfound cache in Samson Woods, Calverton Branch Line 7 to go for on Day 2. A slim dark-haired woman with a boy passed me just before I reached the cache and I'm 99% sure that was First Finder Sephora and her son, so I missed the FTF by less than 10 minutes.
My eventual first FTF came on Day 29, with Sam's favourite places #3. What made this one more satisfying was beating Chesterfield cachers cats-eyes. I've since met Ginny and Dave and they're really nice people, but to a newbie that I was at the time, they really appeared to be hogging all the FTFs! Speaking of cats-eyes, I'd noticed that they always started their FTF logs with Yabba-Dabba-Doo, so I had to think up a FTF catchphrase of my own, but all I could come up with on short notice was EFF-2-the-TEE-2-the-EFF!! Well, it serves it's purpose I guess ;-)
Oh, and another good thing about this cache is that the owner, dog-walker had left a nice certificate for the FTF;
I really ought to make some of those up for my caches, they're better souvenirs than FTF badges.
FTF number two arrived on Day 52, when before leaving for work I noticed a new cache from Carlton cacher Jacaru named No Tracking Here!. A nice simple find.
I had decided that I wanted to find a cache in Lincolnshire and so had checked to see if there were any unfounds in Lincs. I spotted an new puzzle cache that involved song lyrics, which I recognised instantly. A couple of minutes work on google had the rest of the puzzle solved, but I had to wait until the following day to bag the cache, FTF on July 2nd of Mary-Jo-Lisa, a fantastic well-stocked ammo can cache. Amazingly this cache was not found again until September 18th.
FTF no.4 was Baggers Bounty Bonanza #7 - Level Crossing part 1. I could have FTFed the entire series, but I was sticking to my one-cache-per-day rule at that time. Three days later FTF no.5 was Baggers Bounty Bonanza #6 - Barking Mad. This one had been muggled before anyone had found it, giving me the opportunity to bag FTF on the replacement cache!
FTF no.6 came more than a month later, but was very close to the previous one, Ling's Corner being further along the same trail as the Baggers' series.
The very next day I bagged FTF on Bridgford Hall at 4 am!
FTF no.8 made 3 FTFs on 3 consecutive days, Sound & Vision. I had actually tried another nearby cache earlier in the day, but had been put off by a combine harvester. If I had found that cache, then I couldn't have done this one due to my one-cache-per-day rule!
FTF no.9; Tri-County (1)
FTF no.10; Queen's Hotel. I'm still a little proud of my log for this one. The next finders took the cache home with them!
FTF no.11; Motte and Bailey. At this time Deceangi was regularly publishing caches very late at night which meant that I could get some effortless FTFs on my way to work. Simples!
FTF no.12; Busby's Box. Well, that's what it was originally named.
FTF no.13; Wellow Woods Nature Trail #4. Anyone who has done this series will know how tricky these caches are, especially when they were first placed as some of the co-ords have since been amended. A fantastic series though; Recommended by STP!
FTF no.14; Wellow Woods Nature Trail #9. What a nightmare this one was, and yet when found one could only think "How could I ever miss this one?!". This was a joint FTF with The Detectorists, and here's a picture of them with my daughter Eleanor;
Well, that's the first 14, more to follow tomorrow.
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