I've been busy working (for a change) and caching furiously in my spare time.
Plans for the trip at the end of this month are pretty much complete, and I'm targetting 250 caches in the week.
Caches found at time of posting......2590
Tuesday, 1 September 2009
Sunday, 9 August 2009
Country Folk and their Country Ways.....
At last some half decent weather, so we headed for Dove Dale for some of the new caches that were placed for the recent Pirate Mania event.
Three earthcaches, plus lots of trads to do on an excellent walk, including an ascent of Thorpe Cloud for one of the earthcaches, a short but steep climb!
With just three caches left to do, we started to hear a PA system blaring out in the countryside, and as we got nearer, we found that we had stumbled upon Manifold Valley Country Fair, so we dropped on for a walk round.
They were having some bizarre sort of dog racing, using their own pets. An arena of sorts had been set up, around which some 500 people were gathered. The course itself was about 50 yards long, and consisted of a rather rickety box in which the runners were placed, and a fluffy penguin (yes, a penguin) attached to a piece of string. The "hare", or "penguin" was propelled from the start line to the non-existent finishing line by way of a loop of string tied around a bike wheel (with the tyre missing), this was further enhanced by the use of the pedals on the bike to make the fluffy toy fly along at a rapid rate of knots!
Utterly bizarre, but they loved it! They were getting themselves into a right frenzy, it was only a matter of time before a fight broke out!
We had a quick look at the owls, the market and one more glance at the "dog racing" before beating a hasty retreat.
One of the strangest things I've seen while out caching!
Caches found at time of posting......2460.
Three earthcaches, plus lots of trads to do on an excellent walk, including an ascent of Thorpe Cloud for one of the earthcaches, a short but steep climb!
With just three caches left to do, we started to hear a PA system blaring out in the countryside, and as we got nearer, we found that we had stumbled upon Manifold Valley Country Fair, so we dropped on for a walk round.
They were having some bizarre sort of dog racing, using their own pets. An arena of sorts had been set up, around which some 500 people were gathered. The course itself was about 50 yards long, and consisted of a rather rickety box in which the runners were placed, and a fluffy penguin (yes, a penguin) attached to a piece of string. The "hare", or "penguin" was propelled from the start line to the non-existent finishing line by way of a loop of string tied around a bike wheel (with the tyre missing), this was further enhanced by the use of the pedals on the bike to make the fluffy toy fly along at a rapid rate of knots!
Utterly bizarre, but they loved it! They were getting themselves into a right frenzy, it was only a matter of time before a fight broke out!
We had a quick look at the owls, the market and one more glance at the "dog racing" before beating a hasty retreat.
One of the strangest things I've seen while out caching!
Caches found at time of posting......2460.
Tuesday, 28 July 2009
Pen Y Fan 3 Peaks!
Saturday seemed to be the only day of the short weekend that would provide some half decent weather, so we headed off for the Brecon Beacons for a bracing stroll up the hills.
The main target was Pen-Y-Fan, the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons, and the highest point in southern England....and of course a few caches, including a nice Earthcache, which are sadly under-represented on my caching profile.
We parked up to the north, and started to make our way up Cefn Cwm Llwch, with the summit nowhere in sight. After half an hour of plodding ever upwards, the summit came into view.
After a good 90 minute slog up the slope, we arrived at our goal, and grabbed the first cache of the day, a virtual at the summit.
We then headed off to the nearby Corn Du, just a tad lower at 873m (13m lower than Pen-Y-Fan) and grabbed Tommy Jones, a sad cache commemorating a 5 year old boy who got lost on the hills and died in 1900.
We then made our way back up to Pen-Y-Fan, and down Craig Cwm Sere and up to Cribyn, after doing SWMCC 4 and bumping into some fellow geocachers (Capt Rico & Crew) on a trip up from Cornwall.
After doing the Earthcache at Cribyn, we enjoyed the views for a few minutes, then started to make our way back down to the car, and completed a 9 mile circular walk in just under 5 hours.
Great fun.
Caches found at time of posting......2408.
The main target was Pen-Y-Fan, the highest peak in the Brecon Beacons, and the highest point in southern England....and of course a few caches, including a nice Earthcache, which are sadly under-represented on my caching profile.
We parked up to the north, and started to make our way up Cefn Cwm Llwch, with the summit nowhere in sight. After half an hour of plodding ever upwards, the summit came into view.
After a good 90 minute slog up the slope, we arrived at our goal, and grabbed the first cache of the day, a virtual at the summit.
We then headed off to the nearby Corn Du, just a tad lower at 873m (13m lower than Pen-Y-Fan) and grabbed Tommy Jones, a sad cache commemorating a 5 year old boy who got lost on the hills and died in 1900.
We then made our way back up to Pen-Y-Fan, and down Craig Cwm Sere and up to Cribyn, after doing SWMCC 4 and bumping into some fellow geocachers (Capt Rico & Crew) on a trip up from Cornwall.
After doing the Earthcache at Cribyn, we enjoyed the views for a few minutes, then started to make our way back down to the car, and completed a 9 mile circular walk in just under 5 hours.
Great fun.
Caches found at time of posting......2408.
Wednesday, 22 July 2009
An Odd Statistic?
Like many geocachers, I use GSAK to manage my database of caches, and also use the excellent FindStatsGen macro to put all manner if useful (and indeed useless) statistics on my profile page at GC.com.
I'm a bit of a freak when it comes to things like this, and I find myself reviewing the stats almost every day, in fact, every time I find a cache, I update my stats page almost immediately!
Anyway, I was looking at it earlier today and spotted something a bit strange....but true.
It appears that I don't do much caching between 40 and 50 miles from home. Although I have found 445 caches in the 50-100 mile range, and 169 in the 30-40 mile range, I seem to have managed only 25 caches (1.04% of my total finds) between 40 and 50 miles from home.
It certainly not because of a lack of caches to find, there are hundreds of them!
Caches found at time of posting......2387.
Tuesday, 21 July 2009
Wet in Wales
Despite the appalling weather forecast, Julie and I jumped in the cachemobile early on Sunday morning and headed for Mid-Wales...Newtown to be precise.
At the last minute, Julie's son Jon, and his girlfriend, Anna, decided to tag along. Anna was quite excited about the prospect of find "treasure"; I told her not to get her hopes up!
After an uneventful one and a half hour car drive, we arrived in Newtown just about 10.00am, and it wasn't raining.
I had a string of 6 caches pretty much in a line heading north-east from Newtown along part of the the Severn Way (which, incidentally, does not appear to be on the Garmin Topo map of the UK....).
First up, Hendidley 2 (The "Organite" Cache), which is a fairly new cache, with a few recent finds. Four of us failed miserably, but there was a rope swing for us to play on!
We managed to find the rest of the caches without diffculty, and even managed to dodge the odd short shower.
Jon and Anna were surveying the route back to Newtown as it started to rain.
Near to the end, the heavens opened, and we were all soaked through by the time we got back to the car, so we abandoned the idea of grabbing the 3 caches near the town centre, and started to make our way home.
An enjoyable few hours nonetheless, with some good views along the way.
Caches found at time of posting......2387
At the last minute, Julie's son Jon, and his girlfriend, Anna, decided to tag along. Anna was quite excited about the prospect of find "treasure"; I told her not to get her hopes up!
After an uneventful one and a half hour car drive, we arrived in Newtown just about 10.00am, and it wasn't raining.
I had a string of 6 caches pretty much in a line heading north-east from Newtown along part of the the Severn Way (which, incidentally, does not appear to be on the Garmin Topo map of the UK....).
First up, Hendidley 2 (The "Organite" Cache), which is a fairly new cache, with a few recent finds. Four of us failed miserably, but there was a rope swing for us to play on!
We managed to find the rest of the caches without diffculty, and even managed to dodge the odd short shower.
Jon and Anna were surveying the route back to Newtown as it started to rain.
Near to the end, the heavens opened, and we were all soaked through by the time we got back to the car, so we abandoned the idea of grabbing the 3 caches near the town centre, and started to make our way home.
An enjoyable few hours nonetheless, with some good views along the way.
Caches found at time of posting......2387
Friday, 17 July 2009
Brummie Meet 4
I attended Brummie Meet 4 on Wednesday night, the fourth (obviously) meeting of like-minded lunatics we've held.
A top night was had by all, and I managed to behave myself at this one after the furore at the last one.....for those of you who don't know what happened....this is my log from Brummie Meet 3 on the 4th of March this year......
Well, what an evening that turned out to be. It started off with great beer, great chat and the usual great people.
At 10.20, there was only a few of us left, and I offered to get some drinks. The barmaid kindly informed me that due to an "IT" error (I suggested turning it off and turning it back on again), they couldn't serve beer, so I asked to see the manager. He came out (actually a scruffy chav walked out), and it was soon established that they could in fact serve beer, but he wasn't prepared to let me have any as the till wasn't working. He then went off into a rather long monologue about "my job's not worth it" (*which was of little interest, I just wanted a pint!). I offered to give him the correct money, or a bit more, to cover the cost of the drinks so that he could sort it out later. This didn't appear to acceptable to him, so I told him what I though of the service and made my way back to the safety of the allotted cachers area, only to turn around and find that the "manager" (I use the phrase loosely) had followed me and was obviously looking for an argument....so I obliged by giving him an argument!!!!
After a rather loud altercation in the middle of the pub, he asked me to leave, I didn't. After saying my goodbyes to the remaining cachers, Mark (the evenings non-cacher) and I decided to retire to a more customer-focussed establishment nearby. After calming down somewhat (another beer always helps!), the door swung open and in walk AJIGeo, The Strangler and Mumbo Jumbo!
More geochat for a while, then off home!
Aplogies to anyone who witnessed the "events", although I rather think you all found it somewhat entertaining!
Apologies also to Mark (who obviously won't be reading this) and to Harry the Furry Squid, for whom I was unable to buy a drink!
I also appear to have inherited the log book, and am now responsible for organising Brummie Meet 4. I fear we may have to look for yet another venue, as I may be barred from Bennetts! I've been to Bennetts many times over the years, and sadly it doesn't appear to be the place it used to be, which is rather sad as the beer was very good, and the company fantastic as usual.
Thanks to mj and The Strangler for organising it, a fun night in more ways than one!
T4TE. Stokesy.
A top night was had by all, and I managed to behave myself at this one after the furore at the last one.....for those of you who don't know what happened....this is my log from Brummie Meet 3 on the 4th of March this year......
Well, what an evening that turned out to be. It started off with great beer, great chat and the usual great people.
At 10.20, there was only a few of us left, and I offered to get some drinks. The barmaid kindly informed me that due to an "IT" error (I suggested turning it off and turning it back on again), they couldn't serve beer, so I asked to see the manager. He came out (actually a scruffy chav walked out), and it was soon established that they could in fact serve beer, but he wasn't prepared to let me have any as the till wasn't working. He then went off into a rather long monologue about "my job's not worth it" (*which was of little interest, I just wanted a pint!). I offered to give him the correct money, or a bit more, to cover the cost of the drinks so that he could sort it out later. This didn't appear to acceptable to him, so I told him what I though of the service and made my way back to the safety of the allotted cachers area, only to turn around and find that the "manager" (I use the phrase loosely) had followed me and was obviously looking for an argument....so I obliged by giving him an argument!!!!
After a rather loud altercation in the middle of the pub, he asked me to leave, I didn't. After saying my goodbyes to the remaining cachers, Mark (the evenings non-cacher) and I decided to retire to a more customer-focussed establishment nearby. After calming down somewhat (another beer always helps!), the door swung open and in walk AJIGeo, The Strangler and Mumbo Jumbo!
More geochat for a while, then off home!
Aplogies to anyone who witnessed the "events", although I rather think you all found it somewhat entertaining!
Apologies also to Mark (who obviously won't be reading this) and to Harry the Furry Squid, for whom I was unable to buy a drink!
I also appear to have inherited the log book, and am now responsible for organising Brummie Meet 4. I fear we may have to look for yet another venue, as I may be barred from Bennetts! I've been to Bennetts many times over the years, and sadly it doesn't appear to be the place it used to be, which is rather sad as the beer was very good, and the company fantastic as usual.
Thanks to mj and The Strangler for organising it, a fun night in more ways than one!
T4TE. Stokesy.
Nifty Little Web Page
Stumbled upon this page a few weeks ago, it's now my home page!
It basically gives you links to all the frequently used areas of the GC.com website, and allows you to search for caches, TB's and other players.
On the right hand side, you can add links to any website you like, almost like a "favourites list", so I've added in things like Wikipedia (perfect for the puzzle caches), an anagram solver, It's Not About the Numbers (for the UK map facility), plus a few other useful links.
Love it.
It basically gives you links to all the frequently used areas of the GC.com website, and allows you to search for caches, TB's and other players.
On the right hand side, you can add links to any website you like, almost like a "favourites list", so I've added in things like Wikipedia (perfect for the puzzle caches), an anagram solver, It's Not About the Numbers (for the UK map facility), plus a few other useful links.
Love it.
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