Well! That changed the map a bit!

Well, our trip Ooop North certainly livened up our Caching Map!!! 6 counties added - and check out Northumberland!!!

Caching Map PRE-Dec '07...and...Caching Map POST-Dec '07

Eventful Weekend!

Well, it's about time I wrote another blog entry!

We went to Northumberland this weekend. We managed to bag about 8 Caches (and DNF about 2 or 3) on the way up (and so a 4 hours jounrey took us about 8...) including one we had DNF'd before (no idea how, except it was a MM and I was expecting a micro, and it wasn't lol) It was dark by the time we got there, but our last Cache was an ammo can which was good, evne if all the TBs had been taken the day before :(

Saturday we were going to go to Scotland...but our morning walk took longer than expected, so we decided on some local Caching instead...unfortunately it started to snow, our first snow caching experience, and we couldn't find the first Cache we tried. It wasn't meant to stick so we pushed on...found the next one, but stupidly left the lights and radio on, with the engine off..and ran down the battery...had to get a farmer to come jump start us (with a bit of a Christmas moment - he was just observing a calf being born!) Started off back to the farm gingerly...the snow had stuck...tried beeping my horn on one of the tight bends, only for the revs to die and the ABS to kick in and dump us in a ditch (about 10 yards from a pond!) Fortunately the darling car had enough grip to get us back on the road, and we made it home safely!

Sunday we decided on Scotland, via the DNF and some other local Caches, plus some on the A68 - as many had TBs for Scotland in. Managed to ifnd yesterday's DNF (yay! Plus a trig and a sotne circle!) Then off along Hadrian's wall for two more. Unfortunately the TBs were gone (when we finally found the small-not-regular-as-claimed Cache after the GPS had a wobbler) so it was a bit of a waste of time really. By now it was about 12:30...not idea for a trip to Scotland - it was also meant to be about -2 up there!!!

Set off along the A68, intending to get an LQ, but discovered it would be a bit of a walk, wich tend to turn into an hour for us, so we left it. The GPS was not in the mood going north, and we basically missed most of the Caches anyway - then again they looked like walks too! Bit grumpy by the time we got to the Border, but took pics of the long distance TBs for proof. The clouds had come right down, and it was raining, and I was all for going back, asthe road down from Kielder tends to flood easily! schnarff said we should carry on, as there was lots of traffic around, and so we did

As it turned out the road in Scotland was pretty good, and we found our way easily to As Far as the Eye Can See. We elft wrighty's TB here, as he would have appreciated the view (And the ABH - we were at about 1100 foot! Sorry wrighty, we drive though!!! *lol*)

Continued on to Border Crossing, a lovely Cache - easy parking, good instructions, and an Ammo Can! It was getting dark by now, but we stopped off for a few near Kielder Water. We DNFd one, but found another (which was a bonus as schnarff suddenly realised we had been to the spot before!) Kielder was eerily empty - schnarff has just discovered they drain it every 10 years to do an engineering check on the dam, nice to know it was intended - it was very strange - but we feel priviledged to have seen such a strange sight!!!

schnarff decided to direct us to see if we could find jsut one more in the dark. Unfortunately it turned out to be over half a mile walk each way, so was no good. Couldn't find a decent way home, so turned round only to be drIven off the road by some nutter coming the other way! The car fishtailed all over the place, but I somehow kept it on the road (didn't do schnarff's back any good though!) We think it may now have a fuel leak, as it only did 270 miles home and the tank is empty :( Still. We're alive, and it's not written off, so not too bad!

Left the farm very late Monday morning (as I had managed to park in the mud trying to turn the car round for schnarff to get out in the rain - only to sink in the mud and need pulling out by the farmer!) Decided to stuff it and go into Hexham and grab some more Caches before we left. Also got a MM on the way home, avoiding a bit of traffic and having a leg stretch - we got home quite late, with loads of jobs to do, but on the whole it was a successful weekend!

We ended up with 20 for the weekend - up to 164 - looking much healthier for hitting schnarff's 175 target before year's end! Plus loads of TBs mvoed along (hopefully int h eright directions!)

Now we just have to log it all - YAWN!

PS Got home to find about 6 more SideTrackeds :O There are now 63 active ones (plus 3 archived) It's almost a full time job! We'll be at 100 before we know it...and I don't think my Geocoin celebration will be viable by then, ah well!

WWFM Vids

Videos of our event can be seen at:

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=v8jt-mP3HoU (6 mins)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=e_xgLwEjuFw (1 minute edit with stills)

Ooops!

Gosh. Well, I've proved my sister right! She said I'd never keep up my daily blogging!

As it is I've not even managed to blog every time we've gone Caching! Still, I have had an Event to organise! It was awesome fun! If you missed it, come to the next one! I made some really great friends in the committee, and even managed to bump into the one who couldn't be there for the event - BRILL!!! Had loads of positive comments, great after all the bitching on the forums. If you've never hosted an event, DO IT, it's a blast! Can't wait to do it again!

We never went Motocaching, we went for the wrighty's and got all 5 FTFs! We also got one yesterday (one of the seed Caches from the event!)

We beat our record, getting 10 Caches on the day of the event, did lots of Caching in a big group - great fun!

That's it for now, far too much to do (I've only just finished logging all the Caches from Satruday and yesterday!)

schnarff says we have to get 175 before the end of the year, as we are suddenly at 138 after several 'large' trips

Busy Busy!!! And motocaching!

Well, been a bit busy for blogging recently - SideTracked is really taking off- 6 new Cahces were placed last week, and we're now up to 25! Plans for SideTracked in BRUM are also racing along, and the event is now only 8 days away! Numbers are rising so lots more work to do before I'm ready!!!

Got a busy weekend ahead too, with lots of firework parties to go to, visiting the family and picking up Mother-in-law, and before all that....

The "Unfortunate Street Names Set Strike" mission! Every time I ride my bike I just think it would be so cool to go Caching on them - easy to get through traffic, easy to park. schnarff suggested a raid on Redditch this weekend, or doing the USNS. I suggested, since none of that would be fun for the dog, that maybe we should try it on the bikes!

So, this weekend - MOTOCACHING! We'll let you know how it goes! The route has been planned meticulously, and we're gonna fit in a couple of SideTrackeds hopefully! In fact I spotted a station while I was plotting the route, only for thecheekygirls to hide a Cache there a few hours later!!! So, 13 is the plan, no longer 12, but we'll probably end up with less that that! May well be an 'in one day' record on the cards though!

UH-OH Wrighty may have just scuppered our plans - he's hidden a series of five new ones! :O

(That also messes up our nice 37% score on Wrightys - we were at 30/82 after last weekend...!)

A slow month for Caching

October has been a funny old month! Neither of us seems particularly worried about Caching at the moment. Maybe it's because we hit 100, so it's all a bit of an anticlimax...

Anyway. We both had Friday and Monday off this weekend, so you'd have thought we'd fit some in right? WRONG! I can't even remember what we did on Friday, but it did NOT involve the GPS...

Saturday we drove up to North Wales to spend the weekend with the family. Normally that would involve grabbing some Caches on the way, but we were so late leaving (as usual) there was no time to research any - I even switched the computer on, but after 10 minutes of trying to navigate geocaching.com I just got cross and switched it off - weird!

Anyway, I decided that maybe schnarff's brother markwj would have some Caches for us to find, so I slung the Caching sack in the car anyway, GPS and all, and found the list from our last marathon trip North, as we had missed out on some of the Motorway Mayhems due to DNFs and lack of time.

Anyway it turned out it was a good job I DID pack the GPS, as a) the M6 was a nightmare so we cut across country (though I think schnarff had a fair idea where we were going anyway) and b) when we turned up markwj pulled out two tupperwares, grinned and said 'Fancy a walk?' :O I had forgotten that he can't hide as he has no GPS to find out the co-ords (yeah, how DOES he find all those Caches????!)

So, we spent Sunday morning clambering up mountains and hiding Caches. I can't complain as the views were stunning!!! He was going to take us to the next nearest Cache, which he had already found previously, but we ran out of time - boooo!

We also set off our PodCacher Migration TB in one of them, as new Caches always get visited!!!

Watched the news on Sunday evening and heard about the fires in SoCal (gosh I'm getting all American listening to PodCacher!) Immediately thought of the PodCacher guys, but didn't realise it was quite so close until I saw a map with San Diego on :O

Monday dawned and we had to leave quite early for a meeting schnarff had arranged (DOH!) Again we were late leaving so the DNF near Conwy was out (Watch the Birdie) As it was we made quite good time, and by Junction 12 I quite fancied a break from driving, so I pulled off the motorway without giving schnarff a chance to complain. I wasn't quite sure where the Cache was, so pulled into the first layby and got the GPS out. DEAD close!

Turned the car round and headed down the lane indicated. It was pretty narrow so we had to go past the spot indicated, but then there was a large grassy verge so we pulled up, although there was a van parked up. It was pretty chilly so I set off with the GPS and left schnarff in the car. The GPS was pointing across the hedge, which didn't help, and all I could hear was rushing water :S. Decided I would have to press on and see if there was a gap to get through, when suddenly I spotted a log (the clue! There were two HUGE logs in the other side of the road - red herrings obviously!) in a hole in the hedge.

Lifted up the log to find the BIGGEST tupperware I have ever seen!!! Took it back to the car (VERY subtle!) and did a major TB swapping session (interesting to later see we were playing TB Tag with studlyone - the UKGeocachers guys!!!) before returning it to its hidey hole!

By the time we got home we were both exhausted, and scharff couldn't face the thought of driving another hour back into the City Centre, so we had a late lunch, and I convinced her to go Caching, if only to place my poor sister's Geocoin which we've had for about a month, having not done much caching, and none in Worcestershire where we were meant to be dropping it!

We had a quick look online, at a couple of new-ish Caches and a puzzle I had solved a while back. Unfortunately it turned out that was a micro, so no good for the coin, and one of the others had been archived :S despite it being part of a 4 cache series with a walk. We figured we'd leave that for another day too - once the owner has sorted out what's going on!

Two new (members only - grrrr!) Caches had turned up a while ago, and were near home and no longer MO. They sounded like they had a decent enough walk to do, so we decided they'd do the trick!

Off we went to Fladbury and found Jubilee Bridge easily enough. The Cache took a little more finding, but was eventually exactly where you'd expect it to be! We left the Scab's coin there, along with another bug, and continued along the path toward the other Cache, only to spot muggles ahead. We'd left the map in the car, but I was convinced it hadn't followed the river bank where this couple were walking. We tried another route, but it turned out to be wrong, so we turned back, and spotted that they were already coming back, so figured we'd just go that way!

Turned out to be right (ish, the path goes directly ACROSS the field, but they were growing turf...) and we eventually found our way to Lucy's Mill. Well worth the walk, a lovely spot, again somewhere we'd never have found without Geocaching! Unfortunately schnarff didn't have her camera with her, so we'll have to come back!

Our first hillviewcachers' finds, and very enjoyable! We're up to 9 for this month now...and not likely to fit too many more in, though lots of new ones seem to be popping up - maybe everyone is less busy now summer is over. Looks like the FTF fights are harder though, as everything is getting grabbed straight away!

Apologies for the long and rambling post...YAWN!

Frustration!

Yeesh, 3 new wrighty's - still unfound...and I'm sat at work...too dark in the evenings...bah! Got tomorrow off, but the in-laws are coming, so that scuppers my plans BoooooHoooo :(

WoooHooo - making up for the weekend!

Well, after a Cacheless Weekend Monday seems to have dawned bright and sunny on the world of Caching for bikermel76 & schnarff!

Remembered (amazingly) to check GC.com for the new Cache this morning. Amazed to see it was still unlogged. Convinced schnarff that neither of our bosses would care if we were late...and off we went.

Once the GPS had got satellite lock we tried to find the Cache so we could drive there (although I had a vague idea where to go, it being on the way to work). Unfortunately it wasn't in the GPS - DOH. Fortunately the parking WAS in there (not sure what I was up to last night...)

Got to the supposed "Cache and dash" parking and zoomed right by. Stopped to chat & turn round and almost decided to give up as it seemed like it wasn't going to be simple (no wonder no-one's logged it yet!). Went back trying to work out where exactly the parking was, and spotted it. Stopped again and decided to go for it, so turned round again!

Parked up (almost in the ditch - this is NOT going well!) Wasn't convinced as it just looked like a field, no sign of a footpath! Finally spotted the sign well hidden in the hedge, so decided to go for it. Fortunately had the co-ords in the PDA, so plugged them into the GPS. Set off across the field, and remembered I also hadn't picked up the map - double DOH! Vaguely recalled that the path from this end turned left at some point and then we needed to double back to the Cache.

Decided we had plumped for the wrong side of the hedge when we started across the field, so when the Cache appeared to be to our left, and we got to a hedge, decided this was probably where the path turned. Unfortunately when we got to the top of the ridge we found that we were now in th emiddle of the field and the hedge disappeared off to our left, with the Cache still ahead, and a little to the right now. Loathe to retrace our steps (and having been so naughty with the Trig before) I declared we should play lost again, and we snuck across the field!

The Vista is a bit vague on its paths, and when we reached another 'midfield' hedge, it seemed we were on track - though the path didn't start for a bit (Topo has this habit of having bits of paths everywhere, but they rarely join up or meet roads :S) Turned along this hedge, only to find that the Cache was now off to our left - BAH! Again had to skip across the field, and this time THROUGH the hedge - oops!

Finally found ourselves on a proper path, and now very close to bip point! GPS did indeed bip within a few feet, and we started looking for likely hidey holes, despite having 40ft to go - you can never be sure, especially with a bit of tree cover! There were quite a few possibles, one looked VERY 'tampered' with, but no sign of a Cache. Continued along a bit and spotted what absolutely HAD to be the place, and so it was!

Very well-stocked Cache, several TBS and coins, and....FIRST TO FIND!

Hurrah! Our second LQ Cache, and our 8th FTF. Swapped coins and wrote log & set off back to car - this time along the path properly! Disturbed a green woodpecker which was lvoely - Kai would have loved this place - we must bring her back!

Not far to work for me - further for poor schnarff - so I got there still huffing and puffing, sweaty and covered in mud - but who cares! What a way to start a Monday!!!

As I was writing the Cache log I got a text from csi -wellesbourne to say she was STF - BAH *lol*It's good to be up with the lark sometimes!!

Have also just listened to this week's PodCacher and heard our 100th Find Milestone namecheck!!! Yay!

No Caching for us!

Well, we had a very disappointing weekend Caching-wise. We didn't do a single one!! We had loads of stuff to do and with nothing concrete planned it was Caching which went abandoned!

We actually went to visit some friends near Lichfield on Sunday and sorted out a load of Caches to do, but by the time we got on our way we had no time really, so the weekend ended Cacheless :( Worst of all there were TWO new Wrighty's released, but we just didn't have time to drive over and find them.

We got home to find two new caches less than 6 miles from home, but they're 'Members Only' so only the rich people get to go for them! We spotted another one a bit further out which is actually practically on my way to work, but no doubt it will be done by the morning! It's the LQ for Warwickshire though, so would be cool to get it if we can!

Anyways, not too sad about it as I spent the weekend pinging mails back and forth organising stuff for the Event. UKGeocachers are going to come up for the event itself, which is REALLY cool!!!

SideTracked, but different!

I've spent the last couple of days trying to sort out a Flash Mob Event, after the guys at PodCacher decided to try and arrange a World Wide synchronised event.

My stupid excitement for the event seems to be mirrored by the poor souls I have dragged into helping me (ZoomLens, mumbo jumbo and JimJinks), so hopefully we should have some fun!


It will be a SideTracked themed event which will start at exactly 17:00 GMT on 10th November in Victoria Square in Birmingham. We shall suddenly descend on the Event Co-ordinates, whereupon 15 minutes of organised chaos will commence. There will be THREE new SideTracked Caches to find (obviously not in those 15 minutes, that would be silly...), a raffle (with prizes very generously donated by ukgeocachers.co.uk), a Best Dressed (as a Train Spotter, obviously) competition, a meal (choccie bars), swag to swap, coins and TBs to spot or move on, and finally a group photo of the madness.

Then, suddenly at 17:15, we will vanish as quickly as we appeared, leaving muggles in Brum to wonder what on EARTH just happened!

Hope you can join us!

A failed FTF attempt!

Booooooo! Sometimes even a little help from your friends can't get you a FTF!

Managed to get up to Kinwarton Trig last night to hide the Cache. The GPS seemed to enjoy the 'clear air' and on 10 satellites (about 6 of which had EGNOS correction!) was giving a 5ft accuracy - I've never seen it that good! My GeoDrift reading were therefore very close to the published Trigs co-ords which was great! Co-ords at the Cache were also spot on with the Google Earth co-ords, also a first!

CSI-Wellesbourne had mentioned doing a SideTracked Cache yesterday, so I had my eyes peeled. Once the Trig listing was published I was wondering if hers would pop up, only to get a mail saying the reviewer had refused to publish it as it was too close to another Cache!

Mid-morning I got a notification that wrighty had found the Trig - it had been absolutely pouring all day, so I thought it would be a while before it was found! Turns out they were off to Wales, until they spotted the rain, and then also ditched plan B which meant some shopping for Mrs W (I think I'm going to be in trouble next time we meet!!! ;) ) once wrighty spotted the new Cache!

Left work and still no sign of the SideTracked - booo! I had been even more drawn in by the prospect of a mini-FTF certificate - sounded dead cute!! By the time I got home it had appeared, of course (having driven within about 2 miles of the darn thing!) Had someone coming round to quote for some laminate flooring, so couldn't dash out, and also needed to waot for schnarff to get home as she was already on the bike, so I couldn't call her to say divert to Warwick!

She got home at 6:30 as usual and was delighted (NOT!) to be dragged straight out. It hadn't been logged by the time we left so we dashed the 20miles as quickly as we could (behind people who obviously read '60' as 40...and going by the roadworks, '40' as 50' :S)

Got to the station to find lots of cars tootling around, so suspected we weren't FTF. One seemed to hang around very suspiciously, perhaps checking us out for GPS carrying???
Found the Cache easily, great, cheeky hide - I shall chuckle at the number of muggles who will walk past here oblivious each day, ROFL!

Turned out we were only STF, someone DID beat us to it, but no time on the log, so not sure by how much. We hit the spot at almost exactly 7pm!
Our first CSI-W at last, having met her months ago *lol*

AAA finally cracked (and ANOTHER mention on PodCacher!)

No, no, not Alcester Alcoholics Anonymous, but Alternative Antique Advertisement! It's been in place since last Wednesday, and schnarff & I have been eagerly watching the page to see if anyone could work out my evil puzzle. Looks like it warrants its 4.5 Difficulty rating, though, as it has taken until today to be cracked!

Well done (Mrs!) wrighty for finally getting there!!!

I also got another mention on PodCacher today (Show 127) as they were talking about stamps and I'd mentioned our free Vistaprint stamp on the forums!

And a sad thing...csi-wellesbourne sent me a mail over the weekend - she was going to ask us to do her 'Two Heads...' Cache, just to prove it is still there (after several DNFs) and to celebrate our 100th find, but we'd already hit the 100 on Saturday :( Sorry buddy!

Still, she's also rehidden 'Don't Dilly Dally', so we can do both of them soon! (If schnarff doesn't carry out her threat to retire at 100... :O) Am very jealous though as she's off to Prague too in a couple of weeks, and hopes to grab her 100th there! Everyone's at it *lol*

Ooooooooone hundred and...well, just one hundred actually!

WoooHoooo! WE DID IT!!! We hit one hundred finds :D:D:D

We had totally different plans for our 100, we had intended to finish off the Ground COntrol/ Major Tom series, but when Ye Ole Survey Monuments popped up near home (at LAST!) we had to change things (especially as wrighty had suggested he lead a walk round this series next time!)! schnarff has been watching YSM's listing for a couple of months - it's a virtual which moves around the country, and you can log it at any of its previous locations!

Grabbed a few urban micros this morning after the important Niece Birthday Pressie mission to Argos in Northfield (obviously couldn't resist the opportunity to grab our first SideTracked Caches!!!) to get to 99.

Tried several routes to the Trig that was YSM's current home, having plugged it into the GPS. Eventually dragged out the map, seeing as the Sat Nav was being so gormless, only to see there was no footpath to it (I blame it on the Cosmo that I didn't notice that last night...)

Talked schnarff into abandoning the car somewhere stupid and being brazen hussies (actually I said we could go along the footpath and see if there was a permissive path to the Trig!) There was no obvious path, but no-one around, so we behaved naughtily with the 'blonde bimbo' impression not far below the surface - map in hand

Found the Trig easily, and it was in great condition. Took some piccies and made our way back to the public path, only to hear the farmer's tractor approaching! We tried to hide from him, but he hung around for ages, then finally moved on, and we set off again, only for him to come back! He must have known he hadn't driven past us before, so he must have either seen us off the path earlier, or wondered where on earth we had materialised from! He didn't seem concerned at our presence, however - I wonder if he is used to mad folk searching out his little treasure!

Great to bag our one hundredth with a meaningful Cache which we will remember, and bag a Trig too!

SideTracked really taking off!

Checking out local Caches on GC.com and spotted a new one. Scrolled down to check it out, only to see it's a SideTracked :D

It's a bit freaky actually, as it's located at Northfield in Birmingham. Bizarrely I was looking at that exact station on a map yesterday as the Argos at Northfield was the only one anywhere near us with a certain item in stock...and whilst checking where it was I spotted the station - what a coincidence!!!

Sent the new owners a mail, asking hem to change the name as they'd done the usual and put a space in, which of course means the search doesn't find it! Went to run the search just to see if there were any others, and it said '22' instead of '21' (there are a couple of others in the States which are nothing to so with the series!) Thought to myself 'gosh that was quick!' only to scroll down and see they had also hidden one at King's Norton!!! Yay!

So, suddenly we have 15, in 5 different counties - Warwickshire, Worcestershire, West Midlands, Norfolk and Wiltshire!

Fame at last!

It's Monday, which means work :( and a new episode of PodCacher :)

Had a busy day at work, so didn't get chance to listen to it this morning. Finally ot started on it at lunchtime, only to get called into a meeting. I forgot to pause the show, so when I came out of the meeting I had no idea where I was meant to be, and work called again!

A little while before I left work, I decided to give it another go. Started it where I thought I'd stopped, and then spent a wile fast forwarding trying to find the right place. Got to about 21 mins and heard Yoda's voice saying about e-mails. Thought "Ahhhhhhh! Yes of course, e-mails were just about to start!" Let it play, only to hear Sandy say 'OK we have an e-mail from Mel, that's bikermel76 from the UK' OH MY GOD! *lol* I didn't expect them to read it out - I got a response the other day saying thanks for your e-mail, we love to hear from our listeners!

Anyway, sounds like I gave them a good giggle, so that was good news (and confused them by talking about laybys!)

Oh, and going by recent posts, everyone likes the new location for MMM40J15!

#A lovely (lovely day, lovely day, lovely day, love-ly day)#

Up early to make sure we got to Winchcombe in time to meet Wrighty & JimJinks for the inaugural CacheWalker Group Walk! The car was bleating for petrol, but as Morrisons was shut it had to make do! Managed to find the car park, just as Wrighty (and Mrs Wrighty, thank goodness - now we knew it wouldn't be a route march!) pulled up!

Had a lovely walk round the route of the "Many steps through old times" series - made particularly special by having the owner to guide us :D It was lovely to meet JimJinks too (who is back up to 100%, bah!) especially as he brought chocolate to share :D

The walk was fantastic, the Caches were great (and JJ & W pointed us in the direction of another that was near the route that we hadn't stuck in the GPS!) and we had a really great time!!! Having Wrighty there with his local and historical knowledge (the surprise at Cache 4 was incredible!) brought a whole new aspect to Caching & walking, and I hope it's the first of many (though bless the poor chap I know how he feels visiting loads of your own Caches can be frustrating as everyone else's counts increase and yours stays put!!!)

Collapsing at home now, logging the Caches and watching the rugby! Thanks for a fab day guys, we had a great time!!!

Finally, another FTF!

It's been a fair old while since we had a FTF - July in fact, Cache number 40! Various things have prevented us grabbing any others recently (not too many being placed nearby, being at work while other people are on holiday etc etc!) Wrighty let on a while ago that he'd hidden another but not published, so we've been watching out for it.

I checked first thing this morning, and still nothing. schnarff got up and was on the computer while I sorted the washing and other boring weekend stuff. "New Wrighty!!! It's there!" "Where?" I asked, knowing Wrighty's penchant for the Gloucestershire countryside..."Bretforton, wherever that is!" "Just beyond Badsey, can't be 10 miles away"

schnarff logged in (as the stupid site had logged her out - something it seems to enjoy doing at the moment) and it said 5.5 miles! Well, we couldn't resist, despite lots of jobs needing doing! Grabbed all our kit and set off. As we got to the village (and went wrong) we spotted a couple wandering down the road....looking suspiciously like Cachers! Turned round and found the Church where we were meant to park. schnarff decided that if they were Cachers, they'd either completed the Cache already, or were very lost!

Trotted off down the footpath in search of the first micro. Kai disappeared into the hedge, sniffing, and the GPS was convinced the Cache was there too. Spotted it after a few minutes. Opened it to find a log...unusual for a midway micro...but no signatures...does this mean we're first, or someone is ahead and hasn't signed?

While schnarff is busy signing, I'm plugging in the final co-ords. "1.3 mile on down the footpath". We carry on, hoping we're first! It's not too far - we pass the barn where the murderer was hanged. Getting close to 'bip' point and the footpath is changing direction, but the GPS still says it's ahead. Spot a brilliant hiding place, but have a quick look and looks empty. schnarff says "'10 foot" so I dump the rucksack to have a closer look. Cacher's instinct was spot on then - there it was!

Passed it to schnarff to open. She checks the log - ALL BLANK! Yay, our first FTF in ages!!! Got muggled by cyclists, but too happy to care! Went back to the car along a different footpath. All in all a lovely walk on a lovely day (looked miserable first thing!), with a FTF to boot - brill!

Mr W has adopted all the Philosopher's Stone Caches, so he's suddenly at 76...booo! Now we've only done 21 - 28%.

Success! (Fair damsels? :O)

Managed to pop into the new Cache location on the way to work. Eventually found a hiding place for it (had to become a micro though, sorry folks!) Placed the new co-ords and dashed off to work, hoping bones1 would be successful!

Didn't find out until this evening - and no-one found the cache in the meantime! Logged onto the PC to discover a coin I was watching had been collected....by bones1!! Spent the next hours tracking their day's progress as they logged their Caches!

Here's their log for MMM40J15:
"11.50am.we came from hemel to belbroughton to the bell as pat had a meeting there.now we are on the way back caching as we go.i had chatted with schnarff about this one so it had been reset especially for the dame and i,(yes really)and the dame bit!.anther neat little out of the way place to park then a short search while pat did biz on the mobile.a neat little hide then a surprise but were unable to do any thing about it,i will look it up at home.so thanks for all your efforts on this one,it must have been local knowledge to find this spot thanks again.sltn.patandjeff=bones1." :D

Didn't read it properly and proceeded to email them and tell them which Cache they'd found, only to discover cheeky ole JJ had FTFd the new one!!! His log had me rolling around :D Looking forward to meeting the devil in person on Sunday!

"FTF at 18:00
Made an educated guess as to where I might find the co-ords, which proved to be correct, and I thereafter proceeded directly to GZ whereupon the container was found promptly, forsooth.
Thank you fair damsels for another FTF."

Granted!

Recced a new location for Jn 15 this morning - and failed miserably! Tried again on the way home and found somewhere for the MM Cache, but unfortunately not the other one I was going to hide :(

Still, the chaps from Hemel Hemstead will be happy - something to do ont he way up for a Keynote Speech!

Also recced the puzzle location, only to find the Cache I had put together didn't fit - DOH!

Requests?!?!

Got an e-mail today asking if we could enable MMM40J15 as someone was coming up on Friday! *lol* Well, I must say it's nice to get requests!!!

Wanted to move the darn thing as it keeps disappearing, but not had time to recce a new hiding place yet :(

New coin, and new Cache

Spotted something which prompted me to think about hiding another Cache! It really lent itself to a good puzzle, so popped out at lunch to study more closely. Perfect place for a hide. Created a listing for it and got schnarff to check it over.

Managed to hide the Cache today and sort out the listing. Sent it off for review at lunchtime, but it still hasn't been published. Keep your eyes peeled, and sharpen your brains!!!

Recce'd another interesting location on the way home too, another meanie puzzle coming up!

Got home to find my new coin has arrived, rather appropriate for the new Cache!

Clearzone zooms out!

Convinced schnarff we should go for a 'short walk' to work off lunch...oops! Had a few options but went for our current closest. Halfway along the Cache route she asked if the Cache was a Wrighty because of the steep slopes!

Ah well, she was the one to find it, so forgave me! Felt quite smug reading the log book as everyone seems to have visited this Cache in the rain. Stupid me, of course it tipped down as we left the wood, and I didn't have a waterproof on (unlike schnarff!)

Lovely views on the way, Kai had a swim in the stream, and our latest nearest Cache is struck off the list! Our clearzone has zoomed out to 3.9 miles, and we've now completed 14 of our nearest 20 Caches! In fact the 3.9 miler has actually been disabled by the Reviewers, as the owner seems to have abandoned it (despite replying to an e-mail a few weeks ago saying he'd sort it at the weekend) so our nearest enabled Cache is 4.4 miles - not bad!

Had an amusing e-mail from Scab C (who yesterday said Scab A had a PDA so Paperless Caching might be on!) to say their PDA wasn't a Palm so she'd put in a last minute bid for a Palm on eBay! Think they have about 10 days before they go to Portugal, and they are hoping to be Paperless in time for that - cool! Looking forward to the Palm arriving and helping them out with going Paperless - it seemed easy enough to sort out, so hopefully my 'Tech Support' by e-mail and phone will be up to scratch :D

A spot of Poledancing :O

Had lots to do today, but managed to squeeze in some Caching! Had to go shopping in the morning, but came back via Welford to grab the two Pole Dance Caches. Went to the location indicated to get the final co-ordinates for Sunset, only to be foiled by an event - bah!

Continued through the village and parked up for Sunrise. Had a lovely wander through the village and along the banks of the Avon. Took us a while to find it (disturbed twice by boating muggles too!) but got there eventually! Left A Ship for Dad to start its journey as it's so near the river!

Back to the car and went up to Binton to grab Scott's Cache as well, which we did easily. Suppose 2/3 isn't bad for a busy day!

Fun, funny, funnier!

Hmmm, what a day! Got two 'DNF' notifications on our Caches, both of which said 'may still be there, didn't get much chance to look' *sigh* Fortunately both are (sort of) on my way home, so I popped in to check. First up was MMM40J15. Pulled up on the bike and couldn't spot it. Was about to put the bike on its stand, and spotted it on the floor! Now someone a few weeks ago said 'almost ran it over', well this time it happened! :( In the words of the icon that is Pam Ayres (no comments about my Dad dressing up as her when I was a kid...and people wonder why I'm so odd!) "squashed, and dead, and flat". Ah.

Dreaded to think what I'd find at Cache number 2, but happily it was still there quite safely! Phew!

Knew I'd be home before schnarff, so decided to go and work out some of the clues to a pair of Caches which will very soon be our closest to home. I'm not entirely sure what the locals must have thought of me wandering around in full bike gear staring at local landmarks! Got all the answers (well, almost!) and took a pic of the tricky part of one of them for later calculation, as well as another pic of the Scab's Best of British 2007 coin (as our Uncle lives in the village!)

Decided to grab another pic of the coin with our Parish coat of arms, so popped to one of our Caches which is near a sign with the arms on. Unfortunately it seems the last Cacher decided to demolish the sign in the search for the Cache, removing BOTH caps off the posts before realising they don't go back on :(. Will have to go down with a screwdriver and try to fix them to save the Parish Council some money!

Continued home, only to get there to find I didn't have my house keys! DOH! Still, I sat and worked out the rest of the Cache info (but were there 101, 102 or 103 studs?!?) and happily had some PodCacher shows on my MuVo to keep me amused. schnarff arrived home about 15 minutes later, chatted for a while and then said 'Why are you sitting outside anyway...Oh my god!' She'd found my keys earlier, and hidden them outside, knowing I'd get home first, but by the time she'd got to work, had totally forgotten to tell me *lol*

Ah well, at least it wasn't raining, and at least I'd whiled away half an hour or so Caching, otherwise I might not have found it quite so funny!

Norra lotta Caching!

So instead I've been busy blogging retrospectively :D April & May should be pretty complete now - our early Caching days - including some FTFs!, and our first Geocoin purchases!

I've tried out a GPX file conversion for CacheMate (thanks Scab C!) and it worked perfectly! Forked out the (massive sum of!) 8 bucks for the CacheMate license to allow me more than 10 Cache listings on the PDA at a time. I guess it's now only limited by the memory of the PDA, though when I figure out how to do the whole memory card thing (if I can FIND the memory cards for it...they seem to have vanished along with it's little leather case...) that should be no problem!

Hi-tech hi-tech treasure hunting here we come!!!

2 more under the belt - and both Paperless!

schnarff was happy to meet up on the way home from work yesterday to do the new Cache. It had been logged earlier by Butttercup, who had also bagged some of our Caches :D Her log said she'd turned down the road the Cache was on, so I did a little investigating, and realised there was another Cache there! It was one of those ones that was just far enough away from home to not really get looked at, but I plugged it into the GPS and the Palm and set off with Kai!

We passed a lost looking person a mile or so back, and so I wondered if it was a Cacher, and seeing as we were still on a TTF possibility we sat on the bench near the Cache instead of waiting in the car! And we sat there, and sat there (at least the rain had stopped)...Kai for once was being very good and kept just sitting down (though the sighs got louder and the grunts and growls got longer!) After about quarter of an hour a silver and yellow Thundercat finally came into view...but why on earth does she have a pillion? Not her!!!

Eventually after about half an hour she turned up, and parked up in the (18" wide) bus stop....only for a blinkin bus to pull up to let someone off *lol* Only one had passed in the half hour, and he hadn't stopped! Ah well, we did the 'it's broken down' routine, and he didn't seem to mind too much!

Whipped out the Palm to show how clever I'd been and schnarff fiddled with that while I sorted out the GPS (not that we really needed it, the Cross was pretty obvious!) Grabbed the Cache nice and easy, and then set off for the other one. Brought it up on the GPS only for it to show in the middle of a river :O yet the Cache listing (on the Palm hehe!) said I didn't need to get wet. As we went down the lane we came across a sign which read 'Road impassable at times of flood' :O

Continued along gingerly, as despite there apparently being parking, it's pretty tricky to turn a bike round in narrow lanes, especially when they're as potholey as this one! Saw the huge parking area, which was unfortunately gravel, so schnarff had to stay on the bike lest it sink...

Happily there was a useful tool which indeed allowed me to get to the Cache location without getting my feet wet. Cheated and used the clue as the GPS was a bit squiffy and schnarff needed the loo. Even with the clue it took some searching, it was pretty dark under the tree cover but I spotted the little blighter eventually!

Tried to convince schnarff it would be fun to do a ride through and get wet, but she wasn't up for it after the bike had been a little skittish earlier (hell, there's a sign that says 'slippery, bicycles use OEVQTR' so I don't think I'd risk it on a bike with plastics!) Maybe we'll have a go on the XJs if we ever get a hot summer *lol*

So there we are. Half hour Caching, two grabbed, all done Paperlessly, and one TTF to boot! Hurrah!

Paperless Caching here we come!

Well, we didn't get out Caching last night either! schnarff just wasn't in the mood!

The landfill near work has been on fire since Sunday, and today the wind changed direction, so we all got sent home as the smoke was acrid and horrible! Riding home I was listening to some of the very first PodCacher shows - yep, I'm addicted!

One of them was all about Paperless Caching - which apparently someone had been trying to convince Scab C about at the Swindon Event. I had imagined that one needed a LIVE PDA or PocketPC, and actually went online to the Geocaching.com website! After listening to the show it became obvious it was simply a matter of having an electronic copy of the Cache details instead of a hard copy on paper!

Having an eTrex Vista Cx, I already upload waypoints directly, rather than typing them in, but I had been copying out the Cache details into Word, rather than just printing out page after page - to save some trees! The next step was to get the Cache details electronically too! schnarff has an old Palm that someone at work gave her (in exchange for one of our spare pairs of motorbike gloves for his wife!) but it's never been setup to download e-mails and all the really funcky stuff PDA's can do! I hauled it out and got it connected to the laptop.

Popped onto the PodCacher site for the details of the Palm program they use - CacheMate. It said it was $8, and I wasn't even sure it would work, but it turned out I could download it for free, with limited functionality - perfect! Now to upload some Caches! To get it all automatically, you gotta be a Premium Member, and we're not, so I asked Scab C to do a Pocket Query and send it to me.

Meantime I converted & uploaded a .loc file (what Geocaching.com uploads onto my GPS). This worked fine, but all it gives is the details you get on the GPS - name, waypoint & co-ords. I had spotted a 'memo template' on the CacheMate site and spent a while finding out what this was all about.

Turns out you can create Memos on the PC, HotSync to the Palm and then import into CacheMate - Bingo! Now I can get an electronic copy of the Cache details as easily as I could create the Word docs I was previously using!

This is awesome! Not only does it save paper (and ink, and therefore £!), but it also means we can take encrypted clues with us, as CacheMate has a funky little app to decrypt on the trail! Additionally it can search its own database for nearest Caches - awesome!

The only downside I can see is that we have the same battery issue out in the field with the Palm as we do with the GPS...but no spares for the Palm! :(

Still want to try out the Premium GPX files, I may finally be convinced to fork out for membership! Also need to learn how to store Cache details on a memory card, as the hard drive of the Palm is pretty limited!

Can't wait to try out Paperless Caching for real! Aren't we just the techy queens!!! In reality we should be able to store as many sets of details on the Palm as we can Cache waypoints in the GPS - no more need to decide which Caches we want to print off in advance - just upload the closest 100!!!

Foiled again!

Well, Orphan's Mum & Dad spoiled all our plans! They're on hols so bagged both FTFs AND the Portugal coin! We decided to stay at home rather than go out for STFs, but maybe we'll go tonight (schnarff almost grabbed hers on the way home, but sailed past it before she spotted the turning!)

Still, I wasn't too sad, having spent the day creating CacheWalker's new logo:

Busy evening ahead!

A Portuguese coin has turned up in a local TB Exchange that we've not bagged yet, so we figured we could grab a new icon and send it to Portugal via The Swindon Scabs in a few weeks!

Popped in to check on the listings, only to discover some local Cachers have been busy hiding and we have two new Caches on our 'nearest 20 I've not yet found' list! Amusingly one is on my way home, and the other on schnarff's way home, but the GPS is sat at home, so sounds like an evening Caching trip after a day of hoping no-one beats us to it *lol* The TB Exchange is kind of in between the two, so that's cool!

Also been listening to the new Podcacher show - Yarrrrrr!

Cream Crackered!

Aching all over, and only one Cache to show for it - bah! Had a lovely day out wandering Worcestershire with a bunch of girls, then very civilised tea on the lawn at the walk leader's house. Amusingly she noticed my GPS as we were out a-walking and asked about it. The she said 'I've been thinking of getting one! Have you heard of that, what's it called...?' 'Geocaching?' I asked 'That's it!' so we ended up having a long discussion about it as she had been thinking about doing it with her sons for a year! Hopefully we've talked her into it - I even had to show them the biz on the website *lol*

Absolutely exhausted afterwards, but stopped off for a quick Piddle (in more ways than one!) on the way home! 84 it is then!

Two finds today, but our score stays at 83!

We were visited today by The Scabs :D (well 3/4 of them, Scab A is busy grabbing Caches in the ole US of A!) We were informed that if the English contigent could grab two today the Scabs could hit the big 5-0, unless A managed to drag his sorry a$$ out of bed in the States and beat us to #50!

Well, bikermel76 hates to lose a race, so we went to lunch at Hillers via The Salford Series #2. After a quick find, and a not so quick lunch, we popped off to #3. Having grabbed the Cache and avoided any snakes, Scab C rang Scab A to check if we had won the race. The lazy so-and-so was in a bagel bar having brekkie, so no worries there!

Having worked so hard to help the Scabs reach 50, we were treated to a cream tea...which after lunch we just squeezed in...so much for the discussions about what to have for tea - neither of us can move!!! Still - we should walk it off tomorrow, as we've pencilled in a 7 mile walk round a park in Worcester with a walking group. Of course afterwards we will be forced to get a few more Caches under our belts, though we seem to have done a few of the closest ones already, but we should be able to get a foot on Tgirls Elgar's Enigma Series ladder!

Norfolk-in-chance!

OMG! schnarff got an e-mail yesterday evening from Ascenders saying they were visiting Redditch soon and had spotted SideTracked and thought it was a great idea and had hidden some SideTracked Caches and hoped that was OK?

So we logged onto Geocaching.com quick smart...and....... :O :O :O :O :O :O .......

SEVEN new SideTrackeds!!!

Wow! :D Suddenly we're at 12 (and we're no longer the biggest hiders *lol*)

Awesome! We hoped it would take off, but hadn't expected it to go quite like that!!!

I've also had word that someone closer to home might hide one, so fingers crossed :D

Hurrah!

SideTracked hits 5!

The Fifth SideTracked Cache was published last night, and Orphan's Dad popped out to grab it in the dark! Ha - JimJinks foiled again! Didn't have time to go and look for a better hiding place this morning, but may pop in on the way home form work later...

Easy Peasy!

I told you it was too easy (provided you follow my twisted logic!) A bit of lateral thinking and local knowledge and JimJinks has it nailed within 24 hours!

Darn - now he's up to 100% again...for a while!

Recce'd Leamington Spa this afternoon. Found a decent hiding place which should also be wheelchair accessible and returned after work to set the Cache. Unfortunately a train must have been due as it was really busy. Waited for a quieter spell and hid the Cache, but the cover wasn't quite as dense as I'd thought. It's also quite open to taxis and people just dropping off. :( Am going to activate it anyway, as it's in place but I might go on the bike tomorrow for a better recce early morning.

Trouble with a capital T?

Sounds like Spurs is already causing some consternation in the local Caching world!

Hi Bikermel
Just looked at your "spurs" cache and I'm wondering if there is anything missing from the text. I don't seem to find any puzzle references in it.
Could you enlighten me a little please.
Or is that the puzzle in itself? "doh"
Cheers

*lol* I am so mean! I can guarantee nothing is missing!

Number 16 away!

Managed to recce and hide our 16th Cache at lunchtime! schnarff thinks it's a real stumper, but I reckon with a bit of local knowledge it's easy peasy, so it's set at Diff 3 for now!


Got home to find my new geocoin had arrived! Anyone who knows me knows I'm never far from a nice cup of joe, so I couldn't resist this beauty!

To foil JimJinks?

Mr JJ grabbed his final bm76 & schnarff Cache last night, and now has the dubious honour of being the only Cacher to have found all 15 of our Caches!

Happily bikermel has come up with a sneaky Puzzle Cache, which might keep him quiet for a bit!

Watch this space!

Playing Silly Bu**ers!

Well, it just had to be done!

We finally bagged our Cache, Another Bloomin Hill. Unfortunately it was a little dark by the time we got there, on account of getting totally lost. Hurrah for the chap who managed to avoid running into the back of us as we sat lost at the crossroads in Snowshill, and then pointed us in the direction of Temple Guiting!

I'll not bore you with the details - read it all in my log on the Cache page - but suffice to say I think a return visit will be required, as the whole place looked gorgeous in the gloom so definitely need to check out the views (and maybe even climb the hill one day if schnarff's back allows!)

A new Wrighty had also appeared just before we left home, but we decided to stick to Plan A and not detour on the way as the light was already failing. It was so dark we couldn't go for it on the way home, and actually went home via Stow (cos at least I know the roads), so we didn't pass it anyway - would have been a nice consolation after missing out on the FTF on the Hill, but then, who cares? We've got our own Cache - TEE HEE :D

Hah, bumbug!

Just after 1pm the bad news arrives. Someone has FTF’d our Cache :(

Not gonna Bloomin Happen!

Get home from work and get beefburgers ready so we can set off as soon as schnarff gets home & eat them in the car. Get the Cache sack ready with drink, appropriate map etc and download the waypoint to the GPS. Suddenly, the phone rings.

“It’s me. Can you come and get me?” Panic! Happily the bike just wont start, rather than another off, but with an hour drive into Brum, and an hour back, it’s gonna be dark again before we can get to the Cache.

Get home at 7:30 and already need lights on, so no way we can make the 30 minute drive and still have enough light to see L Make the call to abandon it for today too. Boot up the laptop to find still no-one has bagged it, and wonder if everyone is being polite? I log a note on the Cache to say we can’t get there again, and thank everyone for their politeness (or maybe it’s just the Bloomin Hill putting them all off???)

Another Bloomin Hill!

It’s dark and schnarff is surfing while bikermel cooks dinner. “Quick, get in the car” I hear – this can mean only one thing – a FTF oppo! “Where is it” I ask “Come and see!!” No amount of ‘I’m busy, cooking, where is it?’ does the trick, so I give in and go to read the Cache description which is displayed on the screen

“A cache dedicated to two new geocaching friends of mine,Bikermel76 and Schnarff, the name of the cache coming from a quote by Bikermel76 in her log for one of my caches (GC13WM5).”

OMG! How many people get their own Cache? This is so cool! Obviously it’s too dark to grab a Wrighty, but we check it out for tomorrow and pray no-one finds it meantime! Looks like about 30 minute drive, and with any luck we can bypass the Bloomin Hill with a dash from Salperton (good for schnarff’s back)

Webcam, bagged!

We only meant to bag 1 Cache today, but somehow it became 6…

An abortive shopping trip to Leamington Spa provided us with opportunity #1. We were practically passing Orphan’s Mum & Dad’s Gallows Hill on the way home, and it seemed rude not to bag it AND bad our first Trig AND help out with the geodrift.com project! So we did! :D

Next up, a trip to Cardiff. Wanted to visit the Army Surplus store on the way, so decided we could bag GC135TW with a slight detour. Unfortunately we ended up leaving so late we couldn’t go to the store, but still went via the Cache – especially as we’d driven past the hidey hole so many times when house hunting & moving, and I had always thought it a good place for a Cache!

And so onto the next! When we planned the trip a few weeks ago we checked out the M50. Not a Motorway Mayhem in sight! Cunning then that scottandsam should choose last night to publish 3! When we left home 2 & 3 were still showing as unfound, but when we arrived at 1 WalkTall had beaten us to it, so we figured he would have bagged the other two. We were proved right, but these are our first ST and TTF in ages, so happy anyway!

Finally we arrived in Cardiff to watch Germany v Wales (booo to the result!) PAF (thanks Dad!) and got our pic snapped on the Webcam. Chuffed to have grabbed a Webcam Cache as they are getting rarer with the type grandfathered!

And so we find ourselves suddenly at 82, without really trying! Also discovered my WAAS is not enabled, as I was logging the GeoDrift info – perhaps we’ll find the Caches easier now *lol*

Oh Deer!

Somehow I convinced schnarff we should go for the other 3.1 miler, Weethley Wood, especially as it’s a Wrighty and promises deer. We’ve never yet spotted deer when Caching, despite Wrighty seeing a deer between #1 and 2 of the Salford Seven!

For once this was a Wrighty without a hill! Enjoyed a lovely walk beside the wood, and Kai had a great time on a new walk. Thought we were going to be disappointed again, only to walk round a corner and see a whole herd of deer! Took a few pics while they all wandered back into the wood (we must have looked dodgy!) and then continued, only for a pair to leap out of the wood beside us and nearly give us a heart attack!

Continued on toward the Cache, only to round another corner and spot them all again! This time they didn’t spot us for a while and stayed still! Once they’d disappeared again we continued to the Cache site. Could we find anywhere a Cache might be hidden? Nope. Wandered around for about 15 minutes, feeling right wallies and knowing it had only been found a few days before, then tried slightly further along the path and spotted a likely suspect, and there it was!

Clearzone = 3.2 miles, and 11 of nearest 20 complete!

Clearzone

Decided it’s about time we got rid of some of those ‘closest to home’ Caches and moved our ‘clearzone’ out a bit! Found a cunningly close parking space for GCVT7M, to give schnarff a fair chance of getting up the hill without hurting her back even more. Got out of the car to discover we’d left the dog’s lead at home, but the Cache Sack fortunately contains some string. Just about held onto Kai until we got to the footpath by the woods!

A lovely stroll through the countryside, and nice, if limited, views of the Folly. Bikermel was definitely barking up the wrong tree, but found a beautiful jay’s feather while schnarff was sniffing out the Cache due to the giveaway Cacher’s trail!

Spent some time reading the logs, swapping stash, taking pics and enjoying the sunset, before replacing the Cache and retiring home! Used our new stamp to celebrate our 75th Cahce!

Clearzone actually remains 3.1 miles as there is another Cache the same distance from us in the opposite direction!

Get home to find that as we were out finding this one, the owners, Stag Ramblers, were finding our Quercus Cache, and their log refers back to the clue for Prinny’s Folly!

STAMP!

Being a lazy cow, and seeing lots of other people have them, we've had a stamp made! So, if you spot this in a Cache logbbok, you know you've crossed our path! It came from Vistaprint, who always do free stamps, but this is a pocket stamp - so carries its own ink neatly tucked inside!

Get your own free at: www.vistaprint.biz/freeoffers1!

Our first Event, the Scabs' first hide, and a special present!

Circumstances have changed and suddenly we are free today! The Scabs are off to the Swindon Science Museum event, so we ask if we can tag along to our first event cache!

Before the event we visit Swindon Train Station to help the Scabs with their first Hide!! They’ve done a SideTracked Cache (as most of the MMs round their way are done, and micros are by far the easiest way to start your hiding adventures!)

We had a great time at the event, spotting lots of coins and travel bugs, making a pledge in the I Pledge book and grabbing the new Cache (an LQ to boot!) as well as an existing one. We meet lots of Cachers and even get snapped! I even managed to spot a dog with a TB tag on, who turned out to be Sir Chester *lol*



On the way home we did another Cache, and met up with Sir Chester again. Then a little further along the road the Scabs came to a halt, and told us we were near an MM they have already grabbed, so took us to log it!

We get back to read some early logs of the event, and find there were TWO new Caches for the event :( Never mind, with the Event itself we’ve bagged 5 Caches today – good stuff!!!
Best of all the Scabs had a surprise for us! A 10 Hides coin to celebrate all our Cache hides!

Another FTF!

Busy busy again, but another FTF oppo arises, in fact there are two – both Wrighty’s. One is very close to home, but a micro, so we head for the other. It's upa really steep hill, and after the rain the path is REALLY slippery! Somewhow we scrabmle up, breathless, and reach the Cache! We are rewarded with another FTF, and this time a pin badge prize!

RIP Ziggy!

Another gorgeous coin!

Again I can't resist! schnarff's a sucker for anything purple, and these lips are just gorgeous!

Definitely addicted!

Spot some Zodiac coins, one Aries and one Taurus on eBay. It seems meant to be. Again I can't resist!

PS When these turn up they are SO beautiful! The constellations are little tiny sparkly jewels! There seem to be few, if any, of these coins in the UK!

Another coin!

Am getting addicted to coins already! Want to buy one for schnarff. See this fun log book, and can't resist!

PS. When the coin arrives, it is HUGE and really heavy! It's so lovely we decide not to send it out into the world, but to use it to log our Cache visits and store our mileage! Since Kai is always with us we call it Kai's Logbook Geocoin

CacheWalker is born!

Need somewhere to publish the walk for The Salford Seven Series. An MSN Group seems the simplest option! Seeing as it's going to be about Caching and Walking, CacheWalker becomes its name!

Our first Geocoin

One of the Caches in the Salford Seven series is going to be a magnetic nano. Can't resist this magnetic coin, as it'll be fun to fun to find a coin where you don't expect one!

FTF Success!

Email the owner of the new Cache (Wrighty) who tells us where we went wrong – sneaky chap ;) Go again after work and manage to bag our first FTF!

FTF Failure

A new Cache appears 10 miles away, a multi. We go for a FTF but having not found it by dark, we give up and return home :(

Wet wet wet

Been busy with the house, so no time for Caching, but a Wales Geocoin appears near to home (we had hoped to get one in Coventry while we were off, but it moved the day before we planned to go – that’s why we went to Shropshire instead!)

Convinced schnarff to go for the coin after work, despite the rain. Wish we hadn’t! There was no footpath, we got absolutely soaked, and when we tried to get back to the car we had to climb barbed wire – not good for schnarff’s back!

Still, it's our first ever geocoin, and it's Welsh! diolch yn fawr!

Time to give something back - let's hide a Cache!

The Parish is lovely and full of footpaths to explore! There are 7 villages in the Parish, so I want to hide a series of Caches, one in each village plus a Bonus. Planning begins here!!!

Fool's Gold!

Decide to use one of our ‘unpacking’ days to relax a little. A new Cache appeared in Shropshire a few days ago which sounded like it had real cash in it, so off we went! How naïve were we? Of course there wasn’t real cash! Never mind, the hide was fantastic, and Kai enjoyed herself lots!

Also grabbed one of the Alchemy series which was nearby. Unfortunately the Cache was practiclly empty as people had obviously 'traded down' bigtime!

Clearzone Reset!

Moved house today, so have a whole new set of ‘nearest to home’s to contend with!

Mystery and Earth added to the list!

Having sorted out a Multi recently, we decided it was time to tackle some new Cache types! Looked at this one a while ago, and finally worked it out today - a very clever puzzle! Went out for another Caching trip, again discovered something new near to home!

Were close to Wren’s Nest, so grabbed an Earthcache while we were at it, though we found no trilobites as it was getting pretty dark! Up to 14 now!

Rock and rollin!

Trying to make up for yesterdays DNFs we do a local park after work. Nice to discover it, and the dog enjoys herself. We struggled a bit on this one, but got there in the end – helped to hone our Caching senses I think!

Still rolling?

Decide we’re on a roll, and we should do the Motorway Mayhems nearest home. Find M5 J1 easily enough, but cannot find J2 despite searching for a long while, far too much rubbish and broken glass around. Find J3, and go for the bonus, but there are far too many *clues* in the search area, so we give up. Try to find M6 J7 on the way home as a consolation, only to find that missing too...

On a roll!

Spurred on by yesterday evening’s success, we do our first Multi. We have great fun tramping round the park where we often walk the dog, and eventually find the Cache, our first Ammo can (awesome!) which we have walked past so many times! Drop off the TB and take two more, who seem to have been in here for months!

FTF attempt

Home again. Amazed we managed to double our Cache count on hols, including doing two abroad!

A new Cache pops up so we go for a FTF. Turns out we are STF, but get a rosette for our troubles and pick up our first TB. Go for a trio of caches nearby, and end up being 4TF on those as well! In one trip we’ve doubled our score again lol

It’s my birthday and I’ll Cache if I want to!

We’re in Tenerife, staying with schnarff’s Mum who lives out here, and it’s my birthday. When asked how I want to spend it the answer is obvious…walking, and Caching! We get up early to climb the local mountain, stealing schnarff’s Mum’s dog, Mollie, to keep us company, as Kai is back home in kennels.

A little later we convince schnarff’s Mum to play taxi, and she drives us to the bottom of a steep hill. We take our nephew with us, as he’s had enough of his 3 sisters and we think he’ll enjoy a treasure hunt. Schnarff’s Mum waits in the car. “It’s only 200 yards away” I say, happily. No suncream, no water, and it’s baking. Little did we realise the 200 yards is vertically up! We scramble our way through boulders and prickly plants. Schnarff’s back isn’t too keen, and I slip at one point, scraping my left leg!

Eventually, after about 20 minutes, the terrain eases a little, and we’re on the plateau at the top. Nephew dashes off towards some boulders in the correct direction, and finds the treasure before we even get there! We’re a little disappointed to find no Travel Bugs in the cache, as there were about 6 on the listing! L After more logbook filling and swag swapping (thanks for the swag Mum-in-law!) we take some pics, re-hide the Cache (GCN12Y) and set off back down.

Down is almost worse than up, but we struggle on, burning and gasping for water. Interestingly the human sixth-sense seems to be a pretty good GPS itself – looking at the screen, we automatically took an almost identical route down to our initial climb upwards!

MIL looks happy we’re back down safely, and takes us to a roadside café for a drink, which we all need. Somehow we convince her to drive us another 15 miles to find another Cache (GCMX1T)! This one is near a lovely lighthouse. She’s not been this way before, and again waits in the car for us. The Cache proves to be on far easier terrain, though quite tricky to find, so we get her to come and join us! She finds the Cache for herself, with a little directing, and enjoys looking through the swag and reading the logs. Obviously being a holiday destination there are people from all over the world in the book!

On the way home we explain about TBs and MIL says she’d like to send her Humpty keyring round the world!

STF, well, SF anyway!

It’s Easter Sunday and of course the whole family got together for a feast! Ended up discussing Geocaching with my sister (Scab C of The Swindon Scabs) of course and she gave us the co-ordinates of a Cache near the Motorway on our way home (GC11Q5H), as she had failed to find it previously, but the co-ordinates had since been updated!

Popped in on the way home, had to avoid a chap and then a camper van, but finally went to search. The clue, as discussed earlier with Scab C – who thought she’d actually parked where the new co-ords were, and hadn’t spotted any *clues* between there and the old co-ords, was a little misleading *lol* but found it in the end! Our first Motorway Mayhem, our first micro, and Cache 2 overall!

First Find

Today was our first time Caching. I was given a Garmin eTrex Vista Cx for Christmas, cos I love gadgets and wanted to know what we have been up to when we go walking. I discovered this strange item on the setup menu ‘Geocaching’ and had no idea what it was. I looked it up on the internet and found it was basically treasure hunting! I used to love car treasure hunts when I was at school, and it sounded like something we could do while we walked, and it might help us to find new places to walk!

A few days later I mentioned it to my Dad, only for him to say ‘Yes, I know all about it, your sister does it with the boys!’ So that was that!

When Good Friday came round it seemed a good time to do a nice long walk with the dog, and to see if we could track down one of these treasure chests! I’d discovered there was a nature reserve near my workplace, so sorted out a 6 mile walk, taking in the nature reserve and the Cache it contained – GCN141 – Do you come here Ufton.

We printed off the Cache details, packed up a flask of coffee, some food, a map, various swaps, and, of course, the GPS. We arrived at the parking and faced challenge 1 – how on earth to get to the Cache! The GPS was pointing straight across the woods, but we decided to follow the very windy path round and round the reserve, getting closer, then further, then closer again!

Eventually the GPS beeped ‘you’re getting close!’ We had no idea what we were looking for, and checked out an obvious object near the path, but no treasure there, just rubbish. Eventually we decided to go over a stile to leave the reserve, especially as we had read the clue which said something about a gate. Stood around looking blank for a while, until we suddenly spotted a small cairn in the trees, off the path. It looked a little out of place, so gave it a go, and BINGO!
Read the logbook, and swapped some swag, then continued our walk feeling very smug! Hurrah! We’re Geocachers!