tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84937831941994927462024-03-06T08:09:56.593+00:00My Geocaching AdventuresA blog about the adventures I have whilst finding geocaches. Don't worry, there are no spoilers as I wouldn't want to ruin the fun for anyone else. I go by the cacher name Miss Chief and I've been geocaching since 18th May 2014. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-39390961740447836292017-04-30T10:52:00.002+01:002017-04-30T10:54:19.988+01:00Your Mission..........<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://coord.info/GCKZ29" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">GCKZ29 Your Mission..........</span></a> </span>is a geocache whose reputation precedes it. Ask any cacher that has found this one about their experience and you will invariably get the same response... </div>
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<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<i>"Best cache ever!"</i> </blockquote>
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I can't disagree. It took Nige and I about a year to complete, with actual blood, sweat and tears shed. A well constructed story was laid out before us as we were taken to a multitude of locations. We laughed, we cried, we argued. We got muddy, we got injured and the dog got covered in fox poo!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/RQyVU06-SMIGCUvBHQs2oairMTkhFs4e0XtLzKkbA1NQwbruSqzVvy3mwQz2kraH4fBF3DGEdSA14kK6E69gjCfnO4V1KO7FhtAwzEl5-J5X6lrR3m92RvNRNTdJWiUCPxd6ehcrU8zhTk_e0DLjKu0HJ_Dirjr6zNg-OGFElc94pWvEHgGyElJ2pyPKBTlFIxqp5HAqVt1b7dYi-p2pEDw_u0Q0-FdQRpmDg2ojjdB1D_XZ8pw6OM69C225gLMgmuIWdalw_T2tLSRrSEidiw_LPGm2EypislHgp6Zc-nSdg6XcNy4Nl5t1RXM8ZF8qsY-dOrxgBqOrpt80GCvBrKXLrNxaMT7iekbMdhVgXDA4tb4G5PL-4Sz5nGkCQu5uRn3QUe6_5ZHdxM9kYa5OggMFz77SmRh9kKMRJgwE494zhunfKKpt3m7REI5akCrOPP3d5UblN8QnlgBRioegWzbygmi0MIZVPDoyPqRdLgkUIAL2Zi6HsKRjFdmwYOEw_3jiNNVG7fWbCXMgYNmoFmZyN6S-4xID9aDXcfFCzR7-d8lqLMPV5V9oY_h_T6UewiNCwnpgshfNIgqDvvGUyhjRbminOvjDrIyVJ0A2pP9FY0HIk1R5=w1115-h627-no" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/RQyVU06-SMIGCUvBHQs2oairMTkhFs4e0XtLzKkbA1NQwbruSqzVvy3mwQz2kraH4fBF3DGEdSA14kK6E69gjCfnO4V1KO7FhtAwzEl5-J5X6lrR3m92RvNRNTdJWiUCPxd6ehcrU8zhTk_e0DLjKu0HJ_Dirjr6zNg-OGFElc94pWvEHgGyElJ2pyPKBTlFIxqp5HAqVt1b7dYi-p2pEDw_u0Q0-FdQRpmDg2ojjdB1D_XZ8pw6OM69C225gLMgmuIWdalw_T2tLSRrSEidiw_LPGm2EypislHgp6Zc-nSdg6XcNy4Nl5t1RXM8ZF8qsY-dOrxgBqOrpt80GCvBrKXLrNxaMT7iekbMdhVgXDA4tb4G5PL-4Sz5nGkCQu5uRn3QUe6_5ZHdxM9kYa5OggMFz77SmRh9kKMRJgwE494zhunfKKpt3m7REI5akCrOPP3d5UblN8QnlgBRioegWzbygmi0MIZVPDoyPqRdLgkUIAL2Zi6HsKRjFdmwYOEw_3jiNNVG7fWbCXMgYNmoFmZyN6S-4xID9aDXcfFCzR7-d8lqLMPV5V9oY_h_T6UewiNCwnpgshfNIgqDvvGUyhjRbminOvjDrIyVJ0A2pP9FY0HIk1R5=w1115-h627-no" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">She looks so happy with herself right now...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/1lXu9yufG3TeM5oH7Em6K1ek3DmXhe252LG8m_A4BRBeOacrt_wFuYBDc-vh0QAr6ngDvTbFnSHoaU-aYkLw3BKKsxiIiQeFEGgzxJYZMSkWz9JvQv8Zl6dVkoWSjatoJ4zWFfSA5hDyKpuFMU_jLZCDQ7nwSC74WBNCBkpSb1MwzfBFk5FtryXCI_HY1h4hU_0AwI4WVRQcW7g5s1xSx1UKqLQno9_q13DF-PByI4k-aWXsOyxmBdiB0F00pwzPpNa8pv_nLAJHEJHEpSLq0erbByhfu52Ao0eie5cakVurt7Q9ewBs3PedKvHKMAN-mpECsVlC7iF55GIu-Bh-ktpCFiGliHlEfcPucroqfa3ZZJsKJxhN9_7u3Drbwrbp4-2BVNbaGRwHXAokCw-MBvxO9jEsfeEOezzHab91-z7ucsCUlfmhz_eiTDhN0zttUuzhS0rnmjTriXwDylt_azFR6kkGJrKo0FCsCFzxeTFtzmoIzW8xYkcQPwCT9Uh9_HTpm2mpABXdt1bBWMez8rccwOoZr9x4ZPIPg2VIGPlg6YDBsdrdanN2rMkbsc7EOtO3SmCASn8LYy3ncdYOuAQDxY65THIIQawSvvk2tgReEALBHqVP=w1115-h627-no" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/1lXu9yufG3TeM5oH7Em6K1ek3DmXhe252LG8m_A4BRBeOacrt_wFuYBDc-vh0QAr6ngDvTbFnSHoaU-aYkLw3BKKsxiIiQeFEGgzxJYZMSkWz9JvQv8Zl6dVkoWSjatoJ4zWFfSA5hDyKpuFMU_jLZCDQ7nwSC74WBNCBkpSb1MwzfBFk5FtryXCI_HY1h4hU_0AwI4WVRQcW7g5s1xSx1UKqLQno9_q13DF-PByI4k-aWXsOyxmBdiB0F00pwzPpNa8pv_nLAJHEJHEpSLq0erbByhfu52Ao0eie5cakVurt7Q9ewBs3PedKvHKMAN-mpECsVlC7iF55GIu-Bh-ktpCFiGliHlEfcPucroqfa3ZZJsKJxhN9_7u3Drbwrbp4-2BVNbaGRwHXAokCw-MBvxO9jEsfeEOezzHab91-z7ucsCUlfmhz_eiTDhN0zttUuzhS0rnmjTriXwDylt_azFR6kkGJrKo0FCsCFzxeTFtzmoIzW8xYkcQPwCT9Uh9_HTpm2mpABXdt1bBWMez8rccwOoZr9x4ZPIPg2VIGPlg6YDBsdrdanN2rMkbsc7EOtO3SmCASn8LYy3ncdYOuAQDxY65THIIQawSvvk2tgReEALBHqVP=w1115-h627-no" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One bath later... not so smug now are ya!</td></tr>
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This cache is not to be undertaken lightly.</div>
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When it came to logging this cache, I felt it deserved something a little creative, so I wrote a series of 'Write Note' logs as our adventure unfolded. They have become lost amongst the logs of other mugs... I mean cachers... that have found this cache so I thought I would put mine altogether in a blog post.</div>
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I would like to say a massive thank you to the cache owner, <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=034fd39a-f7f4-4e19-90a7-e83ca220011d&wid=2d3f0c9f-236f-4243-8692-08f8b889793f&ds=2" target="_blank">Pharisee</a>, </span>for creating and maintaining this ingenious geocache, a mammoth task in itself and one that very few cachers would contemplate . The single favourite point I have given this cache seems not enough to convey how awesome this hide truly is.</div>
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Enough of my rambling; here are the links to my logs:</div>
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<a href="https://coord.info/GLMKTYR4" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Day 1</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://coord.info/GLMKVBZY" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Day 2</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://coord.info/GLMKVZQ9" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Day 3</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://coord.info/GLQPDYZ4" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Day 4</span></a></div>
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<a href="https://coord.info/GLQV0C92" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Day 385</span></a></div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-48245392253840284802015-09-27T00:38:00.000+01:002015-09-27T15:16:27.672+01:00Diary of a Dead Man<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
I was coming up to my 400th find and wanted a cache that would be memorable. On numerous occasions, various cachers have told me about a night cache called<span style="color: blue;"> <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2A3MP_zombie" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Zombie (GC2A3MP)</span></a> </span>and they all say the same... it is a must do. I have to agree; the puzzle element is very well put together and is difficult without being unsolvable. The physical part, although in need of a little maintenance - up to 30 fire tacks? We came across about ten - was still an enjoyable adventure.</div>
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As this was a milestone cache for me, I wanted to be a little creative with the log which - unsurprisingly - was a little too long for the <span style="color: blue;"><a href="https://www.geocaching.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Geocaching</span></a> </span>website and so I have made it into a blog post. Enjoy ;D</div>
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"Legend has it that
lurking in the woods in a place called Croxley, is a man guarding a terrible
secret. At least, he used to be a man until others greed and hunger for profit
and power forced him to make a tremendous sacrifice. Tales of geocachers going missing
in search of this tortured, soulless being are whispered in country pubs all
over the Home Counties at Geocaching events. It was at one such get-together
that I first encountered utterings of the tale of Dr. Elgin and discovered the
existence of his journal. My curiosity piqued; I took it upon myself to
investigate this story further.</div>
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Progress was slow at
first; there is such secrecy surrounding what happened five years ago at
Croxley Biomedical Research Facilities that distinguishing fact from fiction
was proving to be a challenge. One thing I knew for certain though was that
Elgin's Journal held the key to everything; I just had to gain access to it.</div>
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For many nights, I
worked on the diaries, unlocking it piece by piece. I had mixed feelings as the
story unfolded in front of me ranging from anger to empathy and then to doubt.
Harbinger's zealous pursuit for riches led all those connected to the project
down a devastating path of destruction. Was I being arrogant too? Was my thirst
for the truth leading me down an equally dangerous path?</div>
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It was late one
night when I uncovered the final piece of the puzzle. This was of little
comfort however as I sat in a dark room with nothing but the glow of the laptop
for light. What started out as a mere need to satisfy my curiosity had become
an obligation, a duty, to protect all that Dr. Elgin has sacrificed himself
for. I'm just a geocacher though, with only 399 finds to my name, what were my
chances of survival against the undead?</div>
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Going alone to find
Elgin would have been suicide so at a recent geocaching event I recruited a few
other cachers to join me on my mission. They needed some guidance with the
journal which I was happy to provide. After all, it was essential that they read
it so as to understand the gravity of the task at hand. Nobody could go into
this blind; too many lives were at stake.</div>
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Today was the day.
Today I would help keep humanity a little safer for a little longer. All the
necessary preparations had been done, a rendezvous time was set, we would reach
the coordinates stated in the journal just after sunset. I tried to carry on as
normal during the day and not think about the horrors that awaited us this
evening but it was futile. The prospect that I may end up as Elgin's next meal
was unsettling to say the least. The relentless rain hammering on the windows
that day intensified the inauspicious feelings growing in my gut.</div>
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The rain had stopped
by the time we got to Croxley. Whether or not this would turn out to be a good
omen or not was yet to be seen. The woods were dark and unwelcoming; the mud
thick beneath our feet. The fingers of tree branches dripped water like blood
that spattered on our heads and for a moment I questioned the sanity of what we
were about to do. Then I remembered that the future of mankind was at stake,
secrecy about the project must remain intact. We were here to ensure that
nobody had discovered Elgin or any of his work, just as other geocachers had
done before us and many would do after us.</div>
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Negotiating our way
through the woods proved to be problematic because there was no clear path for
us to follow as promised. According to the stories, there should have been a
"breadcrumb" trail left by Elgin to show the way but it appears that
time has devoured them. Fearing that we were going round in circles, we
retraced our steps to where we started. I called a friend, codename Smokeypugs,
as I knew that they had undertaken this task before. Though his words were
cryptic, his message was clear, we had to persevere in our search for Elgin, we
were close, so very close. With a feeling of foreboding, we continued on our
quest, still unsure about what we would find so deep in to the woods. And then
we got separated.</div>
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The journey home was
pensive, each of us lost in our own thoughts. I know now that nothing could
have prepared us for what we saw that night. The smell, the sound, the sight of
a man that once was. It will haunt my nightmares forever more. My encounter with
Dr. Elgin invokes feelings of empathy as well as disgust and horror. It is
imperative that the world does not learn of his whereabouts; if the virus ever
got out it would mean the end of the world as we know it.</div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
I am getting a
little concerned now as Nigel's health doesn't seem to be improving…"</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-33030783910801525072015-05-18T23:55:00.000+01:002015-05-19T07:40:24.959+01:00One Year Already?<div style="text-align: justify;">
One year ago today, I found my very first geocache called <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2F7HZ_woodland-walk" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Woodland Walk</span></a> </span>and so started the slippery slope towards - a healthy(?) - addiction! I am still far from being an expert cacher, however I no longer consider myself a newby. So, here are my top five highlights from the past year...</div>
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<a href="http://m.c.lnkd.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/8/005/06c/1d3/070ec60.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://m.c.lnkd.licdn.com/mpr/mpr/p/8/005/06c/1d3/070ec60.jpg" height="156" width="200" /></a></div>
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Geoblogging Fun</h3>
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I started this blog and I was featured in GAGB's online <a href="http://www.gagb.org.uk/newsitem.php?id=82" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Seeker</span></a> magazine. This is a big deal for me as I am in no way a literary genius; that's Nigel's talent, just take a look at the log he wrote for <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LUID=18cb579a-88ca-4164-9cf6-fa8ac89635f6" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">this</span></a> cache! People do read this blog though and I receive some wonderful comments about it for which I am hugely grateful for.</div>
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<a href="http://cdn.property118.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Pitfalls-of-more-than-4-on-a-single-AST.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://cdn.property118.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Pitfalls-of-more-than-4-on-a-single-AST.jpg" height="156" width="200" /></a></div>
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A Respectable Record</h3>
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I have found 355 caches so far; not a huge number but not too shabby either. It's not all about the numbers for Nigel and I though, we have as much fun going out for a day to find one or two caches than we do on a day where we find twenty or so. Ultimately, we have found a way to get outside, find new interesting places and spend more time together. I do like to look at my stats though so here are a few of my favourites:</div>
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<ul>
<li>Cache found with most favourite points: <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC2C1NN_the-tin-pan-alley-band" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The Tin Pan Alley Band</span></a> 1231 FP</li>
<li>Oldest cache found: <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC171_view-from-coombe-hill" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">View From Coombe Hill</span></a> hidden 14/01/2001</li>
<li>Owned cache with the most favourite points: <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5KTFC_buffy-vs-faith" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Buffy vs. Faith</span></a> 4 FP</li>
<li>My first FTF: <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC568XB_dora-the-explorer-3-tree" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Dora the Explorer #3 - Tree</span></a> found 06/06/2014</li>
</ul>
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<a href="http://buyfastcontestvote.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Examp254725le.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://buyfastcontestvote.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Examp254725le.jpg" height="156" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
Eventful Events</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As well as numerous local events - mainly BBH (Beds, Bucks & Herts Geocachers) events - Nige and I attended our first Mega event, <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC4YCAV_the-halloween-mega-2014?guid=a4ec9c72-5869-4957-9c91-6b26a685c629" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">The Halloween Mega 2014</span></a>. You can read about the fun we had at this event in one of my previous posts, <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://kelsgeojournal.blogspot.com/2014/11/mega-mud-mega-monsters-and-mega-event.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Mega Mud, Mega Monsters and a Mega Event</span></a>. </span>We also attended a CITO (Cache In Trash Out) event with a bit of a difference called <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5JTG7_cache-in-tree-in-escapade-2014-15?guid=d6aa0842-d3fc-40b1-8e28-2adc64ee722d" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Cache In, Tree In - Escapade 2014/15</span></a>. We joined many cachers, as well as locals, in planting some trees in the Forest of Marston Vale. I'm not talking a few trees here and there; a few hundred trees were planted altogether. When we were done that day, it struck me that I would probably not live long enough to see all these trees develop into a thriving forest. It truly was a humbling moment.</div>
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<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ_wvswyOS3rGsFvGNEgmVteExWl8iw7dYv7iBfkBFyC3HbX6DG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ_wvswyOS3rGsFvGNEgmVteExWl8iw7dYv7iBfkBFyC3HbX6DG" width="200" /></a></div>
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<h3 style="text-align: justify;">
Becoming a Cache Owner</h3>
<div>
"TFTC"</div>
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When I first started caching, I never realised how frustrating/disappointing/unhelpful those four simple letters can be until I became a CO. I always make the time and effort to write interesting logs for my finds now. This past year, I have hidden four caches now; two traditionals, one mystery and one multi cache. Oh yes, I also hosted my first event on <span style="color: blue;"><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5N86W_tgip-thank-god-its-pi-day?guid=466e452a-e720-4afc-8b72-0b6649531383" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Pi Day</span></a> </span>this year which seemed to be a success (although, I think the lure of a souvenir helped with that). It was well attended and it was much easier to organise than I thought it would be.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
My aim going forward is to own different types of hides; I am currently working on a Letterbox Hybrid and am hoping to submit it for publishing soon.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSI7W4EaBP3j0NLkH8MSwJkVzRSNsFrMmo1LsTTrHteuTSALLSW" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSI7W4EaBP3j0NLkH8MSwJkVzRSNsFrMmo1LsTTrHteuTSALLSW" width="200" /></a></div>
<h3 style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">
New Friends</h3>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This time last year, I never imagined that I would meet so many new people, let alone actually make some new friends! This would never have happened if it were not for the Facebook group called Beds, Bucks & Herts Geocachers. They are such a friendly bunch; a little cake obsessed... but I love cake!</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.game-debate.com/blog/images/one_year_id1375290199_176085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.game-debate.com/blog/images/one_year_id1375290199_176085.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
My first year of geocaching was memorable in many ways and I hope to make many new memories over the years to come. Until next time...</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/2e/fe/5b/2efe5b0ca25d41e0fe951994722e479f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/2e/fe/5b/2efe5b0ca25d41e0fe951994722e479f.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
</h4>
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<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-42940799975701066272015-03-22T22:51:00.002+00:002015-03-22T23:58:58.003+00:00FTF: Fudged That Find!<span style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;">When a new cache gets published on </span><a href="https://www.geocaching.com/" style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Geocaching.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;">,
I don't go rushing out to find it. If you have premium membership to
Geocaching.com, you can set it so you receive email notifications when
a new cache is published. I have set it up for a radius of only 5 miles
from my home location. Even so, I don't tend to go out to claim FTF
(First to Find) unless the cache is less than half a mile from my
current location... I'm just not that motivated to make the effort. I
have been caching for nearly a year now and my FTF count is a grand
total of two caches; one found by chance and the other found
practically on my doorstep!</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Having said that, I do sometimes like to run a search on </span><a href="http://project-gc.com/" style="font-family: Calibri;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Project GC</span></a><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">
</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;">- a nifty little site that can perform all sorts of wonderful
geocaching tasks for you including profile stats and challenge checkers
amongst others - for unfound caches. This last week, I found one such
cache that was published on March 10th and had yet to be found. It is a
Mystery (aka Puzzle) cache called</span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;"> </span><a href="http://www.geocaching.com/geocache/GC5P5VY_in-the-footsteps-of-sgt-palmer?guid=e2e9e287-b1c2-4215-b1f4-f0425e73c168" style="font-family: Calibri;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">In the Footsteps of Sgt Palmer</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">
by cachers bill&ben. As I perused the cache page, I felt I had a
good chance of getting FTF on this one even though it was 20 miles away
from home so started work on solving over the coming week.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">I failed to get FTF, I was so very
close but was beaten to it at the last minute. For a brief moment, I
was a little gutted when I got the notification that someone else had
found it... who wouldn't be? The epic adventure I had finding this
cache totally made up for it though.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;">
The log that I wanted to post for this cache was too long so have decided to post
it here instead and is as follows:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Mission debrief by Agent K</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Monday</span><br />
Access to PGC is possible again after Pi Day fiasco. Have
performed a search for incomplete missions. Will start work on
following Sgt Palmer's footsteps soon. No other agents have found it yet and it's been out for a while, so haste is needed.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Thursday</span><br />
It took a lot of patience but after
identifying the cypher in the video, I painstakingly wrote it down and
decrypted it. Now awaiting confirmation that I have the correct coords.
Still, no other agents have completed this mission. Am monitoring the
situation carefully.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Friday</span><br />
Morning - Received email confirming
I have coordinates correct. Today is the day. A quick check of my field
kit and I can set off.<br />
<br />
Midday - Arrived in WGC, I am
unfamiliar with the area however my GPSr has adequate maps and the
mobile network coverage is good enough that I didn't need to find a
wifi hotspot. It's a bright sunny day, wishing I had left my big coat
in the car now as I am starting to get hot. The coords have led me to a
beautiful area of WGC but there are civilians everywhere out enjoying
the warm weather. Fortunately, there's nobody at the coords so I make
contact with Commander Ross and await further instruction.</blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Calibri;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Calibri; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jSH6skUTnpA/VQz58r-KdYI/AAAAAAAAHA8/SQEHWjnqGoU/w788-h591-no/20150320_141213.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jSH6skUTnpA/VQz58r-KdYI/AAAAAAAAHA8/SQEHWjnqGoU/w788-h591-no/20150320_141213.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Calibri; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<div style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;">
Early afternoon - I have arrived at
the next location but had an encounter with a man in a wheelchair on
the way here that delayed me slightly. At first I thought it may have
been an enemy agent when he stopped me in the street, however he just
wanted to tell me how beautiful I was and that my smile had made his
day. After a few minutes, he let me on my way and I continued on to
gather the information needed to find the next location.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;">Mid afternoon - I'm feeling pretty
hopeless now. I may not complete my FTF mission. I went wrong with the
numbers; the location I derived from them was clearly incorrect, they
took me to a stable yard. I have returned to the bus station and am
sitting on a bench awaiting back up. I sent a message to HQ on my way
back here to double-check my numbers; the reply confirmed my
suspicions... I only had two correct numbers.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span></blockquote>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_fca4-F00FI/VQz6GFU1zXI/AAAAAAAAHBU/8o2KPlMXPc0/w788-h591-no/20150320_160416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_fca4-F00FI/VQz6GFU1zXI/AAAAAAAAHBU/8o2KPlMXPc0/w788-h591-no/20150320_160416.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Late afternoon - Agent N has
arrived which has given me renewed optimism. We make a great team so
hopefully we can solve this. We are going to visit a couple of nearby
locations to go over the numbers and will then go for dinner at a
nearby Indian restaurant where we can reassess the information.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;">Evening - By the time dinner had
finished we had some likely coords put together. We messaged HQ for
confirmation however, time was of the essence so we headed out without
it. We had yet to receive a reply when we got to the coords, although
as we scouted the area, it soon became clear that this was not the
correct place either. Have decided to head home and try again tomorrow.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;">Saturday</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: bold;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: bold;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Morning - No notification yet that
any agents have intercepted the cache. I have received a message from
HQ confirming all but two of our numbers are correct. More frustrating
however, is that I have to go to my day job today. It is important to
maintain my cover. I will rendezvous with Agent N at 18:00hrs when we
will head back out to WGC. Agent N has worked on the numbers today, we are feeling confident.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;">Evening - Rendezvous aborted for
now. I received notification half an hour before I finished work that
the cache had been located by other agents. Fortunately they are
friendlies so the cache is still safe. They have left a TB to be moved
on. Our mission is still active though but there is less urgency now.</span><span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: bold; text-align: justify;">Sunday</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: bold;"></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-weight: bold;">
</span>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">Morning - We were feeling "Chirpy"
this morning. The coords that Agent N had derived yesterday looked good
on the satellite images so we headed out to search for our next
instructions. It was another beautiful day with the sun shining and few
clouds in the sky. We found parking near the coords and also found many
civilians in the area, these were mainly dog walkers, cyclists and
horse riders. Stealth would definitely be needed if we weren't to
compromise the cache location. The GPSr picked up the info needed for
the final location; a surge of excitement and relief went through me.
When we got to GZ, we had to wait for a few dog walkers and a jogger to
pass before we started our search. Coast clear, we soon found the
location of the cache. We took it away from GZ to open as more
civilians were coming into sight; could not risk this falling into
enemy hands. We left our mark and took the TB left by Ed2Ed.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">This was most definitely a
challenging mission and is not one to be undertaken lightly. It
requires patience, tenacity and stealth. Enemies may lurk at every
corner. Thank you bill&ben at HQ for your assistance whilst I was
in the field, it was greatly appreciated. I will mark this cache with a
FP and urge all friendly agents to accept this mission if they can.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;">
</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: large;"> <span style="color: red; font-family: Calibri;">MISSION COMPLETE</span></span></b></blockquote>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com0Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire, UK51.8031689 -0.2086610000000064251.7246169 -0.37002250000000642 51.881720900000005 -0.047299500000006434tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-15742584889828736342015-01-27T21:47:00.000+00:002015-01-27T21:47:29.614+00:00THIS IS SPARTA! My 300th Find!<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Two caches is what I
needed to find today to reach my milestone 300 finds. Two. That's easy. At
least, that's what I thought when I woke up that <span style="text-decoration: line-through;">morning </span>lunchtime.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Today we were headed to Aston Clinton to find a simple traditional cache that would take me to 299 finds and a Wherigo called <a href="http://coord.info/GC3Q1J7" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Rothschild Footprint</span></a> that would be my 300th find.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGnzEyrgXe8BdSpSxECJ5ZqDJeU_vKDomRHJJdSMNHlULPfqGl4O5tgNFPBPjl-dPIFux8pPeYWe1oteJdH703KLdn6PpWP18oyySc5p6yCmJ3Su1bI-FwjomNQhBghiAM0X0uMiiC3E49/s1600/DSCF1874.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGnzEyrgXe8BdSpSxECJ5ZqDJeU_vKDomRHJJdSMNHlULPfqGl4O5tgNFPBPjl-dPIFux8pPeYWe1oteJdH703KLdn6PpWP18oyySc5p6yCmJ3Su1bI-FwjomNQhBghiAM0X0uMiiC3E49/s1600/DSCF1874.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a>Having been to a
house party the night before meant Nige and I didn't set out until gone
lunchtime. Parking at the suggested spot for the Wherigo, we headed off for a nearby
traditional cache before starting my milestone cache. We decided to take the long way
round as it was such a nice day - if a lot cold - and walked along the river
rather than the roads. As we walked along the footpath, admiring the houses and
their gardens that backed onto the picturesque little river, it started to dawn
on me that having a cup of tea <span style="font-style: italic;">before </span>heading
out was not a clever idea. Tea goes straight through me.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">The first cache of
the day was </span><a href="http://coord.info/GC3QV98" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">Alley-way treasure</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; text-align: justify;">; a seemingly straightforward traditional located in - you guessed it - an alleyway. We got to the alleyway and followed the GPSr to where
GZ should be. It took us about halfway through the alley. Looking around this
spot, there was no possible place to hide a cache. We figured that the coords
must be out so looked at previous logs for a clue. They were all
saying what we thought, that the cache was anything up to 70ft away for some
people.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
I took a look at the
hint. It was quite cryptic. I have a talent for cryptic crosswords though so
figured out the meaning of that easily. We started our search but felt a little
awkward as it was right next to someone's home; in fact, I was framed by their
window at one point as I looked around. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
We looked all over
and still couldn't find the cache. I needed this find though so tried one last
thing; I put a message out on the BBH group saying 'I was at GZ, couldn't find
the cache, had anyone in the group found it before?' Thankfully, Smokeypugs came
to our rescue. Unfortunately, they only confirmed what we already suspected. We
had the right location and were looking in the right spot; the cache just
wasn't there. With no other caches for this area loaded on my GPSr - yes, I've
learnt my lesson, be prepared - I had to resort to my phone. A quick search on
c:geo and some suggestions from Smokeypugs, we were soon on our way to one of
the Aylesbury Ring caches.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaMJt9_TfgbHkHDif9miHHSXButm0XCySEvqF2kiJ5McQQr5P0Hfp8OCVXpfs4zsq0bQ0-lDXPCENQAoyaUaTIPfb0NisI9dgc7lWWwyhJF2kCnWCTV8U7ZwhIBruY06X7wH5wfc7XuIwf/s1600/DSCF1873.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaMJt9_TfgbHkHDif9miHHSXButm0XCySEvqF2kiJ5McQQr5P0Hfp8OCVXpfs4zsq0bQ0-lDXPCENQAoyaUaTIPfb0NisI9dgc7lWWwyhJF2kCnWCTV8U7ZwhIBruY06X7wH5wfc7XuIwf/s1600/DSCF1873.JPG" height="150" style="cursor: move;" width="200" /></a><a href="http://coord.info/GC4PZN1" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">AR11 Mandarin - Stablebridge Road</span></a> is one of many caches that make up the Aylesbury Ring series.
A circuit that is split into seven sections; each one named after a species of
duck. I was a bit reluctant to go for this one as I really want to do this series
and would have preferred to do each section all together. However, time was
getting away from us, we still had the Wherigo to do and this was the nearest
cache to us.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
We found our way to
GZ easily and before we could get to searching, we had to wait for a few
muggles to pass. After a glance up and down the way to make sure the coast was
clear, we got stuck in. Searching all the obvious spots revealed nothing but
then I spotted something a bit odd. I took a closer look but it still appeared
to be a dead end. I thought I would have a fiddle anyway and to my delight, the
log book was revealed.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Whilst I was
disappointed that we DNFd the last cache resulting in us doing this one, I was
pleased that we got to find this one. It has given us a taster of the rest of
the series and I am itching to tackle it now (hopefully when the days get
longer).</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
We had lost a lot of
time on the previous two caches so it was late afternoon by the time we reached
the starting point of Rothschild Footprint. Having successfully completed a Wherigo
before at the Halloween Mega, I thought that this would be easy. Quite clearly,
one done does not make one an expert!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
I sometimes like to sing when I am out caching, on the walk between hides. This time however, as we made our way to the start of my 300th cache, I had the sudden urge to shout "This is Sparta!" much to Nige's chagrin.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
I opened the Wherigo
app on my phone and started the cartridge for this cache. I started
moving about, trying to find the spot where the next stage would pop up but
couldn't get it to work. Nige thought it may be my (not so) smart phone so suggested
using his Mensa grade Galaxy Note complete with bells and whistles and super
duper 4G. That didn't work either. It was getting colder and darker as we
walked around in circles. As my mind started wandering to a place where there
were luxury toilets with heated seats, I started idly pressing things on my
phone only to find the next stage pop up! Hooray!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Finally, we headed
off to find each stage of this Wherigo. As the time was getting on, Nige wanted
to pick up the pace a bit. I have short legs though that look like Droopy Dog's
when I try to walk fast, plus I wanted to read the bits of history that were
coming up on my phone as we passed through each stage. By some miracle - read
Nige keeping an eye on me and getting frustrated with me - I managed to walk
and read at the same time without meandering into the road.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
A couple of the
stages required us to collect a couple of dates as we went along. We had to use
a little ingenuity for one of these as it was so dark we couldn't make it out.
We used a bit of paper and a pencil to take a rubbing, which worked really well.
It wasn't until we neared the end of the Wherigo that I remembered reading on
the cache page that we didn't need those numbers any more to find the cache.</div>
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After visiting
various cool places around Aston Clinton, we found ourselves walking (in the
dark) through a park and a field. I couldn't quite keep up with Nige and
managed to lose sight of him for a few moments when, looking up from the phone,
my glasses steamed up. I called out that I couldn't see and ran blindly towards
his voice as he replied "Keep up you donut!"</div>
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We eventually
arrived at GZ and found the final location. I am not going to say anything
more, so as not to spoil it for future finders. All I will say is that even
though I don't like spiders, I went there and I did it!</div>
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This was an awesome
cache to find for number 300. I loved the Wherigo - once we figured out how to
work it - and I loved the final location. I urge everyone to give this one a go... or any Wherigo for that matter. Thank you to happy hunter hp20 for adopting this awesome cache and keeping it from being archived.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com0Aston Clinton, Buckinghamshire, UK51.7961637 -0.72771280000006351.7176017 -0.88907430000006293 51.8747257 -0.56635130000006306tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-56020553169612559432014-12-21T20:53:00.000+00:002014-12-22T18:34:55.933+00:00Festive Fun and Frivolity<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">'Tis the season when
many a fair-weather geocacher packs away their GPSr for the winter, the inboxes
of cache owners get a well deserved break as logs on hides begin to dwindle and
everyone begins to get ready for the onslaught of Christmas. Only the hardiest
of cachers will venture out at this time of year and, as I have discovered
myself, this can be a magical time for geocaching adventurers.</span></div>
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I haven't blogged
for a while as I have been busy as of late; demand for my time has been divided
amongst family and friends, work, the forthcoming festivities and an ageing
dog. However, I have made time for a little caching where I can, whether it be
solving puzzle caches, finding caches or attending events. I won't bore you with all the details though, instead I shall tell you about a few of the highlights.</div>
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Before I do though, if I don't get the chance to blog between now and next year I hope you all have a...</div>
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<span style="color: red; font-family: Calibri; font-size: large;">Zreel Puevfgznf naq n Unccl Arj Lrne! *</span></div>
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All For a Good Clause</h3>
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The most recent
event Nige and I attended was <a href="http://coord.info/GC5H3VM" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">BBH#84 ~In spitting distance of all 3 counties</span></a>, held at the Red Lion pub in Dagnall, Hertfordshire. We had a great time at the event catching up with some (now) familiar faces and meeting some new ones. We have been to a few BBH events now but this was - so far- the most fun one we have been to. Alibags did an amazing job of organising this event and it was, as is usual for any BBH event, very well attended. </div>
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Of course, there was plenty of talk of geocaching but also the event organiser had put together a few games of pass-the-parcel, something that many of us have not played since we were children. Prizes included boxes of chocolates and the coordinates of a yet-to-be-published geocache, the winner of which would be able to claim the coveted title of FTF.</div>
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This event was not only special because it was the last BBH event before Christmas and New Year, but also because a fellow cacher called IB Searching - who is the first geocaching friend I made - was there with a mission to raise some money for charity. Before I tell you how he was going to achieve this let me show you a picture of him...</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px; text-align: justify;"> That's a mighty impressive crumb catcher he has there.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">"Following numerous queries about when I'm going to have a shave, I have decided that it is time that my 'Santa's Whiskers', as someone dubbed them, come off" said IB Searching and he would be doing it "in aid of The Brainstrust Charity."</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">The pub wouldn't allow the beard to come off inside the premises - which is understandable as it is a food establishment - so we all bundled outside to strip Santa of his beard.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">The transformation was remarkable and fortunately not a drop of blood was spilt as nearly everyone had a go at chopping bits off.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">With the face fur gone, we retreated back to the warmth and our drinks to continue the party. Everyone dug deep that evening and a lot of money was raised for charity, so congratulations to IB Searching, I'm guessing a scarf is high on his Christmas wish list now though.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">If you would like to know more about Brainstrust then please follow this <a href="http://www.brainstrust.org.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">link</span></a>. If you are feeling generous and would like to help IB Searching's fundraising attempt then please click <a href="https://www.justgiving.com/Ian-Betts2/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">here</span></a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">If you would like to see how we mutilated Santa, then there is video evidence!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">Like I said earlier, I haven't been out caching as much as I would have liked to over the past few months. With the shorter days, I have found it better to go out and find single caches here and there rather than the trails that we were doing in the summer months. Although the cold weather can easily dissuade me from going outside, I have found that the different sights and colours that Mother Nature can paint at this time of year make it all worth it. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">It was late afternoon when Nige and I arrived in Woburn, Bedfordshire to find</span></span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;"> a multi cache called </span><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;"><a href="http://coord.info/GCJQTZ" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">"Dear Abi"</span></a> </span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;">located on the stately grounds of Woburn Abbey</span><span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;">. We parked in the free car park as suggested and started our walk up towards the Abbey and Gardens. We have visited the Abbey before but have only ever driven through the surrounding parts until that day.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">We got to the ticket booth and as we were unsure whether the hunt for the cache would take us away from the "free" footpaths, we paid a small fee to gain entry. It was only later that we realised that you only need to pay to gain access to the Abbey gardens and the tea shop, neither of which we had the time to visit after finding the cache.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;">As we walked around, the sun was beginning to go down. It didn't take us long to find the first stage of this multi. The going was very muddy in places but the views were amazing and I got some great photos of the deer. We couldn't believe how many of them there were.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;">When we approached GZ of the final stage, there was a moment when we thought we weren't going to be able to get to it as there was a huge herd of deer right where we wanted to look. We waited for a while and eventually they moved on. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 15px;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">At this point my GPSr began to play up (turns out the batteries were beginning to die) so we had a little difficulty finding the cache. There were only a few possible locations to hide a cache though so we spread out and, using the hint, found the cache in the end. </span>We had a wonderful time finding this cache, it is such a beautiful area and it was great to see all the deer up close. We even saw some reindeer which only served to remind how fast the festive season had crept up on us!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;">London Baby!</span></h4>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 15px;">It wouldn't be Christmas for us without a trip to London. This year had the added bonus that I was now a geocacher! Despite my best intentions though - pocket query of a thousand caches downloaded, a few puzzles solved and a couple of select caches as recommended by some fellow cachers - I managed to find a grand total of two! And not even very good ones at that! Ah well, there is always next year. I managed to snap some good photos though and it's always fun to visit Hyde Park at Christmas.</span></div>
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<span style="color: red; font-size: xx-small;">* Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-91787128659291996732014-11-10T21:58:00.000+00:002014-11-10T21:58:11.065+00:00Mega Mud, Mega Monsters and a Mega Event<a href="http://www.geocaching.com/images/WptTypes/mega_72.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.geocaching.com/images/WptTypes/mega_72.gif" style="cursor: move;" /></a><br />
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A couple of weekends ago, Nigel and I attended our first Mega-Event Cache and with it came a few more firsts for us that weekend. The 25th October saw us heading off to <a href="http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/EnglandNorthamptonshireRockinghamForestWakerleyGreatWood" target="_blank">Wakerley Great Wood</a> near Corby for the annual Halloween Mega 2014. A Mega-Event Cache is an Event Cache that is attended by 500+ people. This year, 1,339 adults and children descended on Wakerley Great Woods for a day of "Creepy Caches & Halloween Hides" and with over four and a half thousand favourite points given to the various caches by attendees, I think it is safe to say that everyone had a mega time that weekend.</div>
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With a potential 64 caches to find during the event, Nige and I were set to break our record for "most finds in a day". Okay, so this wasn't going to be a difficult record to break - our previous total was only seventeen - and the caches themselves were not going to be difficult hides, but we still found it a challenge. Not including the event itself, we found and logged 61 caches that day including 10 lab caches, a letterbox cache, an earthcache, a mystery cache and a multi cache!<br />
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It took us twelve hours and about fifteen miles of walking. I got covered in mud, I busted my knee, and I managed to smack my head pretty hard on a branch in the dark, mainly because of my stupid decision to wear this during the evening:</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOS67yT7SudokzvHxcL4FWEdgQ4kF2cyfWV6sHBABrup-elsiNNU4LPJGzcYKo5TKhlnVx2YZ9KCb-_V_aTTG1J-nUPqklhkxTBwptSKBFZ6YAk5L0Rhyphenhyphenp_ZLKdq4bZvPotaBFbiXtx87V/s1600/10633768_10205170365361659_1033528861017179842_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOS67yT7SudokzvHxcL4FWEdgQ4kF2cyfWV6sHBABrup-elsiNNU4LPJGzcYKo5TKhlnVx2YZ9KCb-_V_aTTG1J-nUPqklhkxTBwptSKBFZ6YAk5L0Rhyphenhyphenp_ZLKdq4bZvPotaBFbiXtx87V/s1600/10633768_10205170365361659_1033528861017179842_o.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Never again!</td></tr>
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At first it seemed like the <i>Best Costume in the World Ever</i> until we ventured out into the dark forest; I found that I couldn't see a damned thing and kept standing on my beard when ducking under branches. Despite all that we had an amazing weekend.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipoDIhHMePO4Tb3rduIeK_25d9K6lJiY6YLa681QfkYY-9zG9XU5tyBrTEAl0bou0NKv2sLzaEJ7aE7KQq7XL41O-yYU_-QFBQ_und3ISDKgrRycM3V8hg_x6JvBeVwrVWlxW0gm0AxVHa/s1600/DSCF1715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipoDIhHMePO4Tb3rduIeK_25d9K6lJiY6YLa681QfkYY-9zG9XU5tyBrTEAl0bou0NKv2sLzaEJ7aE7KQq7XL41O-yYU_-QFBQ_und3ISDKgrRycM3V8hg_x6JvBeVwrVWlxW0gm0AxVHa/s1600/DSCF1715.JPG" height="200" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I nicknamed this little chap Bones</td></tr>
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Attending an event of this magnitude shows just how diverse the geocaching population is. Young or old, two-legged humans or four-legged canines, alive or undead... we met them all. As we walked around from cache to cache, we kept bumping into people we had only just met that day and by the evening our brief "Howdies" to these strangers evolved into friendly banter and conversations of shared experiences. There was a sense of camaraderie that you rarely get at large events outside the geocaching world.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzHEY7aFPRSVACLm0eZ1L1C3PX-XzRzIcsdzUInz5rLfOMNFi1eNaUT47huGm4ybj9OclcP4WQHTevWQAnfQSTktq2lCbuzjr30QOpuwuEtNTN1h294pNJlON1Rzl3Lg7KVSKy-UgDniaX/s1600/DSCF1703.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzHEY7aFPRSVACLm0eZ1L1C3PX-XzRzIcsdzUInz5rLfOMNFi1eNaUT47huGm4ybj9OclcP4WQHTevWQAnfQSTktq2lCbuzjr30QOpuwuEtNTN1h294pNJlON1Rzl3Lg7KVSKy-UgDniaX/s1600/DSCF1703.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLe1Np_2vi8aajEQXXKOrJ59dY7uubP5AT-YWDHLutYrV8oz2s_qHhb8yt1aHSCv6LK0ACxwELsZf2NXIwEn4Afsg2Zjnq7jt0ZzeavQyUS62b0GPsDhi1vm2oO5vPw0PLS1aby6T0qzVu/s1600/DSCF1730.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="display: inline !important; margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLe1Np_2vi8aajEQXXKOrJ59dY7uubP5AT-YWDHLutYrV8oz2s_qHhb8yt1aHSCv6LK0ACxwELsZf2NXIwEn4Afsg2Zjnq7jt0ZzeavQyUS62b0GPsDhi1vm2oO5vPw0PLS1aby6T0qzVu/s1600/DSCF1730.JPG" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
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Everyone was so friendly; we had help from and gave help to many people throughout the day. We joined up with a group of zombies to help them solve the mystery cache, they were the slow moving George A. Romero kind though and we were on a mission so left them behind after a while. We had help from another group of cachers to find the multi cache and we worked together with others on the lab caches.<br />
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Heroic moment of the whole day though goes to Nigel and another man (whose name I didn't get). We were blessed with fantastic weather that day, being October I was expecting it to be either raining and/or cold, but within the woods the temperature was moderate enough that we didn't really need our jackets. However, the preceding week had been a bit of a wet one which transformed the area into swamp-like conditions that even Shrek would refuse to inhabit.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"You've got to be kidding!"</td></tr>
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We had met a few people at the event that day that were in wheelchairs and mobility scooters and, all credit to them, they were getting about the woods remarkably well considering. However, conditions were anything but improving as darkness descended. We were walking along a particularly sloppy footpath when we heard a bit of a commotion behind us. We looked back to see a group of cachers that we had met earlier in the day. One of them was a lady in a mobility scooter, except it wasn't so mobile at the moment, it was wheel spinning in the mud and leaning precariously to one side. Just as the woman was about to receive a complementary Wakerley Wood face pack, Nigel and the unnamed man leapt into action through shin high mud and guided scooter and rider to sturdier ground!<br />
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Now onto the caches. Every single one of the unique cache containers were an amazing find and the organisers of the event, The Halloween Crew, deserve every single favourite point and then some for the effort they put into them all. There are too many to write about here so I shall just tell you about my favourite day and night caches from the event.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim1cgDbijKkFunuYOlGA4ehbIm2BhxzslDeFjV10_cBw51k1B4KjCT4wW4PIX2mPLIhwyOENBLl6iBLR3r0IZ-i9u7Oo1bR0EHIEwL357IZWZjSKOuBBTskjJxCc7APxnF3OEia98rjMa4/s1600/DSCF1770.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim1cgDbijKkFunuYOlGA4ehbIm2BhxzslDeFjV10_cBw51k1B4KjCT4wW4PIX2mPLIhwyOENBLl6iBLR3r0IZ-i9u7Oo1bR0EHIEwL357IZWZjSKOuBBTskjJxCc7APxnF3OEia98rjMa4/s1600/DSCF1770.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://coord.info/GC5DEZA" target="_blank">Spitting Sid</a> - day cache.</h3>
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It was approaching dinner time for me when we came across this cache so I didn't pay much attention to the name of it. Ground Zero was slightly of the beaten track, as were most of the caches throughout the day.<br />
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In my excitement at finding the container to be an ammo can - it's always a bit special to find one of these in the field - I rushed to open it up only for Spitting Sid to live up to his name! There was a mechanism inside the box that when opened caused Sid to squirt water right at his unsuspecting victim. Much to Nigel's amusement, I not only got wet retrieving the log but stupidly got another soaking putting it back!<br />
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<a href="http://coord.info/GC5DEZ8" target="_blank">Deady Bears Picnic</a> - day cache.</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge0fFcYdBiHJDCFkJCiz1VnwiRTBGSmyWzpE1eGnNgJifvTeMFKh1E-JJGWKZtFbm9_BRnnisDPpCitKJkDW3uYl97V3PmF5DA3TZfAeLVZ8Usv4axpXQ9YBWoHRulJYBaW-7zeD8y_mp5/s1600/DSCF1772.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge0fFcYdBiHJDCFkJCiz1VnwiRTBGSmyWzpE1eGnNgJifvTeMFKh1E-JJGWKZtFbm9_BRnnisDPpCitKJkDW3uYl97V3PmF5DA3TZfAeLVZ8Usv4axpXQ9YBWoHRulJYBaW-7zeD8y_mp5/s1600/DSCF1772.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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This was the last of the day caches that we found. Whoever created this beautifully gruesome piece of brilliance has a twisted mind! I loved it! It's probably a good thing that all the caches were replaced with Tupperware containers at midnight; can you imagine coming across this whilst in the woods out on your own? You wouldn't want to stick around for long that's for sure. The log book accompanying this creepy little dude was concealed in his cup. Fortunately, this one had no nasty surprises when you opened it up.</div>
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<a href="http://coord.info/GC5ENHH" target="_blank">MEGA HERTZ</a> - night cache.</h3>
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This was my second favourite cache of the whole day. A cache with a shocking twist! - I'm sorry, that was a terrible joke. This genius piece of engineering was far from terrible though. There was a box on the side of the chair that contained the log book. When opened, the chair started to 'charge up' and everyone nearby took a nervous step backwards. As the sound reached it's crescendo the poor soul in the chair began shaking violently and lit up like a lantern!</div>
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Even though this cache has made an appearance at previous Halloween Megas, it still remains a firm favourite amongst event goers.</div>
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<a href="http://coord.info/GC5ENHV" target="_blank">MEGAPHOBIA</a> - night cache.</h3>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-gm39LW3KZ4DgQ9T6mht5VAnhus7jDjDNVZ5GgM7qZay4IzOmOCG15s-yjkCFKeSJQR_nVDrHWodfIDsS5S2cdtjmYQfow906Cy0y2jyakrKyORGOxuQ54pqlgpDq3dSwQ74rcXrwBDS6/s1600/20141025_204543.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-gm39LW3KZ4DgQ9T6mht5VAnhus7jDjDNVZ5GgM7qZay4IzOmOCG15s-yjkCFKeSJQR_nVDrHWodfIDsS5S2cdtjmYQfow906Cy0y2jyakrKyORGOxuQ54pqlgpDq3dSwQ74rcXrwBDS6/s1600/20141025_204543.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a>As with most of the caches we seeked out during the day, there was a small crowd of cachers surrounding this one as we approached. Being small, I could not see what was up ahead, I didn't need to see it though to know that this find was going to be special.</div>
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As I wound my way through the gathering of people to get a look at the cache, a chilling sound arose from the darkness ahead. There were gasps and nervous laughter from all around me. I emerged from the crowd, looked up and stood in awe at what I could see above me. About 20 feet up in the trees was a giant spider hanging from it's web. The log book was inside the skull that you can see at the bottom of the photo.</div>
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We couldn't see how the sound and movement was activated, we guessed that it was when someone attempted to retrieve the log book. I kind of wish that there had been no other cachers there when we found this one as I bet this would have been super creepy to find on your own.</div>
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This was by far the most impressive cache for me at the event, not just for the fact that it was the most monstrously nightmarish hide there, but also because of the time, effort and skill to put something like this together. I have heard that it took about 3 hours just to put it in place!</div>
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That is definitely not something you would like to come across in the woods at the dead of night on your own! Except if you're a horror fan like me and think that, although scary, it would be awesome!</div>
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The above videos were filmed by Adam of caching trio the3maslankas. Please take a little time to visit his youtube channel by clicking <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMoeK6htd8P-zWANvC671QA" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
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Overall, Nige and I had an amazing weekend, even though we couldn't move the next morning because we ached so much! If you have never been to the Halloween Mega Event before then I urge you to go next year... we definitely will be.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com6Wakerley Great Wood, Northamptonshire, UK52.5717556 -0.58984750000001952.5524551 -0.630188000000019 52.5910561 -0.549507000000019tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-89493957723087599492014-11-07T22:23:00.001+00:002014-11-07T22:29:00.663+00:00Happy 7th Birthday Church Micro!<div style="text-align: justify;">
Seven years ago today, the very first cache in the Church Micro series was published. Today, there are over 6,700 caches in the series and that number will undoubtedly continue to grow. To find out more about this series then check out the <a href="http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/index.html" target="_blank">Church Micro Website</a>.</div>
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Many cachers will have been out in the field today searching for a Church Micro, myself included. The one I went for belongs to a couple of caching buddies of mine who go by the caching name Smokeypugs. Their Church Micro can be found in Edlesborough and is called <a href="http://coord.info/GC46TF6" target="_blank">Church Micro 3410...Edlesborough</a>. My log for this cache turned into a small novel so I had to edit it a bit for the cache page unfortunately because of the character limit. What follows is my log entry in it's entirety.</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, Edlesborough</td></tr>
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I woke up this morning to find that the internet was down in our area. That meant I couldn't access gc.com to look for a cache to find today. Fortunately, I have been looking at different Church Micros recently to try to increase my finds of them and get one of those cool badges for my profile.</div>
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I fired up the app on my phone and going from memory scanned the map to choose a CM to find today. I picked out this cache as I have been meaning to do it for a while. It is only a short drive from where I live, so I grabbed my rucksack and jumped in the car, dragging my muggle brother along too for the ride.</div>
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We headed into Edlesborough coming from Eaton Bray direction; as we drove into the village, we spotted the tower of the church at the top of the hill. It looked quite impressive as it jutted up out of the surrounding trees high up on that hill. We turned into a street opposite the church and parked up. Having no internet at home meant I couldn't download the .gpx file to my GPSr so I had to use the app on my phone instead.</div>
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Stages one and two were completed easily, we then followed the compass round to stage three. Turning the corner of the church we were shoved towards the edge of a rather steep looking slope by the immense wind that was accelerating like a slip stream off the wall of the church tower! I was not expecting that but I managed to stop myself tumbling down the hill like a ragdoll.</div>
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As we faced the tower, the biting wind continued to battle with us. To get some shelter we ran against the wind towards the chuch and stood with our backs against the wall. For each question of stage three we had to run a few steps away from the church, turn round to figure out the answer and then run back to the wall to note down the numbers. Back and forth we went until we got stuck on the last question.</div>
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"How many foils are there...?" I said to my brother, reading from the cache page "What's a foil Matt?"</div>
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"I haven't a clue Kel" he replied.</div>
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We looked at each other with puzzled expressions then ran out of the shelter of the wall to look up at the window. By this time, I was having trouble seeing well as my eyes were watering from the wind and from laughing so much! It was beginning to feel like we were attached to the church by bungee ropes. We couldn't be sure what a foil was just by looking so we pinged back to the church wall. It was time for a little help.</div>
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Hoping I had a phone signal way up here, I sent a message to Smokeypugs saying "I'm at your CM in Edlesborough. What the hell is a foil? Lol". A few seconds later I got a message back telling me what to look for (thanks G for the help). Fighting the wind, we pushed off the wall, looked back at the church and found the last answer we needed. Seeking shelter against the wall for the last time, we worked out the final coordinates and, with cold, numbing fingers, punched the numbers into the phone.</div>
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Before heading off for GZ, we stopped for a selfie in front of the church and saluted the wind (a two finger salute!) We got to the bottom of the hill and as if in retaliation, the wind performed a u-turn and blasted us with an icy smack in the face!</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKEjtzV8ZUKM5xVJclWACbszGKTDqWhxI3j8EBhvdweyuBZdo4G94CWLfsW6_sh95fOkuJGJRKFA-ZLvMrYng_o8HG6zsWu9enfWYvCMQQAvCJ2LIA7cqmvukTm1wo5NXJLiOyztJW2wh5/s1600/20141107_131950.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKEjtzV8ZUKM5xVJclWACbszGKTDqWhxI3j8EBhvdweyuBZdo4G94CWLfsW6_sh95fOkuJGJRKFA-ZLvMrYng_o8HG6zsWu9enfWYvCMQQAvCJ2LIA7cqmvukTm1wo5NXJLiOyztJW2wh5/s1600/20141107_131950.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Me and my little bro</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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We were getting quite cold now and the sky look menacing so we scurried down towards the final location hoping a little power walking would warm us up a bit. When my phone indicated that we had arrived at GZ we stopped and took a look around. I couldn't see anything that would be an obvious hiding spot so fumbled about on my phone to bring up the hint. I looked up and immediately spotted the cache. The coordinates were spot on! Well done #1 to Smokeypugs! I pulled on my gardening gloves, retrieved the cache and signed the log. There was no need for stealth as the area was pretty remote with not a muggle in sight. Replacing the cache, I managed to poke myself in the eye on a part of the bush... Ouch! Well done #2 for a neat little cache that is well hidden.</div>
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We would loved to have stayed to look at the church more, inside and out, but we were so cold by now that we just wanted to get back home for a cup of Darjeeling. Heading back up the driveway of the church I heard a loud noise that made me jump. It was only a car horn but it made a "TAH DAH" sound. With comic timing Matt said "Congratulations! You have found the cache!"</div>
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Despite the weather - it is definitely not summer anymore - we had a great time looking for this cache. Our only disappointment being that we had bought along our cameras for some photography practice but it was too cold to stick around. I will definitely be back though as there is a Village Signs cache nearby that is on my to do list. Well done #3 is for the fun time we had and the well thought out virtual stages. This cache gets a favourite point from me.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com0Edlesborough, Buckinghamshire, UK51.8632739 -0.58147099999996551.8240464 -0.662151999999965 51.902501400000006 -0.500789999999965tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-21015904110185950762014-10-22T22:57:00.000+01:002014-10-29T07:43:55.803+00:00Earth, Wind and Fire Tacks<div style="text-align: justify;">
There has been a bit of a gap since I last posted as I have been quite busy lately. I have still found time for geocaching though whether it be out finding them, planning for days out or simply solving a few mystery caches. Let me apologise now if this is a bit of a long one, I do hope you read to the end though.<br />
<br />
Sunday 12th October was International Earthcache Day. For those of you that don't know:</div>
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<a href="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/c82c5e62-2421-4fcc-9e3b-0dfd83a4e8c0.jpg?rnd=0.3573009" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://img.geocaching.com/cache/c82c5e62-2421-4fcc-9e3b-0dfd83a4e8c0.jpg?rnd=0.3573009" height="200" width="190" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.0017986297607px; text-align: start;">"An EarthCache is a special geological location people can visit to learn about a unique feature of the Earth. EarthCache pages include a set of educational notes along with coordinates. Visitors to EarthCaches can see how our planet has been shaped by geological processes, how we manage its resources and how scientists gather evidence. Typically, to log an EarthCache, you will have to provide answers to questions by observing the geological location. For more information about EarthCaches visit </span><a href="http://www.earthcache.org/" style="background-color: white; color: #00a0af; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.0017986297607px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://www.earthcache.org/</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.0017986297607px; text-align: start;">."</span></blockquote>
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Unfortunately for me, this was the same weekend as the final of the British Touring Car Championship. There was no way I was missing that but I also wanted the souvenir for finding an earthcache on that day.<br />
<br />
So, I had to come up with a plan for our weekend away at Brands Hatch Racing Circuit that would have an earthcache squeezed in somewhere along the way. There were a few factors to consider given the time of year - namely, the shortening days and the wonderfully capricious British weather! Time was also a factor; it needed to be somewhere along the route to or from Brands and the D/T rating needed to be reasonably low. This was going to be a 'cache and dash' of sorts. I was a little disappointed at this prospect as I would have liked to have taken the time to appreciate the site of the earthcache I would be visiting, but... <i>Touring Cars!</i><br />
<i><br /></i>
I had been formulating a plan for a few weeks - which, if you have read one of my previous posts, you will know that this is quite an achievement for me - our weekend away had arrived and I had an earthcache in my sights with two backup caches if my plan fell apart.<br />
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The cache I had found was just around the corner from the circuit and as an extra bonus it was a Church Micro. After a bit of research in the week (I love how educational these types of caches are) I had answers for the first two questions, the rest would be ascertained on our visit to the site.<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRCQJpK6kBfB8oKH9lU1AQp9MnYEwdHX1XqxQ4SQXt8sQy3uzfQUdvNFlCalP1hST9tW-P3zuhkfngv_yTEzzNkw-unruQ3KyyksbFwjWVpBme8yEvFhU6QOJ2OLRD8v2STKFdH7Vp75fM/s1600/20141011_155407.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRCQJpK6kBfB8oKH9lU1AQp9MnYEwdHX1XqxQ4SQXt8sQy3uzfQUdvNFlCalP1hST9tW-P3zuhkfngv_yTEzzNkw-unruQ3KyyksbFwjWVpBme8yEvFhU6QOJ2OLRD8v2STKFdH7Vp75fM/s1600/20141011_155407.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Druids Hill Bend</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Whilst sitting in the stands at Brands Hatch on Saturday watching the qualifying races, we discussed tactics for the next day. We decided that we would grab the cache early in the morning before heading back to the track as Inaccuweather told us the weather would be fine. This later proved to be the right decision as it was raining hard and getting dark when we left for home after the racing.<br />
<br />
We got up early on Sunday morning. the scene that greeted us outside our hotel was amazing, however I am not a morning person - Nige will definitely attest to that - so I failed to get a photo. Our hotel was situated next to the River Medway; the sky was clear, the air was crisp but floating atop the river was a thick, white cloud of fog like someone had placed a wad of cotton wool on the surface water.<br />
<br />
Our chosen cache was <a href="http://coord.info/GC402G6" target="_blank">Church Micro 2372... West Kingsdown- St Edmund</a>. To find out more about the Church Micro Series, by cacher sadexploration, then please click <a href="http://www.15ddv.me.uk/geo/cm/" target="_blank">here</a>. There were two locations that we had to go to for this cache; a motorway bridge over the M20 and the church itself. Thankfully the roads were quiet, so we stopped the car on the bridge en route to the church and I took the required elevation reading without getting out of the car.<br />
<br />
We arrived at the church shortly after and was pleased to find the area muggle free. I got to work gathering the information needed to log the cache, I was still very much asleep at this point - I cannot stress this enough, <i>I do not do mornings</i> - so when a lady materialised in front of me from within the church and asked me if I was here for the Sunday Service my only response was to stare at her blankly with a look of sheer horror on my face!<br />
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"I see you're taking notes" she indicated towards the paper and pen I was clutching.<br />
<br />
Plausible explanations eluded me. I tried sending psychic 'Help Me!' thoughts to Nigel who was somewhere behind me but that didn't work. I think I mumbled a few words that certainly did not make a coherent sentence. For some reason, it felt like I had been caught doing something naughty, this was a holy place after all. The lady disappeared briefly and returned with something in her hand.<br />
<br />
"It's a lovely building isn't it? Here, take this." she said as she handed me a postcard. Bidding us a good day she left us to return to her duties within the church.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQYMXxyEG0LkVIwrCGeR-h8aL8dCPwO83EAYg4TCOuEsL02l2VkXwCpVFwX21gZcDxCEXftWpmaF7O5l5_i_e-NnZOKKw7Ypquho_FxE-0h2z-1ZO2jp3MUytNjWArCslqyt9whFzvtdvv/s1600/Postcard+Church+Micro.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQYMXxyEG0LkVIwrCGeR-h8aL8dCPwO83EAYg4TCOuEsL02l2VkXwCpVFwX21gZcDxCEXftWpmaF7O5l5_i_e-NnZOKKw7Ypquho_FxE-0h2z-1ZO2jp3MUytNjWArCslqyt9whFzvtdvv/s1600/Postcard+Church+Micro.jpg" height="227" width="320" /></a></div>
After that awkward little moment, I gathered what information I could glean from the church and we headed off to watch some TOCA carnage. In between races, I continued researching chalk hills, flints and scarp slopes until I was confident I had all the right answers to log my find and aquire the souvenir for International Earthcache Day.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://souvenirs.geocaching.com/SouvenirImages/MTAvMy8yMDE0/d72add99-e949-4b7c-9d94-ad6e58b834c8.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://souvenirs.geocaching.com/SouvenirImages/MTAvMy8yMDE0/d72add99-e949-4b7c-9d94-ad6e58b834c8.png" height="320" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Souvenir</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The following weekend Nige and I decided to attempt a night cache. We thoroughly enjoyed the first one we did at Linford Wood and wanted to try one that was a little more challenging. There was one that I have had on my radar for a while now and being nearby in the forest of Ashridge, this was the perfect cache to choose.</div>
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I first tried to solve the puzzle part of <a href="http://coord.info/GC10YGF" target="_blank">Spirit of the Teine Sith</a> when I started geocaching back in the summer. I was pretty sure I was looking for the coordinatess in the right place but I couldn't get a hit on geochecker. A couple of weeks ago, I was idly looking through my unsolved puzzles and came across this one again. On closer inspection of my numbers, I realised I had made a monumental mistake. Back onto google I went, making the necessary corrections and this time I got BINGO on geochecker!</div>
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<div>
Nige and I invited a couple of friends, Aravona and Dynadin, on this outing as it's their first night cache. A friend from the BBH Facebook group, mjcross, joined us for this adventure too. I'm so glad he did as this was only our second night cache and he gave us loads of tips that we never would have thought of like waypointing the markers as we went.</div>
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<div>
We rendezvoused at a small car park near the start of the trail. There were already a couple of cars there and we pondered as to whether they belonged to geocachers on the same mission as us or if they belonged to a completely different kind of persons who frequent this forest. There was no movement from the cars and the windows were steam free so we deduced it was the former.</div>
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<div>
Following the trail was relatively simple. After a while though the trail seemed to go dead. We decided to back track and see if we had taken a wrong turn. Whilst contemplating alternative routes we saw some lights in the distance. Were they the Spirits of the Teine Sith come to guide us? No, it was a group of cachers out searching for the Spirits too. This was a first for Nige and I; we have never come across fellow cachers whilst out before. We had a bit of a chin wag and they kindly confirmed that we were going in the right direction.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR7QlqIhkbb1FerXwTPrdBktRxiQsmjVoeokaJxpp7DNIF-XdEng3gGYM3Cofzf9UBU0mtLHE6vTs31Akvs_iBqcd59Tp1HKwbgC9UjaEXGZ5nmVlAgt788kws_SeR7fI4XtoeRtBqTYT9/s1600/DSCF1679.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR7QlqIhkbb1FerXwTPrdBktRxiQsmjVoeokaJxpp7DNIF-XdEng3gGYM3Cofzf9UBU0mtLHE6vTs31Akvs_iBqcd59Tp1HKwbgC9UjaEXGZ5nmVlAgt788kws_SeR7fI4XtoeRtBqTYT9/s1600/DSCF1679.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even by day Ashridge can be creepy as Hell!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
On we went through the darkness and mud, encountering all sorts of wildlife like deer, beetles, centipedes and spiders! I've been to Ashridge many times during the day but night time transforms it into a different world. Conversation inevitably turned towards horror movies, at which point I realised I was bringing up the rear of the single file we had formed, I was a prime target for any Vorhees wannabes lurking in the darkness, like a shot I ran ahead past the others shouting: </div>
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<div>
"It's not safe for me back there... I'm not a virgin!"</div>
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<div>
After much trekking across some interesting terrain we came to a likely spot for GZ. Whilst looking around for further markers I spotted the well hidden, huge cache. It was great to see it well stocked and in good condition. We signed the log and started back for the car with mjcross leading the way. This was an adventure in itself as, like me, mjcross likes to take the 'direct route'. If the GPSr says I can go straight through that wall, then I'm going straight through that wall!</div>
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<div>
Overall it took us about 2 hours to locate the cache and get back to the cars. This was an amazing experience and we all thoroughly enjoyed it.</div>
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<div>
The next day, Nige and I went out to Leighton Buzzard to complete a trail of caches called <a href="http://coord.info/GC4M4QP" target="_blank">LB Sandpit Series</a>. Even though the difficulty and terrain rating for the caches were low, the wind was blowing hard that day which made the 4.6 mile walk a little extra challenging. The scenic area was completely muggle free and we found the first few caches with ease. Our luck soon changed though.</div>
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<div>
I usually love doing trails of caches but for the first time since I began geocaching, I became a little fed up and disappointed with this series by the end of it. It wasn't because of the weather, the wind was tolerable as the sun was out and it was quite mild for the middle of October. The walk didn't bother me either; the trail we followed was beautiful with some great views despite the lack of discernible public footpaths at some points. </div>
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I think what frustrated me most was that out of fifteen caches most of them were micros, had no hints and we logged five DNFs. Most of the ones we did find had naked logs - film pots are not waterproof - so most of them were damp or too wet to write on. On the bright side, it has taught me a lesson; if I ever set my own trail, I will use a variety of cache containers and not place a hide just for the sake of placing one to make up numbers along the trail.</div>
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I would like to end this post on a happy note so here is a picture of a rainbow that I took at Brands Hatch:</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUA4o_Cusc59PXDeI-BaZupho_J1fscF4aT_3lF5DiC8fpldeaukZ_yfdWN4-uF6_D8H3ycVI184zqlT6gGuWq5iJhxZFnTtzsKZJpUn7SMscssmejy35qu4i6KFnYw5n64ny-wHYHqR47/s1600/20141011_164738.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUA4o_Cusc59PXDeI-BaZupho_J1fscF4aT_3lF5DiC8fpldeaukZ_yfdWN4-uF6_D8H3ycVI184zqlT6gGuWq5iJhxZFnTtzsKZJpUn7SMscssmejy35qu4i6KFnYw5n64ny-wHYHqR47/s1600/20141011_164738.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wonder if there is a geocache at the end of that!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-33633144034152056482014-10-03T10:14:00.000+01:002014-11-14T11:23:18.016+00:00Interrogations and Deliberations<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">I received a
Facebook message the other day from fellow blogger and geocacher Paul (aka
Washknight). He writes a wonderful blog about his geocaching exploits and I
have been following it for a little while now. I urge anyone reading this to
pop over to his site and take a look. You can find Paul's blog </span><a href="http://washknight.wordpress.com/" style="font-size: 11pt;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-size: 11pt;">.</span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I am new to blogging and not all that
confident in my writing abilities so I was chuffed to hear that he has been
following my blog and actually enjoying it! </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Recently he has been
doing this "thing" (his words) on his blog whereby he is asking
fellow geocaching bloggers a series of questions about their own geocaching
experiences. I think it is a fantastic idea and was thrilled to be asked to
join in. So please read on to find out how I fared under interrogation. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">If you would like to
see how other bloggers answered these questions then please click </span><a href="http://washknight.wordpress.com/tag/washknight-interrogates/" style="font-size: 11pt;" target="_blank">here</a><span style="font-size: 11pt;">.</span><br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/Twenques.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/Twenques.jpg" height="149" width="200" /></a></div>
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1. When and how did you first get into geocaching? </div>
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"Why oh why
have I only just decided to Google what Geocaching is? There's loads nearby me
too!"</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
That was a status
update from one of my friends on Facebook that appeared on my timeline back in
May of this year. She lived near me at the time so I was intrigued to know what
there were loads of in our town. A quick search on Google led me to Geocaching.com. A cursory glance at the map showed a few
caches in my area.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
'Huh, this is pretty
cool' I thought, and then I zoomed out further and further on the map.</div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
An immense number of
caches started popping up on my screen and my initial bewilderment transformed into a sense of awe
and wonderment. How on Earth can a sport that has millions of participators all
around the globe not be more widely known about? But then discretion and
stealth <span style="font-style: italic;">are</span> the nature of the game.</div>
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<br /></div>
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2. Do you remember your first find? </div>
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My first attempt at
geocaching was pretty abysmal. I didn't fully read up on the process of finding
a cache and in my haste decided it was a bright idea to use the only GPS device
I had to hand... A sat nav! Sure, I had a smart phone, a bottom of the range
smart phone, but quite clearly it had a higher IQ than I did right then.
Needless to say, the sat nav was useless and being told to "perform a
u-turn" when standing in the middle of a field was a little frustrating.</div>
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<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Back home I went
back to the website and actually took the time learn more about geocaching. I
downloaded an app called c:geo onto my phone and headed out again. This time I
dragged my youngest brother along with me.
Our target was a small cache called <a href="http://coord.info/GC2F7HZ" target="_blank">WoodlandWalk</a> situated in woodland at the edge of my town. We found it quite easily
and I signed my very first log. I replaced the cache and feeling quite chuffed
with myself stood back and trod in a very different kind of log! </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
3. What device(s) do you use for locating caches? </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I started out using
an app on my phone called c:geo but it used a lot of battery power and I it can
be a little inaccurate at times. After I had been geocaching for a while and
decided that this was probably not going to be a fad for me, Nigel and I purchased
a Garmin eTrex 30. I now use a combination of my phone and the GPSr as both
have their own features that suit different situations. I also find it helpful
to use print outs of caches too, especially when I am doing a series of caches
or a multi cache.</div>
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4. Where do you live and what is your local area like for geocaching?
(density / quality / setting etc) </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I live in a small
town called Houghton Regis in Bedfordshire. It is bordered by the Chiltern
Hills so we are a stones throw from some beautiful countryside spots like
Dunstable Downs. It is also a short drive or train ride from some big cities
like Milton Keynes (is that a city yet?), Cambridge, oh and what is that other
big city it is close to? Oh yeah... London.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
So with regards to
setting, we've pretty much got that covered for both urban and rural caches.
There seem to be a large number of active geocachers in the Three Counties too
so we are never short of caches to find. When it comes to quality, there are many
caches around this area that have gathered quite a few favourite points over
time. And let's not forget, we have the <a href="http://coord.info/GC171" target="_blank">Oldest</a><span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>cache
in the England in this region too. We are very fortunate to live where we do.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
5. What has been your most memorable geocache to date, and why? </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
For me it has to be
the first event cache that I attended, <a href="http://coord.info/GC56CPD" target="_blank">BBH#80 - Bordering on a Giga!</a>. I was already a member of the Facebook group <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/BedsBucksHerts/" target="_blank">Beds, Bucks and HertsGeocachers</a> and had started to get to know a few of the members there. I
wanted to attend the event so I could put some faces to names. However, I am
not a sociable person, I just can't do small talk, so I was a little
apprehensive about attending the event.
I was glad when Nige said he would come with me as this meant that he
would drive and that meant that I could have a pint or three. A little lager
loosens the tongue! The event was very well attended that night and at first I
felt a like a bit of an outsider, this didn't last long though as the event
organiser welcomed us with a huge smile and thanked us for coming. As I talked
to people my nerves started to ease and conversations began to flow with ease.
In the end, I really enjoyed myself and, best of all, I made some new friends
that night.</div>
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6. List 3 essential things you take on a geocaching adventure excluding
GPS, pen and swaps. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
#1 Gardening gloves
- I discovered the need for these very soon after finding my first few caches!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
#2 Camera - I always
have one of these with me whether it be my phone camera or my bridge camera.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
#3 A notebook - I
have a terrible short term memory so I like to make notes in the field to help
me write my logs when I get home.</div>
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<br /></div>
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7. Other than geocaches and their contents, What is the weirdest thing
you have discovered whilst out caching? </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I saw this on the
side of a building as we walked through a village called Wadesmill. It made me giggle.</div>
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8. On a scale of 1 to 10 where 1 is I am obsessed by numbers and 10 is
I am all about the experience and the quality of each individual cache. Where
do you put yourself?</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I would like to say
10; I do not go out to find as many caches as possible, I really don't give a
monkeys about the numbers. However, when I go out caching, I get caught up in
the adventure and I don't want it to end so my initial "...it will only be
about five caches, Nige, I promise..." swiftly becomes six, seven, ten,
fifteen....! With that in mind, I would put myself at about a 6... And a half.</div>
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<br /></div>
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9. Describe one incident that best demonstrates the level of your
geocaching obsession.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There was the time
that I was interviewed on national radio station, TeamRock Radio. I am one of
the many "founding fathers/ mothers/ brothers/ sisters" who have been
listening to the station since it's inception last year. It now has listeners
all over the world.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
The producers
arranged a series of phone interviews with some of us recently in order to get
to know it's listeners better. We were supposed to talk about what we liked and
disliked about the shows and the music they play but I somehow managed to turn
the subject towards geocaching. That's right, I confessed publicly to the whole
world about my obsession with geocaching!</div>
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10. Have you picked up any caching injuries along the way?</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Sadly I am no Hooper
or Quinn (sorry, that's a <span style="font-style: italic;">Jaws</span>
reference).</div>
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<br /></div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/dLjNzwEULG8?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I have only suffered the usual caching injuries so far
like nettle rashes, thorn pricks and welly boot blisters!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
11. What annoys you most about other geocachers? </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Geocachers that do not play fair annoy me. To me,
geocaching is not only about the adventure, but also about the friendships that
you build. For example, I have heard stories of cachers pushing fellow cachers
out of the way to claim a FTF. That is just downright rude and not in the
spirit of the game. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Another thing that
annoys me are logs that contain just 'QEF' or 'TFTC'. I have to confess that I
used to be one of those geocachers but once I started placing my own caches I
began to appreciate the time and effort it takes to do this. From then on I felt
it only right to make an effort in return to compose logs with more detail and
helpful information. There's nothing worse than being in the field, searching
for a cache for what seems like hours and seeing a QEF log on the cache page.
It's like it's mocking me.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
12. What is the dumbest thing you have done whilst out caching? </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
It's not what I do,
it's what I say! I think I managed to insult a fellow cacher that I met at an
event once. I was trying to strike up a conversation with him and noticed that
he was wearing an Iron Maiden t-shirt. Being a fan myself, I figured that this
was a perfect way to get talking. It was going well until I said</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
"I was going to
wear my Maiden top tonight but I thought it might make me look like a
geek!"</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
As soon as my brain
caught up with my mouth, the implication of what I had just said struck me. I
had inadvertently called him a geek!</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
13. What do your non caching family and friends think of your hobby?</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I have determined
that most of my friends are allergic to the great outdoors. That is the only
excuse I can think of for not wanting to try geocaching. I have a few friends
that keep saying that they would like to come out with me one day, but this
hasn't happened yet. It doesn't bother me though, it's their loss.</div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiup7rpJgvtpm6Hvi8gNxEiP5X7ly0zMMGDzjoTZO325wzaQhnWgRSB95wQS3u_1-Mdmnk6LzAdzd5-2XgjScLYV-424NfAP4napztyHXRpxVgryQp2B9y58yBbJ5ZVHSgX6O7VxbPd8i2m/s1600/20140801_153340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiup7rpJgvtpm6Hvi8gNxEiP5X7ly0zMMGDzjoTZO325wzaQhnWgRSB95wQS3u_1-Mdmnk6LzAdzd5-2XgjScLYV-424NfAP4napztyHXRpxVgryQp2B9y58yBbJ5ZVHSgX6O7VxbPd8i2m/s1600/20140801_153340.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ52JHe4Gx7-DnT39hhvsEng5SCOTEhxBaAKzMU8R0r_7V7WQ811jZCFPtTXUV-JinIDkre64kuZZXXG8LCMJp_bJF6BN1-TjxGR2dqAbLpx1UGz1QwffIGgu14Mf14uJJaizFtWk0v7uc/s1600/20140801_165029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ52JHe4Gx7-DnT39hhvsEng5SCOTEhxBaAKzMU8R0r_7V7WQ811jZCFPtTXUV-JinIDkre64kuZZXXG8LCMJp_bJF6BN1-TjxGR2dqAbLpx1UGz1QwffIGgu14Mf14uJJaizFtWk0v7uc/s1600/20140801_165029.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: 11pt;">My family think it's
great that I have this new hobby and have helped me out a few times. </span><span style="font-size: 11pt;">I took my sister and her two children out for a days caching in the summer holidays and they had tremendous fun. They keep bugging me to take them out "treasure
hunting" now.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-size: 11pt; text-decoration: underline;">14. What is your default excuse you give to muggles who ask what you
are up to or if you need help?</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I have only been
ever caught out once when I was looking for an urban cache in Dunstable called <a href="http://coord.info/GC4GRC1" target="_blank">Priory Gardens</a>. The app on my phone led me
to a tree on the wrong side of the road. I didn't have much time as I was on my
lunch break. It was also raining so I had my brolly up. The tree was right next
to a main road and I was trying so hard to avoid funny looks from passing cars
that I didn't notice an elderly man approach me.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
"Are you
ok?" he asked, "do you need any help?"</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I swung round,
startled.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
"No, thank
you...um... I'm ok" I squeaked, "I've, um...lost...erm...a
thing?" I wasn't very convincing.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
There was an awkward
silence before he backed away slowly. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I try to avoid
muggle confrontation as much as possible now. Failing that I just fess up and
tell the truth.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
15. What is your current geocaching goal, if you have one? </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
My current goal is
to find more "extreme" caches. Nige and I heard about these types of
caches at a recent BBH event and couldn't resist giving it a go. We have found
one so far called <a href="http://coord.info/GC5016V" target="_blank">Are You Afraid Of TheDark?</a> and we are hoping to add more to the list soon.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I also have a
secondary goal; the Alphanumeric Cache Name challenge. I have completed about
60% of this challenge but I am in no rush to find them all.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Ultimately, my goal
is to keep having fun, explore new places and learn new skills.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
16. Do you have a nemesis cache that despite multiple attempts you have
been unable to find?</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Not anymore as I
finally found it! <a href="http://coord.info/GC44M4N" target="_blank">Village Signs 128 Houghton Regis</a>* is
hidden literally right at the end of my street. Night after night I visited GZ
and night after night I could not find it. I went out to our local curry house
one evening that week with my parents and my youngest brother. On our walk
back, fuelled by vindaloo and Cobra beer, I made them join me in the search for
this cache and still couldn't find it. My mum started having dreams about it
and she is not even a geocacher! I'm pretty sure my dog, Sadie, had nightmares
about it too! I would get home from work
to find my mum and Sadie waiting for me at the door so we could head out
to search again, they were becoming as determined as I was about this one.
Kudos to my mum though as she was the one to eventually find it even though she
had never seen a geocache before.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
*This is a premium
member only cache so some of you may not be able to follow this link.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
17. What 3 words or phrases best sum up what geocaching means to you. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Adventure</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Pushing boundaries</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
Educational</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
18. What prompted you to start blogging about geocaching? </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
It was the
instigator of this interrogation, Washknight, that prompted me
initially to start blogging. I found his blog through the BBH group on Facebook
and found it truly inspiring. I have been following with interest ever since.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
This blog is
basically my diary and my extended logs. Like I said in a previous answer, I
have a diabolical short term memory (seriously, I cannot even remember what I
did yesterday) so this helps me remember some of the significant and noteworthy
adventures I have whilst out caching. There is a limit to how much you can put
in a log on a cache page so this blog gives me free rein to waffle on as much
as I like.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
19. Which of your own blog entries are you most proud of.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
At the time of
writing this, I have only published four entries so far. Out of those, I am
most proud of <a href="http://kelsgeojournal.blogspot.com/2014/09/i-laugh-in-face-of-spiders-and-then-run.html" target="_blank">Ilaugh in the face of spiders (and then run away!)</a>. I have never been very
good at creative writing so I am proud of this entry because of its story like
quality. </div>
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<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in; text-decoration: underline;">
20. Which other geocaching blogs do you enjoy reading?</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
I am a newbie when
it comes to blogging so I have only come across two blogs to follow so far, <a href="http://blog.geocaching.com/" target="_blank">The Official Geocaching.com Blog</a> and Washknight's blog. I know that the latter has been
interrogating other bloggers with these questions. I haven't visited their blogs
yet so as not to be influenced by their own answers and style of writing but I
fully intend to see what they had to say after publishing this.<br />
<br />
<br />
So, there are my answers. I hope you have enjoyed reading this and maybe it will inspire you to start blogging yourself. <span style="font-size: 11pt;">I wonder what my answers will be in a years time. If I remember and am still blogging, I may have to revisit these questions next year.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-35589701421572351042014-09-30T00:44:00.000+01:002015-01-02T10:19:21.052+00:00The Linford Witch Project<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
As the nights are
drawing in and Autumn is snapping at the heels of Summer, a whole new world of
Geocaching is being opened up to me. Night caches!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Halloween is fast
approaching and with it an event that I am very much looking forward to. <a href="http://coord.info/GC4YCAV" target="_blank">The Halloween Mega 2014</a> will be the first Mega Event Nige and I have attended. I think Nigel is more excited at the prospect
of dressing up though than the actual caching! More on this in a future blog
post though.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Last week I treated
myself to a new torch in preparation for caching in the dark. What better way
to test it out than by going out to find my first night cache. Hunting around
on <a href="http://www.geocaching.com/" target="_blank">Geocaching.com</a> threw up a few likely
candidates. There is one in Ashridge that I have had my eye on for a while, but
I still haven't solved the puzzle yet. There are a couple in Ampthill that look
interesting and a few more further afield that sound quite challenging but I am
saving those for another day. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
The cache I decided
upon as my first night cache is called <a href="http://coord.info/GC38MEE" target="_blank">TheWitching Hour !! - Night Cache</a>. It is set in </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Linford Wood in
Milton Keynes and has a short puzzle to solve to locate the starting point of
the trail. I had solved the puzzle part back in the summer and was waiting for
the right time to venture out to find the cache. My new torch provided the perfect excuse.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Another reason I
chose this cache is because I have always had an interest in the paranormal.
Whilst I have not had any supernatural experiences of my own, I am very
fortunate that Dunstable and Houghton Regis has a rich history and an abundance
of ghostly tales.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
It wasn't quite the
witching hour when we headed out to Linford Wood on Saturday evening, it was
closer to eight o'clock. We parked up and "look[ed] for the Hunter of the
Fox where the day begins" to find the start of the trail. The sky was an eerie
red but it was still dark enough that when we shone our torches into the woods
we found the shining markers that would lead the way. As we walked along we had
a debate over whose torch was the brightest, Nige had a tiny little thing
compared to mine so I was winning until he pulled a Maglite out of his bag. At
that point I shone my torch in his eyes, completely by accident... Honest!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
The walk along the
path was easy enough; I kept a look out ahead for the markers, whilst Nige had
our back looking out for zombies. After a while the marker trail seemed to go
dead. We knew the trail was going to lead us off the path eventually so it was
just a matter of shining our torches through the trees until we found the next
marker. Nige was the first to spot it and disappeared into the tree line. I
hastily followed as I knew we were getting closer to ground zero. Trying to
find a way through this part was tricky and I nearly tripped up a couple of
times in my haste. Nigel was ahead of me and found the three markers to
indicate our goal. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
We were expecting a
regular sized cache, but on retrieval were pleasantly surprised to find a large
container filled with an array of goodies. As I was fishing the log out, Nige
decided it would be funny to point out all of the spiders that were crawling
around me with his torch. I was not amused! I quickly signed the log and
replaced the cache. It was time to find the car.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIE1Qe3axrzAQyZEOD_Zbkwf-u6feJL9IHgp78zv9_ULdhSSgzTrRkxseER9ZIPbPNYKiLN-gMIh7mc7jUJrRwMzPitAoo_q0lCN-mHCPlWXqGHJLzDdnfjtsvMNeQ_r60WWwDcdXry7O7/s1600/20140927_211909.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIE1Qe3axrzAQyZEOD_Zbkwf-u6feJL9IHgp78zv9_ULdhSSgzTrRkxseER9ZIPbPNYKiLN-gMIh7mc7jUJrRwMzPitAoo_q0lCN-mHCPlWXqGHJLzDdnfjtsvMNeQ_r60WWwDcdXry7O7/s1600/20140927_211909.jpg" height="150" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Not quite the Blair Witch!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">One of the features
I love on my GPSr is the 'track' feature; as I walk the GPSr shows the path I
have taken with a blue line. As I have a poor sense of direction, this means
that if I get lost I can easily find my way back to where I started. With this in
mind, we decided to follow a different path round the woods to get back to the
car. It was such a mild night that we were in no rush to leave.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
When we usually go
out caching, Nige always asks me how many hides I have planned for us to find.
I always say "just a few caches" to which he always replies
"it's never just a few caches with you Kel!". He was quite astonished
this time to find that it really was just the one cache this evening. What I
didn't tell him though was that there <i>were </i>more caches in the area but the
cache files had disappeared from my GPSr!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
The downside of
visiting Linford Wood when it is dark is that we missed out on the things to
see and do around the woods. There is a series of sculptures hidden in the
undergrowth according to <a href="http://www.theparkstrust.com/parks/linford-wood" target="_blank">this website</a> and it
is home to an assortment of wildlife. However, now that I know this place
exists I shall definitely head back there some day.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11.0pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-87052026210374940752014-09-16T23:30:00.000+01:002015-01-02T10:20:16.500+00:00I laugh in the face of spiders (and then run away!)<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
I don't like walking
without a purpose, I get bored of that quickly. That's one of the reasons I
love geocaching. I could quite happily walk for miles to find a geocache.
Everyone has their own reasons for getting outside and finding hides; it might
be to find as many as possible, to complete the Alphanumeric Challenge, to
claim the coveted title of FTF or one of many other personal goals. For me it
is all about the adventure.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
The majority of
caches out there are relatively easy to find and are run of the mill. Don't get
me wrong though, I appreciate every single one of those hides and fully
understand the time and effort that goes into them. My own two caches are of
the 'run of the mill' type. Each one has its own merits and each one is special
in some way.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
There are cache
owners out there however that go completely above and beyond, some would say
insanely so, but they do it in spectacular fashion. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Our mission last
weekend was to find one of these "extreme" caches. These types of
caches have cropped up in conversation many times when we talk to fellow
cachers at events so our 'to do' list is steadily growing. <a href="http://coord.info/GC5016V" target="_blank">Are You Afraid Of The Dark?</a> is the cache that we had heard most about, so this is the one we
decided to undertake. Seeing as it would be quite a drive to get there, we
spent the night before looking for caches in the same area. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Sunday came round
and we set off for Hoddesdon where today's adventure would start. We began with
a small circuit of caches set in the woods consisting of eight traditionals and
a multi bonus called HPW. Then we went into Hoddesdon itself to pick up a few
in that area. The were all easy finds and served as a warm up for the more
difficult ones later on.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
So far so good. We
had found eleven traditionals, a multi, a Travel Bug and a Geocoin. We were on
a roll.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
"So what's the
next one?" asked Nige as we got to the car.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
"A small series
called '<a href="http://coord.info/GC4MGA3" target="_blank">Off Yer Trolley</a>'. Seems simple enough, the first is a cache and dash in
a supermarket car park. How hard can that be?" I replied.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
As we arrived at GZ,
we realised that this would be challenging to say the least, but I thought I'd
give it a go anyway. Nige parked up, I jumped out of the car and headed to
where my GPSr said the cache was just as a car parked up in the space next to it.
I looked back at Nige, he just sat in the car laughing at me. I tried my best
to have a look around but my attempt at being stealthy just made it look like I
was checking cars out to boost! So before security was called on my suspicious
behaviour, I ran back to the car. This was our first DNF of the day. We decided
against the other two caches in that series, figuring we would encounter the
same problem. Not to worry though as, we still had a church micro, a
traditional and the main event to go for.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
The traditional and
the church micro were found without a fuss so we headed for our final cache of
the day. Before continuing, I should tell you a little about the things that
scare me. The list is quite short as I am not phased by an awful lot. My biggest
fears are planes, dentists and spiders. So on with the cache, Are you afraid of
the Dark.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
We found a parking
spot across the road from where we were told to start this cache. Crossing the
road we found a gap in the bushes and ducked through. We had high expectations
of this cache and as we climbed down to the tunnel entrance we were not disappointed.
I shone my torch inside and the beam was swallowed by the darkness. As I stood
in front of this pitch black tunnel, it suddenly occurred to me that this is
exactly the sort of place that spiders like to call 'Home, Sweet Home'. I was
here now so I just had to suck it up. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5pPRioMFokEPBRHUtv_U5od40tQPlq4-b8l8hRgFuRPn3YRAq4RCiobVwSD3eeWujJI3lSoa41l3IWdmlD8_rkIcQWpL00b6aJIAtmlrsfiLLwYmJrTG0JgHZ4GFP4FDU_i6bDBD0KVA/s1600/20140914_153605.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjI5pPRioMFokEPBRHUtv_U5od40tQPlq4-b8l8hRgFuRPn3YRAq4RCiobVwSD3eeWujJI3lSoa41l3IWdmlD8_rkIcQWpL00b6aJIAtmlrsfiLLwYmJrTG0JgHZ4GFP4FDU_i6bDBD0KVA/s1600/20140914_153605.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 11pt;">In we went. I led
the way. We had heard from others that the tunnel has water running through it
sometimes, but not today, it was just very slippery. Being a shorty, I had the
advantage over Nigel and could walk through without stooping. On the downside,
I was practically doing the splits trying to straddle the uneven brickwork on
the ground. I shone my torch above me and that's when I saw Them. So many
different types of spiders. On the walls, in the pipes, potentially on me! From
that point on, I concentrated the beam of the torch at my feet. With logic that
only makes sense to me, I figured that if I couldn't see Them then they weren't
really there.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Sunlight had
disappeared behind us and there was no sign of it ahead. I had no concept of
how far we had travelled through the tunnel, it seemed never ending though. We
stopped for a brief second and turned the torches off. The darkness was
absolute. I don't have a problem with the dark and for a moment I forgot what
was living in this tunnel.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
We continued making
steady progress and it wasn't long before we saw the end of the tunnel ahead.
We emerged into the sunshine and I gave myself a mental high five for not
freaking out about the spiders. </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
'I used to be a
kickboxer. One of you hairy little suckers touches me and I'll slam you into
next week!' I thought as I headed back into the tunnel. I lead the way again
but this time I actually had to look for the cache which meant shining my torch
on the walls and ceiling. This seemed to highlight every single spider in the
tunnel. Every nook and cranny I looked in seemed to house a spider and they
seemed to be getting bigger and uglier the further we went in. After a few
sweeps of the torch, something caught my eye.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
"It's
here!" I shouted trying to contain the urge to jump up and down, thus
cracking my head on the ceiling "you can retrieve it though cos I ain't
touching it!".</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
I took a few steps
back in case removing the cache from it's home unleashed an arachnid avalanche
on my head. We signed the log and took the time to replace the container
exactly as we had found it. It was time to head back up the tunnel. Nigel
turned to me and asked</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
"What would you
do if a velociraptor came up the tunnel right now?" </div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Yes, we have some
strange conversations sometimes, but it's wise to have a plan for all types of
eventualities. Before I could answer, however, we heard the cry of an animal.
Now, I'm pretty sure it was a horse, but I wasn't leaving anything to chance and
started back up the tunnel post haste... With Nigel behind me of course!</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
We finally emerged
from the tunnel, triumphant and elated. We had done it! This cache took us to a
new level of geocaching that we had yet to experience and straight away we
started discussing the next one to go after.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
A big thank you has
to go to the cache owners, Noztradamus and JackNano,<span style="font-size: 11pt;"> for taking the time and effort to hide this amazing cache. This
is certainly one that we will not be forgetting any time soon and will
definitely be recommending it to everyone.</span></div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-4327562249864664092014-09-11T23:57:00.002+01:002014-09-12T00:05:25.476+01:00Becoming a Social Butterfly<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://coord.info/GC54PF4" target="_blank">6 Degrees - Mystery Cache</a><br />
<a href="http://coord.info/GC5B0KW" target="_blank">Don't put the Cart before the Horses - Traditional Cache</a><br />
<a href="http://coord.info/GC5AJZB" target="_blank">BBH #81 - Event</a><br />
<br />
When I discovered Geocaching a few months ago, I would never have considered going to an event. I wouldn't know anybody and that was quite scary for me. Being a member of the BBH Facebook group has been a huge help in taking that first step to getting out there and meeting new people. So thank you guys and girls; you're an awesome bunch!<br />
<br />
The morning of the BBH event, I had a look online for some nearby
caches to grab whilst I was there. I didn't want to spend too much time caching
so I picked out two of the nearest; a traditional and a mystery. I went into work
early and sat on the laptop puzzling over <a href="http://coord.info/GC54PF4" target="_blank">6 Degrees</a> before I had to start work.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
I managed to figure
out all but one of the films so I tried a different tactic; working out the
actors from the 'outside in' and using the names to find the common title and
actors for the one in the middle. I soon had some coordinates and put them into
Geochecker.com only to find that they were incorrect. I rechecked the numbers
and remembered that I don't do mornings and that I really should use my fingers
to count! I now had the correct coordinates and I'd heard through the Facebook
grapevine that this was a particularly fine cache so I was looking forward to
this.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Fast forward to the
evening. It was getting dark as we got near to the pub, and that's when the
satnav failed us and took us to somebody's driveway. We spotted a few people
walking along the road and wondered if they were cachers heading to the event.
Nigel pulled up alongside them and wound the window down.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
"Are you by any
chance geocachers?" asked Nige. I face-palmed knowing what the likely
answer to that question would be and I was right:</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
"We might
be..." one guy said with an uncontainable smile and furtive glances
towards his colleagues.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
(For the benefit of
any non-geocaching readers, or muggles as we like to call you, stealth is of
the utmost importance when caching which results in some rather cryptic
conversations when you meet a stranger in the field. Odd behaviour is also a
common occurrence!)</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
After some help we
found the pub. The car park was rammed but we managed to find a spot near the
entrance. I turned my GPSr on only to find we had parked pretty much on top of
this <a href="http://coord.info/GC5B0KW" target="_blank">cache</a>! There were already a couple
of guys there signing the log so we thought we'd leave this one for now and
head off for the mystery cache. The only problem was, I had forgotten to note
down the final coordinates.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
"Don't
worry," I insisted, "I made a personal note on the cache page."</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Now, Nigel likes
everything to be methodically planned out with no room for error, whereas my
days are by and large ad-libbed. So there are times when he can get a little
frustrated with me and my lackadaisical approach to forward planning. This was
one of those times. After five minutes of doing the Funky Gibbon to try and get
a phone signal, I suddenly realised that I had actually saved the coordinates
as a waypoint on my GPSr earlier in the day. That's when Nigel gave me that
stare that says 'You're walking home tonight my love.'</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
Finally, we set off
to locate the cache. We found the footpath without any fuss and made our way
through the darkness towards GZ. I have never been out caching after the sun
has set before so I was becoming increasingly excited as we got nearer.</div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: 11pt; margin: 0in; text-align: justify;">
The terrain was a
doddle even in the dark and it wasn't long before I heard the Garmin beep on
our arrival at the cache site. Armed with our torches we began our search and
using the hint on the cache page found a possible hiding spot. Something wasn't
right though. How could a small container be hidden there? I got in close and
had a good look with my torch and that's when I spotted that which shouldn't be
there.</div>
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"Nige... Come
quick and look... This is amazing!" I said as I paused to appreciate what
I was seeing. After signing the log and carefully replacing the cache we headed
back to the car park to find the first cache.</div>
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On our return, GZ
was clear of cachers so we got to work. As we knew that most of the people
coming to the pub were here from the same reason, we were not concerned about
being stealthy. We could see where the cache should be but it didn't appear to
be there. Thinking it may have fallen somewhere else we scoured the ground with
our torches. We weren't confident in that assumption though as we knew it had
recently been found. We were soon joined by another couple; surely with four
torches we could find a D1/T1.5 cache! (Note to muggle readers: D/T means the
difficulty and terrain rating. So this cache should be easier than a two piece
jigsaw puzzle!) We eventually found the cache, right where it should have been.
After signing the cache we headed into the pub for a well deserved drink.</div>
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To any geocachers
that have never been to an event before because nerves get the better of them,
please take that first step because you are missing out on such a fun part of
the world of geocaching. This is only my second event and both times I was nervous
about going. I am not very good in social situations and mostly try to avoid
them. I am glad I did go though as everyone there was so friendly and
welcoming. I had such a great evening meeting new people and conversation
flowed easily for me for a change (that may have been down to the beer though!) My only regret is that I didn't get to talk to more people.</div>
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In case you're
wondering, Nigel decided that I didn't have to walk home, which was a good
thing because I forgot to go to the toilet before we left the pub.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com2Kings Langley, Hertfordshire WD4 9BA, UK51.6918613 -0.4873746000000664951.6820183 -0.50754460000006651 51.701704299999996 -0.46720460000006647tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8493783194199492746.post-15419640336863366012014-08-27T16:22:00.000+01:002014-08-27T17:17:11.076+01:00Looking for a Sign<span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;"><a href="http://coord.info/GC56C2F" target="_blank">VS#119 Totternhoe</a></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;">I first looked at this puzzle cache when I first started caching so it's been on my to do list for a while. I recently met the CO at an event and whilst chatting was reminded of this cache so made a mental note to go for this one soon.</span><br />
<br style="color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;">The Puzzle:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;">I parked up in a nearby street and took a short walk to the village green where the sign was. Up until now I had been wondering what was meant by the clue for 'C'. As I approached the sign, I smiled and thought 'aha, that makes sense now'. I sat down on said bench to review the clues in my notebook. After my conversation with IB Searching I made sure I took a good look at the sign. I'm guessing these village signs are all handmade and this one is beautifully done so I might add. I jotted down all the numbers, put the coords into my GPSr and headed off to find GZ...</span><br />
<br style="color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;">The Cache:</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;">The walk to GZ was a pleasant one if a little muddy after the awful rain we had yesterday. I didn't mind though as I had a spare pair of shoes in the car </span><img align="middle" border="0" src="http://www.geocaching.com/images/icons/icon_smile_big.gif" style="border: 0px; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;"> On getting to the corner of the field it first appeared that there would be no way through, but a short search revealed a small gap in the trees and bushes. A little bit further on, I reached GZ and had the cache in hand. 'Yay! Coords right first time!' I did a little victory dance, signed the log and took the TB. I took a moment to appreciate the area then remembered I had some English Muffins in the car and I was starving so headed back home for lunch.</span><br />
<br style="color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px;">Wonderful village sign and a neat little cache. Have a favourite from me. </span><img align="middle" border="0" src="http://www.geocaching.com/images/icons/icon_smile_big.gif" style="border: 0px; color: #594a42; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18.001798629760742px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12787905148547906586noreply@blogger.com0Totternhoe, Central Bedfordshire, UK51.881532858032465 -0.5620542168617248551.881379858032467 -0.56236921686172481 51.881685858032462 -0.5617392168617249