UK Cache Mag - Issue 40

Keeping caching with restricted mobility Geocaching Radio Station…

Piratemania venue news More on the EPIC USA roadtrip Issue 40 Feb / Mar 2019

£3.95

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Editor’s s g n i l b m Ra Christmas and New Year celebrations seem a distant memory, and we are starting to see the lighter nights coming in, which has to be a good thing for geocachers!

I am already looking forward to warmer weather and getting out spending long days finding more caches. Before we know it Easter will have been and gone, and we will be starting to plan for the summer and possibly attending the Mega in Aberdeen. August may seem a long way off yet, but there’s nothing like get some ideas ready before the event.

Alongside the magazine, you may be aware of the other project I am currently working on, which is to set up a Geocaching awareness project. You can read more about this on page 18.

Are you planning a new series? Perhaps you are hosting an event?

If you have an interesting Geocaching story you wish to share then we would love to hear from you.

Geocaching is much more than just finding a plastic box hidden in a tree. Each one of us is part of a massive community. I would love to know how Geocaching helps people deal with various issues in life.

For some it becomes an aid to physical recovery or weight loss, for others it helps with mental health and anxiety issues.

Perhaps you are reading this as a new cacher, perhaps having started as a new hobby or part of a resolution to get a bit fitter in 2019.

Maybe you are a “seasoned” Geocacher who has a number of finds under your belt. Either way you are most welcome and I hope you like the A5 magazine with some new page layouts and articles, plus the return of some of the more familiar ones.

As always we aim to keep improving the magazine and would love to know your feedback.

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If you would like to share, or perhaps an article or something you may like to contribute please message adam@ukcachemag.com

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Focus on -Llanelli

The Cover Star?

Going forward I am hoping to have a picture of somebody out Geocaching on the cover.

Perhaps you would like to be the cover star? Then inside the magazine we can do a bit of a feature about your and your Geocaching journey…

Perhaps you cache on your own, or as a family, either way every cacher has a story to tell.

What is yours?

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At the start of May, there is an annual event in South Wales. It has a camping element to it so people can make a weekend trip if needed.

This year the event is going to be held in Llanelli.

Read up on some of the “must do” caches if you are visiting the area.

As this issue goes to print, the event has not been listed, so watch this space for more info, or you could have a look at the Facebook group for the event www.facebook.com/groups/730270600406568/ Read more about the area on pages 20 - 21

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What can you find in this issue‌

Regular features: Getting started Church Micro series Extreme caching Earth Caches Attributes Village Sign series

Reader submissions: 7 10 16 18 19 30

Jasmer Challenge Jacksdale Jaunt Trophy Challenges

15 28 20

Featured articles: Geocaching radio station Restricted mobility Epic USA Road Trip Piratemania venue news

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8 22 24 32

Out and about: A section for each of the regions around the UK. 33

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Started Getting now… eed to k n u o y s sic Some ba If you have just found out about Geocaching, or are fairly new to this amazing hobby there are a number of things you may need to understand to get the most out of this magazine and Geocaching in general. Firstly WELCOME to what can easily become a highly addictive pastime.

As with many thing there is a “language that goes with Geocaching that means nothing unless you are in the know.

There are a number of acronyms that we use that I would like to share with you.

What is Geocaching?

Geocaching is a GPS based “treasure hunting” activity that is fun for the whole family.

DNF- You may use this a few times as you start your caching experience. This is DID NOT FIND. To enhance your chances of finding a cache when you get to GZ (Ground Zero), which is the closest you get with your GPS device (Global Positioning System), look for caches that have a low D/T (Difficulty / Terrain) rating.

You may have read the hint on the cache listing, but it may be in code. The coded use is ROT13 (Rotation 13). The letters are replaced with a letter that is 13 characters away…so what is above becomes what is below.

Decryption Key A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M ------------------------N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z For example post becomes CBFG. 6

There may be more abbreviations used in the hint itself. There are many of these but the common ones include BOT (Base Of Tree) ICT (Ivy Covered Tree) and MTT (Multi Trunked Tree) Hopefully you will soon have found the cache and signed your name in it. (Remember you will need to create a free profile on your preferred listing site - by far the most popular world wide is www.geocaching.com Remember to log the find online and leave a bit of a description about your experience finding the cache. Perhaps mention the conditions under foot, the weather or even something that happened on your adventure.

Please try to leave more than TFTC (Thanks for the cache). If the cache is a larger one then perhaps you will get to trade some swag, and exchange items for something of similar value with the contents of what you find. If you don't trade, then you TNLNSL (Took Nothing, Left Nothing - Signed Log.) As your caching continues, you may get a FTF. This is when you are the First To Find a cache after it has been published.

However you decide to go about caching - you do it your way, at your speed as and when convenient for you. Don't feel obliged to do anything, other then respect the “ways” of the cacher. Enjoy it! Have fun! Become addicted!

Perhaps you would like to share the story of how you got into Geocaching. Where did you hear about it? If so send me the details and I may print it in a future issue. (Pictures help)

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Geocaching Radio!

With Geocaching being such a massive digital activity, and the world we live in getting more and more connected online, I thought I would have a try at creating an online radio station that is aimed at geocachers.

Image how many podcasts there could be all in one place, all the outdoorsy, walking related songs we could play…

Imagine all the interviews and how to guides that could be available.

Imagine all the different places you could hear about with such a station.

I know there is still a lot of work to do to make sure the content is in place, but It is a work in progress.

With time you may even be able to download an app version and take it with you as you are out Geocaching.

Live talk shows…

I would love to know what you would like to hear, perhaps you even fancy yourself as a presenter?

Here are some ideas for possible tracks I still haven't found what I'm looking for Hunting high and low Over the fields and far away These boots are made for walking I would walk 500 miles Walk on by The Searcher Walking on sunshine Fields of Gold Forever Autumn Running up that hill Walk on the wild side Take me home, country roads Drive Stand by me Outside The Wanderer Walkin back to happiness You’ll never walk alone Enjoy the silence Smoke on the water All right now Time Times like these What a wonderful world River deep, mountain high Two out of three aint bad Every rose has it’s thorn

Watch this space…

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The cake slice method of deciding where to go geocaching…

Not sure if anybody else uses this technique or if it’s something I do that is odd?

When I look at the map of closest caches, with my finds hidden, I look at the various road boundaries and break the map up into sections to try and clear.

I live just south of the infamous Coventry ring road, and my aim is to clear out the caches that are south of the M6, and north of the A45.

At the moment that does not look to be huge task. There area around 20 caches in total. So that should easily be done in a weekend?

I look at the top right corner of my “target zone” and think I will save them for when I do much of the cluster in one go. This leaves me with a multi and a few puzzle or unknown caches to work on.

Now the difficult bit may well be completing one of the Mystery caches, the blue question mark ones. The particular cache that may be the thorn in my side is going to be GC4CZH9, as I will need to have completed and found 5 other challenge caches to qualify. (These are not the now redundant Challenge type caches that are no longer around) I looked at my profile page and found that I have only found one such cache to date so will have to look at some others to complete.

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So I now have a whole host of future articles that I can write as I try and attempt and complete my challenge caches, if only to get to log this particular cache so I can clear the zone on my map.

I hope the rest of them will be more simple to find, although this is perhaps going to give me a new focus on my own caching style, if I ever had one in the first place. I blame Mr Wizz for this as it’s his cache that become my nemesis.

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Church Micros This is a series of caches that are located at or near Churches, as you may have guess from the title. You never know what you will find when discovering a local church, such as a famous person’s final resting place, lovely old stained glass windows, score marks where arrows where sharpened or perhaps even unusual or ornate gravestones and even obelisks.

I have come across a skull and cross bones gravestone with no inscriptions, blocked off tunnels they used to carry the bodies through, references to the Magna Carta and many other things. Regardless of your religious beliefs many people believe there is something special at churches. There have now been over 12976 published Church Micro caches to date with almost 10500 still being active.

Church Micro 8321...Medbourne GC62XZH A cache by gladstone8 Hidden: 05/09/2015 Difficulty: 1.5 out of 5 Terrain: 1.5 out of 5 Size: micro Favourites: 5

This is a Premium Member Only cache.

I saw the pic on the right shared by a cacher on the Church Micro Geocachers FB group.

I thought as this was such an interesting location I would give the cache a plug

When you are out doing a church Micro cache, or caches in general, how often do you spend time checking around the location you find yourself at? Do you explore other features and see what else is there besides the cache?

For example would you spot the “Marry Poppins” stained glass as The Cuthies and Max mentioned in their log?

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Church Micro Statistics

by BaSHful Statistics generated on 21/01/2019 at 18:49:21 On which date there were 13,015 published Church Micros.

Of which 10,496 active, 119 disabled and 2,400 archived.

Number of cachers who have found one or more Church Micro caches: 134,749 Number of cachers who have placed one or more Church Micro caches: 2,260 Number of unique finds of Church Micro caches: 1,547,467

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Meet Hunter Many of our readers have a love/hate relationship with trackables. I love to find them in a cache, then panic about moving them on, that I’m not doing it quickly enough or taking it far enough. I make a rule to only have one of someone else’s at a time so I don’t put myself through too much stress.

Others I have met love them and try and move on as many as possible, while yet others don’t want anything to do with them, it really is a personal choice in our wonderful hobby.

Although I have a few trackable numbers, I have not yet released one ‘into the wild’. Anyone that has seen me at a UK Cache Mag stand somewhere will have also met Barry or Bella, our trackable cache mag geodogs, and maybe even discovered them.

We then started discussing how great it could be if readers were involved in his travels, and hatched an idea. This is where you come in.

During February, we will be setting Hunter off on his travels (named by readers of our Facebook page) and hope that some of you will take him in, look after him, and move him on to another event. Do you think he might even make it up to meet us at Piratemania, the Aberdeen Mega or GeoCoinFest? We’re hoping for a little report about each event he attends, and even pictures of any caches he may visit on the way.

Are we mad, or is this going to work? We’ll let you know in the next issue. And Hunter looks forward to meeting you and having help from you with his new position as UK Cache Mag roving reporter.

By Tabitha aka Tabzcake

On the way home from the Christmas Hampshire monthly meeting, which includes an enormous raffle, Adam and I were discussing what I should do with my prize, a small teddy bear with a Geocaching t-shirt. I was reluctant to leave him as swag in a cache, as he’s really nice and soft things can get a bit yucky (technical terms are my forte) if they get damp and cold. We came up with the idea of making him trackable, but again, the problem of him sitting in a cold damp cache didn't appeal. Adam reminded me that we can set goals and stipulations on trackables, and suggested he only travelled to events. A great idea, as I have a Devon Mega tag I can send him off with and he can become my event trackable - or so I thought.

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They say a picture paints a thousand words, but Cache Mag channel. As I get chance I will upwith Youtube you get to see so much more load some videos. I will try and get links to all than you can from a picture. I will look to find of these on to www.ukcachemag.com. several videos that I think reflect a number of different aspects of Geocaching.

SCAN THE QR CODES (NOT MUNZEE!) To go see the videos.

Some are serious, some are fun and some are…..well why not check the links for yourself and see what you think. I have now set up a UK

Geocoinfest 2018 A clip shared by The Superknotts giving you an idea of what to expect in Manchester later this year.

Geolmpix 2018 GC Harribo shares his experience of the event held at Ashridge last year.

Geocaching HQ appreciation…

The Geocaching vlogger wants us all to appreciate GCHQ in Seattle.

FTF Geocaching experience…

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Many geocachers love to explore the world, plan ahead, and achieve caching goals. One of the more common questions we get asked is “When is [insert recurring geocaching moment] this year?” This year, we’re letting people know the dates for annual events, well ahead of time. So cachers, this may be the year that you finally decide to attend an Event Cache or even, *GASP!* host your own!

Additionally, we will run several promotions in the coming year (similar to Planetary Pursuits and Hidden Creatures) that we’re not quite ready to announce yet. Make sure to follow the Geocaching blog, Facebook, Twitter, and newsletter (sign up here) for more information as we roll out those geo-moments.

The confirmed souvenir moments for 2019 are: New country and regional souvenirs January through December 2019 We know geocachers love country and regional souvenirs and we do too! This year we will announce at least one new country or regional souvenir per month, starting in January (traditionally, we’ve only released five each December). The new country and regional souvenirs will be featured alongside Geocaches of the Week in each region and shared on the third Wednesday of each month.

Cache In Trash Out®, Season 1 Friday, March 1 through Friday, May 31, 2019 We’ve made some changes to CITO in 2019, as announced in this recent blog post. Rather than running for one week, we’ve extended each CITO for their entire season! You’ll be able to earn one CITO 2019 Season 1 souvenir by attending or hosting a CITO in March, April, or May 2019. But, of course, you can attend or host many more throughout the year!

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International Geocaching Day Saturday, August 17, 2019 Celebrate geocaching! Log any geocache or attend an event on Saturday, August 17, 2019, and earn the International Geocaching Day souvenir.

Cache In Trash Out®, Season 2 Sunday, September 1 through Saturday, November 30, 2019 Also known as Cache In Trash Out®, the Sequel.

Just like CITO 2019 Season 1, you’ll earn a separate CITO 2019 Season 2 souvenir by attending or hosting any CITO during September, October, or November 2019.

International EarthCache Day Saturday, October 12 through Sunday, October 13, 2019 Get ready to rock this entire weekend. Find and log any EarthCache to earn the International EarthCache Day souvenir.

Geocaching International Film Festival 2019 Thursday, November 7 through Sunday, November 17, 2019 This will be the fifth year for the Geocaching International Film Festival, or GIFF. All over the world, Geocaching film lovers attend/host GIFF events that screen selected films made by other Geocaching film lovers. From finding new favourite places, people, and puzzles, geocaching is full of moments that should be captured on film and shared with the Geocaching world.

Goodbye 2019 / Hello 2020 Tuesday, December 31, 2019, and Wednesday, January 1, 2020 Whether it’s called Goodbye 2015/Hello 2016, Last 2017/First 2018, or Thanks 2018/Hello 2019, you know that geocachers love to celebrate a year of good caching and toast a year of great caching to come! Find any geocache or attend an event on New Year’s Eve then New Year’s Day to earn these souvenirs.

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caches over 370 miles – a trip taking an estimated 10 hours. Gulp!

“Doing the Jasmer” I mean, how hard can it be?

To cut a long story short, I did it. I changed my plans, and planned some extra trips including a day trip to Copenhagen, mid-holiday stop offs in Belgium and Scotland plus a fabulous finale in Stockholm for my wedding anniversary.

So it’s early 2018 and a sequence of events takes place that results in me looking at the missing gaps in my Jasmer challenge grid (named after the geocacher Jasmerb who placed a challenge cache in 2008). In case you didn’t know the challenge is to find a cache placed in every month since Geocaching began in May 2000.

I was planning to visit the USA for Geowoodstock, a huge event that had reached Giga status for the first time. There’s loads of old caches in the US, so surely I can fill the grid in a one week trip. I mean, how hard can it be?

Turns out the answer is really quite difficult!

What followed was a huge amount of planning, poking around Project-GC.com and using the excellent trip planning website cachetur.no.

By Rich Foster

As I was targeting mostly old caches, it was an amazing tour of the early days of Geocaching – this is what hides were like in the year 2000! I also really enjoyed learning how to plan trips, and the mental puzzle of how (and where!) I was going to fill all the grid spots. I made many new friends, visited some breath-taking places and had so many brilliant adventures. If you’re thinking about taking on the challenge - do it – it’s one of the greatest treasures we have in the game.

My major problems were

1. To bag all the missing old caches would involve some ridiculous driving miles in the US, meaning we wouldn’t make it to Geowoodstock and would be in the car all the time.

2. Even taking out a number of old caches the US itinerary was still very full, for example the first day (with jetlag) would be finding 11 Issue 40

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EXTREME G GEOCACHIN In the UK there are just over 440 active Extreme caches.

These are ones with both a difficulty and a terrain rating of 5.

should only attempt these if you are confident in your skills and have done all the proper risk assessments, including letting people know what you are planning to do, where and how long you expect it to take.

Many of these may create mental and physical challenges for the person trying to find them. Some will also require specialist equipment, this could be scuba diving equipment, climbing or abseiling kit. You

Each cache owner sets the rating, so some may rate caches too high, or too low - it is all down to personal judgement. As with any cache check what you are getting yourself into before you attempt to find it.

Since the last issue: It looks like there have been 5 new Extreme caches placed.

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Kieron N Karas REALLY sidetracked Dowles Bridge A cache by blokiebloke Hidden: Size: Favourites:

25/08/2012 Regular 20

If like me the closest you seem to get to an extreme cache is to hear somebody talking about, or perhaps posting on social media then you may share the same feelings of excitement and anxiety at the thought of having to find a way to get across some water, then find a way to get yourself up to the top of one of the old bridge supports you can see in the pic below.

GC3VC18

I often think I will just get a harness and a bit of rope and have a go at these things - but I KNOW how daft and dangerous that could be.

If you fancy trying some Extreme caching, why not get to a local event, find out who your local “Extreme” experts are and see if they may help you. If not you could always look at some courses or joining a local climbing group.

See Jason’s video on Youtube…

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

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EarthCaches This type of cache is a fun way to learn a bit more about Geology and can be simple or a bit more complex. All EarthCaches have to have some element of education, so you have to answer questions at every one, either from observation at the site or research at home. Many also require you to send a photo to prove you visited the location. There are over 1000 active EarthCaches here in the UK. This can take you to all kinds of locations as you will see in the images here. stone beds, but is not a rich enough source to be economically viable any more, with the typical thickness of the bed being only 4-6m. It is not known when or if this particular outcrop was used for iron making, although East Carlton Hall (the grand house you will see on the way to the cache) was used to house steelworks staff

Any Old Iron(stone) A cache by Splendidz GC5M5QT Hidden: 01/02/2015 Difficulty: 2.5 out of 5 Terrain: 1.5 out of 5 Favourites: 18 The geological feature you will be seeing in this case, is an Ironstone outcrop, located in the beautiful East Carlton Country Park. The cache is a short walk (approx 500m) along a path from the free parking area (see additional waypoints) There is also a play area, cafe and woodland/park walks, along with some interesting old mining equipment on display.

The outcrop of rock you will be looking at is iron rich (ferruginous) sandstone, officially called the Northampton Sand Formation. This rock has been widely used as a building stone throughout the county since at least Saxon times (e.g.

Brixworth church) The ironstone varies enormously in colour, form and composition from location to location: some types make good building blocks, others are less strongly cemented together by minerals and are too fragile for that purpose..

The local area has been worked for iron ore since Roman times. An ironstone industry developed in the 19th century with the coming of the railways and the discovery of extensive iron18

Now the outcrop is weathered, moss decorated and tree root penetrated, but as you stand by it consider that had you been here 174 million years ago you would have been standing (or treading water - watch out for that Plesiosaur!) in a shallow sea which was accumulating a bed of mud, sand and gravel. That bed, and subsequent layers above became this rock. It is possible to see that the rock bedding (i.e. layers) tend to slope at a consistent angle. We can assume that the fragments of sand etc were deposited in level horizontal layers in the sea they formed in, and subsequent earth movements have tilted the lot wholesale.

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The “child friendly”

attribute I have mentioned attributes a number of times in previous articles. Groundspeak advise that Attributes give an idea what to expect when attempting to find a cache location. Cache owners may identify attributes before submitting a cache listing for review. Identified attributes will appear on the right hand side of a cache listing page.

As you look at the list of the attributes you can turn on or off, you will see that many are not that suited for the UK and some of the terminology is more US orientated- such as “flashlight”.

You can find the full list on the Groundspeak site.

Have a think about your own caches and see if This is a grid similar the the one above with a you have ticked the attributes or not that apply. number of icons. These are broken down into Premium Members can use the Pocket Query sections as below: feature to search for caches with or without specific attributes. The more information a cacher Permissions (Allowed/Not Allowed) can have can help them have a much better Conditions (Yes/No) caching experience. Imagine going for a cache, Specials (Yes/No) walking a mile or so to get there and find you Equipment (Required/Not Required) needed scuba gear, but had not been advised Hazards (Present/Not Present) beforehand.

Facilities (Yes/No)

As many of us like to take younger ones out with us when caching, then I thought I would have a look at some of the caches that have the “child friendly” attribute set on them.

If you are a Premium member, you can go onto www.geocaching.com and create a pocket query, which is just a way to search all of the geocaches based on a specific set of information, and save it for future reference. In this instance I did a search for caches with this attribute.

Fairly high up the list of caches, when filtered by most favourite points take you to a Virtual cache in London that has strong links with Harry Potter.

I also came across a listing for a bit of community land which has a number of interIssue 40

esting features and carvings, including a “fairy village” I will watch this cache and as many of us head up to Aberdeen later in the year may well give it a shout out closer to the time as a cache to check out on your travels if not too much of a detour.

I also came across an interesting listing that mentions a deserted village that was reclaimed by the War Office, now the MOD. This looks like an interesting location, not only appealing to me as a cacher, but also as somewhere I may want to take my camera and get some interesting photographs.

I could share the GC codes with you, or you could go and explore the various attributes for yourself and see what grabs your attention.

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Trophy Challenges 95 Challenge caches in Northern scotland

When is a Mystery Cache not a mystery? When it is a challenge. Challenge Caches became popular back in 2010 and many were set . Frequently the cache was at the stated coordinates but you had to fulfil certain criteria to claim the find. For example you might have to have found a cache starting with each letter of the alphabet. Or 25 Church Micros in a day. Or caches in 12 different countries.

But as time went on challenges were being set that were becoming increasingly complex and HQ were receiving a high volume of complaints from people who were having logs deleted on the grounds that they hadn’t qualified, or COs complaining about reviewers refusing to publish because the challenge was deemed unsuitable. So a moratorium was imposed and no new challenges were allowed.

After a consultation period the moratorium was lifted but new guidelines were introduced to try and avoid future difficulties. One of the most significant (and helpful) of these was the compulsory addition of a checker on the cache page where you could see very quickly whether you qualified for the challenge already, and if you didn’t, what you still needed to do. This is hosted by the excellent ProjectGC as they already had experience of doing just that. The other major change is that the CO themselves must already have qualified for the challenge, to avoid some of the frankly ridiculous challenges that were out there before, which few people ever had a hope of getting.

Fast forward to April 2018 and rumours had been circulating about a new and MASSIVE set of Challenge Caches being prepared in the Stirling area of Northern Scotland, and sure enough, on 12th May the 95 caches that make up the Trophy Challenge were released. The caches are not at the published coordinates (in order to facilitate the geoart) but true coordinates are given as a waypoint, there’s no puzzle to solve. But you do need to qualify for the challenge to claim a find.

The series is designed to provide variety both in the challenge and the find. If you complete all of them you will have filled your D/T grid and will have experienced tree climbs, wading, field puzzles, short walks, long walks and possible drive-bys. The series is not on a simple loop and careful planning would be needed to achieve a good number of finds in a day.

The challenges include finding different combinations of cache types, in different counties/countries, or having one column of your Jasmer grid filled, or caches with a certain number of favourite points and many other ideas. There are three COs who worked together to set up this mammoth series - Landsbanki, Claxons and tdfthom.

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There’s a dedicated FB group, the Trophy Challenge Cache page to assist with questions and give support.

It should be emphasised that with Challenge caches you don’t have to qualify for the challenge before you find the cache. It is perfectly acceptable to go out and find as many boxes as you can whilst you are in the area. If you don’t qualify then log the find as a “write note” which can be changed to a “found” once you have completed the requirements.

There’s a leader board for those who have done the most, which can be found on ProjectGC I was talking to the cachers who are #4, #5 and #9 on the list at recent events. They are all in NE England so it involves a significant journey even to get to the location before any of the caches are found. Even so Ken from Just-Us-Two along with Drew from Drew-and- Kaz (currently #13) managed to get FTF on a number of the caches when they were released. Since then they have been returning to the area to find more and have now found 93 out of 95. But they don’t qualify for all of the challenges yet. I asked them if they were ultimately aiming to qualify for all 95. They told me that there are two particular caches that they don’t think they will ever be able to change from a “write note” - #26 King of the North and #27 Queen of the South. Why? Because for #26 you must find 2000 traditional, 200 Unknown, 120 Multi, 60 Letterbox hybrid, 25 Earthcaches, 3 virtual caches & 1 CITO or 1 Webcam or 1 Wherigo - and here’s the crunch all the NORTHERN SCOTLAND region. #27 is similar but in Southern Scotland region. This is a tough call for anyone who doesn’t live in Scotland.

And what about us? I was curious as to how many we qualify for already so I ran the checkers and it came back with 37! So a long way to go. But in the summer we are going to stay in the Stirling area for a week on the way to the Aberdeenshire Mega in order to find the Dark Caches, so we may well go for some of these as well. And we might qualify for a few more by then.

By Barbara Hastings

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Restricted Mobility?

Ideas to keep caching So far, my caching experience has been lovely long country loops while walking the dogs, or day trips to new towns that have involved a lot of walking around. All of this has changed quite rapidly with an illness and diagnosis of fibromyalgia. It’s a condition I’ve had, undiagnosed for as long as I can remember and I will have ‘good’ times, but now I need to come up with strategies to cope with the times when I suffer pain and exhaustion which can put me in bed for days at a time.

What I’ve been discovering is that there are different ways of enjoying caching which don’t have to involve a lot of physical exertion, and can be even more interesting. Invariably, if you are a ‘loop’ person, looking for long walks and high numbers each session, you will have quite a few lone caches on your map that don’t fit into your walks. Some of these have been bugging me for a while, so I have decided to start turning all of my local map to smileys. What I have discovered is that a lot of these lone caches are really interesting. We have found more ammo cans and older caches in really interesting spots than we ever did on the big ‘film-pot’ routes. We discovered a bronze age fort location that would only be spotted if you know about it, and all sorts of local interesting spots.

Looking at national series can also be a lot of fun. Close to us, we have village halls, church micros, fine pairs, legends of the call and even an ancient well (all national series). Often 22

multis, which include a little bit of time and generally a short walk, they are ideal for a trip out without too much energy and generally have good parking and terrain. They also usually have a good amount of local history included on the cache page, so we have been learning a lot more about the area.

Although my numbers are a lot lower than during a ‘good’ health spell, my enjoyment of caching has taken on a whole new dimension.

I took the question of how people cache with disabilities to the helpful people on the facebook page Geocaching How To and here are some of the responses:

I’ve had 3 big cancer ops in the last year and have gone from walking 7+ miles a day to slowly building up my strength so I’ve concentrated on all the lovely Church Micros and cache and dash types. Can’t keep a good cacher down.

As someone who suffers from anxiety I would say that caching helps me a great deal. I find being out in the countryside, with a goal in mind, immensely helpful, even if it is just for the duration of the walk.

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Take each day as it comes, have different lists for days when you are feeling up to more or less than other days. Take NO notice of the attributes and read logs instead to see what they are really like! I have been to ‘wheelchair accessible’ caches that are far from it. Luckily I’ve not had my daughter with me at the time!! Same goes for the terrain. (even if you don’t need wheelchair accessible it should be a good indicator to the real terrain) and yes, church micros all the way!

Around here some of the most challenging mystery caches have high D but low T ratings.

With a knee injury. I pay close attention to terrain settings. Also reading the logs to try to figure out how close the terrain settings are to my ability. My health is more important than a further injury. I love the game and play what I am able to do.

Coming to terms with a chronic illness isn't easy, but having a hobby that gets you out and about does help. There are good days, bad days, and downright horrendous days. I used to get annoyed at myself if it was a nice day and I felt too unwell to go out caching, feeling like I'd "wasted" the day, now I accept that this happens, and don't beat myself up about it, I'll use it as a chance to maybe sit in the sun with my laptop puzzle solving...

Somebody also brought to my attention the website www.handicaching.com which gives ratings for cachers around just how accessible they are, and has reviews from disabled people which can be very helpful.

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They say….

“Handicaching aims to improve the accessibility of Geocaching for disabled people all over the world.

By rating caches using a simple system, disabled geocachers can quickly find the caches they are able to do. Too often a 1 star or 2 star rated cache turns out to be impossible, causing disappointment. Our ratings aim to avoid that.

You can help by taking a few moments to quickly rate the caches you have visited!

For disabled geocachers we also provide tools and resources to find caches with ratings, find out what caches you will likely be able to do and a quick reference guide to the rating system. “ This experience has really brought to light for me just how inclusive our wonderful hobby is - that no matter what your age or ability, there are always aspects that will work for you and enable you to take part. The final word needs to come from d4wmike who has recurrent cancer and has had to adapt his caching due to treatment and health.

I will not give up caching. It’s the only thing that keeps me fighting. I pick the type of caches I think I can find without frustrating me. It’s hard after being an avid outdoors person. But I refuse to give in. British grit I guess. I am 74 years old and father time is also slowing me down. But you have to keep pushing and never give in.

By Tabitha Gray Tabzcake

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Epic USA Caching Road Nov -Dec 2018 part 2

Trip

In Issue 39 I wrote about our upcoming trip to the USA and our expectations regarding the caching we hoped to do. Now the trip has taken place - did we achieve all that we hoped for?

The trip started well and we managed to complete our first task of finding a cache in the UK and a cache in the USA, both on the same day, by finding GC7QEPB - Gatwick Airport TB Hotel (where we dropped off a bag full of TBs and picked up several to take to America) and GC7B8X6 - Los Angles International Airport Virtual.

We stayed in LA for a couple of nights, a city that did not endear itself to us, although we did find some caches at interesting places including the La Brea Tar Pits (GCPFPG) and Watts Towers (GC62VQN) The following day we headed south to San Diego finding a number of caches along the way including California Scenario (GCC450) a virtual cache at a distinctive sculpture garden that celebrates Californian landscape in all its forms.

We also found a Mystery cache Euterpe San Diego(GC3H1G2) that requires that are coordinates contained in a cache on the Isle of Man. The next day we set out early to achieve another of our aims, the Mexico souvenir. The car hire company had flatly refused to allow us to take their car into Mexico so we parked on the US side and walked across into Tijuana. The contrast was immediate and dramatic. The level of obvious poverty and degradation is high. At 8 o’clock in the morning the ladies of the might were still plying their trade outside the cheap hotels and there were beggars everywhere.

We stuck close together, watched from all sides, our little group of 5 white Brits standing out like a sore thumb. We got a virtual cache and the info for two multis which are actually hidden on the US side then made our way hastily back across the border. I was thankful to leave, Cancun it ain’t Having got our Mexico souvenir we turned the car around and headed back north towards the town of Barstow and our next night’s accommodation. On the way we had a stop in the Cleveland National Forest to find California’s oldest cache (GC5B) hidden in September 2000 and a Jasmer grid filler for us.

Back on the road after the night’s stop we were heading for the bright lights of Vegas but chose to take a break in the old Gold Mining Town of Oatman Arizona where the descendents 24

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of the burros that once worked in the mines now roam freely in the street, protected by the people of the town. We found the three caches there and met some interesting locals who work in the tourist shops. We spent the first of two nights in Las Vegas and in the morning took our time exploring the Hoover Dam, an astonishing piece of engineering where we bagged a virtual cache set in memory of a dog who was adopted by the workforce when the dam was built (GC7B7E3). Later we had a drive down “The Strip” as the lights were coming on and got a July 2002 virtual with over 1500 favourite points (GC729A) and GCQ596 - a regular traditional inside a Vegas wedding Chapel.

After we had eaten we took a walk down the famous Fremont Street: - lights, street entertainers, zip wire (no, I didn’t, but Chucklebus did) and also a couple of caches.

The next day was a long one, as we first went many miles east to take a look at the Grand Canyon (it’s a big hole in the ground…) and then even more miles back west to make an overnight stay just outside Death Valley, ready for the drive through the next morning. We grabbed one cache on the drive up towards the Canyon but none on the actual rim as the only two in the part we were at involved rather more hiking than we had time for.

The next day saw us driving through Death Valley. In November you don’t get the searing temperatures that contribute to its name - it can get as high as 54 degrees Celsius in the summer but the arid landscape and many coloured rock formations still have an austere beauty that I’ve not experienced anywhere else. It is the land of the Earthcache as physical caches are not permitted in US National Parks and we did 10 of them, plus 4 virtuals, including GCH657 Don’t drink the water, which at -82m is the lowest cache we’ve ever found . The water in question is undrinkable because of the very high salt content.

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Crossing the White Mountains to leave Death Valley we then drove North up Owen’s Valley with the Sierra Nevada to the west of us, to get to our booked overnight stop in Mammoth Lakes. And the contrasts couldn’t have been greater. As we climbed, passing the height indictors every 1000 feet (Americans don’t do metric) the temperature dropped. And dropped. And dropped. From t-shirts only in Death Valley that afternoon we arrived in Mammoth Lakes that evening to 3 feet of snow and full boots/coats/hats/gloves weather. Our log cabin looked very welcoming in the snow and we were delighted to find it came with log fire and a basket full of logs just waiting to be lit.

A further dump of snow during the night meant we had to alter our plans. We had intended to drive over the Sierra Nevada, via Yosemite National Park but due to the snow the roads were shut, which was probably just as well as, although we had 4 wheel drive, we didn’t have winter tyres, or snow chains. So we made the decision to retrace our route from the previous day and drive around the south of the mountains then north again all the way to Novato, north of San Francisco where we were spending the night at my brother’s house.

But before we left Mammoth Lakes we took the opportunity to grab the Webcam Cache GCK5Z1 - Dave’s Run , which at 2462m, gives us our highest elevation ever, the day after getting our lowest elevation even in Death Valley

This was another very long drive due to the diversion but we did manage to get a few drive bys on the way and a return to much warmer weather.

After a night with my brother we made our way firstly over the coastal mountains to the Pacific shores where we met a very nice lady outside a Library who came out to check “we’d found the little box” then we took a drive back up into the hills to get another “must do” cache GC78, an October 2000 Jasmer filler.

We parked above it and the way down was steep so I stayed to mind the car whilst the guys found their way to the cache which is hidden in an old car wreck.

From here we made our way down to the Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco but not before getting the info for two Earthcaches on the northern shore GC7PVJY and GC4FPVT, both of which afford stunning views over the Bay and the Bridge

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After we had checked into our hotel in San Francisco and left the car in a parking garage for the night we took a walk down to the waterfront and Fisherman’s Wharf - which actually involved a fair amount of UP, as well as lots of DOWN, as SF is built on some very steep hills. We found a number of caches including a reverse Wherigo (GC6EKJH) and virtual at a museum of Arcade Games, most of which still work. (GCBD0A).

After spending some considerable time wandering around the piers we opted out of the strenuous walk back and grabbed a taxi.

The next morning we set off south again towards LA and our flight home but we still had one more night so we chose the little coastal town of Pismo Beach which turned out to be quite delightful. Before we arrived there we stopped to do a Mystery Cache called “Are you a Real Geocacher? (GCXJJCG4) This turned out to be something quite special.

The cache makes the proposition - “A REAL geocacher could find a cache with a GPS device with NO buttons, NO touchscreen and a ONE pixel display!”

On arrival at the location you find a little device in a box with batteries which you have to use to navigate to the cache. The full explanation as to how to go about it is on the cache page - and whilst we were getting it set up the CO came out (it’s by his house) and had a chat with us.

After we’d successfully found the cache (the gadget really is quite ingenuous) we went back to replace it for the next cacher and he invited us in to look at his property which is also quite special.

Once at Pismo Beach we found an Augmented reality cache (GC7WZ6N) as well as a trad by the pier and failed to find another which would have been a resus. However there have been four more DNFs since so it’s probably not there.

On our final day, before our flight in the evening we managed a stop at Santa Monica to go onto the famous pier, the official end of Route 66 (so Steve & I have been before) and one final cache (GC6ZTRB) which wasn’t there when we came three and a half years ago.

And so we returned to LAX and our long flight home.

We had found 99 caches including traditionals. multis, an event, virtuals, mysteries, earthcaches, wherigoes and webcams. We saw some marvellous sights and drove many many miles.

And as for the future, next time we’d like to start in SF and go north, maybe visit GCHQ and even pop over a different border and get another country - Canada. We shall see; watch this space Barbara Hastings aka The Dragonlady

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Jacksdale Jaunt.

GC7XBQ1 A multi cache by TeamDEBB One quiet early evening Sooseeker & I had decided to take a relatively local trip for us, out to Jacksdale to clear up a few Green Flags and convert them (hopefully) into Yellow Smiley Faces.

We managed to do a few of the regular caches, but as we pottered about we were also trying to keep an eye on the various hints and picture clues that were provided as part of the Jacksdale Jaunt.

We were a bit perplexed by some of the pictures as there were clearly too many to fit the number of figures required to get a suitable set of co-ordinates. So there were bound to be some that were meant to be "red herrings". That said we thought we sort of knew what we supposed to do, even when there were at least two of the hint pictures at some of the locations, we worked out as best we could those that were left over and figured out some but not all of the numbers - however, by this time it was getting late, so we determined that we would return soon, to try to finish off this cache trail.

Being at a loose end a day or so later, we decided that the time was ideal for us to go and try again. We had chosen a spot to start from which fortuitously brought us into the view of Aladdin Sane and Mart 41. We all waved madly at each other and it wasn't long before we were swapping notes on our "collective" endeavours. Aladdin Sane & Mart 41 had all 28

the clues they felt they could gather, but had stumbled on the numbers a bit, which soon bing bonged that although Sooseeker & Pilot AR had now gathered the relevant numbers they were actually different to those that AS & M41 had got. We checked through and realised there was an error within the description but perseverance paid off, Aladdin Sane entered the numbers a couple of times, well ok about 5 or 6 times and yes the confirmation was given.... We all went to collect our vehicles and homed in on GZ. A swift look around when there revealed nothing to begin with, before Mart 41 suddenly said - I've seen it, I can see it..... but..... well you'd best have a look.

Aladdin Sane joined him, took a long hard look and said - OK I'm going for it. Sooseeker & Pilot AR & Mart 41 having been instrumental in gathering the correct co-ordinates but without the key equipment to undertake the final part of the retrieval formed a serious support team.

AS rolled up his trouser legs, and began to walk - but it wasn't long before he returned and divested himself of his trousers & started to re-enter the chilly waters .... there were a few whoops of brrrrrr to accompany the splashing forward motion. As he carried on towards the bridge ready to pass below it the jumper/top he was wearing was also now being rolled up to avoid being splashed... not

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as though he's the shortest geocacher on the planet!!

Finally he made it, saying Oh My God - it's a red herring...!!!! Mart 41 yelled back to him, "You are joking!!?" - Yeah I am came back the reply... the signing took place, then log returned to the cache.

Re-emerging once more from the bridge, Aladdin Sane now had to get back to his clothes, though not before we'd had to observe a modesty moment and avert our eyes as Mart 41 indicated that AS was having to go commando... and rid himself of his wet underwear.

there was an error in the published calculation - which the CO has since corrected. We also discovered that the CO had already changed another part of the calculation since the previous day, without mentioning in a log, so we were all working off different calculations which didn't help at all. Once we had that sorted, we were able to use some trial and error in the checker to get round the error - and the fact that we still could not see any of the images at the WP we were stuck on.

A big green yes, and we set off for the final GZ. I had expected something challenging and I wasn't disappointed. Everyone else looked at me and I went for it.

Job done......off to the next challenge”

We kind of saw ourselves in a virtual conversation in which Aladdin Sane (Tim) was telling his wife that he'd been out caching with Mart 41, met two strange women, who gave him some information that ended up with him wading almost chest height in the freezing cold water, to retrieve a silly little nano cache, resulting in him having wet pants.. which he had removed - in their presence...

Oh dear -we hope that conversation in real life went well.

By Sooseeker & Pilot AR And Aladdin Sane’s log confirms the story…

“This took a looooong time! Some of the images were easy to spot, but some definitely weren't. We were caught out by a slightly sneaky "alternative" at two waypoints and our inability to find anything at a further two of them.

We returned to a particularly problematic one for another search and were pleased to see PilotAR and Sooseeker turn up. We were able to pool our ideas and confirm some of our connections. By this point we were convinced

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metal, but also others such as stone and fibreglass for example.

Each one is unique and captures something of local significance, sometimes important buildings or landmarks (a great number in East Anglia depict a church), sometimes a famous person and sometimes an occupation such as farming.

A large number of villages have a decorative village sign - more in both Suffolk and Norfolk than in any other county in Britain.

Their subjects vary greatly, but comparatively few depict a whole scene from the village they represent.

The first signs to be commissioned anywhere in Britain were erected in four estate villages at Sandringham by King Edward VII. The work was carried out by the Princess Alexandra School of Carving. More signs were ordered for other estate villages by George V. His son, Prince Albert, the Duke of York, made a speech at a banquet in 1920 in favour of them. His speech prompted The Daily Mail to organise a competition for the best design for a village sign. The winner out of 525 entries was St. Peter’s in Thanet. One from East Anglia was among the twenty-six If anybody would like to expand this series runners-up, and that was Swaffham in please do.

Norfolk.

I would just ask that you let Smokeypugs know first so they can keep track of the Village Sign The idea of a village having a fancy sign numbers and names to avoid duplication. caught on and many more were erected over the ensuing decades. Many villages Have you got a village sign story you would like commissioned one in 1977 to commemorate to share? the Queen’s Silver Jubilee. The first signs If you have then that is great! were made of wood, but more recent ones Please send it to Adam@ukcachemag.com have used other materials, most commonly

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Church Micro Statistics

by BaSHful

The Geocaching CIC Statistics generated on 21/01/2019 at 18:49:21

On which date there were 13,015 published Church Micros.

Towards the end of last year, I started on a Judi, Chris and Andrew for taking over the Of which 10,496 active, 119 disabled and 2,400 archived. year long course all about running a social enlead on that.

Number of cachers who have found one or more Church Micro caches: 134,749 terprise, or as most people may know it a not Number of cachers who have placed one or more Church Micro caches: 2,260 for profit organisation.

I have also created one for Hampshire and Number of unique finds of Church Micro caches: 1,547,467 that is slowly building numbers.

This is a business that puts its profits into things that have the community at it’s heart, Part of the long term plan is similar to someand is not about making money as such. thing I was working on with the GAGB, and that is to create a national governing body for I am in the process of working on a number of Geocaching here in the UK. geocaching projects and workshop that will hopefully engage with landowners, schools This is perhaps something would be recogand various groups to help spread the word of nised by the likes of Sport England. geocaching and all of the benefits that come with it.

I am hoping to open doors to projects with the National Trust, local health authorities Initially these projects will be Hampshire and places like the New Forest. based, but with plans to open similar ventures around the UK in the future.

I will try and give regular updates of how the overall project progresses and and individual We have looked at number of things such as events that take place. legal format and structure, leadership needed and how to create plans and make them self So many people try caching and soon drop off sustainable so they don't rely on having to get the radar, as they don't perhaps realise how grants and funding. to get the best out of the hobby.

In the past there was a lot of experience type events ran during half term to get people into geocaching, and making sure it is something they feel they have the skills, confidence and ability to continue after the particular event has finished.

A while ago I set up groups for people to meet others and go out finding caches on Meetup, and there are now a number events listed there that get a regular attendance thanks to

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I know we all have different ways to cache, and I may well be speaking to the converted here, but I wanted to share what I am up to as even as experienced cachers we can all learn and share so much information. It could be just to show somebody how to use the various features in an app.

After all, nobody knows it all‌, and it changes all the time.

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Piratemania 2019

OUT & ABOUT

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GC588BN - L#1 Nagging at the Head of the Trail A series by Paperballpark in Derbyshire D/T 1.5/1.5 Fav:32 The first of a series of 14 caches starting and finishing in Edale in the Derbyshire Dark Peaks. The series is the Booth Loop passing through both Upper Booth and Barber Booth on the lower slopes of the Kinder Plateau The total distance is about 3.5 miles with cache sizes varying between micro and small and the terrain between 1.5 and 2.5 It begins very close to the start of the Pennine Way so there may be a fair few muggles around in the better weather, particularly near this first cache.

The series is set in the most beautiful valley and there will be plenty of opportunity for photo stops. There are also a couple of benches on the way round where you might stop for a brief picnic if the weather is kind.

All of the caches have some favourite points but #10 The Right to Roam exceeds all the rest put together with nearly 140. Judging from the logs it’s the unusual container that makes this one special as well as the glorious location.

In October susiebear&co appreciated that the series is suitable for children “A nice find at the end of the day, a really lovely walk and a great length for those of us with little ones. Thanks for setting this series.”

And from lunaste “Out for a day of caching in the area.

A great selection of caches, some interesting hides in some really nice places which once again I would not have seen or visited if it was not for caching. A great day out and some nice places to visit along the way so thanks to all the CO's for placing!

GC6WKWQ - Yarn Bomb A traditional cache by fairyspan Hidden 7/11/2016 Size:Other D/T: 1/1.5 Fav 63 I first came across the idea of yarn bombing in Llangollen when attending the North Wales Mega in 2016, where I saw a postbox and other street items wrapped in knitted blankets.

This cache is the same idea, but the object being “bombed” is a tree in Bramcote Park, near Nottingham. The “blanket” changes according to the time of year with pieces being added that are appropriate to the season. And the cache is hidden ….well, I’ll not spoil it by telling you exactly where.

The whole piece is very decorative and popular, as shown by the favourite points awarded.

And there are plenty of other caches in the park for you to find if you make a trip of it. bozzer123 liked it “Found today whilst out walking to the Hemlock Stone with Emily in the rain. Never seen a cache made of yarn before, very cool! Definitely FP worthy”

Upcoming Events: GC817X3 4/2/19 Lunch @ Lincoln #41 GC8269Y 12/02/19 February Teatime meet GC80BKW 14/2/19 Meeting at the Magic gate GC81RRB 16/2/19 Completing the Calendars GC189GM 23/2/19 New Year’s Sunrise GC819H6 23/2/19 Sun, Sea and Sand GC80ZDP 27/2/19 The question is February

RuddRobins chose it for their 1000th find - here’s part of their much longer log I'd done a lot of research for options on number 1000 the pictures of this lovely cache got the thumbs up”

GC6VGB0 - Little Bridges 978 - Finger Nails A Traditional cache by Muddy_Puddles Hidden 14/10/16 D/T: 3.5/2 Fav 55 Described by the CO as slightly more challenging and consisting of more than one part, this cache is not hidden under the bridge LydiaTPot was ecstatic for find it “Oh Muddy, Muddy, Muddy - sheer genius! Another FP from me. SL tftc”

Active caches Lincolnshire 4898 Derbyshire 4505 Nottinghamshire 3925 Northants 3713 Leicestershire 3315 Rutland 395

GC7X9K2 - #1 The Cotton Trail Return A series by TheStowMartians Hidden Sept 2018 D/T: 1.5/1 Size: Other Type: Traditional This series of 15 traditionals and one letterbox hybrid is mostly north of the village of Cotton in Suffolk Most of the caches are on or near the road so could maybe be done as drive-bys although there may not be suitable parking by each cache The description on the cache page suggests parking by the Village Hall and walking or cycling the route. It is also wheelchair and buggy friendly The D/T ratings are mostly low with a variety of sizes. However #6, named “Just for the Lady” is a 5/5. I wondered why that might be no tree climbing attribute…in fact no attributes at all. Maybe this picture holds a clue Several of the caches have favourite points with #8 being the highest at 36 currently. Again not much indication as to what is involved but the name is “Shake, Rattle & Roll” which is intriguing. Maybe there are some indications in the logs “Another fantastic container, almost a puzzle in fact” from floellasam whilst weston wanderer said “We had a pre-conception of what would be hidden here but nothing could have prepared us for this very strange and unique cache! We all loved it - so ingenious - and could imagine what fun you had constructing it! FP and TFTC”

GC7B7BY - Beach huts at Wells-nextthe-Sea A virtual cache by Splendiz Hidden Aug 2018 D/T: 2/2 Fav:23 The lovely seaside town of Wells-next-the-Sea in Norfolk has some quite unusual beach huts, some of which are on stilts, presumably so you can stay dry inside in the event of a very high tide!

As is often the case with beach huts they are very colourful.

The North Norfolk coast is well known for its huge expanses of golden sand because the sea goes out a very long way at Low Tide and Wells is no exception , however care must be taken because the tide comes in fairly quickly due to the flat terrain.

Upcoming Events: GC82NB3 5/2/19 Cromer Puzzle Corner GC82PX3 7/2/19 Game Nineteen GC819JY 8/2/19 Coffee & Geochat GC823BQ 11/2/19 In the Lair of the Fox GC82471 12/2/19 The happening 86 GC82B7H 13/2/19 Essex & Suffolk BorderCache & Piffle GC82WT7 21/2/19 Mardle #52 GC82K28 20/3/19 Woodford Cachers celebrate Astronomical Spring

This is a virtual cache so to claim your find you need to answer some questions about the beach huts, and post a photo of yourself there

Active Caches GC7WNDD - A Fine Pair #1162 ~ Burwell A multicache by Folkfen Fine pair caches require a post box and old red telephone box in close proximity. Where they can be photographed together. This one is in the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire and requires you to find a 6 character identification on the post box then use these to get the coordinates for the cache which is less than 10 minutes walk away.

Essex Cambridgeshire Suffolk Norfolk Hertfordshire Bedfordshire

6520 6483 4639 3993 3359 1886

Rubyshoos Challenges A series of 18 Challenge caches around the Greenwich Peninsula, on the banks of the Thames. (There are 3 others that are currently disabled due to construction work) The first (bottom left) is GC563Z0. This is the I love Wherigoes Challenge. The terrain is 1 but the difficulty is 4.5 because of the amount of work needed before you can claim the cache There are 7 criteria and you have to have met at least 5 of them, and state them, along with the caches used to fulfil them, in your log.

Other caches in the series include similar for Earthcaches, Multis, Mysteries, virtuals and Letterboxes.

Then there are 5 international challenges - the easiest is finding 3 caches types in 3 countries, going up to 7 cache types in 7 countries The rest are called “Soup Challenges” and require different combinations of D/T ratings.

The CO gives this as the reason for placing these challenges I loveWherigos. This was the one that started this series of challenges: hopefully providing an irresistible invitation to seek out more of these interesting cache types. The hides in this series are placed along a stretch of the Thames that I love to walk and cycle.

It offers a multitude of sights, sounds and smells of the ever-changing river and I never tire of it. The views take in the past and present of these shores, with views over the warehouses lining the banks of The Other Side (Oop North) and Canary Wharf, then back into Greenwich and out to the O2. The evidence of industry, new and old is in abundance.

As you can see on the map Project GC informs me that I have qualified for 8 of these, so I need to work on the rest before a trip to London to find them would be justified, although, as with all Challenge Caches, you can sign the log and record a “write note” and then change to a “found it” later, when you qualify.

Project GC provides an easy way to check if you qualify, including telling you what criteria you have failed on and listing your qualifying caches if you pass. Much easier than trawling through your “found it” logs.

Looking at the stats on the cache pages these challenges are very popular

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GC6EWW0 - Ask the Queen A multi cache by -KROPHidden 20/09/2017 D/T: 3/1.5 Fav: 117 The given coordinates will take you to just outside Buckingham Palace of course - how else are you going to ask the Queen.?

And what are you asking her - why where the cache is naturally. If the Royal standard is flying she’s in so just ask one of the Guardsmen if she could pop out for a minute…but if she’s out you’ll need to give her a ring.

Her mobile number is given, but it’s redacted so you’ll have to figure out the rest of the digits for yourself - have a look around at GZ - can you find the right number? Once you’ve got it you can give her a call. Remember to call her Ma’am.

I love this whole idea! And so did only the brave “A fantastic cache and definitely worthy of a FP. We made an incorrect guess for the numbers and spoke to a strange man by mistake.

Eventually we screwed our heads on and figured out what we needed to do. What a super final location. Never disappointed.”

Upcoming Events: GC824N9 1/2/19 Side-Tracked - Euston GC81Z54 9/2/19 SDG On Tour #20 London 2019 GC82PP7 10/2/19 UA meets UK GC827JX 13/2/19 London Event @10 - Soho GC82NMW 14/2/19 Meet & Greet London GC82N2Q 26/2/19 A pint amongst friends Grumpy GC810R5 3/3/19 Welcome to London with The TeamWapi GC8194P 4/3/19 Carnaval en Londres GC82789 5/3/19 Twp Azoreans visiting London

GC819A9 - War Memorial #584 - Pinner Active caches: A multicache by Brian~1 Hidden 19/01/19 D/T: 2.5/2 Greater London 4105 Caches are not supposed to be hidden at City of London 60 War Memorials so many caches in this numbered series are mysteries, multis, virtuals or earthcaches. For this one you need to go to the war memorial for the information then calculate the coordinates for the final location Issue 40

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GCKTQ - Cadole Capers No 1 A traditional series by davidgee931 Hidden 23/12/2018 This relatively new series consists of 25 caches near the village of Cadole, north west of Wrexham There are a few small ones, all the rest are either micros or“other” and the D ratings vary between 2 and 3, suggesting that some of them might just be a bit sneaky.

Some of the caches are on the road, whilst others are on footpaths through fields and up a hill, and the T rating varies accordingly.

One of the caches (#23) is on the summit of the hill, in good weather 360 degree views will be your reward. However, this is Wales, so come prepared for rain too!

The CO has said that the caches are mostly hidden in plain sight so come prepared with your geoinstincts fully switched on. Often these caches can be the most difficult to find - followed by a “doh, how did we miss that?” once you have it in your hand. familytus enjoyed the views at #23 “Bit of a slog to get to the GZ but well worth the effort! Amazing views to the north, up to Seaforth docks. SL. Replaced as found. Fav point awarded for fantastic views” Iantitanic liked #25 “Another well made cache we are really enjoying our walk today finding these quality caches. Signed the log and put it back just as we found it. TFTC. Added to our favourites.” flintshirefox “Absolutely genius container. Love it!”

Gumpay “Once you have found it, you can't believe how long it takes to see it. TFTC”

GC7B6GP Virtual reward Gwrych Castle A virtual cache by The Mighty Shark & magwai Hidden 24/8/17 D/T: 1.5/3 Fav: 27 In August 2017 Groundspeak awarded 4000 cachers worldwide the opportunity to make a new virtual cache - a cache type that had previously been grandfathered.

The COs of this cache wanted to choose somewhere very special to bring people to; in their own words to bring cachers to a location that would blow them away.

And judging from the photos they have achieved exactly that.

Gwrych Castle was built between 1819 & 1825. It has had several uses during its lifetime, firstly as a residence, to house Jewish refugees in WW2, as a training venue for a boxer, a centre for medieval banquets and as a backdrop for a film.

However due to lack of investment and looting it became derelict. Now it has been rescued by a local historian and is being preserved for viewing. More details are given on the cache page paipow and family liked it “Arrived here today for a look around the castle. What a lovely area and location.

Great history well recommend to view. Even the kids enjoyed it. Tftc”

GC5NFG1 - MINI SideTracked - Pen-Y-Mount A Traditional cache by Danpmay Hidden: 26/2/15 D/T: 2/2.5 Size:Micro The SideTracked series is for caches near railway stations. I’m assuming MINI sidetracked is for narrow gauge railways, which would certainly apply here as this station is on the Welsh Highland Heritage railway.

As well as possibly seeing a train you’ll get stunning views of Snowdon. If it isn’t raining…..

Upcoming Events: GC82M43 16/2/19 9 Usual Suspects Get Puzzled in Pwllheli GC82F4J 19/2/19 King of the castle Any Portmeirion in a Storm GC82N7M 21/2/19 Holiday Highpoint?

Any Portmeirion in a Storm

Active caches: Gwynedd Wrexham Flintshire Denbighshire Conwy Isle of Anglesey

1021 843 686 518 487 287

GC7X8DF - Father Ted 1 - “Good Luck, Father Ted” A Mystery series by Funk to Funky Hidden 4/9/18 Size: small D/T: 2.5/2 Fav:15 If you don’t like the TV series Father Ted then this is not the caching series for you. It consists of 25 mystery caches, each of which is linked to an episode of Father Ted, from all the series, including the Christmas special The whole route, if you do it in one go, is about 6 miles on footpaths and tracks, suitable for walking or mountain bikes. There are some parking points given, you can start anywhere but it is recommended you do them in chronological order as this makes a sensible route. There’s a good variety of sizes and the D/T is mostly 2.5/2 To get the coordinates for each you have to answer two questions from the relevant episode and then use the answers in the given formula. In this first episode Father Ted and his colleagues go to a fun fair and you need to find out how many Death cards Ted turns over with the Fortune Teller, and how many letters there are on Tom’s t-shirt.

So to solve them all you are going to have to watch at least part of each of 25 episodes of Father Ted, as I said before, if you’re not a fan then this series is probably not for you!

But if you complete it then you get some nice geoart for your personal map.

Williams Welsh walks became a convert “After completing a few in the village we made our way up to the suggested parking area.

Worked out the puzzles a few weeks back and i had great fun watching the series on my PC while gathering the info for the puzzles not a series I have seen before but totally Addicted now.”

And rhodt enjoyed the excuse to rewatch - this from #25 “Last one and another easy find. Many thanks for placing this series, it has been a great walk and a great day out with some great views. Many thanks too for the puzzles, nothing too challenging but a great excuse to binge watch the entire series - first time I've watched them since they were first broadcast, and well worth a second viewing.”

GC807NC - Dunraven Castle A multi cache by C.A.K.E. Crusaders Hidden: 11/11/18 Size: Small D/T: 2.5/2.5 Fav: 10 The Castle of Dunraven was built on the site of an early Iron Age Fort. It is said to have been a Royal-Roman stronghold during the time of Bran, the son of Lear. There is record of the Saxons burning the residence of Dunraven during 1050, it is also noted that Rhys ap Tewder destroyed the residence some thirty years later (1080) when it was the home of Iestyn ap Cwrgan, the last native Prince of Glamorgan.

During the 12th, 13th 14th and 15th centuries the castle belonged to the Butler family after which it passed into the Vaughan family. Later it was sold to Humphry Wyndham. Alterations were to the Manor House and it became known as Dunraven castle, due to its many castellations.

To find the cache you must visit 6 waypoints for information then use the given formula to get the final coordinates. Your walk will afford you some stunning views along the way

GC75RZ1 - The Suck Stone An earthcache by Zomblou Hidden 17/5/17 D/T: 2/2.5 Fav: 12 The Suck Stone is reputed to be the largest detached block of rock in the British Isles and weighs over 30,000 tons. It is made of a conglomerate of Old Red Sandstone and Quartz.

To claim the earthcache you must answer 5 questions

Upcoming Events:

GC82HB7 26/2/19 South Wales Puzzlers’ Meet Up #7 GC82FFP 2/3/19 Geo-Birthday South Wales geocachers Annual camp 3rd - 6th May Llanelli

Active caches: Pembrokeshire Powys Monmouthshire Neath Port Talbot Rhondda Cynon Taf Carmarthenshire Swansea Ceredigion Vale of Glamorgan Caerphilly Bridgend Cardiff Torfaen Newport Blaennau Gwent Merthyr Tydfil

1029 934 789 781 653 571 453 450 359 351 337 218 137 104 104 95

GC7X0NT - #1 Scarsike Head A traditional series by Walker Dan Hidden: 30/8/18 Size: small D/T: 1.5/1.5 The given cache could be done as a drive by but it is actually the first of a series of 9 caches on a 3.25 mile moorland ramble above the north side of Weardale.

There are some ups and downs but as you are starting quite high, the gradient changes are not too bad. The walk forms a figure of 8 loop across Access Land with some gates to negotiate but the CO assures us the route is fairly easy to follow. He has also given some directions on the cache pages to help you. There is parking available near the beginning. Wear suitable footwear as it is likely to be boggy.

The caches are small or micro and there is no terrain or difficulty rating higher than 2.5 and all of the caches have at least one favourite point.

From TmGrandemotte “After a week in the deserts of UAE we were pining for the hills. We always enjoy a WD walk so chose this one for today. We think we can describe today as bracing. Walking into the headwind was tough at times but it helped when walking with it. Very boggy underfoot but lovely 360° views. We enjoyed it. Thanks.”

Ayrshirelass did the series on Xmas Day “Decided to do this series to blow away any cobwebs and get a little exercise great series - well maintained and coords spot on a real pleasure tftc”

GC73D28 - Castle Conundrum A Mystery cache by Just-Us-two Hidden: 6/4/17 D/T: 2/1.5 Size: Large Fav:35 If you like castles then this is the cache for you. A relatively straightforward puzzle, which requires you to identify 8 Northumbrian castles from their pictures.

There are some outstanding castles in Northumbria including Alnwick, home of the Percy family for over 700 years but more famously known as Hogwarts, home of a certain boy wizard….and also Bamburgh, the royal seat of the Kings of Northumbria until 954 when Northumbria became part of England. However some of the lesser known castles are also well worth a visit, Chillingham is reputed to be one of the most haunted castles in the country,and at Warkworth you can get magnificent views across the River Coquet.

I love a good castle and over the coming months we will be visiting some of these ourselves so I must put this good sized cache on my to solve list. bucko1976 - “We had solved this puzzle back home as we knew we were coming to this area. The puzzle was great and the cache was fab too. If I could award two FP I would.”

GC6Z7FZ - Life’s a Beach #26 - Whitburn Life’s a Beach numA multicache by GeoJoy* bered series is manHidden: 12/1/17 D/T: 1.5/1.5 aged by heartradio.

Fav: 10 Size: Micro They can be any This multi cache, south of Sunderland type except trads takes you on a 2 mile walk towards Roker with 5 stages to visit to get the final coordinates. Each location can be accessed by walking along the beach or the promenade and there are plenty of places to stop for refreshment along the way.

Upcoming Upcoming Events: Events: GC82JMT 14/2/19 Locomotion CITO Event GC82FA6 26/2/19 Chester-le-Street CITO GC82H5H 1/3/19 M-I-t-M-o-N #14 Spithope GC82FA7 2/3/19 Beamish CITO GC81R62 3/3/19 Rainbow Events Indigo GC82FA8 7/3/19 Stanley CITO GC82FAB 11/3/19 Annfield Plain CITO GC82FAD 22/3/19 Leadgate CITO GC82FAK 23/3/19 Tanfield CITO GC82FAG 3/4/19 Consett CITO

County Durham 2693 Northumberland 1669 Tyne & Wear 1328

GC7W3N1 - #01 Canal Capers A traditional series by Bxgeo Hidden 20/8/18 D/T: 2.5/1.5 Size:Micro Just to the west of Accrington is part of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal and this relatively new series runs from Rishton to Altham West, along the tow path There are 24 caches on the route with an additional 9 provided on cut throughs on roads so you can shorten your trip if desired. The sizes are mostly micro/other with a few small here and there. The D/T ratings are predominantly 1.5/1.5 The walk will take you through a mixture of old industrial areas and pleasant farmland. As with all canal areas there may be some rubbish in places but the CO has tried to avoid these when choosing places to hide the caches.

There are plenty of places to park when accessing the tow path. Unless you choose to follow the cut through the walk will of course be linear, so if you don’t want to retrace your steps you may wish to make provision for your return to the car although, as the canal has made a big loop, you are actually not that far from the start when you get to #24 and the CO has (conveniently) got another little series along the road to get you back to #1 Steve73306 enjoyed the series “Thanks to Bxgeo for setting and maintaining this cache.

An early start this morning as I was to be up and ready and parked up for 07:00 and meet the tower AKA Trebor, In truth as the clocks had gone back last night, it wasn't too hard and if anything I was going to be early.

We had penciled in the canal caches near Rishton and one or two others nearby that were on our route.

All caches were found and some were easier than others, only one gave us real trouble and required a quick PAF to the CO for an extra hint”

GC8045M - St John’s Street Hotel A regular cache by hayleyfinn Hidden: 9/11/18 D/T: 1.5/1.5 A regular cache in Fav:12 an urban environThe market town of Keswick is a popular ment destination in the Northern Lakes. In the summer particularly it is full of tourists and as this cache is situated in a cut through used extensively by muggles, stealth will be needed.

The COs are fairly new to the area and wanted to set up a TB Hotel for the town, so they have placed this cache.

Wild-Skye liked the size “No plan to go caching today so didn't have my gpsr with me.

OH wanted some new walking trousers so a shopping trip to Cumbria's outdoor capital was a must. While having a coffee, I remembered this cache being published (wasn't around last time I was in Keswick) so checked on the phone while having a coffee and saw I was only 90 m away (as the crow flies -- marginally more as I am not a crow). Had to walk up and down the short cut a couple of times before I spotted the very nicely concealed container. Great to see a decent sized container in an urban environment . Hope it doesn't vanish :-) Fav point for this. tftc

Upcoming Events: GC81HXC - 1/2/19 Basic GSAK Training Event GC824P6 - 2/2/19 SideTreacked - Carlisle GC826HN - 2/2/19 Tea by the Sea GC8219Q - 16/2/19 Lunch with the gnomes GC82MXK 26/2/19 KT93 A Constellation GC80YVR - 1/3/19 Lannies Quiz # 5

There are a couple of other caches in the town centre whilst you’re there - including the one at the Pencil Museum, yes, that really is a place! It’s more interesting than it sounds I’ve been.

GC1BRVA - LQ Cheshire - Sandstone

By Foinavon Hidden 30/4/2008 Size: regular D/T: 1.5/2.5 Fav: 63 This is Cheshire’s LQ entry, it lies on the northern end of the Sandstone Trail, which is 32 miles long and links Frodsham with Whitchurch. The cache is in a lovely little area known as the Bakers’ Dozen. Don’t forget to collect the LQ numbers so you can eventually find the final.

Lancashire 7053 Greater Manchester 4124 Cheshire 4069 Cumbria 3337 Merseyside 2263

Crockham Hill Caper - a series by ildegit, in Kent GC3Y7Z4 - Crockham Hall Caper 1 D/T: 1.5/2.5 Hidden: 07/10/2012 Size: Micro Fav:8 This is a circular walk of 33 caches from Crockham Hill, over a distance of 6.5 miles along bridle ways and footpaths (which may be muddy) and a short stretch of country lane Some of the hides are tricky and the terrain is mostly easy although there’s a steep climb up some steps between #2 and #4. Lovely views will make up for the effort, and a few of the boxes have room for swaps and trackables. There is parking available near the start and all caches have been placed with permission from the National Trust. A couple of extra caches can also be picked up along the way An excellent series here, big thanks to idlegit for the pleasure it gave us today ! - Seafordians Some finders came from far afield We had planned to attend the Fine Pair 7th Anniversary Meet near Westerham this evening, and so we decided to find ourselves a nice looking geo-trail nearby to hike during the day as such it didn't take long before we settled on this Crockham Hill Caper. It turned out to be a good choice as it was a thoroughly enjoyable hike with a lot of interesting and well thought out caches of various D/T ratings. Thanks so much for the cache and a favourite point awarded for the series. Greetings from Zimbabwe - Team GBS

GC7B887 - Rock Faces A virtual cache by Moody von trapps Hidden 15/1/18 D/T: 3.5/3.5 Fav:28 This cache provides a virtual tour of Bull’s Hollow near Tunbridge Wells where there are rock faces within the quarry with old, strange faces carved deeply into them.

Bull’s Hollow is named after a quarryman who worked there in the early nineteenth century, and at one time was used as a site for climbing. Now, however, the lichens and mosses have taken it back, and it is a quiet forgotten corner.

There are 5 waypoints given and three questions to answer.

The cache has a 3.5 D rating because the rock faces are not easy to find and a 3.5 T rating because the terrain is uneven, there are unguarded edges and a slippery slope to scramble.

From alfieo “ I am always amazed how CO’s find such great locations for caches although we did discover that we needed to look at things differently and follow instructions properly as we nearly ended up exploring somewhere slightly more precarious than the rift! Luckily we all managed to squeeze through and answers sent to CO. A great virtual which kept us well entertained so of course a FAV point awarded

GC80PQ0 - VS 472a - Teynham A Mystery cache by maattmoo Hidden: 16/11/18 D/T: 3/1.5 Size: Micro This is a mystery cache so you will need to inspect the picture on the cache page and discover the coordinates. The rather ornate sign was created by a local craftsman and donated to the village

Upcoming Events: GC82VVT 8/2/19 Last Orders at the bar please GC82J45 14/2/19 Puzzle Club GC82T02 16/2/19 Puzzle Phobia? Help is here #4 GC82PDP 17/2/19 VC visits Brighton GC82JAE 18/2/19 Mid week Mini Meet GC82M46 23/2/19 Costells Wood CITO GC82H3B 23/2/19 KCCMM #113 - Winter Picnic GC822DK - CITO 24/2/19 SDGT Wildlife Reserve Management @ Graffham GC82PB4 18/4/19 Maundy Thursday 2019

Active caches: Kent West Sussex Surrey East Sussex

7940 4234 4152 2986

GC7X2CH - Pick Your Own - 1 A traditional cache by spooky_luke Hidden: 31/08/2018 D/T: 5/2.5 Size; Small Fav: 4 First of a series of 6 plus a bonus

Anyone who has been to a UK Mega recently may have seen the Lock Pick Village where you can have a go at picking some locks, and get some tuition. If you enjoy this sort of challenge this may be a little series where you can test those skills.

The special tool required attribute applies here as the caches are field puzzles which require you to pick a padlock to access the log book and claim the cache.

No lock picking tools have been left with the caches - you need to bring your own. Information for the bonus cache is also contained in the first six, this will enable you to get the coordinates for the last one, but once there, you still need to pick the lock!

As you see from the map the caches are in two distinct areas so a car is probably fairly essential.

Judging from some of the logs #1 is certainly living up to its D5 rating. ogesandlyn had to have three attempts 1 - It’s not a DNF because I did find it but I couldn’t pick this one. I used same tools and techniques as the other locks but after over half an hour I conceded defeat. I will certainly return. 1st Sept 2 - Another 20 minute try on this elusive one. Looks like it’s tried to be opened with a spade by the size of the lock now 4th Sept 3 - I thought I’d have another go at this and hopefully be third time lucky .... which I was. I used the same pick and technique as before but today it only took a few minutes. I really don’t know what I was doing wrong on my prior attempts though !! So pleased to have this final one (for me ) ticked off. Tftc and a fp for this locks stubbornness !! 15th Sept

GC7B7WJ - Narrow Views of Parliament A virtual cache by Wenglish Hidden: 24/08/2017 D/T: 1.5/1.5 Fav:31 The name of this cache conjures up (in my mind at least) some learned treatise on parliamentary democracy - but it is nothing of the sort.

The Parliament in the title refers to Parliament Street in Exeter, Devon. It dates back to the 14th century and links the High St to Waterbeer St. It is just about 50 metres long. But it’s not the length that is of interest to us in doing this cache, but the width. To claim the virtual you must come prepared with your tape measure. You must then go to the coordinates where you will find an interesting plaque and you must measure the width of the street at head height, and email the answer, in centimetres, to the owner. You must do this very carefully, answers over 2 cm out either way will not be allowed!

It has been erroneously claimed that this is the world’s narrowest street.

That title actually belongs to the Spreuerhofstraße in Reutlingen in Germany - and there’s a cache there too

Upcoming Events: GC80Y19 - 2/2/19 CITO Helping Out at Hemmick Beach GC821NT - 9/2/19 Cachers’ Coffee Morning 25 GC82831 17/2/19 Dartmoor 365 #14 - E17 Cranbrook Castle GC82B1Y 22/2/19 North Bristol Social GC82Q8J 24/2/19 Cake, Caches and Coins GC80XQK 28/2/19 Bathtime Buddies going for Gold GC82BZR 9/3/19 Cleaning Golant by Kayak CITO GC82VJE 11/3/19 Cornwall Bi-Monthly Midweek Event GC82AED - 23/3/19 REALLY SideTracked Mortehoe

Active caches: GC6KA1K - A Fine Pair #599 Kentisbeare A multi cache by heartradio Hidden: 24/06/2016 Size: Micro D/T: 4/1.5 Fav: 46

The Fine Pair series is where a red telephone box is in close proximity to a post box.

This example is in Kentisbeare in South Devon and you have to answer two questions about the phone box and two about the post box to get the final coordinates. The hide is a bit sneaky.

Devon Cornwall Somerset City of Bristol

8245 6220 4246 474

GC7HZ4F - SiS01 - Stamped in Stockbridge A letterbox hybrid series by SeekingSalters Hidden: 21/02/2018 D/T: 2/2 Size:micro Fav:53

There are 42 caches in this letterbox hybrid series; they are a variety of sizes but none are intended for swaps/trackables except #2. Each contains a stamp but you’ll need your own ink pad for some of them.

The series is about 8 miles long, including the return part which goes through the town, and is completely on bridleways apart from a short section on a road. It can be cycled although in wet weather you’d need a mountain bike and be prepared to get muddy.

The caches are set in the true tradition of a letterbox with a distance and bearing from the published coordinates given so you’ll need to do some forward planning with some mapping software or similar. There’s an online checker on the cache page.

There’s parking in the town and some CMs you can do too if you wish. And once you’ve done them there’s a nice bit of geoart for you.

Buzio had this to say in October - “One of the best series ever completed. Some really imaginative hides and worth the number of favourites awarded by all Parked near to no #1 as suggested.

Walked at total of 8.92 miles in a time of 4:10. A few muggles early on (walkers and cyclists), then a very quiet stretch before a couple near #39 It was good to have nearly all the walk along paths with only a short section of road Started in a clear sky but later clouded over, but thankfully no rain. Paths all in good condition but I can see some will get quickly muddy over the next few months”

GC5ED5B - Boney’s Burial Place A multi NIGHTCACHE by Sparklefingers Hidden: 06/10/2014 D/T:2/2.5 Fav:18 It’s winter time and it gets dark early so it’s a good time to do a nightcache without having to stay up too late. This cache was published in October 2014, about three weeks before Halloween for just that purpose.

Like many night caches you make your way to the published coordinates and look for the first marker (you’ll need a torch), then just follow the markers until you see the double one at the end. Then find the cache.

When this was first published four years ago there was a flurry of finds over the next two months. But then there were just three finds in 2015, two of them on Halloween night. In 2016 ownership was passed to the present CO but the cache remained unfound. 2017 passed with no visitors, poor Boney must have become very lonely, but then, appropriately on 31st October 2018 there was a MASS RESUS trip. Three years had passed since the last find until Team Evil (dressed accordingly) made a joint effort, accompanied by the CO and found it together. There are 14 logs but that must translate into well over 20 people tramping through the woods in the dark, as many caching accounts are shared. I suspect any ghouls that were hanging around will have been well and truly scared off.

“What a brilliant fun evening, so glad everyone could join us to enjoy the fun in the dark and find such a fantastic cache,

GC82BCV - Village Hall Series #304 Part of a series - West Moors, a multi cache placed on or near

by Malcolmthe1st Hidden 11/1/19 Village Halls Size: small To get the information to find the final location you must look for a date above the door of this Village Hall and then use the given formula.

The Village Hall series was started in 2013 by GeoJaxx, in Hampshire but has now expanded to 34 counties. Is there one near you?

Upcoming Events: GC81P32 2/2/19 Mr Chen - 70 not out!

GC821JD 5/2/19 Lichees Chinese New Year GC82KBM 7/2/19 Chandlers Ford Forum #10 GC82HBB 7/2/19 Stan’s Midweek Monthly Meet #78 GC82T7P 8/2/19 Bramble Bashing CITO GC81EG1 - 10/2/19 Lcot #46 - Southbourne GC82EK6 10/2/19 Hedging at Hucclecote Meadows CITO GC82FX9 - 12/2/19 SOX in February GC81093 12/2/19 After the refit event GC82CBR - 13/2/19 Hampshire Mid Week Event #121 GC82AWT - 13/2/19 CITO Beachcombing & Birdboxing at Hamble Common GC80RPR 18/2/19 CITO Half-term mulching hazels GC80N1C - 23/2/19 REALLY SideTracked Blandford Forum Active caches: Hampshire 6513 Gloucestershire 5023 Wiltshire 4508 Buckinghamshire 3261 Dorset 2866 Oxfordshire 2861 Berkshire 2477 Isle of Wight 521

Rob Roy Way Power Trail by monkeydestructor GC7M7KF - 01 Rob Roy Way Power trail Start Hidden: 22/04/2018 D/T: 2/1 Fav: 6 The Rob Roy Way, named after Rob Roy MacGregor, a Scottish folk hero and outlaw of the early 18th century, is a Scottish long distance footpath that runs for 92 miles between Drymen and Pitlochry.

This Power Trail of over 50 caches follows the first of seven sections of the Rob Roy Way. Cache sizes vary between micro, small and regular and the D/T ratings are generally 1.5 or 2.

The first part is on the Old Drymen Road and the West Highland Way crosses at # 8. You’ll see Muir Park reservoir by # 14 . The trail leaves the road after # 21 and does a left turn onto a forestry track between areas of woodland and over Green Burn and Lossnaugh Burn after which it then takes a turn northwards again before ending abruptly somewhat south of Duchray Castle “we hoovered up the this series with no DNF s in three and a quarter hours “ “Nice trail of caches to find on a fine summer's day.”

“A nice straightforward one here before we return to the road. Thanks for all the caches on this stretch of track - some really interesting features and lovely views out to the hills.”

GC7WQA9 - Hyskeir (Òigh Sgeir) Lighthouse - a small traditional cache by Halywid Hunters D/T: 3/5 Published: 28/08/2018 Published 7 months ago and, at time of writing, FTF STILL AVAILABLE! How can that be? Well the cache is situated on a small rocky islet approximately 5 miles southwest of the Isle of Canna and 8 miles west of the Isle of Rùm. Hyskeir is not on the tourist trail and only those with access to a suitable boat will manage to get there.

Great care needs to be taken as landing on the island is only possible in good weather and calm sea conditions. The COs advise that a seaworthy vessel with an experienced crew is essential and that you undertake to find this cache entirely at your own risk.

The lighthouse is fully automated and controlled via wireless telemetry by the Northern Lighthouse Board.

If you do manage to find the cache the COs would like a full and extensive log detailing the story of your voyage and the find.

It’s winter now and I suspect the FTF will be available for some time to come.

If you decide to go for the cache, and are successful we’d love to hear about your adventures.

Postcode Cache GC573T0 - Postcode cache 54 Papa Hotel 3 A traditional cache by Claxons Hidden: 15/06/2014 D/T: 2/2 Postcode caches are a numbered series placed in different postcode districts. This is PH 3 - in the Perth postcodes area. This cache is near the Roman watchtower at Kirkhill on the Gask Ridge and is accessed along the old Roman road.

The Roman watchtower is between the ones at Ardunie (GCJV8V) and Muir o'Fauld (GCVNF0).

Upcoming Events: GC82F55 2/2/19 Exploring Aberfoyle GC82K3W 5/2/19 Happy New Year!

GC81Q6J - 7/2/19 We Love Geocaching GC828HT - 8/2/19 Bee in Ness GC82R10 - 11/2/19 Make a Friend Day GC8278H - 12/2/19 Waur’s Ma Spurtle?

GC80NVT - 21/2/19 Baggies@The Ben …Ye No Ken GC8285Q - 22/2/19 Margarita Day GC82R1R - 24/2/19 Any Excuse for a Cuppa GC82R26 - 7/3/19 Brunch at the Broch Active caches: Highland 3301 Perth & Kinross 1855 Aberdeenshire 1819 Fife 1138 Stirling 1021 Moray 914 Shetland 890 Angus 857 Clackmannanshire 444 Aberdeen City 343 Orkney 275 Western Isles 218 Dundee City 134

GC3J209 - Platinum - (Mining series) By the Incredible Jackie C Type: Mystery Size: Regular D/T: 4.5/2.5 Fav: 85 A 15 cache series in Beecraigs Country Park, just south of Linlithgow

The caches were placed for the Welcome to Geocaching Event in May 2012 and are all named for different substances that can be mined.

Eight of the caches are traditionals and seven are mysteries like this one.

Coordinates for the mystery caches can be found in other caches in the series.

All the caches are either small or regular, not a micro to be seen. Difficulty and terrain ratings are quite varied with very few below 2, promising some more challenging finds perhaps.

Caches have been placed with permission from Beecraigs Country Park Rangers.

The theme reflects the fact that the West Lothian area has been extensively mined for a variety of minerals and metals, so much that parts of the county appear to be hollow!

Each cache page gives information about the particular mineral/element the cache is named for and where it has been found locally.

For example in March 2012 Scotgold Resources confirmed that they had uncovered evidence of platinum and other metals on a hillside near Tyndrum.

There are also a number of other caches in the park, including an Earthcache and there’s a Visitors Centre and cafe should you require refreshment after your caching exertions.

Dumartonlass said this - Having had some help from the CO with this series, I finally am able to log this cache. As suggested I used the tools at my disposal (small child) to retrieve this one.

This was our final find of the day the day. Thanks to the CO, not just for this series but for the past events which introduced me to Beecraigs country park.

GC6PHFW - Roll of the Dice A multi cache by GeoFerritt Hidden: 02/08/2016 D/T: 2/1.5 Size: Micro Fav: 15 The cache is hidden with views across the Upper Clyde valley and its massive windfarm and it is next to the 33 000 acre estate of the Douglas-Home family, (Alec Douglas-Home was PM in the late 1960s) There’s an interesting tale on the cache page about when the estate was used for tank training during WW2. Apparently the soldiers used to make sure the tanks got bogged down in the mud on a Friday night so the farm workers would be paid to free them over the weekend, ready for Monday morning.

There’s even a suggestion that one of them got a little bit too bogged down and is still under there somewhere!

Anyway - the cache. You are instructed to look for a fence post that is a little different. Is the cache there? No. But if you look closely there are some numbers. Are these the coordinates? Not unless the cache is the the Sahara Desert!

So, what now? Well think about the cache name and maybe you can convert the numbers you’ve got into some coordinates to take you just a few hundred metres to find the hide.

A very pleasant approach from the north and soon spotted the "different" fence post, It then took a little while to find the numbers. Conversion carried out as suggested and and a short trip to the final location. The rather different method was enjoyable and a nice little hide too. FP awarded.” northumbria biker GC71PKP - LS17 Lifeboat Station Queensferry LS series started in 2016 in A Multicache by Saintchris13 Devon Hidden: 30/1/17 Size: small D/T: 2/1.5 Queensferry Lifeboat was opened in 1967 and has since launched nearly 2000 times, saving nearly 200 lives and assisting close on 3000 people. As this is a multi cache you will need to gather info from around the Lifeboat Station before you can determine the final location.

You will also get great views of the Forth Rail Bridge, and both road bridges

Upcoming Events: GC82EMK - 4/2/19 Servus from Bavaria GC7XJ57 - 17/2/19 CITO Caley’s Force of Nature GC81QTJ - 21/2/19 WoS Geocachers’ Meet #02 GC81QV8 - 21/3/19 WoS Geocahers’ Meet #03 GC829Z1 - 24/3/19 Tak-Ma-Doon Flashmob

Active caches: Argyll & Bute Scottish Borders Dumfries & Galloway East Lothian City of Edinburgh South Lanarkshire North Ayrshire North Lanarkshire West Lothian Glasgow City Midlothian Falkirk South Ayrshire East Ayrshire East Dunbartonshire Renfrewshire East Renfrewshire West Dunbartonshire Inverclyde

855 829 695 684 523 518 474 422 388 372 363 319 272 250 197 192 162 100 83

GC59X16 - 1 SS’s Stroll - SS A series of 30 traditional caches by Spunky Spider Spider Hidden:30/07/2014 Hidden:30/07/2014 D/T: 1.5/2 D/T: 1.5/2 Size not given Size Fav: not 15 given Fav: 15 In the West Midlands, west of Bromsgrove In the West Midlands, west of Bromsgrove There are 30 traditional caches set out for you to find and enjoy and one Trigpoint.

There are another 5 caches dotted about along the route that you may also like to collect along the way. Early on, the walk will take you to Warridge Lodge Trigpoint where, on a clear day, you will be able to take in some lovely views. It is mostly on Public Footpaths and Bridleways, however, on the later stages you will be walking along very quiet country lanes.

This walk is approximately 7.2 miles long (11.6 kilometres). It can be started at any point and done in any direction as there is no Bonus, but it is recommended that you start at the suggested parking and SS 1. There are stiles and bridges along the route, which may be muddy at certain times of the year.

D/T ratings vary between 1.5 and 3.5 and there are a variety of sizes too, including some large enough for swaps or trackables. There are many favourite points on the caches with #3 having over one hundred.

Team Flamb had a good day day last last August August “A “A final final find find to to complete complete the the series. series. Huge Huge thanks thanks to to Spunky Spider for creating and maintaining this cache series. Had a great day wandering the fields, climbing a tree and jumping in and over ditches. The narrative from cache to cache was really useful, and quite a few times I should have read it sooner - the maps that come with the app aren't always the most detailed! All logs signed and replaced as found.

Thanks for the caches”

GC7E8NN Curse of the Pharaoh A Mystery Cache by T A G Hidden: 22/12/17 Size: Large D/T: 2/2 Fav:12

Upcoming Events: GC82J13 1/2/19 Brummie Brekkie

This superb cache is a full sized coffin that was one of the stars of the Halloween events in Northamptonshire, now sadly no more.

GC81BJ1 2/2/19 Sharant 10 years Geocaching Birthday

To get the coordinates you must first solve and find the two leader caches GC7D64C Pharaoh ‘nuff and GC7E8NG Frankie Goes To Comer Wood. They each have part coordinates in them. All three caches are meant to be found at night to properly appreciate the full experience…..if you dare! I just wish we lived nearer….

GC81FV0 - 6/2/19 MmmBIRMINGHAM Part III

NevilleDog_n_Humans left this log

GC82F83 14/2/19 Sidetracked Birmingham Moor Street

“WOW! An amazing cache. We were so excited for this cache and sprinted past it the first time, then on the way back walking a bit slower, we spotted it! Battery not working so no lights or sound but still amazing! Dropped off the little TB, Boomer the ghost, which has been haunting our travels for a while, thought it would be an appropriate haunting place for him for a while! Definitely worth a fave point, TFTC!”

GC81WPW - 21/2/19 SOS (Stoke or Stafford) #48 GC82FKG 11/3/19 Brummie Meet 2019 Part 1 GC82HK7 12/3/19 The Old Dispensary Microbar Halesowen Cachers’ Meet

GC341G4 - Who Was Here 24: The Krotons A traditional cache by unowho67 Hidden: 11/9/11 D/T: 3/1.5 Fav:17 One of a lesser known numbered series based on locations used to film Doctor Who. The Krotons, a storyline from 1969, during the Patrick Troughton years, was filmed around Tank Quarry near Malvern.

The cache is disguised and contains only a log book, so BYOP

Active caches: Worcestershire Staffordshire Shropshire Warwickshire West Midlands Herefordshire

3400 3338 2821 2673 1807 831

GC7QT0R - 01 Yorkshire’s Finest - Flamborough Head A series of 12 traditional caches by Mel&Freddie17 Hidden: 06/06/2018 D/T: 1.5/1.5 Size: Large Fav: 5

This series of caches just east of Ripon celebrates 12 of the sights of Yorkshire - Flamborough Head, York City Walls, The Cow and Calf Ilkley, Whitby Abbey, S. Yorks Botanical Gardens, Pump Room Harrogate, Malham Cove, Caphouse Colliery, Kilburn White Horse, Weston Park, Beverley Minster and Druid’s Temple Ilton.

Each of these is a special place and each is worth a visit in its own right. How many have you been to?

This first one is large, most of the others are small and all the D/T ratings are fairly low.

All the caches have had plenty of visits due to the proximity of the Yorkshire Mega last summer.

“This was another lovely walk which took us about an hour and a half. Good variety of hides.” - NewInners “Well that’s the complete set !Thanks for setting up this great series we have enjoyed our day. Take a fav point TFTC” - Saga Louts “Cache soon found then took a wander around the churchyard. Excellent little series and well worth a couple of hours of any cacher’s time. Thanks to CO for placing.” monkeyhanger There’s a CM in Copt Hewick you could grab on the way round too.

GC81FA7 - Corroboree Christmas Cracker A Mystery Cache by Santa’s Little Helper Hidden; 18/12/18 Size: large D/T: 2/2.5 Fav;11

Following a pre- Christmas event left over goodies from Santa’s Secret Stash have been parachuted into the wild for youngsters to hunt out, by finding this large cache.

All you have to do is solve the puzzle, there’s a link, which takes you to an online jigsaw puzzle - not that unusual you might think, there’s plenty of those around.

What made this one stand out for me is that the page with the puzzle also gives a leader board for solving times.

Currently at the top is ltk with 4 minutes 46 seconds.

So whether you live anywhere near the location (SW of Wakefield) or not, why not have a go and see if you can beat that time.

Upcoming Events: GC81Z1H - 9/2/19 Eat, Drink and discuss Plastic GC822BG - 9/3/19 CITO York Cemetery - The Jolly Holly Bash GC82B66 - 9/3/19 Geocoin Auction & Quiz Night GC82HQ0 10/3/19 Geogathering VII: Five Years On

Malkelly73 found it on New Year’s Day “This was the most perfect geocache for my 7 year old twin grandchildren as they are visiting from Canada. I’ve taken them with me a few times but never been lucky enough to find anything worth swapping/taking. New Years Day on our way to YSP so stopped off and made the short walk. Absolutely perfect, thanks ......the children were delighted and say thank you so much!”

Active caches: GC2KKBJ - Chirpie Chirpie Tweet Tweet in Spring Wood a chirp cache by page28 Hidden: 24/12/2010 D/T: 2.5/3 Size: Regular Fav: 19 As the title hints this is a cache incorporating one of the Garmin Chirp devices- this is a fairly unusual type of cache that is quite fun to do. At the coordinates you should get a chirp with new co ordinates and a hint to what you are looking for.

Then use the information on the cache page to get the final coordinates, and the cache.

West Yorkshire 5650 North Yorkshire 4763 South Yorkshire 2225 East Riding of Yorkshire 1447

GC45E16 - A Walk in the Garden Number 1 A traditional cache by Kili or bust Hidden: 4/2/13 Size: small D/T: 5/5 Fav:21 County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland is known as the Garden County - it is a land of mountains, lakes and coastline, and the most stunning scenery . These caches, whilst not intended as a single walk (they are randomly placed and far too scattered) are to encourage cachers out into the wilder areas and to undertake some more serious walking than the average “cache and dash” or short 3 mile circuit.

There are 75 altogether and are a mixture of Traditionals, Multis, Wherigoes and Mysteries.

This first one is an extreme (5/5) cache but others offer a more gentle experience, T ratings start at 1.5; the bulk of them are in the Wicklow Mountains National Park.

This cache is described as straightforward but tough to reach and the CO warns of high open moorland and some precipitous terrain. You must go prepared with map and compass, and a GPSr with mapping and contours, plus appropriate clothing and footwear. It is not suitable for vertigo sufferers (that’s me out then) and hill-walking experience is recommended. Even for the experienced it is probably best not to go alone. On a fine day you are going to be rewarded with the most amazing views.

From mattia_p “I am on the mission to tackle AWITG series. Probably it will take me some time but that is ok. Each of the walks is really good so there is always something to look forward to.

Today together with emalang! we decided to try famous #1 walk.

We prepared ourselves as one should for 5/5 cache and we headed out. From the beginning we didn't see much of the mountains because of low ceiling cloud but we did see the photos so we knew the rock is high and steep and challenging.

We followed the path as far as we could and then we started to follow the GPS. Of course we started to climb a bit too early so we needed to back track down our steps and re-climb the steepest section again. Cloud was thick, but it didn't rain. Still the vegetation was really wet and that left us without a dry piece of clothing while we were negotiation our way up.

But who cares! We were in right place even if my gps was saying different. So we consulted few gallery pictures and soon after we had cache in hands! Amazing! We signed the log, took few celebratory selfies and had a great tasting cookie. As well I needed to clean a small cut I got who knows at what stage. Well...A really geo-bloody-stripe earned here!”

GC818AD - High Resolution!

A multi cache by Peter & Gillian Hidden 14/12/18 Size: small D/T: 2/4 Fav: 5 Published on New Year’s Day to coincide with an event, this cache requires you to get some information from a noticeboard by Scrabo’s South Quarry, east of Belfast.

To retrieve the cache you will need to climb a short steep slope - please note the T rating A group of attendees at the event logged joint FTFs and obviously had a good time, and got the Jan

1st

souvenir

Crafty daisy was one of them “After holding an early morning New Year's Day Event up at Scrabo Tower there was a ping on the phone just as the Event was ending. Yep! A new cache and a multi. No decisions whether or not to for it, we were off!

Never has a crowd of people left the tower so quickly. A bit of geo-chat as those of us who were in the group made our way to the coordinates where we gathered the information. Yep! The checksum added up - phew! Coordinates keyed in and we were on the move again. I'll be honest here, I was sort of tagging along and hadn't taken any notice of the T rating but had a rough idea where it was likely to be located.

The correct item was eventually found but it was Halywid Hunters who was the brave one here and went for a closer look and located the cache. Teamwork!”

GC5HPG2 - Cluedo Titanica A Wherigo cache by UlsterLatinos Hidden: 25/12/14 D/T: 2/1 Size: Micro Fav:68 We have long been promising ourselves a trip to Belfast and when we finally get around to it, this has got to go on the must do list. A Wherigo based on the board game Cluedo. Six suspects, 6 weapons, 9 rooms. One dead body.

Can you crack the case before the Titanic sets off on its maiden voyage

Upcoming Events: GC8206B - 9/2/19 CITO Royal Canal GC82W0M - 9/2/19 Bray Head International Meet & Greet GC82R36 - 18/2/19 Armchair Caching II GC82JBY - 28/2/19 Meet the German in Ireland GC8264E - 15/3/19 Meet & Greet at The Needle

Active caches: Connacht Dublin Leinster Munster Ulster

688 1474 1856 1685 4380

Holiday lettings?

Classified SECtion

Trackables?

(What are you seeknig for?)

GPS equipment?

Torches?

Camping Kit?

Clothing?

Camera Stuff?

Cache Containers?

Climbing Gear?

Adam@ukcachemag.com

Ramblers Association Membership

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FEB / MAR 2019

Swag?

Issue 40

UK Cache Mag is very much a community magazine, and it relies on people like you submitting your stories, photos and articles to share with us all. It also grows with people spreading the word to other cachers about the magazine and sharing old copies etc.

Cover Shot Would you like to share a good cache or picture with us all?

Why not send me a photo to use - remember there needs to be enough space for me to drop in a title and a short list of the key articles in the issue.

Another thing to remember - the cover is PORTRAIT. taken landscape

►Vestibulum velit orci, bibendum eget, molestie eu, There have been a few times I have only ►Nullam sed enim. ►Aliquam dapibuskicked ipsum vitae sem. Ut eget mauris images then myself.

Article Do you have a tip or a website to share with us?

Perhaps its is a trail review, or a story of a trip you have planned for a milestone cache.

Perhaps you want to share your thoughts and motivation for keeping up a consecutive run of caching, or your inspiration ►Vestibulum velit orci, bibendum eget, molestie eu, for setting caches. ►Nullam sed enim. ►Aliquam dapibus ipsum vitae sem. Ut eget mauris

Event plug / review Perhaps you are hosting an event in the near future and would like to raise awareness of it? Perhaps you have been to an event and would like to share your memories?

I am always happy to support events in the mag when and where I can. I may even attend. ►Vestibulum velit orci, bibendum eget, molestie eu, ►Nullam sed enim. ►Aliquam dapibus ipsum vitae sem. Ut eget mauris

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FEB / MAR 2019

Issue 40

If you wish to transfer ownership of a Trackable, this can be processed using the Adoption Service without intervention from Geocaching H.Q. Steps for adopting or transferring ownership of a Trackable:

should inform Geocaching H.Q. using the appropriate Geocaching.com username that this Trackable can be adopted to the new party with their permission. Another option is to send geocaching.com a message from the email address associated with that geocaching.com username.

Log in under the account that currently owns the Trackable and visit http://www.geocaching.com/adopt/.

Geocaching H.Q. cannot process a transfer without written permission from the Trackable owner.

This page is used for adopting or transferring ownership of a geocache, but it will also work for Trackables.

Decisions about Trackables belonging to someone who is deceased need to be made by the deceased's family since those Trackables are presumed to be part of the Enter the reference code (TB# found on the deceased's estate. top left of your Trackable's reference page, NOT the tracking number) and click When a Trackable is adopted, do not de"Lookup" in order to confirm the item. lete previous logs unless there is a good reason for it such as obscene or threatenEnter the Username of the new owner and ing language. click "Go." Click on "Send Adoption Request."

The new owner will receive an email.

They should log in to the site and follow the adoption instructions provided.

If the original trackable owner is inactive on our site and/or will not use the Geocaching Adoption Service: The interested new party must ask the original Trackable owner to give Geocaching H.Q. written permission. The owner

Reader offers‌ We will be ordering some more of the binders to store magazine, we will be getting some A5 ones first and perhaps some for people who also have the A4 sized ones.

I hope to soon be adding a selection of books that may appeal to geocachers.

A brilliant resource for ...\carabiner-with... people who love to have a go at puzzles, or a way to get you started solving them.

There will soon be a selection of cache containers listed on our EBay store, why not see if there is anything you may need.

C:\...\lanyard.JPG

Out caching with no backpack?

Use one of these to save carrying your drink keeping your hands free for finding the cache.

www.ebay.co.uk/str/thegeocachingguy