New Years Eve Cache Maintenance

The Crisis Point cache on the hill at Lilleshall that we adopted from MarcB has been suspected as muggled for most of December, but with all the Christmas festivities, we've only just had chance to go over and check on it.

It used to be one of those big ammo boxes hidden in the undergrowth under some ivy. When we arrived today, we recognised the area from when we originally found the cache but the undergrowth had been totally cleared away. I'm surprised the cache lasted so long with no cover!

We had a good look round and found a nice hiding place not too far away so left a new cache in situ there. We did not think it was worth the cost of a new ammo box though as the cache does not get that many visitors now as all the locals have found it. We replaced it with a regular sized lock 'n' lock in a camo bag.

All is now ready for cachers to come and find it again.

Later on, we were in Newport and parked near the Off Yer Trolley cache at Waitrose. We'd seen the two DNF's on it so thought we'd have a quick check on the cache to save the cache owner a trip. Needless to say it was not where we found it and we could not spot it anywhere nearby.

We posted a Needs Maintenance log on it when we got home later in the day.

A clear-out of Mid Cheshire

After the last few days festivities, we fancied some longer walks and nice scenery. Lots of new caches to find in Mid-Cheshire, many of which we'd been past numerous times when visiting friends and family in Warrington.

On the way, we stopped for a quick drive-by near the old Calverley WW2 disused airfield. Nice and easy as it's a lot more exposed in Winter.

Next stop was the Cuddington area, where there were quite a few new caches to find.

As we were approaching the first one, we got stuck in a line of vintage tractors going very slowly up the A49. We thought we'd be ok as we were about to turn off, but as luck would have it (or not as the case may be), they all turned down the same lane as us! Finding the cache was tricky as we had to time it in between passing tractors on the track - apparently there were 130 of them in total!

The next cache was a HUGE ammo box that was very well hidden considering it's size. We then set off for a nice multi with a very original way of hiding the final co-ords at the first stage. I won't say any more here as I don't want to ruin it for future finders, but rest assured it's a good one.

A few caches later and we were parking up at the Vale Royal Golf Club, for a very nice walk in the woods alongside the River Weaver. An absolutely fabulous place for caches.

We then got to find Caravan Of Love near Bartington. This one has been bugging us as it beeps at us on TomTom every time we go past on the A49 but it would take too long to do if Mrs Bolas Heathens is waiting in the car for us. Today it was just Isaac and myself so no problems with a longer walk.

We were intending to head over to Chester but the lure of three new Pieman caches at Tabley Mere near Knutsford proved too much to resist. We'd missed the deadline for the prizes in the cache but that's ok as I always feel awkward about accepting FTF presents, let alone one worth potentially quite a bit.

The first of the three was a nice easy Traditional over the other side of the field from where we parked. When we opened this one up and saw the instructions for the start of the second cache we realised we'd be in for some fun on this one. What a great idea - wish we'd have thought of it.

After a bit of trickery and a stage or two later, we had the details we needed to actually find the final cache (it was a two part multi). Not as simple as just going to some stated co-ords, but not too bad after a bit of lateral thinking. This was our favourite of the three caches here.

We then had the last cache to do and this was more straightforward, but still great fun. A nice quick find of a bigger ammo box at the end too.

It was starting to go dark by now, so we thought we'd head down to Crewe to pick off a lone cache we needed to find there, before heading over to Alsager to clear up the newer caches there.

The Crewe one was nice and easy but we had fun and games in Alsager. One of the caches was themed around a local cacher's dog walk and we made a right mess of it as one of the clues was ambiguous and guess what, we took the wrong answer. After realising the cache could not be where we though it was, we had to PAF twice to pin down the area we needed to be in (it's trickier to see in the dark, that's our exucse). It was then an easy find.

On the way home from there, we stopped at one last cache which was on a bridge over the M6 and you had to take a photo of yourself in some dressing up gear that was in the cache. Luckily Isaac was keen so I did not need to make a fool of myself (although the passing motorists would not have seen us as it was dark).

19 finds in total, but lots of really good walking and some fab caches.

Christmas deliveries in Warrington

We've got a lot of family in the Warrington area (both my parents were from there) and so we had our annual trip to the area, delivering Christmas goodies yesterday. It would have been rude not to try and find some of the newer caches in the area while we were there ;-).

The first one we tried was in some woods and we were short on time as we had to meet my sister, so after an initial scout around, we had to give up for now. After that, it was a nice walk to an easy find of a puzzle cache, followed by two drive-by's.

After visiting my parents grave, we had to go to my cousin's in Birchwood so stopped to find the two remaining Warrington Sidetracked caches on the way (both easy finds).

We then returned to the Cheshire side of the Ship Canal and had some lunch in a nice pub. Just a few more quick caches and we were back at the woods for the cache we could not find on the way to Warrington. This time without time constraints it was a quick find and we were on the A49 going home.

Isn't it typical that when you are up against the clock trying to find a cache, you never find it. When you have more time, you can relax and the finding comes a lot more naturally.

Willington to Stenson series and lots of Puzzle Caches

On Saturday our destination for caching was the Derby area. The day was planned in two halves - first we'd try the caches along the Trent and Mersey canal from Willington to Stenson and then we'd go off and try and find the "A is for", "B is for" etc etc series from JustAlan.

On the way we stopped off to find the A38/A50 Services drive-by and then did a few of the canal caches that were on a nearby road. We parked up and set off along the towpath on our bikes. The hedge was hawthorn all along the canal and it had been recently cut so we were hoping not to get punctures.

After the first few caches, sure enough, Isaac got a puncture :-(. We set off back to the Jeep with me carrying Isaac's bike and Isaac pushing mine. All too soon I also had a puncture on my bike as well. Isaac insists it was my riding that got it but I'm not so sure ;-).

The rest of the caches were quick(ish) finds, with a little too much ivy involved for my liking on a few. One of the caches was a Large sized one, which is always good to see.

We then set off to find the Puzzle Caches...

All the puzzles were really easy to solve and all locations turned out to be drive-by's or cache and dashes. Not too bad - all I need do is find a good route round them in an area I've never been to before.

We did not have any problems with these caches except for one which was hidden on a Bridleway sign that had since fallen over. We could not spot the cache anywhere, but it turns out the owner subsequently found it in nearby ivy, where it had rolled off to.

We finished our planned caches early and had an hour to kill before needing to head home so we stopped in Burton on the way back to try and grab a few caches there. Two nice easy finds ensued so we thought we'd try one last cache - mistake!

The "last cache" turned out to be a nano in a busy area without a hint. What fun - not! Needless to say it had a string of DNF's on it and despite us having a very good look around for it, we could not find it. The item in the spoiler picture on the cache page is no longer there either.

35 finds for the day and some good fun along the way.

Warwickshire Wanderings

The main target for the day was the Stag Ramblers new Kington Lane Loop series. The weather was forecast to be very wet, but clearing up later in the day.

We drove down the M6 to the parking location in steady rain and donned our waterproofs, including our new waterproof trousers, which were on their first outing. We'd seen the comments on the logs about the mud on the walk and expected it to be worse today - it was!

The walk was in some really beautiful countryside and I bet it's an absolute cracker on a sunny summer's day, with a nice stop for a picnic part way round. Today it was still a great walk, but very wet and with tons of standing water everywhere.

All the caches were easy enough. The highlights of the walk were:

1. Number 5, where GZ was under at least a foot of water, so I sent Isaac off shimmying along the fence to grab the nano.He really enjoyed the challenge :-).
   
2. Number 8, where there was so much water that the track was more like a stream. The cache was the trickiest find of the walk by far.
3. Number 12: we made a right hash of getting to this one and had to bushwhack our way through lots of brambles. One of these days we'll learn to read the instructions on the cache page!

After the series was completed, the rain had stopped, so we set off to clear up some of the newer caches in the area. Lots of Sidetracked caches round here to find, along with some familiar locations from old Wykenwizard caches.

We ended the day with a run around the new M42 caches in the SE corner of Brum before heading homewards. On the way back I dropped Isaac off at his Grandparents in Blymhill as myself and Mrs Bolas Heathens are out at some friends for dinner this evening.

32 finds in total today and another fun day out that we both enjoyed.

Earthcache published!

Our new Earthcache has just been published. It's at one of our favourite places in the Peak District - Windgather Rocks, in between Macclesfield and Buxton.

We were a bit worried about the proximity issue as a Traditional cache is 488ft from the stated co-ords and had seen the following quote from Deceangi on the NW Caching forums:

Geoaware is stricter on proximity than I am, if a Earthcache is within 528ft of a existing cache. He requires that you obtain permission off the cache owner for the location of yours.

We'd even emailed the owner of the Traditional cache nearby as suggested, but have not heard back from them. Luckily it was not a problem and the cache is now live.

I wonder who will be FTF as it's in an area we've not set a cache in before.

Cache Clearup in South Shropshire

We still had the need to find some caches after yesterday's half-day caching in Brum so planned a trip to try and find the new Lollybob caches around Bridgnorth.

On the way, we stopped off to find the three new Rabbit Run caches on the road between Telford and Dudley. We've no idea what the first one was about as it was a very convoluted puzzle with multiple answers, but a bit of lateral thinking soon put us on the right tracks.

Then, it was back into Highgate Common woods for the three new Trick or Treat caches. The first one "The Legend" was a really funny container - glad no muggles saw us holding it as it would have been a tricky one to explain our way out of.

After that, a nice easy one, followed by one we could not find. We were just on the verge of giving up when we heard someone shout "what are you doing in those bushes!". It was Diane, Ron, Billie and Ben from The Washers. Great to meet you all again. We joined forces and Isaac soon came up trumps with the cache in a place we'd not checked (as it only partially matched the hint).

The Washers were planning most of the same caches as us today, so we set off in convoy to find the rest of them. 

A few easy caches later and we arrived at St Georges Flute. I won't give away what is involved here, but suffice to say some special equipment is needed. We all set off carrying a variety of things - another one where we'd not want to meet muggles as they would wonder what the heck we were all up to.

We had great fun getting the cache, with an initial attempt ending millimetres from the cache. Second time lucky, but not before dropping some of our special equipment, which rolled down into a nearby stream. We had to be quick to rescue it!

After that, we said our goodbye's to The Washers and headed off to Severn Valley County Park for the two new caches there. Lovely walking in this park with some great views of the big river.

On the way back home, we stopped to bag the new Earthcache in Bridgnorth and then onwards to the final cache of the day - Severn View, near Buildwas. Great views over the river from here, made all the more special by the sun setting over the hills in the background.

We were now perfectly timed to make our way to Freya's dancing school Christmas show, which was not too far away.

A great day out, made all the better by the great company of The Washers. 19 find in total.

A trip to Brum

On Saturday, we were due to meet up with Mrs Bolas Heathens cousins and children, to go on our annual jaunt to the Symphony Hall in Birmingham to see the Police Symphony Orchestra and the children's concert they put on for Christmas.

Myself and Isaac were dying to get some caches in, so set off first thing in the morning (not too early as we're not morning people!) to bag as many caches as we could near the city centre before the concert.

Our main aim for the day was the Ring A Ring A Ring Road series, which is set round Brum's middle ring road, with the bonus cache somewhere in the city centre. We'd planned to also bag the new Brummie Cut cache and a short diversion down to Bourneville along the way.

All started off well, with an easy find of the Brummie Cut cache and the first Ring Road cache. The latter was especially satisfying as we had a DNF on that one in the summer.

The next two Ring Road caches were DNF's and we were starting to think we'd lost our touch. It turns out the first one had been muggled and we just did not look hard enough on the second - doh!

After that, we had a successful diversion to Bourneville and back, finding the new caches along the way. The only fly in the ointment was the Sidetracked cache at the University as there was nowhere to park.

We then headed off to find The Strangler's puzzle cache, which was at a fab location not too far from the city centre.

A few more caches later, and we'd found all the Ring Road caches and had the co-ords for the bonus plotted. Time to go and see our concert now :-).

After the concert, we walked into the city centre for some food, but not before finding a cache right by the BBC Mailbox studios and then the bonus cache of the Ring Road series.

A good day out, but our caching itch has not been fully scratched for this week so we're planning a trip out tomorrow as well. 20 cache finds in total.

New Earthcache Submitted

We've just submitted our first Earthcache to earthcache.org. The form says to allow up to 10 days to get a response so we'll be patiently waiting to see what they say.

Hopefully all will be ok and it will be fine as it is. 

The only potential problem I can see is there is a Traditional cache 488ft from the stated co-ords. It's very obvious which cache is which so we're hoping that will not cause a problem as the usual proximity guidelines do not seem to apply for earthcaches.

Earthcache confusion

We're thinking of setting up an Earthcache and have the perfect location in mind.

Our main gripe is it's not exactly clear what the process involved is. We know you have to submit the details at www.earthcache.org and then a member of the Geological Society of America reviews it and if it's ok:

1. They create a cache page on GC.com for it.
2. You adopt the listing over from them.
3. At some point (either before or after 2) above, they publish the listing on GC.com

We've also heard that it can take a few weeks for it to go live, assuming all is ok with your submission. Not a problem as I'm sure they have their work cut out for them with reviewing all Earthcaches submitted anywhere in the world.

Watch this space...

Middlewood Circular 3 and the edge of the Peak District

On Saturday, we returned to the Macclesfield area to finish off the Middlewood Circular series of caches. Part 3 of the series had been published during the week so we were looking forward to finding them.

We drove up through Congleton to Macclesfield and opted to park up for the caches in between Bollington and Macclesfield. Out came the bikes and off we set. 

All were easy finds, like the previous ones in the series. At the Trail End cache, we had a laugh as there was a big blue portaloo sat by one of those huge circular gas canister thingies. Everywhere was shrounded in fog this morning, so the scene looked very atmospheric and like something out of a Dr Who set.

A while later, while on the canal leg, we spotted theblackwidow by one of the caches so stopped for a nice geo-chat. That's the second time we've bumped into her while out caching (the first time was while doing the Brummie Cut series).

After we'd finished stage 3 of the series, we drove off to clear up the two DNF's from last weekend on stage 2 of the series. Can't believe how we missed the Iron Bridge one last week as it was a very easy find this time and was in plain sight, if you looked in the right direction.

At the final one of the series (Wood End), we bumped into yet more cachers - nice to meet you M'over Arrows :-).

We then headed off up into the hills at the back of Macc to clear up a few between Macc and Buxton as they had been on our list for too long. The highlight of these was walking up out of the fog into a beautiful day with clear blue skies at a cache called Mineshead Revisited.

It started to go dark but we still fancied a few more caches, so cranked up the big torches and carried on. 

After doing the easier Macc Forest caches (will be back for the harder ones in the daylight), we headed off to grab a quick final cache on Alderley Edge. This turned out to be a trickier find than we expected, especially given it was such a big box.

We're now well positioned for the road through Holmes Chapel and onwards to home. Another great day out, with 30 finds and no DNF's :-).

A trip to Ikea?

Mrs Bolas Heathens wanted to go to Ikea this morning. I was not keen as I hate the place but we struck a deal - we'd find a few caches on the way! 

We opted to look for the new "CAMO" caches near Essington and all were nice easy finds with the exception of one, which turned out to be hidden in undergrowth. Not a normal way of hiding a cache as it tends to result in the area getting bushwacked by cachers. We gave up on it and then spotted something on the logs at the next cache, which gave us the hint we needed. We returned for a quick find.

Then, it was off for one final cache before arriving at Ikea. Another nice easy one that we've been meaning to find for ages. An interesting spot for a cache too - an old graveyard resulting from a cholera outbreak in the 1800's.

Now for the boring part - the trek round Ikea :-(.

Perfect new cache notification timing

Yesterday was my birthday and we were due round at the in-laws with the children for a lovely birthday tea. As I was driving over (the children had gone ahead with Sarah), I was thinking to myself that it would be nice to do a cache on my birthday, but that there were none anywhere around that we had not already found.

Later on, we'd just finished the meal and I had a quick check of my emails. Unbelievably, there was a new cache not 2 miles from the in-laws house and it had literally just been published. We finished up and said our goodbye's before I headed off to find the new cache while Sarah and the kids went home.

I was soon as GZ and got out the torch for the quick walk over the churchyard to GZ. The cache was an easy find and I was delighted to find I was FTF! What a birthday present.

On the way back to the Jeep, I checked the iPhone and could not believe it when I spotted another new cache, right on my way home from the first one. 

A short drive later and I was at GZ for the second one. This one took a bit more finding as the co-ords were 275 feet off, but the hint was clear and I only had two candidates to check. I found the cache in the first one I looked at - wooohoooo - two FTF's on my birthday.

Now to go home and relax in front of a log fire to watch Spooks - perfect :-).

Middlewood Circular Trail

The Middlewood Circular series of caches was our target for this weekend. The series follows an old railway line (now a walking path) from Marple down to Macclesfield and then back to Marple along the Macclesfield canal.

The cache owner has split it up into three chunks to make it more manageable and only parts 1 and 2 have been published so far. This takes you as far south as Bollington, which is still a substantial walk.

We opted to use our bikes as the old railway path looked to be good and the towpath on the way back would be ok for us. I'm not sure of our total mileage but it will probably be around 13-15 miles.

On the way to the start we picked up the replacement cache at Tesco's in Stockport. A *much* better placement than it's predecessor, which was just chucked in the undergrowth. 

It was only about 3 degrees so we put hats, gloves, fleeces and coats on and set off. All the caches were easy finds, with a nice variety of sizes and hide styles. 

We struggled with one called Wood End, which already had a DNF on (it looks to have been muggled by some wildlife before FTF) and then one called Iron Bridge on the way back up the canal. You guessed it, it was a micro hidden magnetically on a big metal bridge. Tons of places it could be. We looked all over and could not see it.

By the time we'd finished the series it was part way through going dark so we cycled back to the starting point for a nice cup of warming soup from our flask. 

Just time to get the other two nearby caches, which could be done as cache and dashes.

On the way back to the M6 and home, I could not resist a quick diversion to find a nano this side of Knutsford. I wanted to get the nearby new Pieman one as it had to be found by tomorrow but Isaac was insistent he wanted to get home in time for Merlin on the TV, so that one will have to wait for another day.

A fab day out with a lot of cycling in some lovely countryside and virtually no mud all the way round, which is good for this time of year.

Groundspeak renewal due

We've just had the annual email saying our Groundspeak subscription is due to expire next month. We've got it set to auto-renew and wish they would say this in the email as it's a bit convoluted going to the site and trying to work out if this is set or not.

Will we renew? Of course we will. It's a total no-brainer. $30 for a full year of access to something absolutely vital to our hobby. A total bargain as it's easily worth several times that amount!

Two more down on page 1 Not Found's

We had to take Isaac to Stafford for an interview at the Grammar School as part of his 11-Plus this morning, so took the chance to find the two new caches in Stafford. These have been our closest to home Not Found's ever since they came out.

The first was a replacement cache in the Retirement Plan series, which we finished ages ago. This cache is themed around B&Q (it's called "Orange Wednesday's") and B&Q moved to a new site in Stafford a while ago, so the cache had to be moved. We were supposed to go to two earlier caches in the series to get the co-ords for the new cache, but the cache owner's kindly provided us with the details needed so we were saved the extra leg-work.

The second cache was a really easy cache and dash on Doxey Marshes, not too far from the M6. A lovely area for walking and absolutely tons of wildlife around the Nature Reserve. I spotted the hide as I walked up and went in for an instant find. Pity the cache was only on the edges of the Nature Reserve and not further in, but I guess permission issues dictated it's placement.

All too soon we were on the road home and the day's work that was awaiting me.

What a co-incidence!

We were taking Isaac and a friend to see the new James Bond film in Shrewsbury this afternoon and arrived a few minutes early so thought we'd fill up with diesel at the Asda just down the road from the cinema.

I'd just started to fill up when the guy filling up the other side of the petrol pump said "Hello John". It was Ben - thefortytwa on geocaching.com. What a total co-incidence as I'd only been thinking the other day that it was a while since we'd seen any logs from them.

We had a quick geo-chat while we were both filling up our cars before going on our way.

Hope you get chance to do some more caching soon Ben - and maybe hide some more caches as we really enjoyed your last ones.

M6 Toll Caches, New Hints Series and More...

Isaac was sitting his 11-Plus at Stafford Grammar School this morning so I was caching on my own today. I dropped him off in Stafford at the school, wished him luck and then set off down the M6 to start off with the new M6 Toll caches.

The first cache was one of snerdbe's and the container was one originally from our own Cache Dispenser cache, which they had re-used after archiving the initial cache it had been used for. The M6 Toll caches are *always* hidden in the same style but this one was nowhere to be seen. I phoned Des up and he confirmed where it should be. Looks to be muggled. Not a good start with a DNF on my first cache of the day.

It got better from there as I found the next one, but the third cache was also muggled. Hmmm! My luck changed from the better from there and I found all the other caches I was looking for.

I was soon as the start of a new series of caches and parked up in a village called Hints near Tamworth - how very appropriate! I set off on foot for a beautiful circular walk in lovely rolling countryside (definitely our kind of caching). Just over half way round I bumped into Des and Bren (snerdbe), who were doing the series the opposite way round. Great to meet you both again. Some fab hides on this series too - well recommended if anyone is in the area.

Next, it was off for the 5 new Drayton canal caches. Lots of Lollybob style hides which were fun. I enjoyed the ride down the towpath finding them all.

I then set off to clear a few other ones nearby before stopping for some lunch.

Next it was over towards Sutton Coldfield to clear up a DNF on a Sidetracked cache (it had been muggled) before heading off towards the junction of the M5 and M6 and the Rushall Junction series.

I'd never been to this area of Brum and was pleasantly surprised as it's very nice - it always looks so run down and industrial from the motorway as you go past, but don't be fooled. I opted to cycle round these ones as it's on NCR5 so the paths should be reasonable.

All nice quick finds apart from the last one where the co-ords were way out and pointing to the wrong side of the path. A quick PAF soon had me sorted though. I then carried on up the canal to another cache, which was not a great one - REALLY overgrown, with brambles and dead trees lying all over the place. The co-ords were pants too, so it took a good while to find the cache.

It was just going dark, but I just about had time for the 3 caches in Merrion Wood as we've been eyeing these for a while. What a beautiful spot - a really well kept nature reserve with tons of wildlife to see as you walk along.

After that, it was back to the nearby M6 junction and homewards. Isaac had told me earlier that the exam went well and we found out the results a few days later - he'd passed with flying colours and has been offered a place at the school - we're *very* proud of him.

Frustrated geocacher!

On Thursday, we had to go to my Uncle George's funeral in Grappenhall, near Warrington.

As you do, I'd checked which caches we have not found nearby and downloaded them to the Oregon. I did not know if we'd have time to find any of them but you never know...

By the time we got there, we had to go straight to the church so as not to be late. I knew there was a cache by the canal on the road into the village and sure enough, we drove past it on the way. I resisted stopping to find it as being late for funeral's is not nice.

After the funeral, we headed off in the funeral procession to the crematorium at Walton. We passed the cache again - I could literally see where it was likely to be as we drove past.

As we approached the crem, I could also see where one of the Walton towpath caches we needed to find was, but did not have time to stop for that either. Hmmmm...

After the crem, we headed off for the do at a pub near Grappenhall and you guessed it, we passed the cache again, but did not have time to stop.

After the do, there was absolutely no way we were going home without finding the cache as it had frustrated me all day. Thankfully it was an easy find and we were soon on our way, very happy to have found it.

LQ West Midlands, Middle England and a Webbie Womble

On Saturday we fancied another good long walk and the chance to go for two circular walks near to each other, whilst also finally bagging the LQ West Midlands cache was too good to resist.

After a quick drive to the cache area via the M6 Toll we arrived at the first cache of the day. This was a dead easy drive-by with the trickiest thing being finding somewhere to ark the Jeep. We then found LQ West Midlands (now a normal lock 'n' lock box but the original was more elaborate - we still don't know what it was and are very curious).

Next on the list was the Middle England series, near Meriden, the rumoured centre of England. The first one was missing but we'd emailed the cache owners during the week to check if it contained details we needed for the bonus cache. As part of this we offered to pop a new micro in for the cache, to save the cache owner a trip out.

The walk round the caches was really lovely, with lots of great views and a variety of terrain. We stopped to eat our soup and sandwiches about half way round, with some great views over an old quarry area. All too soon we were back at the Jeep and on our way to the next area.

On the way to the Webbie Womble series, we stopped to find a Wykenwizard cache - Wot No Mud. This was down an old road that is now blocked off and used as a bridleway. We don't usually do multi's when away from home and did not realise this was a multi-puzzle cache until we arrived at the first stage. Not to worry as the final cache was only about 500ft further on so no hassle at all.

We then parked in a familiar spot in Hampton on Arden (we'd parked here ages ago to do a few now archived caches) and set off for the Webbie Womble. Another really nice circular walk although very muddy in parts. We just found the bonus cache in the last remains of daylight but still fancied a few more caches before giving up for the day.

A quick check of Memory Map revealed 5 easy drive-by / cache and dashes not too far away so we set off to find them. All were found with no problems and the last put us handily right by a junction for the M42 and the journey home.

Tonight was the cubs bonfire and fireworks at the Newport Showgrounds so we headed off to the in-laws in Blymhill for some tea, before going to meet Mrs Bolas Heathens and Freya for the fireworks.

Yet another fab day caching. We absolutely love the circular walks with lots of caches to find on the way.

Redditch, A Webbie Walk and the Oversley Trail

We had another great day's caching on Saturday. This week we fancied a good long walk in the countryside so the area just south of Birmingham, near Redditch stood out as there are several new trails to get our teeth into.

We started the day with some "What's Wrong With Bromsgrove" caches - two dead easy drive-by's which were at places the cache setter liked when they were a child.

We moved over to do a short trail of 5 caches not too far away. A great walk - we particularly enjoyed the cache by the ford and just had to drive the Jeep through the ford later on :-). Unfortunately we had yet another run in with a NIMBY who did not like us parking on a quiet lane. I should be starting to get paranoid about my parking by now as this is the third run in we've had in as many weeks! Each time we have parked really considerately and left tons of space for farm machinery to get past. I guess some people just don't like their lanes being used.

A short drive through Redditch later (how the heck do you get on the dual carriageway that runs West / East through the town?) and we were at the Webbie Walkabout caches. This is a set of 10 or so caches on a circular walk in lovely countryside, just how we like them. We loved the walk and the changing scenery - our only complaint would be that all the caches were micros :-(. At least the bonus cache was a Small, which was good.

Then it was on to the final feature of the day - the Oversley Trail near Alcester. On the way we spotted a Sidetracked cache by the road in Wootten Wawen so stopped to find it (and how do you say Wootten Wawen without sounding like Jonathan Ross??).

Before we set off, we sat down on a handy bench near the first in the series to have our soup and sandwiches. We'd decided to use the bikes for this series as it looked bike-able on Google Earth and Isaac has been told by the Doctor not to do too much walking, while the tendons in his ankle heal.

All started well, apart from me not paying attention and riding right into a bush on the narrow path - ouch! We continued up the side of the beautiful woods, finding the caches as we passed them. It was then that we realised the clocks had gone back last weekend and it was going dark - and more importantly, we'd left the torches in the Jeep - doh!

We ended up doing the rest of the series in the dark, with the light of the PDA to help. We must have been up to date on our carrot's as once your eyes got adjusted to things we could see really well. After doing the bonus cache, we bumped into the cache owner himself, who had come out to say hello as we'd spoken to him as a PAF earlier. Great to meet you again Mark :-).

On the way back up to the M42 and onwards to home, we spotted another cache as we drove by, so stopped to find it.

A great day out in some beautiful countryside.

Bruntwood Park, Stockport Heritage Trail and more...

This week we fancied some urban caching for a change.

Our idea was to clear up some DNF's in Bruntwood Park and nearby, then move over to Stockport and try the new Heritage Trail there, before finishing off the new Sound series caches and, if time permitted, carrying on up the M60 to do more caches.

All started well with the DNF's although we had to use two PAF's for the Sticks And Stones one as it's virtually impossible to find and the co-ords are miles out. The second PAF (the cache owner himself) was able to guide us to somewhere we'd not thought to look and we spotted the cache easily then.

In Stockport, we parked by Lambourghini Manchester and went over to admire the lovely cars through the showroom window. Isaac really enjoyed this part as he's mad on cars. We then had a lovely walk round the town picking up the new Heritage Trail caches. All were easy finds, but with this kind of cache, it's more about the location than the hide.

A short drive later and we were at the Visitors Centre in the country park where the Sound series are. We had some soup and sandwiches before setting off on our bikes to bag the new caches that had been placed since we were last here. All nice and easy and a great ride, despite the rain that had just started.

Time was on our side so we set off up the M60 to Failsworth as there is a group of new(ish) caches there that we've been meaning to do for ages. More easy find were the order of the day. The one at Hollingsworth station was a nice hide. One of the other caches was in someone's front garden, which we always struggle with as you never know if you are looking in the right garden or annoying a cacher's neighbour, rooting around in the wrong garden!

After we'd done these, we still had an hour spare before we needed to set off home so checked Memory Map to see what else was nearby. The new Philips Park ones were not a million miles away and we could do these and then head down Princess Parkway to the M56 and home.

We parked by the (ex?) abattoir on Riverpark Road to do the first one. The building still gives me the creeps as we're all veggies and the thought of what goes on inside makes me feel ill. Thankfully the cache was a quick find. We then drove round to the other side of the park for the other cache, passing the City Of Manchester stadium, Bang!!!! and the National Velodrome. Isaac absolutely loved the Bang!!!! statue.

We then headed off home, but could not resist a small detour into the sidestreets of Moss Side to do a reccie on the new Manchester's Most Dangerous caches. The first one was right outside a row of terraced houses! All was quiet as I would imagine everyone was inside having their tea, so we popped out and had a quick find of the sneaky hide. Did not like the second one in the series as much as more people were around (including a few dodgy looking hoodies) so were very thankful for a quick find.

It was then getting very dark so we settled back into the Jeep, put some music on, turned the heating up and headed off home, happy with a great day's caching.

Where to go caching this weekend?

It's the day before our usual caching day out and we still cannot decide where to go...

The weather forecasts for Saturday have been looking dismal for the last few days, but this morning they are looking a little more promising.

Nowhere is jumping out saying "come here caching", apart from very distant areas in the South East which will require an overnight stop. Isaac is working hard swotting for his 11-Plus exams which are either side of the Christmas holidays and cannot realistically spend the night away from home until they are over.

There are quite a few new walks around Bromsgrove / Alcester which look to be our kind of caching. 10 or so caches on a circular walk in lovely countryside, followed by a short(ish) drive to another nearby set of caches etc etc. Perfect, apart from the fact we have a uncontrollable desire to go north again this weekend.

The new Stockport Heritage Trail caches look interesting and could be combined with a mop-up of DNF's in Burntwood Park near Manchester Airport. Not enough caches to keep us entertained for a whole day, but if we then go north on the M60 towards Oldham and tackle the caches around Failsworth then there would be enough. If we have time, then there are more new caches towards the city centre e.g. the new Philips Park ones. If we are brave enough, there are even two new caches in Moss Side under the title of "Manchester's Most Dangerous"!

I think I'll watch the weather a bit more and decide later in the day...

Cache Maintenance

Both our Whitchurch Whereigo and our Market Drayton: Plaque Attack caches were reported as missing in the last few days. Today we went to check on them both and indeed they had both been muggled.

We replaced the Whitchurch one with a much smaller container in the same hiding place. We pushed it under a lot more and added some natural camo so it's not obvious it's there at all. Hopefully it will be ok now.

The Market Drayton one was very near a skate park and I suspect some younger muggles had been sheltering from the rain under the bridge nearby and found the cache. There is a very handy River Tern right by GZ so I suspect that is where the old decon container went. Hmmm.

We found a quieter location in the same park and so put a new smaller cache there, hung from the back of a shielded, ivy covered tree in a camo bag. It took me a few moments to spot it when testing out the new co-ords so hopefully it will be invisible to muggles. Time will tell...

Both cache pages have been updated and they are both back live on GC.com.

A veritable cache event at Jumbles Reservoir!

We went to Jumbles Reservoir to try the new m0gsb caches on Saturday.

On the way, we stopped to clear up a DNF at Sidetracked Hall-i-th-wood (I still don't quite know how to pronounce that one as they don't speak that way in Cheshire!). We also bagged a couple of the new series at the southern end of the trail as drive-by's.

We then drove up to the main Jumbles car park and were just getting out of the Jeep when we spotted a familiar face approaching. It was gruftymilo and bettyboo - great to finally meet cachers we'd seen in lots of logbooks around the area. As we were chatting, nandad pulled up - great to meet you both again too. A few moments later, wicker appeared.

Eventually myself and Isaac set off on our bikes. A couple of caches later and we bumped into Dave_S. As we were chatting to Dave, another group of cacher's came round the corner. It was Lolly and Bob, scorpionqueen, the Milk Man, benben8, grufty and bettyboo again. I'd said to Isaac on the drive here that we might bump into some cachers today but this is ridiculous!

We'd had a tip off from both grufty and wicker that a new Earthcache had been set at the top of the reservoir, but not yet published. We were told what details we needed and where to take the photo from, so made sure to stop off and do the necessary on the way round as I can;t think when we'll next be here.

We had great fun doing the trail round the reservoir on our bikes before setting off to do some of the newer urban drive-by's in Bolton. Nothing much to say about these ones as the locations were a bit uninspiring, but a smiley is a smiley at the end of the day and at least TomTom won't beep at us when we go past up the A666 now.

We ended the day with a Foinavon cache in a nice park not far from the town centre. Great to tick off another in the 'Pie' series - I think that is the series completed now for us. Still a few caches left to get ahead of PhilPamAndRob on the "who has found the most Foinavon caches" but we're working on it (nothing a quick trip round the Runcorn area won't sort out).

All in all, a fun and satisfying day out for us with 36 finds to log. This is what caching is all about.

Whereigo Wonderings

We were out caching on Saturday and took a call from a cacher looking for our Whereigo cache in Whitchurch. It was nowhere to be seen and must have been muggled.

We're gutted as they take so long to set up and then with hardly any visitors (not that many cachers have the equipment to run them yet) the last thing you want is DNF's. Not to mention the cacher, who took the time and trouble to follow the Whereigo round and then does not get a smiley at the end for their troubles. At least they told us they really enjoyed the walk around town.

We did take a bit of a risk with it as it was a Regular sized lock n lock container in a very urban location right in the town centre. We hoped it would last longer than it did, but it was not to be. We'll hopefully replace it with a smaller cache some time this week.

As if that was not bad news enough, we heard that our new Market Drayton: Plaque Attack cache is also missing. It's only been out a couple of weeks so is all the more disappointing. We suspect the hide is compromised so we'll have to try and find an alternate location for any replacement.

It can only get better from here hopefully.

There is always time for some local FTF's!

I'd just sat down to get started on work for the day when up pops two new caches in Market Drayton. I can't remember the last time a local FTF possibility cropped up so I just had to dash out to try and find them.

I soon arrived at the lovely Shropshire Church Gem and had the cache in hand after a short search. My problem came when I went to put it back as it seemed to have lost it's magnetism. I did not remember seeing a magnet attached to it and a quick look around the area I had handled the cache came up empty. Very odd as it must have been stuck on somehow!

I ended up hiding the cache very close-by and texting Paul and Izzy (the other possible FTF hounds) saying what I'd done just in case they were chasing the FTF's too (they were not). Off back to the Jeep and a short drive later, I was parked up for the walk to the bonus cache.

The cache page had indicated the cache was up a slippy bank and it was not wrong - especially with this morning's rain. Thankfully there were lots of trees to grab onto to help me up and I soon had the cache in hand. A nice big box too, full of TB's (it's the starting point for a TB race between some local cachers).

Well satisfied by my impromptu caching session, I walked back to the Jeep.

Great caching in Lancs and a Church Gem

We had another really good day out caching in Lancashire on Saturday. The day started off a bit misty but cleared up later on to become a really nice day.

On the way to the M6, we stopped off at the church in Whitmore to try and find the new Staffordshire Church Gem cache. The first part was easy as it was a virtual stage and you could not miss it. We plotted the co-ords and found the cache was not far from where we had parked the Jeep. We had a quick look but could not spot the nano. We were anxious to get on with the main event of the day - the caches in Lancs - so decided to give up and have another look on the way home later.

On arrival at the first cache, we got accosted by a very unfriendly lady from the nearby house who told us under no circumstances could we park anywhere on the public road she lived on. Some people! We'd parked very considerately and left tons of room to get past too! Anyway, we moved the Jeep to the end of the lane and set off from there on bikes. We did have to wheel them along the public footpaths though as you're not supposed to cycle on them ;-).

We loved the 40th Birthday series, with some fun hides and great walking. The only exception were the first two which were in the muddiest field we had seen for quite some time. Up to our ankles in it at times!

After we'd done this set of caches, we moved over to Rivington and set off to find the caches that had been put out for the recent event there. A nice set of easy caches along an ancient byway started us off, before moving over to near Lead Mines Clough for the Sight series.

We struggled at a couple of the sight ones as it was getting late in the day and we were getting tired. A quick PAF soon put us on the right track though. We left one of the series as it had had 2 DNF's on it and we were pretty sure it was MIA. Will try again for it the next time we are in the area.

On the way home, we stopped at the Church Gem again and found it immediately in the first place I shone the big torch - how lucky is that?

All in all, another really satisfying day out caching that we both thoroughly enjoyed.

A crafty twist to a cache

Today was Mrs Bolas Heathens birthday and she had invited quite a few of the Mum's from school over for lunch. I thought I would make myself scarce as I'd never get any work done as they would be directly below my office chatting away.

I set off to clear some of our page 1 Not Founds, starting with an urban micro in Telford. Lots of long grass and places you could put a cache here. After looking in the obvious places and some more sneaky places, I came up empty handed. I resorted to a PAF who directed me to the cache, which was in a less obvious place. It turned out later that Tizzie works very close to this one and had not realised there was a new cache so close to work.

Then it was off to find the Rabbit Run caches. The first one had a sneaky twist using a variation on the old childhood getting a calculator display to say 'hello' on the screen. ALl good fun and nice to see something different for a change.

The rest of them were easy drive-by's, but did involve quite a bit of trekking back and forth in the area as they were multi's. Then it was onward to a lovely Shropshire Church Gem, an easy guardrail cache near Condover and a return visit to Shrewsbury Station to find the replacement Sidetracked cache there.

All in all a good fun 3 hours was had, in some of our favourite parts of Shropshire.

M6 Toll Series, Withy Woods Series and More

We had a great day out doing these caches on Saturday. The weather looked threatening all day but we did not get wet until trying 'one last' cache on the way home at Off Yer Trolley - Brownhills. Needless to say we gave up and dashed back to the Jeep to save getting a total soaking.

The M6 Toll series have to be some of the easiest caches we've ever found. They were all exactly the same kind of container and all hidden in exactly the same way. It does not get any easier than that!

The Withy Woods caches kept us amused - especially the names of some e.g. "On The Way Home From Withy Woods", "Withy Wood Surrounded - The Last". Someone is obviously having great fun putting out a cache at a time round the main Withy Woods cache. I bet the locals are cursing them as just when they think they have cleared the area, yet another cache comes out.

The slow part of the day was when we went into the more urban areas of Sutton Coldfield as the traffic got quite bad in places and we had to wait out muggles on a couple of caches, all of which took valuable time.

A really satisfying day's caching with 41 finds in total, including a Virtual cache and an Earthcache.

Decisions, Decisions!

Where to go caching this weekend...

Plan A: Go up to Lancashire and clear up the caches from the recent Rivington and 40th Birthday events. Great countryside for walking and the caches are bound to be fun.

Plan B: The new M6 Toll Caches, Withy Woods near Sutton Coldfield and others. Looks to be lots of easy caches and will be quick to get home on the motorway. We've also been working on the many Puzzle caches in the area so it will be good to get the chance to clear a few of these up.

Looking at the weather forcast, Lancs is due to be very wet tomorrow, with Brum less so but getting wetter as the day progesses. At the moment, Plan B is our preferred option as the weather looks to be better and if it does rain, there is less walking involved.

We'll be watching the weather forecasts over the day to see how things progress...

Some puzzling caches!

After bumping into snerdbe (great to meet you both again) while caching on Saturday, we were reminded that we have never cached in the Walsall to Sutton Coldfield area. It's somewhere we keep meaning to go but new puzzle caches keep coming out there and we never seem to get round to solving them.

Today we decided to try and rectify that and have been working our way through the puzzles. Most of them are straightforward and quick to obtain co-ordinates for. A couple are more tricky and will take a bit more though.

We'll get there eventually and then look forward to going to the area and seeing how many we can find.

Great days caching along the Worcester and Birmingham canal

We had a fabulous day out caching along the canal between Bromsgrove and Droitwich on Saturday. 

The weather forecast was good but the day started out with lots of fog patches. This made driving down the M6 / M5 interesting to say the least but we got there in one piece. We set off on our bikes, tackling the caches to the south ofwhere we parked first.

Lots of mist along the canal meant not many muggles out - all the better for finding caches! The only one we struggled on was an offset multi at one of the locks. We knew the hide was sneaky but we could not spot it and gave up after a short search - too much ivy and hawthorn for my liking.

After lunch at some handy canal-side picnic tables we carried on northwards to finish off the WBC series before driving round to do a nearby Puzzle cache and then on to the PH series.

As we started down the first PF we spotted two cachers at GZ - it turned out to be Des and Bren (snerdbe). We had a chat and realised we were all going on to the same caches so we joined forces.

Had fun with some more of the hides, including one on the end of a 'fishing line' (see photo above). Then it was on to the bonus cache, which bizarrely turned out to be two seperate micros, hidden inches from each other.

All in all a fabulous day out - great weather, nice locations, interesting and varied hides. 

Bromsgrove / Drotwich canal caches for the weekend

We're hoping to try Cakemaker's new caches along the canal between Bromsgrove and Droitwich this weekend as Isaac has been told he can cycle but not walk, due to an ankle injury. 

Reading the logs, they look a fun set of caches and we're really looking forward to them. The weather is forecast to be good too - can't wait!

Market Drayton new cache submitted

We've spent the last few days researching, gathering information for, and setting our new Market Drayton cache: Market Drayton - Plaque Attack.

The main challenge was to find a nice location in the town that was not too far from the centre and could hold a reasonable sized cache as we don't like settings micros. This proved harder than we though and after several hours of looking at various possibilities, settled on the one location.

We then had to get the co-ordinates and plaque details for all locations on the walking tour and put it all together in a cache page. Multi caches like this always take an age to set as there is so many things to get right and lots of double checking of everything to do.

Finally, mid-morning today, all was ready to go so we submitted the cache for review. It's not been published yet, but hopefully will be later today. Then we have the fun of looking at the Audit Trail logs to try and guess who might be FTF.