Porth Swtan (Church Bay) - GC1BZ68

We were out today with our largest caching crew ever (see previous post) trying to do five caches in this area. Unfortunately this cache proved to be the second and last of the day due to driving rain stopping play. The first we did was the fabulous 'Moe's Tavern' a little further up the coast and we decided to finish on this one because it seemed very close to a parking area.

At first we walked down to the beach before very quickly realising the cache was at the top of the cliff. Nevermind, we had a great walk along the beach, inspecting a few caves and admiring the waves crashing over the rocks in spite of the rain. Then, back up to the hedge-lined coastal footpath along the top of the cliff.

After reading the descripton and hint clue properly this time, we quickly found the cache and Sarah extracted it with her new bright green caching gloves (husbands are so practical and considerate when it comes to birthday presents, aren't they?). She did the admin whilst the others sheltered her from the rain and I took a photo - then we dashed back to the cars.

At the car park we noticed the lovely cottage called Swtan with a thatched roof which was mentioned in the cache description. But we were too wet to explore further, so we'll probably come back in better weather, have a meal at the Lobster Pot restaurant and visit Swtan then. Another great place!

Moe's Tavern - GC12QCH

Today we were joined by Uncle Bill and Jessica to form our largest caching crew ever: GeekTeacher, sarahjones65, CathyMay, FirstIrishAngel, Badger as well Ginger Ninja and Jess (no alias yet) to attempt what has been named 'Cache of the Year' by PeteNumbers at NWCaching. We'd been close to it earlier this year, when we did the Wylfa Ruins cache but we'd got back to the car before realising how close this cache was. We'd vowed to return and today was the day. After reading the logs, I was a little concerned about whether I'd be able to get up and down the 2m step at the end, but I didn't let on to the rest of our party of seven, as I knew at least I'd be able to help them get up it.

We made a false start to the walk to the shore, and we had to retrace our steps back to the road before finding the correct footpath. The walk along the cliff tops gave some lovely views of the coastline, but the weather was steadilly getting worse so we didn't linger for long. The entrance to Moe's Tavern could soon be seen as the island came into view. Surprisingly, there were a lot of muggles around for this little out of the way place.

We entered the cave for the final assault, but by now Aunty Sue, ever safety-concious, was having second thoughts about doing it - I of all people told her it would be alright, still wondering about whether I would manage it myself. The cave got narrower as we progressed but never so much that it was a squeeze and we always see the light at the end of the tunnel. Once there we found the hardest part, a two metre climb up but with quite a few places for handholds. This proved to be little problem for everybody except me going last, as we could all help each other get up. I wasn't too concerned that I could get up, it was the getting back down again that worried me a bit, as I'm much too large for anyone to catch!

I told the others to look for the cache whilst deciding what to do. In the end I chose to be brave and go for it heaving myself up using mainly the heather for support. Once out on top I was really pleased that I had done it, but I was still concerned about getting back down again. Forgetting all this for a while, I re-read the cache hint and description to the others who were busy looking amongst the rocks and bracken. It was me who found the cache in the first place I looked - this made it all worthwhile! Sarah did the admin as usual and we swopped TBs. Then we took a careful look around the top of the island and took some photos.

Getting back down the hole into the cave proved to be far less difficult than I expected. None of us took the advice in a previous log of going back down facing the same way we came up - instead we all just reached for a nearby rock a slid down with our backs to the face, it was quite easy really although it did help to have someone at the bottom telling you where to put your feet and hands.

I took some photos in various parts of the cave and then we all headed back out to the beach. By now the rain was starting so we made our way to the ruined building on the beach for some shelter whilst looking at the view. We climbed some steps up a different route back to the top of the cliff and got absolutley soaked on our way back to the cars. It didn't matter, as we were so pleased to have done this one - we even did a little birdwatching along the way.

What a fantastic cache, I can see why people rave over it and yes, if I can do it so can you. However, check the tides carefully and always do it with a mobile phone and a partner just in case of diffculty. The only thing that could improve it would be to see Moe serving Duff beer on top as a reward for making it there!

HMS Conway - GC1VD9M

This was the fourth and last cache of the day whilst out in Bangor with sarahjones65. CathyMay, FirstIrishAngel and Badger. After three previous successes we approached the Botanic Gardens with some confidence, but this was soon to be questioned. Following the GPSr literally we made a bad choice of taking a track into the woods and ended up slipping and sliding through sloping muddy paths before effectively reaching a dead end.

We returned to the road and carried on further towards the Gardens. Soon another more substantial path appeared on the right and so we headed off past a large ancient oak tree into the woods once again. This path looked a lot more promising, but we still walked a little too far down it before having to retrace our steps a little and then venture into the foliage.

It wasn't long now before the old rudder timbers and chains came into view (see above), although some of our party managed to walk past it without realising what it was. A few minutes later the larger rotting timbers of the HMS Conway were found and we set about searching for the cache.
It has to be said that the clue wasn't an awful lot of help to us, but although it was covered in twigs, leaves and annoying branches, the search area wasn't too large. The woods were quite dark by now and so our torches were put into action along with five pairs of eyes and hands. We still hadn't found the cache ten minutes later and thoughts of giving up were crossing our minds as the woods got even darker.

Then I put on my cacher's head and eyes and started to choose a few select areas where I would put a cache - bingo, I found it in the second place I looked. I told Badger (Aunty Sue) where it was so she could be the one to open it. Sarah did the admin and I took a scouting badge with a bird on it in recognition of my newfound hobby of birdwatching.


Suddenly the woods seemed brighter and we happily made our way back to the car after visiting the lovely Botanical Gardens (see the pictures above and below).


We're still wondering why the timbers and rudder stock are up here and not down on the banks of the Menai Straits and will have to do some internet research to see if we can find out why. Another interesting and out of the way place found courtesy of geocaching!

Step UP Over the Menai - GC191NN

This was the third cache of the day whilst out with sarahjones65, CathyMay, FirstIrishAngel and Badger in Bangor. We'd walked down the road from the cache near the Roman fort site and found the car park near the stone circle. After stopping a while by the stones (what a shame some of them have graffti), we headed down the woodland path to the stony beach on the banks of the Menai Straits.

As soon as we saw the painting above on the cliff face I knew were near GZ because I'd seen it in a previous log. We scrambled around the rocks for a few minutes before Adam climbed up a short crevice and found the cache.

Sarah did the admin whilst I took a few (more) photos towards Bangor Pier where we'd been last night. Then we left happily for our fourth and final cache of the day (HMS Conway) at Treborth Botanical gardens, a little further up the Menai.

4KT - GC10XP6

This was the second of four caches whilst out with sarahjones65, CathyMay, FirstIrishAngel and Badger in Bangor today. It was a short walk from College Road where we had parked the car to do the University Gardens cache.

Soon we were heading up a wooded footpath towards the site of the Roman Fort. After wandering around amongst the foliage for a while, CathyMay discovered what must be the biggest cache container we've ever found to date - what a whopper and packed full of goodies! We took the TB to move on to Anglesey but didn't have anything to leave - sorry.

After carefully replacing the huge ammo box in its hiding place, we carried on up to the top of the what was once the site of a Roman fort. Aunty Sue got a phone call from Uncle Bill and she really could't resist telling him how great the panoramic view was from here.

Whilst at the top we decided on our route down to the next cache on the banks of the Menai and, after a couple of false starts, made our way down to a nearby road which headed in the right direction.

A great place to come, caching or not.

University Gardens - GC1KQPT

This was the first of four caches whilst out in Bangor with sarahjones65, CathyMay, FirstIrishAngel and Badger. We parked on College Road to avoid the steep climb up to University Gardens and approached the old University building from the rear.

What a fantastic old building this is - I call it Hogwarts because the Harry Potter films were just becoming popular when I first saw it and it looks quite like it when viewed from the main road down below.

We went down the steps into the gardens and were heading down a second set of steps which climb the steep slopes back up to the university before realising this was the wrong direction. So we retraced our steps (no pun intended) back to the top and along a little path. Soon the proximity alarm on the GPSr sounded and Cathy quickly spotted the cache container hidden close a wall.

After signing the log we all went back up to the terrace in front of the old University building and spent a few minutes enjoying the superb view from this high vantage point towards
Bangor Cathedral and over the town before moving on to the next cache near the Roman Fort.

4 new 'First To Finds' in Bolton

Today I got up at 5:30am, left the house at 6:00am and was geocaching on a round trip near Smithills in Bolton by 6:30am. I was first to find (FTF) four new caches:

* The Old Garden Centre
* Tippett House
* Lower Sheep Pen
* Upper Sheep Pen

I also carried on to do the cache in Moss Bank Park as it was nearby.

Sorry, I've done quite a few caches recently and I'm getting a bit behind with this blog - details and photos will follow soon.

Plateau Outlook - GC14WWH

This was a great multi-cache but oh how close were we to messing it up. Sarahjones65 had put the coordinates into the GPSr back at our soon to be scrapped caravan at Plas Coch. We knew the car park at Llangoed quite well having been here before several times in our pre-geocaching days and so, after eating lunch there, Sarah and I set off with CathyMay for the first location. This apparently took us to a house in the village with a Welsh name which we tried to use to calculate the answer. The result was silly and so we knew it couldn't be right - time to recheck the coordinates. Sure enough two of the digits had been transposed and, after correcting them, we then headed off in completely the opposite direction towards the start of a woodland trail where we found the answer to the first stage.

The next location was fine but when we got to doing the third stage we all got a feeling of deja vu. After walking up quite a steep hill and stopping at the location indicated by the GPSr, we realised that these coordinates were wrong too! Time to check ALL the coordinates. After doing this (the rest were actually OK) we decided to miss the third location out as it would have been a long way back to find it, and head for the next one. Fortunately we had the nouse to realise that we could guess the missing number as it could only realistically have been one of two possible numbers - however we were very lucky it was the one in this position in the coordinates.

Anyway, we found all the other places without too much trouble and ended up on top of the plateau to see the tremendous panoramic view of Puffin Island, The Great Orme and the mountains on the mainland - the sky was blue, the sun was shining, it was a fabulous spot and well worth the effort of getting there. On the way up we'd seen a buzzard and several swallows but no parrots. We didn't come across any really steep drops however and this caused some puzzlement.

Finding the final location had us wandering around the bushes for a while before realising we had to walk a fair way past the stile and down the lane. We were really pleased when we found the cache and, after doing the admin, skipped happily down the 'grey route' back to the car. We did consider looking for the clue that we'd missed on the way back, and even went a little way down the road towards it. Only then did we realise that we'd gone completely the wrong way between two of the stages, but thankfully it worked out OK in the end. We never did find that location as we turned back when we saw how far it was.

Motto - always double check your coordinates! (notice how I didn't say 'never let your wife be in charge of the GPSr'). Took the half-crown (couldn't resist) but had run out of things to leave - sorry.

Peninsula Views - GCQEPM

What a great place! I'd been meaning to do this one ever since I ran out of time and light when I did the 'Church in the Sea' cache earlier in the month. I was out with sarahjones65 today and we saw a solitary seal floating on its back in one of the bays as well as lots of cormorants basking on the rocks. Naturally I took loads of photos of these as well as the fabulous coastline. The weather was sunny, the sky was blue and the views spectacular. Thoroughly recommended - this one is certainly in my Anglesey Caching Top 10!

Newborough Forest - GC104FR

After doing 'Peninsula Views' with sarahjones65 this morning and then going back to the caravan for something to eat and a snooze, I decided to tackle this one alone by bike in the early evening. I drove to Newborough and parked in the small car park near the village centre. Then I cycled down to Newborough Warren avoiding paying the £3 toll. Very soon I was cycling along a wide stoney trail in the woods which ran parallel to the shoreline, which I could see intermittently through the trees. I reached GZ without much trouble but spent a good ten minutes looking on the wrong side of the path where my GPSr was pointing. Then I read the clue which said the cache was on the other side of the path and after another five minutes I'd found it. It was really well hidden. perhaps a little too much so as its almost buried. I hope i didn't overdo it when replacing it.

Anyway, satisfied with another successful find, I set off exploring a little further. I carried on down the trail until it reached the dunes above the beach. As the sun was going down. the evening views across the beach towards the mountains on the mainland were absolutely stunning. All the beachgoers had gone home and there were just two couples enjoying their walks with the only audible sounds being the waves crashing on the beach and the wind blowing through the dunes.

I took a different forest trail back to the road (only falling off once when my bike hit a concealed log) and was pleasantly surprised that the road was not as steep as had seemed when I freewheeled down on the way here. What a fabulous place and I'd thoroughly recommend going in the early evening after the crowds have gone home.

Wearish Lane - GC19VRJ

Found this one in a quick cache and dash whilst doing a reccy of the area for future reference - I'll be coming back do a few of the nearby caches all in one go, but not today as it was raining heavily - well it is summer after all! A nice and quick little woodland walk, although parking close by was a bit difficult.

Whodunnit? NWCMM August 2009 - GC1V2K4

Last night Sarah and I went to our very first North West Cachers monthly meeting (NWCMM) event which was held at the Toby Carvery in Lowton. The evening was organised by Muttoneer (Mike) who had produced a very detailed Whodunnit Murder Mystery to be solved.

He'd obviously put a lot of hard work into this and I'm sorry to say that I didn't give it my best attention as I was so pleased to meet and talk to the other cachers - I only know them from their logs and comments in the NWC forum.

Needless to say we had a great night and met lots of interesting people each with their own caching tales to tell. John_Stead was the only cacher who I'd met previously whilst out at Pennington Flash. We talked to Clotguy and family, JanW, PopUpPirate, Pete(Numbers), the ManUmaniacs and Mr and Mrs Muttoneer with baby Meredith. It was I who first found Meredith's Geocoin which Mike released when she was born, and Sarah took it up to Newcastle to drop it off in a cache there.

We even managed to grab a few Travel Bugs whilst we were there - John's Smart Roadie cachemobile car (shown below) and his Travelling Cacher GeoPatch as well as Joel (RugbyBoy) who is a walking, talking travel bug himself - what a good idea! It became obvious whilst we were there that these meetings are used to log TB's in and out and sometimes exchange geocoins.

I was only a little disappointed that Lolly of LollyBob and Cashley fame wasn't present as I, along with quite a few others, was proudly wearing one of her excellent tee-shirts complete with embroidered NWC logo.

Anyway, it was really great to put faces to so many geocaching names - I'm sure we'll be able to visualise them as we read their logs in future. We're really looking forward to meeting up again and talking to some more fellow nutcases -when's the next one?

Thanks to Mike organising the whole event and for taking the piccies. You can click on them to make them full size.

Watch The Birdie - GCKKKN

This was a nice and easy find for RiggyRob, sarahjones65 and myself on our way home from a holiday on Anglesey. I wanted to find out where the RSPB Bird Sanctuary was because of my newfound hobby of birdwatching and photography, so when I spotted this cache, I was made up. We used the GPSr as a SatNav to get us to the right place by road and then went offroad to find the cache.

RiggyRob was in charge (CathyMay stayed in the car) and he soon found the cache location. A quick look round and there it was amongst the rocks - we took it back to the car to sign the log and swap a mini-dinosaur for a coastguard keyring before setting about our sandwiches. What a fantastic spot for lunch - the view across the Conwy estuary up river and towards the castle was excellent. We'd only been on a boat trip on the river here yesterday but it was good to see it from a different side.

Obviously I took a (quite) a few pictures of birds including some curlews, a cormorant, various gulls, a large group of swans and possibly immature black-headed gulls (see picture below). I only realised how long I'd been doing this when I noticed that the tide had come right in and that the sandbanks in my first photos had disappeared!

Just before heading for home, Sarah and I popped into the RSPB centre and had a nosy round for future reference - it looks to be an excellent place and we'll definitely be back to explore further sometime.

Conwy Quays - GC185PM

This was to be our fourth and final cache of the day whilst out with our relatives 'The Walshes' to show them the geocaching ropes around Conway. Whilst walking here from our previous find at 'Woggles in the Woods' we realised that Liam would miss his train back to Manchester for a job interview if he continued all the way to this cache. He had to be at Llandudno Junction at 4pm and it was now 3.15pm. So Uncle Bill and Liam headed back to the car and train station whilst Aunty Sue, Adam and my lot (sarahjones65, CathyMay and RiggyRob) continued on the quest.

The walk turned out be much longer than expected but the weather, view and company was great so it wasn't a problem (i.e. no moaning from the sprogs). We didn't realise until we got to the coordinates given that this was a multi-cache and it was lucky that I had the full description on my PDA or else we would have been stumped. Anyway, solving the puzzle was quite easy and after having a quick look at how 'the other half' lives on the Quays, we set off for the final location.

Following a slight detour down the wrong path on to some private land (possibly a sewage works by the smell) and being ushered off it by someone there, we eventuallu found the right footpath alongside the local school's sports pitches. What a fantastic setting for a Sports Day, we thought - bet they do water sports here. Soon we were heading off into a wooded area with lots of recently planted trees supported by stakes. I'm not too keen on places like this as the GPSr signal is often poor and fluctuates and there are loads of places it could be. Thankfully today we were out in force with lots of eyes and hands available for searching.

At the point of almost giving up a little voice cried out from the woods - "Found it". It was CathyMay and when she showed us the cache container we were all gobsmacked. Firstly, how sneaky was the camouflage on it and secondly, how on earth had she found it? When on the ground the container was so well-hidden (the best I've seen yet) that it could definitely not be detected by eyes alone. Cathy had found it accidently by looking at a nearby stone thinking that the cache was underneath and then found the actual cache next to it.

We left a very clever Key (Geddit?) Puzzle TB and took a rabbit cross-stitch kit and cross and chain after signing the log and returned happily to the town centre talking about what a sneaky piece of camoflage that was and what a great cache it was to end on. We'd had a fantastic day out in Conwy and look forward to coming back to do some more caches in this area.

Woggles in the Woods - GC137W2

This was to be the third cache of the day whilst out showing some of our relatives (The Walshes) the geocaching ropes. After a short break for drinks and biscuits and with two successful finds under our belt, we set off confidently for the woods with Liam at the GPSr helm. The path from our car park was straightforward and soon we had reached the council offices and were heading past the now seemingly defunct 'Butterfly World' for the woods. There was a little confusion whilst we looked for what seemed to be a suitable path when suddenly Sarah posed like a pointer dog when she found the entrance into the woods.

This was another example of geocaching taking us somewhere where we'd never have thought to come otherwise. The woods were very pretty and the intermittent view of the Conwy Estuary were great. We carried on for a while and shortly, after a couple of false leads, we had found the cache. We took it back to a nearby bench with an interesting inscription on it and did the logging admin. We left Emily's Quest, a 'Help for Heroes, geocoin and then, after posing for a photo, we left happily in search of our fourth and final cache at Conwy Quays. We never did see any woggles though.

Highest in Conwy - GC6F90

I decided to do this cache next on our family introduction to geocaching in Conwy because one of the other nearby caches in had been disabled and another was a five mile walk taking two hours. We happlily retread some familiar footsteps along the wonderful Conwy town walls back to the highest point with Adam at the helm guiding us using the GPSr. We'd all been up here on the walls only a couple of days ago without realising that there was cache here.

When we arrived it was muggle-city and we tried to look nonchalent as we examined every possible place, which was quite difficult in such a confined space. We'd had no luck at the very top of the tower so we came down a level and then Uncle Bill found the ingenious cache container in a somewhat precarious position - I don't know what we'd have done if he had dropped it!

He brought the cache away from GZ to sign the log and then we just had to wait for the muggles to dissipate to return it. Whilst doing this we took in the view over the town of Conwy towards the castle and out to sea, which is absolutely fabulous from this location - we'll be coming back here again just for the walk and the scenery.

Coastal Castles Cache No 4 Conwy - GCM4DH

I chose four caches to do today in Conwy as an introduction to geocaching for The Walshes, some of our relatives - I was pretty sure they'd love it, and they did. We started at this cache with what I thought would be a fairly straightforward find, but it actually proved to be a little more challenging than expected. After explaining what geocaching was all about (to some puzzlement at times) we set off from the Knight's Shop on route to the far side of the castle. Geocaching newbie Liam was guiding us with the GPSr held out in front of him, and I needed to keep reminding him to use his eyes first and not to follow the GPSr pointer without looking where he was going!

Once there, we walked into a small park with a bowling green it and the GPSr seemed to be pointing across a chasm towards the river below or even over to the railway line in front of the castle. After deciding it couldn't be down there (and stopping Liam from climbing down!) we remembered that there was a path around the castle base and so decided to walk further round and up a short sloping footpath to it - however when we got near the castle our way was blocked by some gates and the GPSr was pointing back across the chasm. Hmmn!

Turning on my cacher's brain I suggested that we had been right first time and the coordinates might be slightly out - I said we needed to go back, all the time hoping that we'd find this one - a DNF on the first cache might put them off geocaching for life. Anyway, they didn't see too bothered to return to the first location as it only took a few minutes. On entering the bowling park I could see some likely places for caches to be hidden and after making some suggestions, Liam quickly found it. I felt a sense of relief and the rest of the family seemed to be quite pleased. More converts and another successful mission!

Banana Bonaza - GC1V3QZ

Wey-hey my 100th find whilst out in Anglesey with sarahjones65 - a milestone! This was our second visit here as the first time we'd come with the wrong co-ordinates. Actually we had the right co-ordinates but they'd been changed since we got our printout due to high muggle activity. So today we returned with the new ones. The funny thing was, we still had the original hint in our mind and this put us off for a few minutes.

Anyway, after a about ten minutes of searching I found the cache and brought it back to the bench to sign the log. We took a coastguard keyring and magic trick and left a Crash Bandicoot game. Sarah took a picture of me sitting on the bench with a banana (geddit?) and just as we were finishing a couple of muggles turned with their kids who started throwing stones into nearby puddles. As the cache location was right in their line of sight, we sat on the bench pretending to be bird watchers whilst waiting for them to go - they didn't.

Actually the bird watching turned out to be pretty good - we saw curlew, oystercatchers, gulls, some smaller birds that we couldn't identify and a pure white egret. I'll be coming back here with my camera on another day. Anyway, back to the muggles - after about 10 minutes it became obvious that they weren't for leaving and so I asked Sarah to start up the car and distract them (the kids were playing close where we had parked) whilst I returned the cache. She did this and it partially worked, but I'm not sure if they saw what I was doing - I hope not as it seems that this cache has had enough trouble with muggles in the past.

A successful result, a great place for bird watching and a convenient bench to sit on - what more could I want for my 100th find?

Dingle Dangle Benllech - GC1WB9R

Sarahjones65 and I had been up this lane only a couple of weeks previously when we're sure this one wasn't here. The reason for that visit was to do the 'The Behind Bodafon Scuttle TB Hotel by the Sea' cache which is only a few hundred metres from this one. It was nice to see that this was a straightforward and fairly easy although ingenious location - no nettles or brambles! At first I could have sworn that the metal post was a silver birch tree stump. Anyway, Sarah did the admin of signing the log and we went happlily back to the car after bagging another one in our quest to do the whole of Anglesey this summer.

The Old Kissing Gate - GC1WB9J

Nice quick and easy drive-by on our way along the road from Din Lligwy to Benllech. We parked in the layby on the opposite side of the road and could see the kissing gate almost immediately. On crossing the road we approached the kissing gate and saw a rusty old pedal bin in front of it. As the hint didn't mention it I just looked at where the hint had suggested and quickly found the film cannister with just a logbook in it.

Whilst Sarah did the admin of signing the log book, I couldn't resist looking inside the pedal bin - there was a letter inside and so I assumed it was being used as a mailbox for someone who lived further up the lane. What a novel idea!

This Chicken's Got Religion -

After doing Dingle Delight in Llangefni, sarahjones65 and I drove cross country up a delightful road to this the furthest point for our caching activities today. From here we were going to geocache all the way back to Red Wharf Bay, picking up several caches on the way. We'd only been up here a couple of weeks ago with the sprogs to do the Din Lligwy Burial Chamber and Village caches and we're sure this one wasn't available then.

After parking at the Din Lligwy Village layby, we set off on foot down the narrow hedge-lined lane. At times the traffic was quite busy and we had to step aside to let cars past - not the safest of places. As we approached GZ there was one obvious place to look, where the road widened a little and there was a small passing place for cars. Into the ivy and hedge I dove and found the cache box fairly quickly - it was inside a plastic zip bag but the lid was off because there seemed to be a few too many goodies inside.

Sarah did the log book signing admin and then we were off back to the car ready for the next one ...

Dingle Delight - GC1PD4R

This one proved to be an absolute b**ger for sarahjones65 and me. We'd been earlier in the year with RiggyRob and CathyMay and although we had a very enjoyable walk through the Dingle, we had not managed to find the cache. This time we were on a mission just to find it as we'd seen that it had been found since we were last there. We left the sprogs at the caravan (can't stand the moaning when the dreaded 'G' word is mentioned) and parked in a nearby housing estate as close as we could to the path. Then on down the newly laid stone steps on the valley side, across the stream and on to the boardwalk platform over the stream's upper reaches.

We scarcely looked at the GPSr as we knew where were going and upon reaching GZ, we set about meticulously searching the area. We went over everything with a fine toothpick but after fifteen minutes of intensive examination, we still had not found it. The hint made it pretty obvious as to where the cache was located, but even so we started to broaden our search into nearby areas, not really believing it was going to be there.

At the point of giving up, we decided to go over the whole lot just one more time. Well this 'we will not be thwarted' attitude paid dividends and a few minutes later Sarah found the little b**ger. It was a golden coloured micro in a place we must have looked many times but just not seen it. Elated, Sarah signed the log whilst I went off look for the moorhens that were squeaking amongst the reeds. Sarah said they sounded like a squeezy airhorn on a child's bike.

On the way back over the boardwalk platform we met a very nice gentleman walking his dog. He asked if we were looking for blackberries to make a crumble and if I seen any wildfowl. He went on to tell us many things such as how he used to fish in the stream here with his son avoiding paying the licence fee for using the fishing lake upstream. He was a retired welder originally from Wrexham who used to work on Anglesey for the mining company Rio Tinto Zinc (RTZ). He'd worked at the Yr Wylfa power station and for Anglesey Aluminium as well on the pipeline from Amlwch to Stanlow. He went on to tell us about how RTZ didn't care about the local environment, just doing whatever it took to make money and leaving the place (Parys Mountain) in a mess after shipping all the machinery to China because it was more profitable there. However they did pay well and the pensions were good.

As we walked back to the car he told lots of other interesting things such as where he gets his spring primroses from in The Dingle (naughty) and how he has a caravan on the mainland near Caernarvon where he goes for weekends away - he can't stay any longer that that as his greenhouse needs looking after and his son isn't very good at it! As we parted we shook hands and he said. "I'll probably see you again, I should give guided tours round here!. Well if he did, we'd be happy to go on one.

Church in the Sea - GC15EZJ

This was to be my third and last of the day and what a good cache to end with. I'd been to the Church in the Sea before in my pre-geocaching days and so knew where it was. I'd not calculated the tides today but I knew that when I started caching earlier this afternoon it was right in on the Menai Straits and so could only be going out by now. When I got to the end of the lane for parking I could see that the church was fully exposed and that the sea was a fairly long way out.

When I got out of the car there were two birds of prey circling over the fields and so I quickly put my telphoto lens on my camera and went to take some pictures. Unfortunately, by the time I had got out of the car, the two birds had almost disappeared from sight. After cursing my luck (I've been trying to get a decent picture of a bird of prey for a while now) I set off foe the church taking only my camera and GPSr with me.

Once down on the beach I was amazed to see the wide variety of geological and biological things to look at and take pictures: there were green and grey highly metamorphosed and folded rocks with quartz veins, red boulder clay dropped by a retreating glacier overlying the eroded rocks, many wild flowers and seaweeds and at least five types of birds. I spotted curlew, oystercatchers, an egret, gulls and ringed plovers. The last were amazing as I'd walk up to what I thought was a pile of rocks which would then scurry or fly away!

I wasn't sure which was the best way to approach the church and after one wrong attempt where I ended up walking on nothing but slippy seaweed, I realised that there was a sort of raised causeway with larger rocks forming a path to island. So I backtracked a hundred metres and then resumed my approach to the cache. The clue suggested that the cache was in a wall and so I first thought it meant the wall around the island - I didn't think it would be the church wall. Anyway I looked round the whole of the island because there were lots of gaps in the wall where things could be hidden. All the time I was thinking, it can't be in here, the sea would eventually get at it and wash it away.

Needless to say I didn't find it in the island wall and so I went up the steps to the church and found in it the first place I looked. Then I wished I'd read the description properly and brought a pencil with me - I had nothing to write with and so couldn't sign the log. Instead I took a picture of my GPSr and the cache at GZ to prove that I had been there and I may return to sign it on another day when I do the nearby Peninsular Views.

After taking lots of pictures of the coastline, birds and mountain views I made my way back to the car. Just as I was coming up off the beach I heard a voice say "Did you get some good shots then?" It was a local farmer who was out walking his dog and feeding some of his horses in a nearby field. We had a nice chat about the bird life in the area and he pointed out an egret to me that I'd missed on my trip to the church. He also mentioned that there was a rare barn owl in a nearby farm building but I wasn't lucky enough to see it.

A great place and one I'm sure I'll be returning to take some more pictures in the future.

Dune - GC1VHQD

This was my second find of the day whilst out on a solo mission on Anglesey. I parked in a familiar car park from which we've sometimes gone kayaking or had a beach day - it's a good spot because unlike Cable Bay a little further down the road, it's generally less busy, the parking is free and there are toilets. Then off into the dunes.

I soon spotted a likely place but delayed investigation due to the presence of a muggle. At first I thought it might be a fellow a geocacher but soon realised it wasn't when I saw her dog romping through the dunes. Whilst waiting for the muggle to move on I watched hundreds of starlings gathering on some overhead telephone cables nearby. Then, all of a sudden, they all took off in one coordinated mass. After flying around for a while they split into two groups and headed of inland to roost for the night. It was an amazing sight - they seemed to behave like one fluid-like entity with a common purpose. How do they do that?

The likely place turned out to be the wrong place - the rabbit hole here was so big and deep that even I of somewhat portly frame (fat b*st*rd) could have climbed down it and I'm no Alice in Wonderland. Any cache put in here would have disappeared into the centre of the earth I'm sure. So I started to look around with the GPSr constantly changing its mind about where GZ was. Eventually I ended up back in more or less the same place and so I looked for other potential sites, and sure enough there I found one - I could even see the edge of the cache box in it.

I pulled out the container to see a lock on it - "Oh No!" I thought, I'll need a key from another location - fortunately this did not prove to be necessary as the lock was not locked if you know what I mean. I signed the log and took a small coastguard keyring - I can't remember leaving anything there - sorry!

P.S. I'm not sure if the owner realises it but the cache container is itself a bit of a pun - when you find it you'll get :)

Bodorgan Mill - GC1Q79X

This was a quick revisit to this site on a solo mission to log it for myself - last time I came the muddy swamp underneath the bridge defeated me due to my poor footwear, but sarahjones65 carried on to find the cache on her own (and didn't log me either!). So I had to come back to do it (and a few more without her) for myself. Great place and cache!

Nanna's Treasure Chest - GC1WP9N

Yey, another FTF in Pennington Flash and my first in August. I got up with the mikmen to make sure I got this one today after having seen it was available last night. It was a beautiful summer's morning with the sun shining and the birds singing. When I got to the Flash the lower car park was shut - I've never been here this early before! So I drove round to the Pay and Dismay car park ( I can remember when this used to be free) and left my car there before romping off up the footpaths whilst praying no-one had beaten me to it.

I found the cache quite easily - strange that Nanna's favourite place is under some bricks amongst the trees :) - and took it back to the nearby bird watching hide to do the admin. I took the geocoin and FTF badge and left a Spanish Easter Egg Geocoin and a Crash Bandicoot game after signing the logbook.


Postscript:
After reading Foinavon's log which followed mine at www.geocaching.com, I got really worried that I hadn't put the Spanish Easter Egg geocoin in the cache - so I shot back down to Pennington Flash this afternoon to check it out. I decided to look if I'd left it in the bird watching hide first, as this was where I'd signed the log and refilled the cache container. When I got there I found John Stead filling in the log for his find of this cache. I asked him if he'd found the geocoin and he said that he had and then showed it to me. I felt very relieved as I wouldn't have liked to have been responsible for losing someone elses geocoin. I don't know why Foinavon didn't see it there, perhaps he thought it wasn't a geocoin due to its egg shape?

John and I then had a very pleasant chat about geocaching and things, and I quickly learnt he's something of a veteran expert compared to me. After replacing the cache with me standing guard, John went off to do the nearby BYAKUYA and I went off to look for Kid Glove in Golborne. A very nice man and I look forward to meeting him again sometime.

Going Loco - GC1BG5P

Found this one whilst out on a summer's evening taking photos. I'd been meaning to come down here for a while to see exactly where this bypass went. They were just starting to build it when I briefly worked at Makro in Irlam.

It's a great idea to restore and rennovate items from our industrial past and uses them like this, otherwise they'll only be found in museums. It makes an interesting landmark along the side of the road and I'm sure many passers by have commented on it.

The cache was a nice, easy find - I love these magnetic key holders. I signed the log with the bluntish pencil and went off to take some more piccies. Like someone wrote previously - bring a pencil sharpener or your own pen if you wanr to sign the log.

In The Sticks - GC1R6DP

I found this one after coming back a second time for a better look. This time I had some proper shoes on and long trousers - I'd learnt my lesson last time!

I drove all the way down to the further of the two small car parks by the fishing pond. The road down there was very interesting due to last night's heavy rain - I wasn't sure how deep some of the ruts and potholes in the road were because they were filled with water - so I just gritted my teeth and went for it!

There were three people fishing and I got some puzzled looks when I turned up without a fishing rod or a dog. As I'd been here before, I just headed to where I thought the cache was supposed to be. I gave up looking last time because I got stung by nettles and the 'sticks' were very unstable with several poking through my open-toed sandals. More fool me!

This time I found the camo bag without much problem and was quite surprised to find the log book very wet when everything else seemed dry. I tried a pencil and then a biro and finally a felt-tipped pen to sign the log - the first two just turned the page to papier-mache. Anyway, the felt-tipped pen worked a treat and so that's a useful 'tip' to remember for the future.
After replacing the cache I had a quick look round the area and took some pictures before returning happily to the car.

Took the NASA Space Shuttle and vehicle - I left my swops in the car and forgot about it - sorry :(