A Series of Fortunate Events - The Grim Grotto - GC1J1BN

I found this one on a solo mission on my way back from our caravan on Anglesey, which was sadly for the very last time as it's now past its sell-by date. Sarah had gone home first with a car full of caravan junk and I followed later with the remaining bits and pieces. On the way back I stopped at the car park near the Aberconwy Park caravan site and walked across the beach - it was a beautifully sunny October afternoon and I took load of photos on the way to the Grotto.

I've been meaning to do this one for ages as we drive past it every time we go to the caravan and it's needed to provide one of the co-ordinates for the final cache in the series which is on Anglesey. And from the road I've often seen people walking with their partners or a dog on the lovely sandy beach. Many times have I longed to walk with them as I driven home on a Sunday night witht the prospect of work on Monday morning.

The road and tunnels that go through and around Penmaen Mountain are an incredible piece of engineering - on the way you can see the huge octagonal piles that have been driven into the rock under the road presumably to give it strength. When I could see the direction in which I was heading, I presumed that the Grotto was some kind of access way underneath the road for construction or maintenance. But when I got there it seemed to have been long disused as the metal gate barring the way in was very rusty.

A quick scramble up the steeply dipping, sharp and shattered limestone rocks and I was inside the Grotto. I saw the tiny stalactites hanging under the floor ledge on the way in which have been deposited by rainwater trickling through the rocks and depositing calcium carbonate when it reached a void and hit the air. The Grotto was indeed very spooky the further I went in, and this was Halloween too. I wouldn't fancy being here in the dark tonight as the full moon was rising!

I found the cache quite easily after I'd checked the hint - I signed the log and took a small candle pot and the coordinate number, but I was sorry not to have anything to leave this time. We'd done 12 caches on Anglesey in the last two days and had run out of caching goodies. I took plenty of pictures in and around the cache location, including one very atmospheric one looking towards the Great Orme from inside the Grotto. Then off I went across the vast expanse of this beautiful beach back to the car and wishing I didn't have to drive home. A great place which I probably wouldn't have found without geocaching.

Penmon - Faults, Folds and a Layer Cake

Went out fairly early to avoid paying the car parking but the bloke was waiting for me there on the road up to Penmon Point - he must have known I was coming! Well, as this was to be my last cache on Anglesey (for a while anyway) I gritted my teeth and paid the £2.00 fee. We normally walk to Penmon Point in the evening when everyone has gone home and so paying the parking fee is something I don't usually need to do.

I drove down the familiar road towards Puffing Island and parked up quickly hoping to make this earthcache a cache and dash, as I needed to get back to the caravan to help Sarah load up the last of our junk ready for our eviction from Plas Coch. Little did I know that I would become so fascinated with the are that I spent over a hour there taking pictures and wandering around.

More details later ,,,,

Final Days on Anglesey

Today we visited the following caches on Anglesey:

• Cybi 2 - Found
• Holyhead Hill Earthcache - Found
• Celtic Rolo - Found
• South Stack Lighthouse - Found
• Mini Island - Found
• Peter's Fishing - Found

We also revisited the Anglesey, Penrhos Park cache which we couldn't find yesterday and managed to find it using the hint today. We finished the day with a really nice pint in the Pilot Boat near Moelfre on the way home. Recommended!

More details and pictures will follow shortly.

Beginning of The End

Please Note: Pictures will be added by the weekend - a blog is so boring without them!

Well Sarah and I are here on Anglesey for the last few days. Our caravan at Plas Coch is being scrapped on October 30th and we have to leave the island which has been 'home from home' over the last nine years. Our kids and extended family have grown up here and so it's a very sad occasion - we love the place.

Yesterday Sarah and I did the following caches:

• GC1BF5E - Holyhead Breakwater - Found
• GC1BB4 - Anglesey Penrhos Park - DNF
• GC1ZF8R - Tunnicliffe's Cache - Found
• GC1E2B1 - The Canadian Cousin's Cache (in Anglesey) - Found (in the dark!)
• GC1BZ49 - Rocky Shores - Tyn Llan - Found (in the dark!)

We may go back today to have another look for the one DNF at Penrhos Park as we will be in the area again.

Today we hope to do the following caches:

• Cybi 2
• Holyhead Hill Earthcache
• Celtic Rolo
• South Stack Lighthouse
• Mini Island
• Peter's Fishing

And tomorrow maybe:

• Penmon Faults and Folding
• Janpe's Inspiration (for a second look after our first DNF)

And that should be all the caches that we can do on Anglesey this year. The only currently remaining caches are:

• Moelfre Lifeboat Station (currently disabled)
• Anglesey Quick Stop (currently disabled)
• Lemony Snicket Series - The End (the last in a set of 13 puzzles in North Wales)
• North Stack Lighthouse (too damn dangerous for me, but Sarah may do it)

Not bad for our first year's caching, but disappointing not to have done them all and have a screenshot with all current caches found - nevermind, perhaps we'll complete them next year.

Bwgan 3 - GC1ZJA5

This was the last of seven finds today whilst out on a very successful day's caching on Anglesey with sarahjones65, RiggyRob and CathyMay. By now there was no point in even asking if the sprogs wanted to get out of the car - we just left them listening to their iPods as we did this quick cache and dash.

It was easy to find the Bwgan Rock, but locating the cache was a little a little trickier as it was surrounded by so much rubbish and we were very wary of looking under some of it. After circling the rock a couple of times, Sarah found the cache in a pretty obvious place and signed the log. A few photos later we were back in the car and on our way to watch Man Utd play Liverpool on a big screen TV in a bar somewhere (but the less said about that the better).

Cybi 1 - GC1FMVW

This was to be the sixth of seven finds whilst out on Anglesey with Sarah, Cathy and Rob. We didn't actually intend on doing Cybi 1 today, but after making a wrong turn on our way to 'Bwgan 3' from 'A Ruff Idea', we ended up so close to it we just couldn't ignore it. So we carried on a little further up the road and parked in a small layby next to a footpath.

Leaving Rob and Cathy in the car who were both a bit fed of caching by now having done five caches already today, we set off on the footpath and soon realised that the GPSr was pointing back across the field away from the path. We knew we had to get some coordinates from this cache to be used in finding the final location. The reason why we were leaving this one until later in the week is that it's part of a series of three caches which end up at South Stack lighthouse, and we didn't have time to do them all today.

Anyway, a likely location soon appeared and, after a quick look round, the cache revealed itself. As usual, Sarah did the admin whilst I look some panoramic pictures. Then I packed everything away and we set off back to the car following a more direct route this time. When we got about half way there I remembered that we needed some numbers from this cache and as Sarah hadn't written them down, we had to go back - duh!

Nevermind, only one more to do today after this one - good job, as we were tired and hungry by now.

A Ruff Idea - GC1ZDRT

This was the fifth of seven finds whilst out caching on Anglesey with Sarah, Rob and Cathy. After being blown around for the most of the day, it was nice to get down to sea-level in this sheltered cove. Whilst descending the steps we could see many muggles on the beach. A couple were scrambling up the steep rocks on the side of the cove - perhaps they were geocachers?

When we got down to the beach it became clear that they were just a couple of families enjoying this nice place with their dog - is this why it's called a 'Ruff' Idea? Anyway we tried to look nonchalent whilst finding the location of the cave, which thankfully was out of view from the beach. CathyMay found the cache after a little prompting from Sarah, who then did the admin of signing the log. Meanwhile, Cathy went up to the top of the cave to explore whilst Rob just stood around in 'Kevin' mode, yawning a lot and looking bored.

Thanks for bringing to this location, it reminded me of a little smugglers cove in Cornwall.

Porthdafarch Heights - GC1FE2D

This was the fourth find of the day whilst out on Anglesey with sarahjones65, RiggyRob and CathyMay, but we left the sprogs in the car whilst we did this one. We'd been to thisw lovely beach before but never really noticed the footpath and as we made our way to it there was a group of geology students taking part in a fieldtrip down on the foreshore. They were drawing a rock formation, probably an example of folding or faulting in these highly metamorphised ancient rocks. Ah, it took me back to my university days when, believe it or not, I actually studied Geology and Geography. That was some 30 years ago and I can't remember too much geology now as I made a career move into ICT.

We found the cache quite easily on the footpath, and were very lucky that we weren't seen from the nearby caravan site which overlooks the cache location - or so we thought! After we had replaced the cache and were walking back we were sure we noticed a little pair of beady eyes staring out from one of the caravans. Oh well, it was too late now - perhaps he'd seen what we doing, perhaps not. A great place but we couldn't linger long, so many caches and so little time you know ....

Bwgan 1 - GC1ZJ9Z

This was the third find whilst out on a rather blustery day on Anglesey with sarahjones65, CathyMay and RiggyRob. It nearly didn't turn out to be a find as RiggyRob found the log book loose on the rocks some way from GZ. When I looked down I saw the camo bag and some of its contents also strewn on the rocks - a little more wind and it all would surely have been lost in the sea.

After signing the log, we did our best to restore the cache's contents in the camo bag, although we couldn't find the container's lid anywhere. Then I hunted for and eventually found some rocks to pin it down as close to GZ as we could. We tried to put it in a niche in the rocks, but maybe the cache owner should do a maintenance visit just to check where we have put it.
After doing the admin, I took quite a lot of pictures of the sea crashing on the shoreline rocks - it was a spectacular day, and my lens kept fogging up with seaspray. A great location and thanks for bringing us here.

Bwgan 2 - GC1ZJA2

This was the second find of the day whilst out on Anglesey with sarahjones65, RiggyRob and CathyMay. We parked a little further up the road and walked back down to the gateposts that marked the start of the footpath. To our right we could see the golf course and every now and then we heard the 'thwack' of club meeting ball. The lane went past a couple of houses and a very old property in need of some TLC. We did wonder if we were walking on someone's driveway even though the route was designated as a public footpath at the gateposts.

Soon the footpath became more as we expected and shortly we reached GZ at the stile. As there was no hint we could only use the description, the logs and the GPSr reading to find the cache. From these it wasn't clear which side of the stile the cache was hidden and so we spent a good fifteen minutes looking for it, often getting snagged by the brambles in the process. By now RiggyRob and CathyMay were getting fed up - they need instant gratification or else they lose interest quickly. Indeed, even I was starting to think we'd might not find it when Sarah came up with the goods.

We signed the log and took an ice cream-eating pirate TB. Our faith restored, we set off for the next cache in this short series.

Ghost House - GC1BF4Q

This was the first of seven caches found today whilst out on Anglesey with sarahjones65, CathyMay and RiggyRob. We haven't been to Trearddur Bay for a while as it's usually too busy for us - there are only so many posers on noisey jet skis that we can take and the smell of diesel is often rife. However today was different as the wind had been howling all night and was continuing now, making the waves crashing on the shoreline very impressive. It was really quite stunning.

We knew the Ghost House from our pre-caching visits here - it commands an incredible position on the headland and is quite an odd greenish brown colour. Yes we too think it's quite spooky-looking. We parked in a small layby a little further up the road and walked back taking pictures of the sea along the road. Before long we we'd found the cache with the aid of the clue, but had to wait for a few muggles to pass by before we could go for it. We decided not to take the Hawaian travel bug in the cache as its mission is to go to Ireland and we won't be there anytime soon - so we simply to logged it out and back in again.

After replacing the cache, we went for a short walk to the top of the ridge to take in the views. A good start to the day in a great place.

Cairn's cache - GC1ZF9W

This was to be our fourth and final cache of the day today on Anglesey. With three successful finds under our belt today, Sarah and I proceeded with some confidence up to the ruined Cairn's Mill next to the trig point at the top of Parys Mountain. 'It's not going to be in the mill ruins' we thought, so we were constantly looking around for somewhere else to hide a cache as we walked. When we arrived at the mill we had a quick look round and then went over to the trig point - unfortunately this is spoilt by the words 'I LOVE KAREN' graffitied on it. Someone obviously thinks it's alright to do this, but we don't, even if you do love Karen - there are better ways to show her you mean it.

Looking around from the top, the GPSr was pointing towards a clump of largish rocks and concrete blocks on a slight rise. Investigation of these quickly revealed the cache container and soon Sarah was busy doing the admin whilst I was taking (even more) photos. After replacing the cache we went back to the mill ruins for another look round by which time the wind had started to blow quite a gale. It must be truly bleak up here in really bad weather when the dust is blown around or it's raining. I'd already noticed how all the roadsigns have a distinctly dusty brownish tinge in this area.

Job done, we returned to the car and then went off to have lunch in Llanfairpwllgwyn before sadly setting off for home to rejoin the rat-race on Monday.

Underground Path - GC1ZFA7

This was to be the third find of the day whilst out geocaching on Anglesey with Sarah. We'd been here only a couple of weeks earlier with the sprogs, and this cache wasn't set then. I was a bit disgruntled to find that two new caches had appeared in the week following our visit as I'm trying to bag all the caches on Anglesey before the end of October 2009. Nevermind, that's the fun of geocaching, and so we came back today.

We parked in the same place as before and set off on a familiar path towards the main viewing area before taking a sharp right and heading up the hill towards Cairn's Mill. Before long we could see the top of a small building built out of stone from the quarry - it blended in very well and was difficult to spot from some angles.

The GPSr took us right to the cache location and soon Sarah had signed the log whilst I was taking even more pictures of this alien landscape. Then we headed off for Cairn's Cache, the second of the two new caches here on Parys Mountain.

It's a really interesting place, I just haven't made my mind up as to whether it's weirdly beautiful or a blot on the landscape.

Literary Brothers Cache - GC1Z6A6

This was the second find of the day whilst out with Sarah on Anglesey. We stopped in the layby at Bryn Refail and walked the short distance to the public footpath that leads to the monument built in recognition of the four Morris brothers, who were important figures in Anglesey's cultural heritage.

We found the cache quite easily, signed the log and swapped some stuff before climbing the steps in the stone wall and heading on up to the top of the mound. From here we could see Parys Mountain, our next destination. On the way back to the car several inquisitive cows in a nearby field came over to see me and have their pictures taken. I found this quite unusual as cows mostly ignore me or move away - Anglesey cows must be particularly friendly!

As happens so often with geocaching, we've driven down this road many times but never really noticed this place. Thanks for making us stop and appreciate its importance.

Royal Charter Church - GC1Z6DT

This was the first find of the day whilst out geocachng with sarahjones65 on Anglesey. On the way from Plas Coch we suddenly remembered it was Sunday and this was a church - we hoped there wouldn't be too many muggles and cars around. We needn't have worried because there was a small car park for the cemetry nearby and we left our car there whilst making the short walk to the church. Luckily, there was nobody about to see us feeling through the vegetation!

After a few minutes of searching we found the cache and signed the log. I went off to take a few pictures of the church building whilst Sarah went back to the car to check out the next cache of the day. A lovely little historic church - thanks for making us stop here, we've driven past many times without realising its significance.

Rocky Coast Cache - GC1H1X5

This was the second find of the day whilst out with sarahjones65 on Holy Island, Anglesey and it was quite a relief to find it as our geocaching activities had gone a little pear-shaped today. Things had taken a lot longer than expected on our two previous caches at North Stack and Holyhead Mountain and we had to abandon two nearby caches due to hunger and exhaustion. However, after returning to the car park at Breakwater Country Park and buying some stuff from the cafe, we realised that this cache was very close by and should be an easy find.

Whilst in the cafe I overheard some people talking about seals and seal cubs in a cave down on the shoreline, so I took my telephoto lens along with me just in case we saw them. We found the cache very quickly as it was in a rather nice but obvious place. We signed the log, took a small dinosaur and left a Girls Aloud musical toy thingy. Then we went for a look along the coastline where I spotted a grey seal's head bobbing in the water. Some people had gathered at an inlet a little further up the coast and so we headed for where they were just as they were leaving. Sure enough, they had been looking at a pure white seal cub in a cave, which did not seem to be moving at all. After five minutes it still hadn't moved and so sadly we thought it might be dead.

In the inlet there was also a grey heron which kept my photographic interest for a while until I noticed both a grey and a white seal in the water just off the rocks. Then something made an incredible barking or groaning sound which echoed around the inlet - it must have been one of the seals. It really took us by surrise and seemed almost unreal. Before leaving I had another look at the first white seal cub and I was sure it moved. Sarah looked through some binoculars and confirmed that it had rolled slightly, but not much, but at least it was alive. We had stayed for about 15 minutes absolutely fascinated at seeing nature fairly close up at first hand - we townies don't often come across sights like this, so thanks for bringing us here.

Happily we returned to the car after having rescued our day from being what was, at first, quite disappointing. Actually that's not absolutely true, as I'd said to Sarah on Holyhead Mountain that it was worth getting up here even if there hadn't been a cache, and the same was true here.

Anglesey, Holyhead Mountain - GC1DEA

This was the first 'proper' find of the day whilst out with sarahjones65 on Holy Island, Anglesey. Our previous find was the first stage in the multi-part Holyhead Breakwater cache, but we decided to stay in this area rather than complete it as the next stage was some way from here. We'd also been unsuccessful at the highly dangerous North Stack cache - I'd chickened out because I'm not so svelte any more and Sarah couldn't find it in spite of getting pretty close to GZ - that one must surely be a difficulty of 10, especially in bad weather.

Anyway, back to Holyhead Mountain. We approached from North Stack up what seemed an obvious path only to find (as several others had too) that this was just a small pre-hill on the way to the summit. Undaunted, we descended a short way before making the final approach to the top. It was nothing like as bad as I had feared and we just kept going, in between several pauses for scenery (hmm breath!).

Once at the trig point on the top, the view was fantastic on this lovely sunny October day. It became really obvious how flat Anglesey is for the most part, with just few small bumps such as Parys Mountain and Signal Summit. After taking in the view and a few piccies, we set about decoding the clue which is vital to finding this cache - indeed, it can't be done without it. The coordinates took us back down the hill and off the path into a heather clad rock field. Once at ground zero there were so many possibilities but we couldn't see the gorse bush mentioned in the description. After about 10 minutes of looking, Sarah paused for a break and in what was nothing but unbelievable luck, she sat down right next to the cache - the next rock she turned over revealed it!

After signing the log, we left a 2006 TB Race Teddy (Alma) and headed off down the mountain for the next cache. We were aiming to do Celtic Rolo and the Holyhead Hill earthcache on the way down. It didn't turn out that way though as our previous efforts had left us tired and hungry and we hadn't brought any food with us. So instead, I made a bee-line down the hill towards the Breakwater Country Park car park and Sarah followed wearily behind. Then off to the cafe in search of sustinance.

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