Borsdane Woods No. 2 - GC18HTP

Like a few cachers before us, we had another DNF here too. Sarah and I had a good look around the area after finding what seemed like the obvious place but we couldn't any remnants of the cache anywhere. We hope it gets replaced because we'd like to come back in the summer.

Any One For Tennis. - GC18JP9

I was out fairly early this morning, with the March mist still on the ground and hoping to bag this one at last. This is my third visit here and still with no luck. The hint is pretty clear and it should be a straightforward find - but it's either gone or been pushed too far under to get. I, and I'm sure others, would appreciate a visit from the cache owner to confirm whether or not it's missing and either replace or archive it.

Thanks.

OnMeTod-Towpath Trail - GC14HTK

Memo to self: read the logs, Read The Logs, READ THE LOGS !!!

If I'd read the logs and realised how long it was since this one had been found and that the esteemed Muttoneer hadn't been able to find it recently, I probably wouldn't have bothered looking for it today. I did spend 10 minutes having a good look round what seemed to be the best place for a cache without success. When the mossy tree bark started crumbling in my hands, I decided to stop so as not to do any more damage to an interesting location. It was only then that I read the logs (see above) using GCzII on my new Windows phone.

Fortunately all was not lost - I had had success a little further up the towpath. Furthermore, this looks like a great walk along the canal to the Wigan Flashes and having been here today I'll definitely be coming back this way soon. I just hope that Lollybob can confirm that the cache still there, or replace it if has gone missing. Either way, in the words of big Arnie, I'll be back.

Bodorgan Mill - GC1Q79X

Today we'd decided to go to the beach following a day of family geocaching in the warm sunshine yesterday. We set off quite late for Porth Noble just past Cable Bay (Porth Trecastell) after a lazy morning at the caravan. The car was loaded with two sit-on canoes, paddles, life-jackets, wetsuits and all the normal gear that you take for a day out at the beach.

On the journey there we'd noticed the mist at the base of the Snowdonia mountain range on the far side of the Menai Straits - the mountains seemed to be on fire. Little did we realise that the mist would be covering most of the sea and the coastline on this side of the island.

When we arrived at Porth Noble, Sarah and I went for a look to see what the conditions were like for canoeing. By now there was quite a cold sea-breeze blowing and the blue sky had turned a little grey - it wasn't looking good. But Cathy was adamant that she wanted to go in the sea and so we decided to try the Newborough beach a little further down the coast.

When I suggested that we did a quick cache on the way to Newborough I was quite surprised that Sarah agreed - I'd seen a cache called Bodorgan Mill on the map which seemed to be just off the road back to Newborough. We took a slight detour off the main road and parked the car in a lane. Then Sarah and I set off for the cache on foot, leaving the two screenagers in the car. Bodorgan railway station seemed to appear out of nowhere as we walked down the lane.

Then we got the main problem - the lane dipped down under a railway bridge and the hollow left by farm vehicles driving under it was completely filled with muddy water. Moreover, the very thin strip of muddy ground along each side of the lane was lined with an array of tall nettles. As I was wearing beach gear (open sandals and shorts), I decided there was no way I could squeeze past without serious stinging or getting wet muddy feet. Sarah, formerly having a sylph-like figure decided she'd go for it and trod the precarious path alongside the mud. She made it, and went of to do the cache some 400 feet further down the lane.

About ten minutes later Sarah returned with a smile on her face - she'd found the cache and seen the runined buildings of Bodorgan Mill. Moreover, she signed the log book and NOT put me on it! Can you believe it? I was quite annoyed as it was only my clothes that had stopped me finding this cache - I vowed to take my revenge.

When we got back the kids were hungry and so we had lunch in a car park on the edge of Newborough Forest whilst we made our final decision about the beach. After a lot of persuasion, Cathy finally agreed to go for a swim with Sarah in the new pool back at the caravan site and so we headed for home.

(Don't tell anyone, but as I hadn't got to find this cache, I'd already decided to do the Nelson's Statue cache to get my own back whilst the family were otherwise engaged).

Caerdegog Stones - GCYQVK

Although the cache is disabled, the previous logs had suggested it was actually still available to be found - so whilst we were in the area we decided to look for it. We found everything mentioned in the description and the hint except for the cache! Ah well, it would have been bonus if we'd found it - looks like the council might have removed it.

Dingle Delight - GC1PD4R

Out on a family caching expedition with sarahjones65, CathyMay and RiggyRob, we thought this was going to be a straightforward cache find at the end of a nice little walk - little did we know. We'd been to The Dingle before and so already knew how nice the area is - a little oasis in the busy town of Llangefni. On reading the information board we learnt that this steep-sided gorge was formed by glacial meltwater at the end of the Ice Age.

We parked in the car park at one end of the walk and set off with high hopes of an easy find. On walking past the carved standing logs at the entrance to trail, we chose to take the boardwalk rather than the path on the far side of the river - we'd gone that way before. This path wound its way under disused railway bridges and through tree-lined glades.

Soon the path opened out into a wider valley and back under the railway line again and we soon reached the point where previously we had crossed a little arched bridge over the river to follow a short but steep climb up the valley side and back to the road. We needed to go further up the valley than we'd been before where the path turned into a caged boardwalk over the fast flowing river.

We reached GZ (Ground Zero) at the end of this boardwalk and the GPSr indicated that the cache was somewhere close. We found several items mentioned in the hint, as well as an empty cider bottle stashed under the boardwalk, but could we find the cache - NO! We looked high and low for about twenty minutes with no luck.

Disappointed, we returned to the arched bridge and trod the familiar path up the valley side and back along the road to Llangefni town centre. Here we had pizza and beefburgers at a local takeaway before returning to the caravan.

Anyone For Tennis?

I chose to do this cache from memory, as I'd put the coordinates in our GPSr on a previous occasion but I'd not brought a printout of the details and more importantly, the clue. I was hoping for a bit of luck in finding it - we deserved some by now!

We parked in a nearby car park and walked the short distance to Central Park in Westhoughton. We walked past a large modern playground and a fenced bowling green on our way to the cache. By its name we'd gathered it was going to be near some tennis courts and as we approached GZ we could see the telltale white lines on a large tarcmaced area which is currently undergoing some improvements.

We walked up a steel wheelchair ramp towards one corner of the tennis courts and then down some stone steps. The GPSr was indicating the cache was somewhere amongst the shrubbery, but after investigating this we decided that there wasn't really anywhere good to hide a cache and then concentrated on the steps.

I remembered that the cache was a drill case, by which I took it to mean a long thin plastic case which once held a drill. There were plenty of nooks and crannies in the steps down which a long thin object could have been poked, but after ten minutes looking we couldn't find anything.

Depression was starting to set in, and we gave up once again. I did have a quick look under the metal ramp on the way back to the car but didn't have any success. Nevermind, I know we'll find the next one because it's been logged just a couple of days ago. Let's get there quickly and improve our cache count!

I can see the Pub from Here

Second of the day with sarahjones65 and just a little further down the same road where the Water Tower was. A short hop up a few steps and alongside an odd building which also looks as if it something to do with the Water Board (perhaps a pumping station?) and our GPSr was indicating we were in the right place.

We looked around amongst many discarded bottles but to no avail. No sign of the cache anywhere and our spirits were starting to drop. We'd had three DNF's last week and were in serious need of success this week.

The problem with some locations is there just doesn't seem to be anywhere to hide a cache, unless something unusual has been done with, like bury it under the ground. And then, if that's been done, it could be absolutely anywhere - where's the point in that. Anyone can make a cache impossible to find, but that's not the idea - you want people to find your caches.

Well, needless to say we gave up on this one after about twenty minutes of looking and decided to e-mail the same cache owner as for the previous cache. Not daunted for now, we moved on to the next one.

Check out this cache here: Pub at www.geocaching.com

Water Tower

Today, sarahjones55 and I tackled six caches in the Westhoughton and Chequerbent areas. I had been to two of the caches previously and recorded DNF's (did not find) and so I did not have high hopes of finding them today as the no-one else had found them since. But as we were in the area I thought we'd have a quick look.

We started at the Water Tower, a wonderfully round building that's now a house but was once something to do with the water board. Actually the cache is a little further up the road, along a public footpath, but this is the best landmark in the area.

The Farmer was in his tractor working in the adjacent field as we left the car for the footpath. There were also plenty of muggles about walking their dogs or just having a stroll. Because I'd been before, I let Sarah do all the work and use the GPS and clue to see if she came up with a different location to me. She didn't and soon we were scratting around in the undergrowth around GZ just like I'd been doing a few weeks ago.

No luck here then, and so we gave up quite quickly and decided to e-mail the owner for a maintenance check.

Check out this cache here: Water Tower at www.geocaching.com

Flipping Flapping - The Towpath Trail

This was to be our fifth and final cache of the morning before returning home to wake up the kids and eat bacon butties as we do on many Sunday mornings.

With the previous cache successfully found, we were hoping to go out on a high - how things don't always work out as you'd like.

The going was much the same as in the previous cache, with some farms and works along the canal banks. In one place some drainage pipes had slipped into the canal and there was a road bridge being stored in a rather unusal place. How did that get there and where is it from, we thought.


After getting to GZ and looking at the clue, we decided that we knew where it should be, but it wasn't there. We were soon joined by a barking sheepdog from a nearby farm as we investigated other possible places. There was no sign of Ron, the resident duck that gives the name to this cache, however.

The hawthorne is this area was particularly sharp and dangerous - it's very easy to get scratched on your face and even in the eye when you're busy looking for a something - much care is needed.

After fifteen minutes or so we were yet again convinced that the cache had gone and we'd need to add this one to the e-mail list. Boy has Lollybob got some work to do! We left disappointed and named this day Black Sunday as 3 is the highest number of DNF's we've ever recorded in a day.

Check out this cache here: Flipping Flapping - The Towpath Trail at www.geocaching.com

POSTSCRIPT:
This cache has now been archived by the owner and is no longer available.

Step into Pennington - The Towpath Trail

This was the third cache today and after a DNF at the previous cache we needed cheering up with an easy find here. It was not to be.

It was only a short walk from the last location and the clue was very obvious. It was located at the top of some steps that lead down to one of the trails around Pennington Flash. We quickly found the place the cache should have been and I nearly cut my fingers on some glass that seemed to have taken its place. I do hope that this is not wanton vandalism and that the cache has not been deliberately removed and glass put in its place. I live in hope.

Anyway, the cache was definitely not where it should have been and this will be another one we e-mail the owner about a maintenance check.

Nevermind, onwards to the next cache location - we really do need a find here. The walk along this section of the Leeds - Liverpool Canal is particularly pleasing here, with excellent views of Pennington Flash from a viewpoint we don't normally see. This made up for the disappointment of not finding the previous cache and our spirits improved as we made our way along the towpath.



POSTSCRIPT:
This cache has now been archived by the owner and is no longer available.

Wee Beasties - The Towpath Trail

This was the second cache of the day with sarahjones65 and, after a good start, we were quite confident of doing well today. We got to GZ (Ground Zero) where the cache was supposed to be and spent a good twenty minutes looking for it without success in an around a pussy willow tree.

We decided that as we'd be passing it again on the way back, we'd leave it for now and revisit it later. However, even on the second attempt we had no luck. We're not even sure what the 'Wee Beasties' are supposed to be - spiders, snails, bugs in the grass?

We gave up looking after another twenty minutes and decided to e-mail the owner for a maintenance check when we got back home. It seems it might have gone missing.



POSTSCRIPT:
This cache has now been archived by the owner and is no longer available.

Down in the Dumps

As I was on holiday today, I got up quite early and decided I'd try to do three caches around where I work in Westhoughton. The schoolkids round here were on half-term holiday and so most of them would be still in bed whilst I was lurking about and I didn't want to meet any of the local muggles who might know me and wonder what on earth I was doing. I got all my stuff together and set off with high hopes of three or four quick, clean cache and dashes. It didn't work out that way ...

As I drove to Westhoughton the mist got thicker and thicker and visibility was down to a few hundred metres. The first cache I went to was the Water Tower, high on the hill outside the main town. I found GZ (ground zero) without much trouble along a footpath at the end of the road. And I found the numbers mentioned in the clue, but could I find the cache?

After ten minutes of feeling around in the vegetation and wondering how many dogs (or people) had relieved themselves on it, I gave up quite disgruntled. It should have so obvious and easy - maybe it's been muggled I thought as I stropped back to the car with surprisingly filthy hands. When I got back top the car I read the logs of previous visitors - oh dear, it's not been found on the last two occasions. I should have spotted that before I set off, because I make a point of checking a cache has been found fairly recently before attempting it myself.

Not a good start. Nevermind, on to the next cache a little further down the same road. Before setting off I read the logs this time - oh no, its a muddy one and I hate muddy ones! I took a look at the start of the path which was up a few steps. Yes, and then it started to get muddy. A lady was walking her dogs in the area I needed to go and she was already looking at me rather strangely. 'Perhaps I'll not bother with this one today' I thought as I sloped off back to the car.

The last cache I attempted was on a main road, in full view of all the passing traffic at Hall Lee Bank Park in Westhoughton. I hate being watched as I root around for a cache and this one was going to be like being in an aquarium. I parked in a layby area across the road and just as I had pulled up, another car stopped on the main road just a few metres away from the cache. 'What an idiot parking there' I thought - 'Some people are just too lazy to walk any distance and park in a reasonable place'.

The car was parked in a dip in a particularly narrow spot on the main road, and would cause the traffic problems. I know, because I come this way to work every day. And sure enough, not long after the car had been parked, when a lorry had to stop to get round it, and the traffic built up behind him.

By now I had got out of the car and crossed the road, and was walking past the other car. 'Why doesn't he move it' I thought - but he didn't. He seemed oblivious to the problem it had/would cause. It made me remember being fined by the police for parking at Lymm Dam just on the edge of the double yellow lines on the main road past the dam. I wasn't parked illegally, but the copper said I was parked in an inconvenient place for other road users. 'So why don't the double yellow lines go along the whole road then' I enquired - no answer was forthcoming. I felt I had fallen victim to the police parking quota system - got to get so many in a day etc. Anyway, this bloke deserved to get fined 100 times more than I did. The road I was on wasn't even busy.


I walked up to GZ at the entrance gates to the park and turned back to look at the car. A bloke got out with a young lad, presumably his son. Around his neck he had an expensive looking camera and maybe something else. Was it a GPS I thought - I wonder if he's here for the same reason as me? If he was, he'd be the first fellow cacher I'd have met on a mission. I walked on past the cache and up the road trying to be nonchalent. The bloke took a few photos from the road and then walked into the entrance to Hall Lee Bank Park. He didn't seem to pay GZ any attention - either he was a very good geocacher with lots of experience, or he wasn't one at all.

The latter seems more likely now as off they went into the park taking photographs and not looking back at all. I made a mental note to check the geocaching.com website later to see if anyone recorded a visit here today. When they had more or less disappeared from sight, I approached GZ and rooted around in the vegetation. I went up to two metres from where someone had said the cache was, but I couldn't find it. By now I wondering about dogs again.

I was well and truly down in the dumps - three DNF's one after another. 'I'm going home for a nice warm shower and a cup of tea' I thought. There were two other caches I could have tried today whilst I was in this area - but I just could not be bothered and so I went home grumpy and grubby. 'And I'm not going to record this expedition in the logs' I decided.

DNF DNF DNF !!!

P.S. No-one recorded a visit at Hall Lee Bank today either.

Dog Kennel

This was my second cache today having done Dam Cache a little further downstream earlier. Everything was going to plan until I found the Police Dog signs. My GPS pointed somewhere in the middle of the field, but I knew it couldn't be there.

The only places that seemed to be likely for hiding something were all on the other side of the barbed wire fence. As the signs were a good three metres inside this fence, and bearing in mind what they were warning about as well the gun targets I could see, I decided (very wisely in my opinion) not to climb the fence and venture inside.

I decided the cache must be in some evergreen vegetation overhanging the fence in a couple of places and so I concentrated all my efforts in rooting around in there. No luck!

I went back to the signs and tried to look down on the ground in line with the sign. There were some rotting logs just inside the fence and I did my best to search them, getting scratched and prickled numerous times in the process. Still no luck and it was getting late.

After a quick look round the nearby stile area and another hedge nearby, I gave up and set off for home, disappointed as I must have been pretty close. I may return on another day.

Check out this cache here: Dog Kennel at Geocaching.com

ZX81

After two previous successes we went out with some confidence today to look for the third cache in this series. After parking in the suggested spot we had a nice walk down a cobbled lane past the interesting looking Light Oaks Hall.

Under the railway bridge and across some boggy terrain to the cache location on the edge of the enchantingly named Windy Wood. We spent a good half hour looking around the spot suggested by the GPSr and went up to 20 paces in all directions around it - no luck!

After this we decided the cache had either been muggled or bad weather had displaced it and it was no longer in its orginal place. With some reluctance gave up the search and returned home. Perhaps this geocaching thing isn't so easy after all!

At home I logged the visit as a DNF (did not find) and e-mailed the owner for some information. He very kindly said he would do a maintenance visit and verify if the cache was still there. If it is or it's replaced, we'll go back in the near future.

Check out this cache here: Nostalgia Trip - ZX81 at geocaching.com.

Astley Green Colliery

This was to be our first EarthCache and it took us a while to work out what this meant. Instead of finding the usual hidden cache box brimmed full of goodies, this cache is an educational trip whereby the point of the visit is to learn something.

The cache owner wanted us to answer some geology questions about coal mining and to e-mail the answers to him before we could log the cache as 'found'. We also had to take a picture of ourselves in front of the pit head lifting gear with our GPS unit.

Unfortunately, in spite of the grounds being open, the actual museum part which holds the required information was closed, and so we will have to revisit this one before we can log it as found. We did take the photograph however.

An interesting concept these EarthCaches.

Check out this cache here: Astley Green Colliery at geocaching.com