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 ,,,,
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.
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:
And tomorrow maybe:
And that should be all the caches that we can do on Anglesey this year. The only currently remaining caches are:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
This was to be the eighth and last cache of a very successful day whilst out with sarahjones65, RiggyRob and CathyMay on our quest to find all the caches on Anglesey before the end of 2009. However, it nearly didn't turn out that way - we'd just done Gruftymilo's earthcache here and thought this one would be a piece of cake, being only 82ft away. We searched high (literally, up a small ridge) and low as our GPSr kept changing it's mind about where GZ was - I even wondered if the magnetism of the rocks here was affecting the signal in some way.
After a good fifteen minutes of searching, re-reading the hint and using our 'cacher's eyes' we had still not found it and so the kids, who were pretty fed up by now, went back to the car. Sarah and I continued for another ten minutes and then gave up - had we got the coordinates wrong or had the cache gone missing? Back at the car we checked the coordinates with our PDA and read the logs for when it was last found. Everything was as it should be - so why had we not found it?
Thinking that we wouldn't be back this way again anytime soon, I decided to go and have another look on my own. I travelled light with only the GPSr and a pen and as soon as the proximity alarm went off on the GPSr I started looking. Guess what? This time I found it almost right away. This was a great relief as I really didn't want to end the day on a DNF. After signing the log and taking the geocoin (to prove to the others that I'd found it), I skipped happily back to the car in the evening sunshine having successfully completed eight caches today.
This was the seventh cache of the day whilst out on our continuing mission to do all the Anglesey caches before the end of 2009. We were getting a bit tired and grumpy by now as we hadn't managed to find anywhere selling sandwiches for lunch and for once we hadn't brought our own. We parked in the main car park, bought a 20p trail guide and headed off towards the mine. We'd noted that most people say this place looks better when the rocks are wet after the rain, but even though it was a beautifully sunny day, the colours were still quite impressive right from the start of the trail. I thought the most unsual were the purple colours and I also marvelled at how some vegetation has managed to colonise the spoil heaps.
On reaching the main viewpoint the enormity of this hole in the ground became apparent. Some will see it as an eyesore and evidence of how man has plundered and changed the natural environment, but it does have a wierd beauty all of its own, especially when combined with pools of water in some places. You can easily see why this place has been chosen to film Dr. Who episodes here, it's quite an alien looking environment for most of us.
We stood at the main viewing point and I took pictures whilst Sarah did the estimations required for logging this cache. We'd have continued to do the full round trip if we weren't so tired and hungry - there was also another cache to do nearby. A great place for an earthcache, we'll be back sometime to do the full trail, perhaps after it has been raining.
This was the sixth cache of the day whilst out with sarahjones65, RiggyRob and CathyMay on our continuing quest to do the whole of Anglesey before the end of 2009. We parked rather precariously alongside some other cars on a slope just off the road and in front of the gates to the footpath.
The path wound it's way along a wall through fields lined with gorse and blackberry hedges, every now and then giving some glimpses of the shoreline and the bay below. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and the heather was a blaze of purple in places. A couple of yachts had moored in the bay and some people were kayaking - the water looked beautiful.
Soon the brickworks chimneys came into view and we could see the small rather inacessible beach at one end of the bay. We carried on walking up the hill in the direction of a radio mast before turning left for the last section.
Then the Victorian Weightlifter came into view - ah, that's what it is! I'd been envisioning a circus performer with a pointy horizontal moustache and wearing a striped bathing suit all the time I was walking to the cache. Cathy found the cache inadvertently by sitting down on a large rock right next to it and Sarah extracted it from its hiding place. After doing the admin we explored the area a little further before returning happily to the car.
Now this is what all caches should be like - it's not about the numbers, it's about beautiful and interesting out of the way places that we wouldn't normally visit, isn't it?
