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.

Going Nuts In Bamfurlong - GC11B98

I've been meaning to do this one for ages and just not got round to it. Today, Sarah was out at a Mardi Gras party in Newcastle, Rob was out doing Duke of Edinburgh stuff and Cathy was out with Elaine looking a two kittens we might be adopting soon. So that left me to do what I wanted and this is what I chose.

I came to this location from Really Sidetracked in Bickershaw, which is basically just around the corner. After parking on the edge of a nearby housing estate, I approached GZ in a roundabout way, first walking under the bridge and then up the steps to the top. There were a few huggies (muggles with hoodies) concealing themselves under the bridge and seemingly partaking in something dubious, so I briskly walked past.

Then at GZ I had to 'hang around' whilst I made sure they were not going to suddenly appear. Whilst doing this I noted lots of possible places that the cache could be hidden, all being relevant to the cache title and hint. Finally the huggies reappeared on the far side of the bridge and headed off to a bus stop further down the road. I quickly started looking in the possible hiding places.

After three or four no shows, I found it - what an absolutely brilliant container - you could make money out of this Bob. The log itself was a different matter - it looks like it's been replaced and now seems to be made of greaseproof paper - I couldn't get anything to write on it for ages. Finally I did manage to make my mark in green biro one painful letter at a time. Anyway, the job was done and so I happily headed off up the towpath to do the next one.

Really Sidetracked Bickershaw - GC1MZRP

I've been meaning to do this one for ages and just not got round to it. Today, Sarah was out at a Mardi Gras party in Newcastle, Rob was out doing Duke of Edinburgh stuff and Cathy was out with Elaine looking a two kittens we might be adopting soon. So that left me to do what I wanted and this is what I chose to do.After driving past the location (twice!)

I realised where it was, and I parked the car about 10 yards away from GZ. I headed straight for the item mentioned in the hint not bothering to use my GPSr and I found the cache almost immediately. This must be the fastest cache I've ever found after leaving the car. A good start to a solo geocaching session today using my new setup based around GCzII.

Remembrance Garden - GC23XHF

I found this one before work this morning whilst passing through Westhoughton. It was a nice and easy find and I didn't bother to use the GPSr reading at all after looking it up using the GCzII geocaching program on my new Windows phone . There were only a few places it could be and I found it straight away. A nice little place.

P.S. I'm quite impressed with GCzII and although it's probably not quite as slick as the iPhone geocaching app, it can download cache locations, descriptions, hints, logs and Google maps and can use a built-in GPSr to show the nearest caches to your current location. I might not be carrying a seperate PDA, phone and GPSr in future.

POWER_CACHE - GC1M38W

I found this one quite easily using GCzII on my new Windows phone. Didn't need to use the GPSr although some stealth was needed to avoid the gaze of passers by. I only understood the meaning of the title when I got there.

AROUND THE MAYPOLE - GCTPW3

This was to be our third and last find of the day as bacon butties and Man Utd v Fulham were beckoning with the chance of Wayne Rooney scoring a few more headers. We had intended on doing some more caches today but our first search at mtnest had taken a lot longer than expected due to lack of places to park and a false start walking along some apparently private land. There seemed to be a quick route to this cache, but when we got there it was a private road and so we decided not to chance it after our experience an hour or so earlier today. We could have moved the car from near Abram bridge but decided to walk through the houses to find the public footpath down to the cache.

Unfortunately we turned off the road to early and started walking through a field which ended in a fence and a stream which needed to be crossed. So we backtracked a little and found a way through. The route turned out to be a very pleasant walk along a well maintained footpath and soon we found the sort of caches we like - a nice big box which was easy to find without getting scratched to death by brambles. After signing the log we walked back to the beginning of the footpath, and this revealed the meaning of the cache. Actually I'd already guessed this but it was good to see the plaque and Morris Dancing area. This cache epitomises what geocaching should be all about - a pleasant walk to an interesting place that you would never know about otherwise. A great cache to end the day on!

The maypole is erected in the hole in the centre of this field.

P.S. Man Utd 3 Fulham 0 - come on you Reds!

T'other Dover-Towpath Trail - GCX9Y0

This was to be the second of the day for me and sarahjones65. We'd parked a little further up and over Abram bridge to walk back along the path to this location in order to do 'mtnest' a little further down the canal. So we looked for this cache on our return to the car.

A old fisherman was very inconveniently fishing on the canal bank right in front of the Dover Lock Inn, and he occasionally glanced round to see why we were hanging around in this area. So I went over to talk to him and draw his attention away from Sarah who was scrabbling around in the ivy bushes. I asked him where the Dover Locks were and he said they'd long gone, although I'm not actually sure he knew. I did see some large planks of wood on the banks and slots on either side of the canal where the wood could be slotted in to hold back the water if necessary - were these the Dover Locks?

Anyway, my distraction technique worked and soon Sarah had found the cache cunningly hidden as indicated in the clue. We signed the log and set off over the bridge for the next cache of the day.

Mtnest - GC

After a long break from geocaching due to the pressure of work (and life) sarahjones65 and I resumed our caching activities today whilst leaving the kids at home, with one still in bed and the other bleary-eyed but just about awake. We'd planned a route around the Abram area and this was to be the first of the day.It took us a lot longer than usual to find a good place to park and we made a false start walking along a dismantled railway line to the cache, before being told we were effectively tresspassing on private land. So we turned back and moved the car up over Abram bridge by the Dover Lock Inn and set off along the canal towpath to the cache.

We found the basic area fairly quickly and the title of the cache and hint meant we spent a long time looking up in the nearby trees. When this gave us no result, we then started looking on the ground for a windfall. After a good 15-20 minutes we still hadn't found anything and our thoughts were turning to leaving. Sarah decided to recheck the GPSr reading and stand at where GZ was indicated and we then focused all our attention on two nearby trees - still nothing. Just before we were about to leave I decided to have a scrabble about amongst the falled branches and leaf litter and hey presto, I found an film empty film cannister with no top. A little more searching revealed the cannister top, but no log book anywhere. We both thought that it was too much of a coincidence to find one of the main types of geocaching containers here if this was not the remains of the cache. So we assumed it had fallen out of a tree and that the log book had been lost to the elements or local wildlife.

Leaving our names on a scrap of paper we re-hid the film cannister under a rock at the base of a tree. If this wasn't the original cache there's another one there now! On our return I e-mailed Lollybob to let her know what we had found so that she might do a little maintenance if she so desires. An interesting time was had by both of us.

aiii que dolor - GCG42B

I found this one very confusing as I hadn't read the hint properly - I spent ages walking round the sqaure looking at the blue plaques, which although quite impressive was not a pleasant experience due to the miserable weather. This must have been an awesome place in the past, but today I just wanted to find the cache and get dry! I got so wet that I had to return to the St. Giles Hotel (which fortunately was just round the corner) for a shower and change of clothes. Whilst there I re-read the description and hint and realised I hadn't been looking in the right place.With renewed vigour I set off out again determined on success, and within a few minutes I had found the answer to the first question - the second took slightly longer and I do hope I've got it right! A very interesting place (on a dry day).

This type of cache is called a virtual cache which means it's just an interesting location with no container to find - these caches have now been banished from http://www.geocaching.com/ which is a real shame because I think that they have a place. I am getting worried that we geocachers are littering the world with small plastic containers and that's going against the ethos of this sport. Virtual caches are available on a splinter website (http://www.waymarking.com/) as 'waymarks', but I'd rather they were part of the main geocaching website.

Poetry Please - St Giles-in-the-Fields - GC1D3FT

With some time on my own whilst on a family trip to London over half term, I decided to do some caching - unfortunately the day turned out to be very wet and miserable and so I didn't get as much done as I would have liked. I got soaked whilst doing my first cache of the day, and so I returned to the St. Giles Hotel for a shower and change of clothes.
Feeling a lot better and with the weather improving slightly, I did a little sight-seeing on the way to this nearby cache. London is just one of those amazing places where everywhere you look is somewhere famous. The street names in particular trigger so many memories on things read in literature, heard on the news or seen in films and on TV. It's like walking through a complete history of England through the ages, even though it's only one small part of it. I found the church quickly and was lucky there were only pigeons to watch me search for the cache and sign the log. Then off for some more sight-seeing and another cache. Ahh - the big city!

The Palace of Westminster (Houses of Parliament) - GCE387

I was out in London with CathyMay whilst sarahjones65 and RiggyRob went to some physics lectures at the university. We'd been on the London Eye and had done a couple of caches round there and had now returned to Westminster Abbey to be shocked that they were charging us to go in - so we didn't!Instead we carried on round the building to one of the few remaining parts of the original Parliament - the Jewel Tower.

The history was fascinating and we quickly found the answers to the clues after reading the information boards. Thanks for bringing us to this very interesting spot - we've never been before and would probably not have come without this cache being here.

This type of cache is called a virtual cache which means it's just an interesting location with no container to find - these caches have now been banished from http://www.geocaching.com/ which is a real shame because I think that they have a place. I am getting worried that we geocachers are littering the world with small plastic containers and that's going against the ethos of this sport. Virtual caches are available on a splinter website (http://www.waypinting.com/) as 'waypoints', but I'd rather they were part of the main geocaching website.

Flonopoloy Cache 14 - Whitehall - GC1KJA4

We found this one after doing the South Bank Lion just across Westminster Bridge. It's an easy find but the area has a high muggle count. Although I did my best to look nonchalent, I'm pretty sure I was seen replacing the cache, so I apologise now if it disappears.

Logged from my PDA phone back at the hotel.

The South Bank Lion - GC1BEM6

We found this cache whilst down in London for a few days with the family. Sarahjones65 and RiggyRob had gone off to a physics lecture by the IOP with Grandad Bob and Callum. This left CathyMay and myself to take a 'flight' on the London Eye and on the way back I couldn't resist looking for this one.We found it quite easily after carefully reading the clue and the description.

Logged from my old PDA phone back in the hotel.

Moooo ! BOGOF - GC1WK7D

I did this cache after first doing 'Cow Climbing' as many have done before and many will probably do in the future - they make a nice little pair. The footpath was a lot wetter than the previous one and so wellies or very good boots are recommended - I had neither and so I got wet feet. In some parts I wasn't sure where to go and I ended up on the wrong side of the hedge at one point, but it wasn't difficult to cross back - just stick to the left of the hedge all the way to the top.

My PDA battery ran out on the way up and so I lost access to the clue and description - I hadn't prepared well for my first foray into geocaching since just before Christmas. However I had read the details this morning and so things started to come back to me when I got to GZ. I found the cache easily and did the admin whilst taking a cute little Koala Bear keyring. Then I set about taking some photos, including ones of the radio masts and water towers.

From here you can see Winter Hill and Mecca for some (Reebok Stadium), but it was too bright and hazy to see much in the direction of Cheshire, Meseyside and North Wales. Whilst taking the photos I was wondering where the trig point mentioned in description (and hence the cache name) was located - for a long time I couldn't see it until I looked over the hedge. I hadn't remembered that bit!

This is a great little place and I'll probably come back to get a clearer view sometime in the summer.

Cow Climbing - GC1WK61

After puzzling about the name of this cache for a while, I discovered the reason behind it on my PDA whilst using OS Memory Map in the car to plan my attack. I parked just off Plodder Lane and headed up the public footpath. It was a great day - the sun was shining brightly and the birds were singing.

Recently I've taken up birdwatching and photography and so I spent a good 20 minutes half way up the hill just taking pictures - it was fabulous. I'm sure the birds singing high up in the air were skylarks but I've love to be corrected if I'm wrong. I also saw a bird of prey sitting on a fence post but I'm not sure if it was a sparrowhawk or not. There was a continuous stream of big jet aeroplanes flying overhead whilst I was there, so it must be under the flightpath from Manchester airport.

Anyway I continued up to the top and found the cache fairly easily using the clue for help.

My next task was to decide how to get to the next one (Moooo! BOGOF) from here - I decided to go back down to the road and up the next parallel footpath a few hundred yards down Plodder Lane as I couldn't see a direct right of way marked on the map.

A truly great little place that I've seen many times from the road but never ventured to before.

TFTC SL - took a whistle but had nothing to leave, sorry.

Site of disaster (Pretoria Pit) - GC1YG7D

I found this one today on my second visit here - I didn't really count my first attempt (just before Christmas) as a DNF because when I got to GZ it was too dark to see what I was doing. I'd had a quick look (in the right place) but gave up when I ended up with several handfuls of mud and leaves.

Today I just went straight back to it and found the cache without even turning the GPSr on. I'd visited the memorial last time (what a shame it's so small and easily missed) and so I made this visit a quick cache and dash before heading onto the next two caches up Plodder Lane.

Here's a picture of the memorial stone I took in the failing light on my previous visit:

TFTC SL - I took a small badge and then found I had nothing suitable to leave -sorry 'bout that.

Boothstown Cache and Dash - GC23GT5

Damm, beaten to it by PeteNumbers - what's he doing caching on MY patch!?! I was going to go for this yesterday when I saw it still hadn't been found, only to see in the log that Pete had got there first. So I left it until today when I had a bit more time - a nice and easy find.

I took the two football badges for my lad and left a small fir cone and a Rugrat supermarket trolley thingy. A poor swap really but I wasn't expecting to take anything until I saw the lovely badges. I might return with something better as it's near to where I live.

A Hawthorne in the Side - GC1R6HK

A belated Happy New Year to one and all - this is my first post in 2010 due to the pressure of work, Christmas, work, snow and work. Did I mention WORK?

Today I went bird-watching at Pennington Flash where I've recently discovered the feeding station at the 'Bunting Hide'. If you've never been there I can thoroughly recommend it as you can see so many species of birds close up, including the Greater Spotted Woodpecker, Bramblings, Long Tailed Tits, Reed Buntings, Bullfinches and Willow Tits as well as all the more common garden birds such as Robins, Blue Tits, Great Tits, Blackbirds and Thrushes. I took loads of birdy photos, some of which are really pleasing, like the one shown above.

As I was in the area I decided to have a second go at this cache, which I failed to find sometime last year. After looking around GZ for a good ten minutes, I nearly gave up for a second time - I hate bramble! I think I read a little too much into the previous logs about 'widening the search' and not getting too 'hung up' on the hawthorne tree, as I had started to look for suitable hollows quite a long way from GZ. Just before I was going to leave disappointed, I decided to have another look under the branches of the hawthorne tree and hey presto, there it was. The camouflage bag was doing excellent work because it was hardly covered at all and yet was still very difficult to spot.

I grabbed the bag and took it into some open space to sign the log. As previously noted in the logs, the geocoin is missing and the box is broken - unfortunately this has caused it to let in water and the contents are wet with some things going rusty. The log book, although wet, could be signed however, so I did this and took a dinosaur for my growing collection of such beasts.

Then I returned the cache to exactly where I'd found it and covered as best I could with some leaves and twigs. It's still quite exposed and perhaps should be moved to another hiding place. It really could do with some TLC.

Top Ten Anglesey Caches

Whilst Sarah and I have been collecting the last few remaining geocaches on Anglesey this week, we've been thinking about what we would have in our Top Ten Anglesey Geocache List to recommend for others to try. It's very hard because there are so many great places on Anglesey, so we've tried to choose ones which are a little bit of a challenge as well as being a great place to visit.

In no particular order they currently are:

• South Stack
• Mini Island
• Moe's Tavern
• Church in the Sea
• Anglesey, Holyhead Mountain
• Dingle Delight
• Peninsula Views
• Signal Summit
• Parys Mountain 1, 2, 3, and 4(1 Earthcache and 3 traditional caches all close by)
• Penmon Folds and Faults, Bell and Buoy, Beach Berm and Puffin Island (same place really with 3 Earthcaches and 1 traditional cache)

There is an eleventh cache on our list called Janpe's Inspiration for which I know the location but haven't found as yet. I can't tell you where it is because that would spoil the fun of it for everyone.

Click on the links to see my logs of these great places to visit.

Please note that this list is subject to change as we recollect our fabulous memories of geocaching on Anglesey in 2009.

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.