Nothing to Sea Here - GC1RP27

This was the fifth cache of the day on our continuing quest to do all the Anglesey caches before the end of 2009. The weather suddenly turned sunny at Bull Bay as we headed out along the Anglesey Coastal Footpath. This is a lovely stretch of coastline and we enjoyed the short walk along it to the cache location. The cache container itself is also quite interesting, we've not seen one like this before.

After doing the admin we headed back down to the beautiful Bull Bay harbour for a quick look round. CathyMay popped into the local lifeboat fundraising 'shop' and bought a leather and knotted string bracelet whilst I took some photos of the shoreline. A great place to which we'll no doubt return some day.

The Ancient Station - GC1YQFE

Another nice and easy find along the A5025 on the eastern side of Anglesey. There was some nicely coloured ivy on the layby wall but we couldn't see where the Ancient Station used to be though. We're now off to Bull Bay on our quest to complete all the caches on the island by the end of 2009.

'Please Share My Umbrella' - GC1YQFJ

Bus Stop extract by The Hollies

Bus stop, wet day, she's there, I say
Please share my umbrella
Bus stop, bus goes, she stays, love grows
Under my umbrella

All that summer we enjoyed it
Wind and rain and shine
That umbrella, we employed it
By August, she was mine .....

The relevance of the title only clicked on the way back to the car, and I think the second verse must surely be about Geocaching! This was the third of the day whilst out wth sarahjones65, RiggyRob and CathyMay. A nice quick and easy find although it took a little stretching to reach the cache container.

3 Camps Conundrum - GC1V4QZ

The second of the day whilst out with sarahjones65, RiggyRob and CathyMay. We'd looked for this cache in it's original location and like everyone else had been unsuccessful, despite being pretty sure we were in the right place. This one was much easier to find and less overlooked than the first location. A quick drive-by and we'd done it. On, on ....

Beach Bonanza - GC1VPX6

This was the first of the day whilst out on a mission with sarahjones65. RiggyRob and CathyMay. We'd been watching this one for a while and waiting for it to be found after the spate of DNF's. So today we set off to find it as part of our quest to do find all the caches on Anglesey before the end of 2009.

We parked in the sandy car park at the bottom of the lane and I quickly spotted a white little egret on the salt marshes. So off I went to take some piccies whilst the others walked back over the small bridge and up the hill to find the cache. When I got there they were standing close to the stones that had apparrently fallen out of the wall. After a quick search of the area nearby we were very surprised to come up with two cache containers!

Sarah signed the log and as we had run out of geocaching stuff, we took nothing and left nothing. This is a great place for birdwatching and I plan to return once we've found all the Anglesey caches.

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.