The Colours of the Rainbow - GC1BZ4Y

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.

Parys Mountain - GC1FXNQ

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.

Victorian Weightlifter! - GCQ7FN

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?

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.