Month: September 2022

News & New Caches 55

We have two new traditional caches and an earthcache to report, all Premium Members only.

GC9V8WT Black Rock Sands – Stack & Stump by The Magna Defender Earthcache D1/T1.5
GCA0ADV Pen draw’r byd! by Luby 29 Traditional D2.5/T2.5
GCA0AEJ Dechrau’r Diwedd by Luby 29 Traditional D2/T1.5

Event Reminder

GC9ZVCP CITO 2022 Season 2 by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T2.5
When: Sunday 2nd October, 2022
Where: Dinas Dinlle, Caernarfon LL54 5TW
Time: 11am to 1pm

Our task for the day will be to pick up as much litter as possible from the beach and car parking areas. We have given the event a terrain rating of 2.5 due to the steep banks around the hillfort, but there are wheelchair accessible areas along the promenade. By attending this event your efforts will be rewarded CITO Season 2 souvenir.

Signal’s Labyrinth, the Hedge Maze

Signal seems to be evolving into a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle.

On October 3rd, 2022 Signal leaves the Cave Maze and starts a new challenge, to complete the Hedge Maze. Like the other maze challenges there are 2 souvenirs, you must collect 50 points to earn the first souvenir and 500 points to earn the second souvenir.

Each labyrinth in Signal’s Labyrinth challenge has different point values for finding geocaches, Adventures, and bonus items. Mystery Caches are worth more points for this round on account of the puzzle solving skills required to navigate through the elaborate hedge maze. Friendly goats are the bonus item earning an extra 50 points, like previous mazes these are awarded randomly. The maximum number of points you can earn for any cache log is 85 points.

Found an Adventure Lab Cache (Adventure Location)10
Found a Mystery Cache35
Found a Multi-Cache30
Found an EarthCache30
Attended an Event20
Found a cache with 10+ Favorite points20
Found a Signal’s Labyrinth item 50
Found it*15
*Log a Found it on any other cache type

You have until the 5th December, 2022 to complete this challenge

News & New Caches 54

We have no new caches to report, just some event reminders:

Events Reminders

GC9ZPWC 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 50 by 9 Usual Suspects
When: Tuesday 27th September
Where: Anglesey Arms, Harbour Front, Caernarfon LL55 1SG
Time: 7pm to 9pm or when the last person leaves

Please note this N&N is on Tuesday night not Wednesday, also please log a ‘Will Attend’ if you intend to be there so that we have some idea on numbers.

GC9ZN6M Becky & Ralph On Tour by 3BearsUK
When: Wednesday 28th September 2022
Where: The Black Bull Inn, Bangor, LL57 1NS
Time: 6pm to 8pm or when the last person leaves

Becky and Ralph are on holiday, they are hosting the above event while here and would love to meet local and non local geocachers.

GC9ZVCP CITO 2022 Season 2 by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T2.5
When: Sunday 2nd October, 2022
Where: Dinas Dinlle, Caernarfon LL54 5TW
Time: 11am to 1pm

Our task for the day will be to pick up as much litter as possible from the beach and car parking areas. We have given the event a terrain rating of 2.5 due to the steep banks around the hillfort, but there are wheelchair accessible areas along the promenade. By attending this event your efforts will be rewarded with the above souvenir.

TB Raffle 2022

Raffle prizes and new ticket book!

We will be starting our TB raffle shortly, this year we are raffling 5 geocoins and 3 tags, the raffle will run until International Geocaching Day 2023 event. This raffle is our biggest fund raiser with the proceeds going to help fund the website, hiring of venues and any other expenses incurred with running 9US events. As I have purchased a bargain pack of 6 ticket books each containing a 1,000 tickets there is very little chance that we will run out of tickets again!

We would like to Thank Optimist on the run and the WM Mega for their donation of 3 coins.

News & New Caches 53

Just one new earthcache and an event to report

GC9V8XD Moel-Y-Gest Summit – Roche Moutonee by The Magna Defender Earthcache D2/T5

GCA02D8 9 Usual Suspects Visit Moel-Y-Gest Summit by 9 Usual suspects D1/T5
When: Sunday 9th October, 2022
Where: Moel-y-Gest Trig Point
Time: 2-2.30pm

This event is to celebrate International Earthcache Day and to enable all attendees to qualify for the above souvenir. We will be meeting at the trig point where there is a Lab cache stage for Highlights of Porthmadog, before discovering the newly published earthcache:
GC9V8XD Moel-Y-Gest Summit – Roche Moutonee by The Magna Defender D2/T5
and then heading to:
GC89RG2 Moel-y-Gest Stalactites by Rcrosby94 D2.5/T5
We have agreed with the earthcache owners that we only have to send one set of answers to cover all event attendees. Let’s hope the weather is good as the views are stunning in every direction and makes the slog up the hill worth while. Oh There will be cake……..

News & New Caches 52

Lots of new caches to report and a couple of events.

GC9ZYRX Side Tracked. (Part 4 of RS trail) by CaraThom Traditional D2/T2
GC9ZY14 Graveyard of Ruins by Clueless_Goose Multi D2.5/T2

CazzaB80 has been very busy setting a new series of 17 caches, Fairbourne Flier and adding another 2 caches to her Mawddach Meander series.

GC9ZP2K Fairbourne Flier – Don’t cry over spilt milk by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GC9ZPW1 Fairbourne Flier – Tea for Two by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T2
GC9ZPTZ Fairbourne Flier – Those is glass houses … by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GC9ZPVJ Fairbourne Flier – Where’s Cader? by CazzaB80 Traditional D2/T2.5
GC9ZPVC Fairbourne Flier – Have your cake and eat it by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T2.5
GC9ZPVP Fairbourne Flier – Tough at the Top (almost!) by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T2.5
GC9ZP12 Fairbourne Flier – Welcome to Fairbourne by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GC9ZP32 Fairbourne Flier – St Cynons Church by CazzaB80 Traditional D2.5/T2
GC9ZPTP Fairbourne Flier – Don’t count your chickens … by CazzaB80 Traditional D2/T2
GC9ZP2T Fairbourne Flier – No Through Road but Footpaths by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GC9ZP1G Fairbourne Flier – Alan by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GC9ZPV7 Fairbourne Flier – Too many cooks spoil the broth by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GC9ZP1T Fairbourne Flier – Stone Me! by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GC9ZP35 Fairbourne Flier – Let Sleeping Cats Lay by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T2.5
GC9ZPVV Fairbourne Flier – Tough as old boots by CazzaB80 Traditional D2/T2.5
GC9ZPTA Fairbourne Flier – All that Glistens is not Gold by CazzaB80 Traditional D2/T3
GC9ZP2G Fairbourne Flier – Swan Song by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T2

GC9ZP0M Mawddach Meander meets Fairbourne Flier I by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GC9ZP0V Mawddach Meander meets Fairbourne Flier II by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Events

GC9ZPWC 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 50 by 9 Usual Suspects
When: Tuesday 27th September
Where: Anglesey Arms, Harbour Front, Caernarfon LL55 1SG
Time: 7pm to 9pm or when the last person leaves

Please log a ‘Will Attend’ and indicate if food is required as we need to give the pub numbers so they can reserve an area for us.

GC9ZVCP CITO 2022 Season 2 by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T2.5
When: Sunday 2nd October, 2022
Where: Dinas Dinlle, Caernarfon LL54 5TW
Time: 11am to 1pm

Our task for the day will be to pick up as much litter as possible from the beach and car parking areas. Please arrive promptly to ensure you attend the safety briefing. The event will last for 2 hours finishing at 1pm. Gwynedd Council will be supplying litter pickers, hi-vis vests, bags and gloves. We have given the event a terrain rating of 2.5 due to the steep banks but there are wheelchair accessible areas along the promenade. By attending this event your efforts will be rewarded with the above souvenir.

Snag The Tag

Milked for all she had…

Congratulations to Bess’s Friends for being the first snaggers to North Wales’ First tag! – https://ufo.snagthetag.com/viewTag.php?id=1002

Only 37mins and 10sec after publishing time! The game is officially on…

Did anyone pick up the clues in my last STT post? ‘Centre of Anglesey’, ‘milked her for all she had’… I did try my best to warn you… but not to worry, as there’s still one more chance to grab a Watson in North Wales, specifically where she will be is still unknown, and even to me at the moment, so don’t bother scrutinising for clues just yet 😉.

As this grows, my hope is that more people will catch the bug and become hiders themselves, in turn encouraging more finders, and making the chase even more exciting.

Unfortunately, the pre-sale for the next game (the witches missing cats) has already ended (as they’re minted to order in North America, we bulk order them as a UK contingent 6-8 weeks in advance via the UK Special Agent). I’ll be sure to keep this blog updated with all new game developments.

Fortunately, I was able to get my order in just in time! Two of the celestial witches lost cats will be finding their way to North Wales in time for Halloween, your job will be to make sure they don’t stay out in the cold too long and snag them before anyone else can to reunite them with their witch geocoin owner!

In the meantime, I wish good luck to the next Watson hunters, a UFO coin is waiting for you!

Snag the Tag

Who’s ready to Snag Watson?

After such a positive welcome to Snagging the Tag (a link to the original post in case you missed it…
here), the orange aliens have decided that they’re willing to consider freeing Watson the Cow from their
grasp, somewhere up here in North Wales…


Two ‘Watsons’ will be dropped from the UFO in the near future.
Any indication of where remains unknown.
All we can presume is the aliens milked her for all she had… poor Watson.


Want to get your hands on one of these?

By finding a Watson the Cow tag you’ll be able to claim your own orange UFO geocoin for free.
If you haven’t already, sign up to STT here and keep an eye on this game here, why not set up an email
notification for new tags like this under the ‘alerts’ tab on your profile:


Good luck everyone! Remember, if you’re lucky enough to lay your hands on one of these:

Make sure to log instantly on the tag’s page using the unique code on the back of the Watson tag packet to avoid someone else’s disappointment!

Instructions on how to receive your free coin will then be sent to you via the STT UK special agent…

News & New Caches 51

As Glyn kindly pointed out I had missed two caches off the list, apologies Jack.

GC9ZD8E Through the gate by Neil1234567890 Traditional D2/T1.5
GC9ZDTK Two Little Dickie Birds Set Within a Wall by Clueless_Goose Traditional D2/T1.5

Premium Member

GC9ZP5P Castell Caernarfon by Clueless_Goose Traditional D2/T1.5

Events

Please note this months N&N, in for review, will be on Tuesday 27th not Wednesday 28th.

GC9ZN6M Becky & Ralph On Tour by 3BearsUK
When: Wednesday 28th September 2022
Where: The Black Bull Inn, Bangor, LL57 1NS
Time: 6pm to 8pm or when the last person leaves

Becky and Ralph are on holiday, they are hosting the above event while here and would love to meet local and non local geocachers.

TB Race Results

Here are the results of the 2021/22 TB Race

Ist
Racing Dragon
Owner Ann@Birdbrook
In the hands of FeuerPatsche
23,343.9 km
Countries visited UK, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg

2nd
Draco
Owner Naturesbyte
In Californian Coffee Club
22,985.3 km
Countries visited UK, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway

3rd
Welsh Sea Pottery
Owner escapefromwork
In Church Micro 10232 Bibury
8,930.3 km
Countries visited UK, Ireland

4th
Little Red Dragon Racer
Owner 9 Usual Suspects
Missing in Action
7,056.4 km
Countries visited UK, Portugal, Czechia, Denmark

5th
HQ Win the Race TB
Owner lostnwet
In the hands of josie301
5,619 km
Countries visited UK, Ireland

6th
Black Pig
Owner Mossfamilymacc
In Amisfield Brae Trackable Hotel (missing)
1,319.2 km
Countries visited UK

Raffle

Apologies to everyone for running out of raffle tickets on Saturday, a bit of an over sight on my part, but you will be pleased to know this is very unlikely to happen again as I have purchased a ‘bargain’ multi pack of 6 books, 6,000 tickets!

We would like to take this opportunity to Thank Simon (Optimist on the run) and the WM Mega Team for their very kind donation of 3 geocoins, also Pat (searcherdog) for the donation of a cache container.

The new annual Geocoin/TB raffle will begin as soon as the tickets arrive. For this years raffle we have 7 prizes, 5 coins and 2 trackable tags.

News & New Caches 50

Just two new caches on the edge of our area.

GC9ZFBT Pappa Bear – The Cuckoo Trail by Cuckoosuzie Traditional D1.5/T2
GC9ZFCZ Momma Bear – The Cuckoo Trail by Cuckoosuzie Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Final Event Reminder

GC8Q963 Makers Community Celebration Event by Naturesbyte D1/T1.5
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle
When: 10th September, 2022
Time: 2.00pm-6pm (the bar will remain open until the last person leaves!)
BBQ: 5pm
Trackable Raffle Draw: 5.30pm

Haven’t heard of ‘Snag the Tag’? Well, neither had we until Jack contacted us, see previous post. During the afternoon Jack, Clueless_Goose, will explain the rules of this game, how to claim your prize if you are lucky enough to find a tag and of course try to answer any questions you might have.

We will also have the Adventure labs from the UK Mega available to solve, these have been kindly donated by the SOS_Mega_Crew.

Please log a ‘Will Attend’ or contact us so that we have some idea of numbers for catering etc.

Signal’s Labyrinth Survey

Help Geocaching HQ plan future souvenir campaigns by taking this survey Your feedback about this challenge will give HQ insight into helping improve future souvenir campaigns!

News & New Caches 49

Four new traditional caches, an event and a new Adventure Lab all published since our last post.

GC9Z6CC Tan Y Foel Cache by cadielsss, gingyjessica Traditional D1/T1.5
GC9Z877 Angelsy View (part 2 of RS trail) by CaraThom Traditional D1/T1.5
GC9ZC38 Best friend Beau RS trail by CaraThom Traditional D2/T1.5
GC9Z6XC G’s First by daisy4223 Traditional D1/T1

Adventure Lab

Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) – Llanberis Climb created by BardBandit
This 5 stage nonsequential Adventure Lab takes you from Llanberis to Snowdon summit. More than 600,000 visitors climb to the summit each year, with the most popular route being the Llanberis Path. This path is the most gradual route and the only one that follows the railway. The walk to the summit and back takes around 7 hours and will take you on a 14.5 kilometre hike with an ascent of 975 metres. Alternatively, you could take the train to the top and walk back down to collect the adventure lab stages.

Events

GC9ZCEG Nikoski and Bee on Holiday (Again) by Nikoski and Bee off Good Cheer
Where: Close to the Swing Bridge, Caernarfon.
When: Sunday 18th September 2022
Time: 11am-11.45am

Nikoski and Bee off Good Cheer are on holiday from Suffolk, they are hosting the above event while here and would love to meet local and non local geocachers.

Event Reminder

GC8Q963 Makers Community Celebration Event by Naturesbyte D1/T1.5
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle
When: 10th September, 2022
Time: 2.00pm-6pm (the bar will remain open until the last person leaves!)
BBQ: 5pm
Trackable Raffle Draw: 5.30pm

Haven’t heard of ‘Snag the Tag’? Well, neither had we until Jack contacted us, see previous post. During the afternoon Jack, Clueless_Goose, will explain the rules of this game, how to claim your prize if you are lucky enough to find a tag and of course try to answer any questions you might have.

Please log a ‘Will Attend’ or contact us so that we have some idea of numbers for catering etc.

‘Snag a Tag’ in North West Wales

by Jack, Clueless_Goose

Firstly, many thanks to Ann for allowing me to use this platform to promote this. Secondly, what am I promoting?

Snag the Tag is a game inspired by geocaching, set up by geocachers, only rather than finding boxes, you’re trying to find a tiny metal tag which you can use to claim a geocoin at the tag hiders expense (in other words, for free!).

I must admit, it confused me too when I first started, but once you get the idea, you soon come to realise this is like a FTF hunt, but with far greater risk and reward…

Over the last few months I have been following Snag The Tag (STT) UK via a very well used Facebook Group.
Available here if you’d like to take a look – https://www.facebook.com/groups/2781868888797047/

STT works in games, the latest had a wizard theme. The tag was based on a wizard’s staff, and the geocoin was based on a wizard. Every game has two ‘tags’ that you’re able to collect (in this case a sun wizard and a moon wizard, it’s getting crazier I know, but trust me…). I snagged my first tag in this game from a hider down in London, the thrill of the chase is definitely like going for a FTF, only there is no STF, so when you grab it, you feel on top of the world, it’s really yours to keep! See the photos for my tag and claimed geocoin.

Anyway, to cut a longer story short, I have decided to become a hider, but need people to snag some tags. The upcoming game is based on a cow, abducted by aliens (I know… but you’ll all want one). My ‘hider pack’ comes with one coin and three tags (the idea is that I keep one tag and the coin, and the two other tags are up for grabs.) Each tag will have a unique code which you can enter into the STT website to claim your coin from the ‘UK special agent’ (a very nice dedicated volunteer to the game) for postage cost (£2 ish).

My tags will be going live in the next few weeks, up here in NW Wales and it would be great to see a few of you snagging them. Sign up here, set up a notification for the ‘Watson the cow’ game, and man the watch tower… https://snagthetag.com/faq.php?mode=1

Games are usually quite well spaced out, the game after Watson will be starting at Halloween. To follow on from the wizard theme, we have the ‘witches’ theme, with cat tags and witch geocoins. I’m considering becoming a hider for this game, but will need to send in my order by Friday evening (very soon I know), but first, I’d like to know if anyone here would like to join in, not necessarily as a hider, but just as a finder? If two or more people say they would, I’ll order the hider pack to arrive for when the game starts.

If we can get a group going, I’m sure more hiders will follow, and I’ll have a chance at snagging some tags too! Unfortunately, I’m the only hider in Wales at the moment…

I look forward to seeing your comments! As I say, deadline is tomorrow evening to say you’d like to play. I’d happily answer any more questions, shoot me a message on geocaching Clueless_Goose, but take a look at the Facebook group, it really helped me out.

Diolch pawb am darllen!