News & New Caches 167

We hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. In our area there has been no new caches or Ad Labs published since our last post. But we do have some event reminders.

Event Reminders

GCB0QRK 9 Usual Suspects Say Goodbye to 2024 by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T1.5
When: 31st December, 2024
Where: Anglesey Column Cafe & Information Centre
Time: 11am-12pm
Our last event of 2024 and a chance for a quick catch up before the New Year Celebrations begin. There is no better way to start your celebrations than meeting up with your geocaching friends! Please log will ‘attend logs’ as we need to give the cafe numbers in advance.

GCB0PTH 9US Discover 2025 with a Beach Clean by 9 Usual Suspects CITO D1/T3
When: Wednesday 1st January 2025
Where: Beach Car Park nearest the Airport
Time: 11am to 12pm
Why not blow away those New Year cobwebs and join us for a litter pick along the beautiful beach of Dinas Dinlle?

GCB16T1 9 Usual Suspects TB Race Launch by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T1
When: 1st January, 2025
Where: Airport Cafe, Dinas Dinlle, Caernarfon LL54 5TP
Time: 12.15pm – 1.15pm
An event to launch our 2025 TB Race. TB race rules can be found here. Not entering the TB race? This is a chance to catch up, swap TB’s and enjoy some geochat while watching the airport activity.

New Year Souvenirs

Celebrate the end of the year and the beginning of 2025 by earning two new souvenirs, Logged 2024 and Discovering 2025. To earn the souvenirs find one geocache or Adventure Lab® location, all geocache types count including events.
Logged 2024 is available from 24th to 31st December.
Discovering 2025 is available from 1st to 8th January.

Quiz Answers

Which song includes the lyrics “They’ve got cars big as bars, They’ve got rivers of gold” Fairytale of New York, The Pouges (1987)
In Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, what was the first name of Scrooge?
Ebenezer
What colour are mistletoe berries?
White
Which song includes the lyrics “It’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid”
Do they know it’s Christmas – Band Aid (1984)
In Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone what did the Dursleys give Harry for Christmas?
A 50p piece
Which single has been number 1 in the charts in 2023 & 2024, but only made number 2 when it was released in 1984?
Last Christmas – Wham (It’s been in the charts 21 times over 117 weeks)
Elvis Presley isn’t going to have a White Christmas, he’s going to have a….?
Blue Christmas
According to the song, what did my true love give to me on the eleventh day of Christmas?
Eleven pipers piping
What fruit is used to make a Christingle?
Orange
Three of Santa’s reindeer’s names begin with the letter “D.” What are those names?
Dasher, Donner & Dancer
If you’re born on Christmas day, what’s your star sign?
Capricorn
What is glühwein?
A German version of mulled wine
When do the 12 days of Christmas start?
Christmas Day
What is the Grinch’s dog called?
Max
How many states in the US have a town called ‘Santa Claus’?
Three – Indiana, Arizona and Georgia

Happy New Year

We would like to take this opportunity to Thank everyone for their support and wish you all a very Happy New Year, may 2025 be a year full of fun and adventures.

News & New Caches 166

We have one new cache to report since our last post:

GCB11G4 War Memorial #2225 ~ Ysbyty Ifan by two nosy parkers Multi D1.5/T1.5

And just one bad cracker joke:
Why are Christmas trees no good at sewing?
Because they alway drop their needles!

9US Christmas Quiz

A little something to keep you entertained while waiting for the turkey to cook.

Which song includes the lyrics “They’ve got cars big as bars, They’ve got rivers of gold”?
In Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, what was the first name of Scrooge?
What colour are mistletoe berries?
Which song includes the lyrics “It’s Christmas time, there’s no need to be afraid”?
In Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone what did the Dursleys give Harry for Christmas?
Which single has been number 1 in the charts in 2023 & 2024, but only made number 2 when it was
released in 1984?
Elvis Presley isn’t going to have a White Christmas, he’s going to have a….?
According to the song, what did my true love give to me on the eleventh day of Christmas?
What fruit is used to make a Christingle?
Three of Santa’s reindeer’s names begin with the letter “D.” What are those names?
If you’re born on Christmas day, what’s your star sign?
What is glühwein?
When do the 12 days of Christmas start?
What is the Grinch’s dog called?
How many states in the US have a town called ‘Santa Claus’?

Answers in the next post…..

And Finally

We would like to wish everyone a very Happy Christmas/Nadolig Llawen

News & New Caches 165

We have one new event published since our last post. We have lots of dates for 2025, souvenirs and our events.

GCB16T1 9 Usual Suspects TB Race Launch by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T1
When: 1st January, 2025
Where: Airport Cafe, Dinas Dinlle, Caernarfon LL54 5TP
Time: 12.15pm – 1.15pm

An event to launch our 2025 TB Race. Not entering the TB race? This is a chance to catch up, swap TB’s and enjoy some geochat while watching the airport activity.

2024 9US Video

We are currently putting together a video of our 2024 adventures. If you have any pictures or video you would like included please contact us.

Confirmed Souvenirs for 2025

Here are the confirmed souvenirs for 2025 and dates that they are available:

Discovering 2025 January 1st-8th
Cache In Trash Out®, Season 1: March 1st–May 31st
Pi-Day: March 14th
March Equinox: March 20th-23rd
Pajama Day: April 16th
Blue Switch Day: May 2nd-4th
June Solstice: June 20th-22nd
International Geocaching Day: August 16th
Cache In Trash Out®, Season 2: September 1st-November 30th
World Postcard Day: October 1st
International EarthCache Day: October 10th-12th
Adventure Day: October 17th-19th
Geocaching International Film Festival (GIFF): November 6th-16th
Farewell 2025: December 24th-31st

9US Event Calendar 2025

Please find below our event calendar for 2025. Event dates may change up until publication.

Wednesday 1st January GCB0PTH 9US Discover 2025 with a Beach Clean D1/T3
Wednesday 1st January GCB16T1 9 Usual Suspects TB Race Launch D1/T1
Thursday 30th January Nosh & Natter 74

Saturday 8th February Ski Saturday The Severn Mega will be in attendance
Thursday 27th February Nosh & Natter 75

Saturday 8th March CITO Season 1
Thursday 27th March Nosh & Natter 76

Thursday 24th April Nosh & Natter 77

Saturday 17th May Llangollen Canal Boat Trip
Thursday 29th May Nosh & Natter 78

Saturday 7th June Bardsey Island?
Thursday 26th June Nosh & Natter 79

Wednesday 23rd July Nosh & Natter 80
Thursday 24th-27th July Piratemania
Monday 28th July-3rd August Severn Mega

Saturday 16th August International Geocaching Day, 9US 10th Birthday Party
Thursday 28th August Nosh & Natter 81

Thursday 25th September Nosh & Natter 82

Thursday 30th October Nosh & Natter 83

Saturday 1st November Halloween Party
Sunday 9th November GIFF
Saturday 29th November Nosh & Natter 84, Christmas Dinner

Wednesday 31st December Farewell 2025

Llangollen Canal Boat Trip

Saturday 17th May Llangollen Canal Boat Trip

We will be starting at Trevor travelling to Llangollen, it takes just over 2 hours to reach the turnaround point. See map below:

All day boats are equipped with the following: cutlery, crockery, a kettle, 2 burner hob, fridge, sink and toilet. There’s indoor and outdoor seating on all day boats. We will be stopping for lunch some where en route, probably The Sun (marked on map) where we may hold an event. Dogs are allowed. Boat hire times are from 9am – 4pm so we would be meeting up around 8.45am at Anglo Welsh boat yard.
There are very few geocaches currently along the canal but we will make every effort to pick any up as we pass.

Cost will be around £20 per person. There are 10 places per boat, if enough interest we will try to book 2 boats. To book a place contact us, we will need deposits of £10pp.

Any questions? Contact us.

News & New Caches 164

We have one new cache to report and our new TB race.

GCB11JR Church Micro 15301…Ysbyty Ifan – St John’s by two nosy parkers Multi D1.5/T1.5

TB Race 2025

As part of 9US 10th anniversary celebrations we are having another TB race. There will be prizes for the furthest travelled, most countries visited and special prizes for any TB that makes it back to our New Years Eve 2025 event. To enter the race you do not have to attend our event at Caernarfon airport on New Years Day but you do have to dip the TB into the event as all distances are to be calculated from this events coordinates.

Race Rules
1) The race will last for one year, starting on 1st January 2025 and finishing on 31st December 2025.
2) The start will be from 9US event GCB16T1, 9 Usual Suspects TB Race Launch all TB’s to be dipped into this event.
3) The TB can be ‘dipped’ by the owner into another cache before it is to be released into the ‘wild’. No hanging on to it and bringing it to next year’s event!
4) A country is as defined by Geocaching.com.
5) TB’s distance to be recorded in KILOMETRES, not miles and start at zero!
6) There is no limit to how many TB’s you can enter.

Any questions contact us. Oh, The judges, Pete, decision is final!

News & New Caches 163

We have no new caches or events to report since our last post, but plenty of other news.

December Solstice Souvenir

The December solstice marks the shortest day in the Northern Hemisphere and the longest day in the Southern Hemisphere. Geocaching HQ crafted a special souvenir exclusively for geocachers to commemorate the December solstice. Earn this souvenir by finding any geocache, attending any Event, or completing an Adventure Lab® Location from 20th-22nd December, 2024.

2025, A Year of Celebrations

2025 is going to be a very busy year for the social geocacher with a wide range of events taking place. We all are aware that May 2nd 2025 is the 25th anniversary of geocaching with many celebratory events taking place worldwide, but did you know it is also 9 Usual Suspects 10th anniversary? Not only are there Giga, Mega, CITO’s and ordinary events taking place but also Block Parties and Community Celebration Events.

What is a Block Party? Basically it is a Mega Event. Geocaching HQ hosted the original Block Parties in Seattle from 2011 to 2015. Only 5,064 geocachers received the Block Party icon during those years. To enable more people to acquire this icon HQ are giving organisers of Mega or Giga Events the option to choose the Block Party icon for their event.
For an event to qualify as a Block Party the following criteria have to be met:

Take place between 1st January, 2025,- 31st December, 2025.
Qualify as a Mega-Event or Giga-Event.
Have at least 300 Will Attends.
Be at least 6 hours long.
Highlight celebrating 25 years of geocaching.

At the time of writing there is just one Block Party published for the UK:
GCAK7KC London Calling 2025 by London Calling D1/T1
When: Saturday 3rd May 2025
Where: Central Halls Westminster
Time: 10.30am – 5pm
Admission Charge: £7 in advance, £12 on the door, children under 15 free if accompanied by an adult

What is a Community Celebration Event? An event that all attendees receive a special icon to celebrate significant milestones in geocaching. To earn a Community Celebration Event 2025 credit, simply, host an event and publish a geocache in 2024. All geocachers who qualify will receive a CCE credit to be used from 1st January to 31st December 2025.

9US 10th Birthday Celebrations
We have received our Community Celebration Event credit and will be hosting an event to celebrate 9US’s 10th birthday on International Geocaching Day, Saturday 16th August 2025.

We are currently putting together our event program for 2025. In the past 10 years we have hosted over 170 events and CITO’s, do you have a favourite location or event that you would like to re-visit as part of our celebrations? Or any ideas/locations for an event? Please contact us through comments or message us through 9 Usual Suspects geocaching account.

Christmas Dinner, Event Review

GCAZ9WX Christmas Dinner – Nosh & Natter 73 by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T1

This is the 3rd year we have had our Christmas event at the Goat Inn, Glandwyfach, a perfect location for this event. By having the event on the Friday night we were the only party in the function room. There was a lot of general banter and geochat before the serious part of the evening, eating and drinking began. The food was again excellent, the secret Santa was fun and what can I say about the Welsh Bingo? A lovely evening and a great start to Christmas.
Here are a few pictures: