News & New Caches 176

Another quiet week for geocaching with no new caches or Ad Labs published in our area since our last post.

Event Reminders

We have two CITO events this week and on Saturday, an after CITO event where we will be offering refreshments to all our hard working volunteers. By attending either CITO events you will earn the following souvenir:

GCB34PF CITO, A487 North, Another Quick Pick by 9 Usual Suspects CITO D1/T4.5
When: Wednesday 5th March 2025
Where: A487 North Lay by
Time: 11am to 12pm

GCB34QK CITO 2025 Season 1 by 9 Usual Suspects CITO D1/T3
When: Saturday 8th March 2025
Where: The Old Bridge, Morfa Parc, Caernarfon
Time: 2pm – 3.30pm

GCB34RZ 9 Usual Suspects Cake and a Brew by 9 Usual Suspects Event D1/T1
When: Saturday 8th March 20254
Where: Old Bridge, Parc Dre, Caernarfon
Time: 3.30pm to 4pm

Pancake Day, Shrove Tuesday

Today is Pancake Day, or Shrove Tuesday, it is the traditional feast day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday. In the Christian calendar Lent, the 40 days leading up to Easter, was traditionally a time of fasting and by some is still observed today. The name Shrove Tuesday derives from Anglo-Saxon when Christians who went to confession the Tuesday before Lent were “shriven”, absolved from their sins.

Shrove Tuesday always falls 47 days before Easter Sunday, so the date varies from year to year and falls between February 3 and March 9. In 2025 Shrove Tuesday will fall on March 4th.

Shrove Tuesday was the last opportunity to use up eggs and fats before embarking on the Lenten fast and pancakes are the perfect way of using up these ingredients. A pancake is a thin, flat cake, made of batter and fried in a frying pan. A traditional English pancake is very thin and is served immediately.

The pancake has a very long history and featured in cookery books as far back as 1439. The tradition of tossing or flipping them is almost as old. In the UK pancake races often form a part of the Shrove Tuesday celebrations.

Every year a famous pancake race takes place at Olney in Buckinghamshire. According to tradition, in 1445 a woman of Olney heard the shriving bell while she was making pancakes and ran to the church in her apron, still clutching her frying pan. The Olney pancake race is now world famous. Competitors have to be local housewives and they must wear an apron and a hat or scarf. Each contestant has a frying pan containing a hot pancake. She must toss it three times during the race. The first woman to complete the course at the church door has to serve her pancake to the shriven bell ringer and be kissed by him to be declared the winner.

How will you have your pancakes? In our house it will be with lemon juice and sugar.

News & New Caches 162

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

GCB0NY4 Hand-me-down by Clueless_Goose Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Events

GCB0MMV Christmas Stroll up Tryfan by swindon_leys D1/T5
When: 25th December, 2024
Where: Tryfan Summit
Time: 12pm-12.30pm
No plans for Christmas Day? This event could be just what you are looking for.

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?
This event will see the start of a new TB race, see below.

2025 TB Race

As part of our 10th anniversary and geocaching’s 25th anniversary we will be having another TB race starting on 1st January 2025 finishing on 31st December 2025. There will be prizes for the furthest traveled and most countries visited. Rules and details in our next post.

TB Race 2021 Update

Do you remember this TB race? The original race was for one year, starting on International Geocaching Day 2021 and finishing on International Geocaching Day 2022, with prizes for the furthest traveled.
We decided to continue the race as a test of endurance with the winner being the last TB in circulation.

6 TB’s took part in the original race there are now 4 still traveling.

HQ Win the Race TB owner lostnwet
Traveled: 136,706km
Current Location: France in the hands of *Mana*
13 Countries Visited: UK, Ireland, France, Canada, USA, Austria, Germany, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Sark, Jersey, Guernsey

Racing Dragon owner Ann@Birdbrook
Traveled: 72,903km
Current Location: Czechia in the hands of Pe_Bo
10 Countries Visited: UK, Portugal, Sweden, Netherlands, Germany, New Zealand, Denmark, France, Poland, Czechia

Draco owner Naturesbyte
Traveled: 57,168km
Current Location: Puppy Dog’s TB Hotel, Nevada, USA
10 Countries Visited: UK, Portugal, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Hungary, France, USA

Welsh Sea Pottery owner escapefromwork
Traveled: 9,168km
Current Location: RAL [7] Whitby Road, Bristol, UK
2 Countries Visited: UK, Ireland

Halloween Video

GCAZ0QW Come and Monster Mash with 9US by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T1.5

We would like to thank everyone for attending and taking part in our activities. Bet you can’t wait to see what we are planning for next year!

News & New Caches 153

We have no new caches or Ad Labs to report since our last post, but hopefully there will be some new caches published before our next post!

Event Reminders

GCAXW19 CITO 2024 Season 2, Let’s Plant Trees! by 9 Usual Suspects
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle
When: Sunday 6th October, 2024
Time: 2.00pm-4.30pm
For this CITO we will not be picking up litter, but we will be planting a variety of native tree seeds to grow until they are large enough to plant in our local shared spaces next autumn. Our area has been hit very hard with the ash die back virus, the loss of these beautiful ash trees is changing our landscape and woodlands. Our aim is to replace these lost trees with a variety of trees that are resistant to this virus.

We ask all attendees while out and about geocaching to collect a few seed/berries to bring to this event. We will be supplying compost, pots etc. By attending this event you will earn CITO Season 2 Souvenir for 2024.

GCAWCCH London Calling on Tour: Caernarfon by goldpot Event D1/T1
When: Tuesday 8th October 2024
Where: Tafarn Y Porth (Wetherspoons)
Time: 4-4.30pm
Meet a London Calling committee member, goldpot, at an informal caching event to chat about all things geocaching and promote the Block Party event in London in 2025.

Event Review

GCAX1YV 9 Usual Suspects Visit Harlech Castle by 9 Usual Suspects Event D1/T1.5

During September, more than 200 of Wales’ historic sites, landmarks and hidden gems were open to visitors free of entry charges as part of Open Doors – Wales. Funded and organised by Cadw the ‘open doors’ ranged from castles, grand houses, churches to smaller less well known historic sites several of these which were not normally open to the public.

We took the opportunity of free entry and guided tour to host an event at Harlech Castle.

A Brief History

Harlech Castle is a concentric castle built between 1283 and 1290 as part of Edward 1’s Iron Ring of Castles. Taking only seven years to complete at a cost of £8,190 it was one of Edwards cheapest castles. It’s location on a near vertical cliff face made it impregnable from almost every angle. When it was first built a channel connected the castle to the sea and was accessible by a long stairway, this allowed supplies to be delivered when the castle was besieged. Harlech Castle was established with a garrison of just 36 men: a constable, 30 men, including 10 crossbowmen, a chaplain, a smith, carpenter and stonemason.

Reconstruction of the castle in the early 14th century

At the end of 1404, the castle fell to Owain Glyndŵr becoming his residence, family home and military headquarters for four years.
The castle also endured a seven-year siege during the Wars of the Roses. This is the longest siege in British history. It is said that the beautiful tune ‘Men of Harlech’ was composed during this siege.
In 1986, Edward’s castles in Wales were together designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our Event

We met in the castle carpark and was very surprised by the number of attendees as the weather forecast was awful. The locals were joined by attendees from Germany and South Wales, it is alway nice to have visitors. After the normal admin, geochat and TB swapping we all headed into the castle for the tour and to explore some of the not so public areas! Luckily the rain just about held off until after the event and the tour. We can highly recommend visiting the castle and taking the guided tour, our guide Sian was excellent.

A few photos from our day:

World Postcard Day Souvenir

The geocaching community is currently celebrating World Postcard Day. To earn the souvenir attend any event from now to Saturday 5th October, 2024.

News & New Caches 150

A couple of new traditional caches and events published since our last post:

GCAXA2K Welcome to Holyhead by Glaslyn1 Traditional D2/T2
GCAXN5G Dyffryn Nantlle by sionyn68 Traditional D1.5/T1.5 Premium Member Only

Events
GCAXW35 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 71 by 9 Usual Suspects
When: Thursday 26th September 2024
Where: Parc Snowdonia, Waunfawr, Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL55 4AQ
Time: 7pm to 9pm or when the last person leaves

Souvenir Updates

Cosmic Quest Challenge

This challenge finished on Sunday 8th September. After extending the challenge by a week there was a final boost of points from the geocaching community ensuring the 15 million point target was achieved enabling the Cosmic Quest: Lift off souvenir to be awarded to all participants. Here are the stats for this challenge issued by Geocaching HQ:

111,205 players earned the Super Fuel Cacher souvenir by generating 20 units of fuel
40,829 players earned the Ultra Fuel Cacher souvenir by generating 100 units of fuel
18,981 earned the secret Discover the Spaceship souvenir by discovering a special Cosmic Quest virtual trackable

I find it surprising how few geocachers took part, after all it is a global game!

September Equinox

The September equinox represents a moment of balance in Earth’s orbit with nearly equal amounts of daylight worldwide. As the reverse of the March equinox, it marks the start of autumn in the northern hemisphere and the start of spring in the southern hemisphere. Geocaching HQ created a souvenir for geocachers to celebrate the September equinox. To earn this souvenir, geocachers must find a total of 3 geocaches, Event Caches, and/or Adventure Lab® Locations between September 22nd–28th.

CADW Open Doors

A quick reminder that CADW Open Doors has many historic sites, landmarks and hidden gems open to visitors free of entry charges throughout September. Here are a few of the places open this weekend:

Bodnant Gardens

Bodnant Gardens are open Sat 14 Sep – Sun 15 Sep 2024 from 9:30 – 17:00
It was created over 150 years, with plants collected and brought to Britain from far afield, and with the incredible vision of generations of the McLaren family. It’s a haven of rarity and beauty, with a stunning backdrop of the Carneddau mountains of Eryri.

Plas Newydd House and Gardens

Plas Newydd House and Gardens Sat 14 Sep – Sun 15 Sep 2024 from 10:30 – 17:00
The ancestral home of the Marquess of Anglesey sits majestically on the shores of the Menai Strait, a family home enjoying breathtaking views of Eryri. The house is home to a Waterloo-inspired military museum, works of art, regular exhibitions and, at its heart, Rex Whistler’s famous 58-foot fantasy landscape painting.

Rug Chapel

Rug Chapel Sat 14 Sep – Sun 15 Sep 2024 from 11:00 – 15:00
Step inside 17th century Rug Chapel and prepared to be wowed by its decorative flourishes.
Tours will be at 11am and 3pm. No booking required.

To find out what is open in your area click on this link CADW Open Doors

News & New Caches 130

A new virtual cache on Anglesey has been published since our last post:

GCAJGPY Wonderful Views by familykemp Virtual D1.5/T3.5

Event Reminder
GCAMVAX 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 66 by 9 Usual Suspects
When: 28.3.2024
Where: Parc Snowdonia, Waunfawr, Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL55 4AQ
Time: 7pm to 9pm or when the last person leaves

Event Reviews

GCAMJH4 CITO 2024 Season 1 by 9 Usual Suspects Event D1/T3.5
GCAMM4Z 9 Usual Suspects Cake and a Brew Event D1/T1
Saturday 23rd March saw us picking litter at our regular site Parc Dre, along the Afon Seiont and the woodland behind Tesco’s. We manage to extend this area to include part of Lon Eifion cycle path allowing attendees to find some of the caches placed for Leap Day.

Despite the awful weather forecast of rain, sleet and snow, the day stayed dry though very cold. Surprisingly there was a very good turnout of hardy volunteers filling the trailer with all of the normal cans, bottles, fast food containers and general rubbish. After everyones hard work we regrouped at ‘base camp’ for hot drinks and cake which was accompanied by lots of geochat and general banter.

Here are a few photos:

The Pontcysyllte Aqueduct Drained & Exposed

We have all admired Thomas Telford’s incredible Pontcysyllte Aqueduct over the River Dee. Have you ever wondered what holds the water? This video may give you second thoughts about crossing the aqueduct either on foot or by boat.

For a great adventure we can highly recommend hiring a narrow boat from Anglo Welsh for a day trip from Trevor to Chirk. Cross the aqueduct, pass through the tunnels, cruise the picturesque canal, before turning at the Chirk turning point. An ideal place to have a P&P stop plus lunch at the Poachers Pocket before the return journey to Trevor. The cost of a days hire is very good value at £120 for a weekday or £180 for a weekend or Bank Holiday. Maximum of 10 passengers.

There are several geocaches and an Adventure Lab along the route.

News & New Caches 128

A couple of new caches plus 4 events have been published since our last post:

Parc y Dre after its recent council make over

GCAMC25 Parc y Dre by Clueless_Goose Traditional D2/T2
GCAMJ97 The White Rabbit by seanx90 Earthcache D1.5/T1.5

Events
GCAMM4Z 9 Usual Suspects Cake and a Brew Event D1/T1
When: 23.3.2024
Where: Parc Dre, Caernarfon
Time: 1-1.30pm

GCAMVAX 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 66 by 9 Usual Suspects
When: 28.3.2024
Where: Parc Snowdonia, Waunfawr, Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL55 4AQ
Time: 7pm to 9pm or when the last person leaves

GCAMKWG Six Peaks Adventure – Hello from Llandderfel by terrapintim & GeoPaul Event D1/T1
When: 22.4.2024
Where: Bryntirion Inn, Llandderfel, Bala, Gwynedd, LL23 7RA
Time: 7-8pm

GCAMKV0 Six Peaks Adventure – Snowdon Meet & Greet by terrapintim & GeoPaul D1/T4
When: 23.4.2024
Where: Snowdon Summit
Time: 12-12.30pm

Old Anglesey Aluminium Site Demolition of Chimney Stack

Orthios Site in Holyhead Continues With Demolition

March 20th sees the demolition of the iconic 122 meter chimney stack which has stood for last 50 years at the old Anglesey Aluminium site. The demolition is to make way for the new Anglesey Freeport.

Would you like to push the button? Holyhead RNLI are running a fund raising draw in the memory of their crew member Iwan Williams to press the button signalling the demolition.

Single prize draw entry starts from just £3. Entrants to the draw must be 18 years-old or over, but the winning entrant can bring a friend or family member to accompany them to the event (this person can be under 18).

To enter visit: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/holyhead-chimney-stack-prize-draw

Village Hall Week 2024

The Village Hall Series started in 2013 with the first cache placed by GeoJaxx in Denmead, Hampshire. It has steadily grown in popularity and currently can be found in 72 counties in England, Scotland, Wales, The Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

The geocaches can be set in any hall which is used by the community for local groups or available to hire for private functions (but not social clubs and halls for members only). They have various names including village hall, community hall, parish hall, reading room, church hall to name a few. There are thousands of halls within our communities so there is plenty of scope for the series to grow considerably.

There are very few Village Hall caches here in North Wales and only one event in the whole of Wales but the following profile badges are available to download for:

Placing a cache/Hosting an event
Attending a village hall event
Finding a village hall cache

CITO & Litter Pick, 16.7.2022

First we would like to thank everyone for attending GC9WJX6 CITO & Picnic in the Park and for all your hard work. Saturday was one of the hottest days so far this year, we were all glad of the shade offered by the trees in this park and adjoining woodland. It was very refreshing to find the area relatively litter free as in the past it has been a hot spot for general litter, rubbish and fly tipping. We still collected 10 bags of rubbish plus 5 blue boxes of recyclables, plastic, cans and glass. The worst area was behind Tesco recycling bins, here 5 of the 10 bags were filled with mainly clothes that had been thrown into the woodland.

Let’s hope this area stays litter free.

After everyone had returned to base we loaded up the wheel barrow with the tea & coffee, cakes etc, then headed into the park for our picnic.

A spot was chosen by Moseley Bach which just happened to be near the childrens playground. It was good to relax and catch up while the younger ones enjoyed the swings and slide. All too soon it was time to pack everything away and head home.

We would like to thank Tesco for its very kind denotation of cup cakes, fruit and bottled water which was very much appreciated by all.
Also we have to thank Gwynedd Council for their support and loan of equipment.

News & New Caches 23

There have been 3 new caches recently published, nice to see another fine pair!
GC9PPZH A Fine Pair #1662 ~ Salem by RichieBlod Multi D2/T2
Brooks’ Barmouth Bash series sees the addition of another 2 caches:
GC9QRVF Brooks’ Barmouth Bash meets Mawddach Meander by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GC9QRV0 Brooks’ Barmouth Bash #1a – Alternative Route by CazzaB80 Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Event Reminder

GC9QBKA CITO 2022 Season 1 by 9 Usual Suspects CITO Event

When: Sunday 10th April 2022
Where: Morfa Parc, Caernarfon
Time: 11am – 1pm

By attending this event you will earn the above souvenir and also be helping to take care of our local environment. Please note there is only limited roadside parking but we do have permission to park in Tescos carpark. We look forward to seeing you.

New CITO Equipment

As our regular litter picking attendees are very aware a lot of our equipment had seen better days and we have been struggling to replace. We are pleased to announce that we have finally made contact and have had a very successful meeting with Clean & Tidy, Gwynedd Councils new department that deal with issuing of equipment and sundries. We have a new supply of gloves, adults and childrens, different design litter pickers and bag hoops. The council would like feed back on the quality of the pickers and hoops, also any suggestions for future purchases of equipment. We have already requested the access to extra long handled pickers.

Event Reminders

Just a quick reminder of forth coming events, starting with tomorrows CITO.
GC9N9C1 Plas vs Plastic by Squaddie101 CITO D1/T1.5
When: Saturday 12th March 2022
Time: 9.30am – 4pm
Where: Plas Llanfair LL65 3LE
Why not attend the above event and be part of the Million Mile Beach Clean at the Inland Sea on Anglesey and earn 2022 CITO Season 1 Souvenir pictured below.

GC8MAT4 Community Celebration Event – Final Daily Grid by welshgirl11 & gmoseley88 D1/T1.5
When: Friday 18th March 2022
Time: 4pm to 6pm
Where: Dinas Dinlle
Join Lon & Gwyn in celebrating completing their Daily Grid at Dinas Dinlle. We are hoping to have a couple of new caches go live…………..

GC9PMX9 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 44 by 9 Usual Suspects Event D1/T1
When: Tuesday 29th March 2022
Time: 7pm to 9pm
Where: Anglesey Arms, Harbour Front, Caernarfon LL55 1SG

CITO 14th August 2021

This CITO (Cache in Trash Out) was our first post-covid lockdown official geocaching event since 14 March 2020 and a chance to restore some normality. The weather forecast was iffy so kudos to all who defied the Met Office forecasts and turned out, as on the day, we had only the occasional light shower to contend with. This location was selected because: we have picked here before and know the location, it is fairly child friendly, and above all there was some litter to be picked. It was great to catch up with friends some of whom came from as far as Macklesfield and Oldham. It was also great to see some new faces and junior cachers who made a great contribution. In all 23 assisted with the litter pick including Diapason16 who happened to be in the area looking for a cache, he rolled up his sleeves and mucked in, unlike his daughter, who like a stereotypical teenager rolled her eyes and sat on the wall with her mobile phone :-). We cleared from Penygroes to Groeslon and collected about 12 bags of rubbish from the cycle path. The litter was sorted and taken to Rhwngddwyryd, Garndolbenmaen Recycling Center for disposal.