Category: News

News & New Caches 75

Firstly we would like to thank everyone who responded to our ‘Event Suggestions’ in our last post. Looks like we are going to have a busy fun filled year. We will shortly be publishing an event calendar for 2023.

One new Adventure Lab plus bonus has appeared since our last post.

Premium Member Only
GCA4HY7 Y Felinheli Hike Bonus Cache by escapefromwork Traditional D2.5/T2

Adventure Lab

Y Felinheli Hike by escapefromwork Nonsequential

This Adventure Lab explores the pretty village of Y Felinheli, situated on the banks of the Menai Straits with beautiful views across the water to Ynys Mon. Remember to collect the bonus information.

Event

GCA4W8J 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 54 by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T1
When: Tuesday 28th February, 2023
Where: Anglesey Arms, Harbour Front, Caernarfon LL55 1SG
Time: 7pm to 9pm or when the last person leaves

For this months Nosh & Natter we are returning to the Anglesey Arms, Caernarfon, I’m assured that they will be open for food……… Please note this event is on Tuesday 28th.

Event Reminder

GCA4ENX 9 Usual Suspects Visit Martin & Linda by 9 Usual Suspect D1/T1
When: Sunday 19th February, 2023
Where: Bryntirion Inn, Llandderfel, Bala LL23 7RA
Time: 12-1pm

We are heading to the Bryntirion for a couple of reasons, Sunday lunch and to discover this Adventure Lab cache ‘Whodunnit at the Bryntirion Inn?’
Join us as we play detectives to solve the classic murder mystery and then find the bonus cache.
GC9G549 Whodunnit at the Bryntirion Inn – Labcache Bonus by PhilPamAndRob Puzzle D3.5/T2.5
There is no online menu but for Sunday lunch there will be a choice of roast beef, lamb, or chicken and 3 vegetarian options for £11.95.
Need a lift? Contact Pete or Ann.

Valentines Gift from HQ

Geocaching have updated the Geocaching® app so all players can see highly Favourited caches at a glance.  Caches are highlighted by their Favourite point total above their cache icon on the map. To commemorate this occasion, they are giving all Premium members an extra 10 Favourite points to award. Furthermore, to recognise that there wouldn’t be caches to find and give Favourite points to without our community’s ingenious hiders, all Premium members who own a geocache, will receive 20 extra Favourite points.
This caused great amusement in our household due to Naturesbyte’s reluctancy to parting with favourite points, he has accumulated the grand sum of 237 unused points, with the addition of the ‘bonus 20’ his total currently stands at 257. Can anyone beat this?

News & New Caches 57

Just a couple of events and one new cache to report since our last post.

GCA0C7V Under Bess’s Friends Nose by 9 Usual Suspects Traditional D1/T1
A little something from their friends to celebrate Julie and Rays 20 years of Geocaching.

Events

GCA0TG6 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 51 by 9 Usual Suspects
When: Wednesday 26th October
Where: Anglesey Arms, Harbour Front, Caernarfon LL55 1SG
Time: 7pm to 9pm or when the last person leaves

Christmas Dinner

GCA0TH4 Christmas Dinner – Nosh & Natter 52 by 9 Usual Suspects
Where: Tafarn Yr Afr/Goat Inn, Glandwyfach, Porthmadog LL51 9LJ
When: Saturday 26th November
Time: 7-9pm or when the last person leaves
Dress Code: Anything Christmas

For this years Christmas Dinner we are at Tafarn Yr Afr /The Goat Inn, Glandwyfach a new venue for 9 Usual Suspects. We have made a previsional booking for Saturday 26th November at 7pm, cost for 2 courses £22, 3 courses £25, please note the duck is £3 extra, also coffee and minced pies are £2.50. Menu choices plus a £10 deposit need to be with me by Saturday 12th November at the very latest.

Tafarn Yr Afr – 2022 – The Goat Inn Christmas Party Menu

Cream of Parsnip and Sweet Potato Soup (v)
Smoked Salmon and Prawn Salad with Marie Rose Sauce
Chicken Liver, Tequila & Cranberry Pâté Served with Red Onion Chutney and Wholemeal Toast
Crispy Halloumi Fries with Honey and Sesame
~
Traditional Roast Turkey Served with all the Trimmings
Braised Steak in a Rich Brandy and Onion Gravy
Grilled Salmon Fillet with a Lemon and Asparagus Sauce
Half Roast Duck Served with Morello Cherry Sauce (additional £3)
Vegetable Wellington with Madeira Sauce

(All of the above served with seasonal vegetables and roast potatoes)
~
Traditional Christmas Pudding and Brandy Sauce
Baileys Creme Brûlée
Terry’s Chocolate Orange Cheesecake
Raspberry and White Chocolate Pavlova
~
Coffee & Mince Pies £2.50

3 Course £25pp / 2 Course £22pp

Pre-order required, £10 non-refundable deposit required upon receipt of pre-order.

PanIQ Room, Christmas Special

PanIQ Rooms, 90 Stryd Fawr, Porthmadog, LL49 9NW

After Saturdays enjoyable escape room adventures in ‘Madog’s Asylum’ it was suggested a return visit to test everyones skills in ‘The Clairvoyants Curse’. Sadly this room is soon changing to ‘Christmas Chaos’ which will be available through out the festive period. Julie has made a provisional booking for 2 afternoon sessions on Saturday 26th November, same day as the Christmas Dinner! Interested? To reserve a place if not already on her list and for further details either contact us or Julie through Bess’s Friends geocaching account.

And Finally

GCA02D8 9 Usual Suspects Visit Summit by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T5

Again we were very lucky with the weather, no sign of the forecast rain until we were all back at home, though we could have done without the wind!

We would like to Thank everyone who attended this event especially Dave for the ‘pop up’ cafe, we all appreciated a hot drink. I apologise for the route up, it was not the best! Again Thanks Dave for the easier route down. Hope to see everyone for our next adventure…….

News & New Caches 56

We have 3 new Earthcaches published in our area, just in time for International Earthcache Day.

Premium Member Only
GC9V8WH Black Rock Sands – Intrusion Cave by The Magna Defender Earthcache D1/T2.5
GC9V8WB Black Rock Sands – Crystal Colour Cave by The Magna Defender Earthcache D2/T2.5
GC9V8WA Black Rock Sands – Faults and Folds by The Magna Defender Earthcache D3.5/T2.5

Adventure Labs

We have 2 new Adventure Labs that explore West Llandudno and an interesting site on the Great Orme.

Llandudno – West Shore created by smart_ginger nonsequential
This Adventure Lab takes you along the west shore of Llandudno towards Deganwy with, on a good day, far reaching views along the beautiful North Wales coastline.

Great Orme history – WWII Coastal Artillery School created by smart_ginger nonsequential
This Adventure Lab explores the interesting site of the Coastal Artillery School, which opened in 1940 and is now a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

Event Reminders

Ray back 2005

GC9YX0Y 20 Years Of Geocaching. by Bess’s Friends

When: Friday 7th October
Where: Bragdy Cybi, Unit 4a, Penrhos Business Park, Holyhead. LL65 2FD
Time: 7pm-9pm
Come and lift a glass or two to celebrate Julie and Ray’s 20 year anniversary since they started their geocaching career.

Paniq Rooms, Porthmadog

When: Saturday 8th October
Where: Painiq Rooms, High street, Porthmadog
Time: 11am-2pm
Ever fancied testing your puzzle skills in an Escape room? Why not join other local geocaches for a fun day with plenty of challenges.
For more details contact Julie, Bess’s Friends through her geocaching profile

International Earthcache Day & Event Reminder

By discovering an earthcache over the weekend of 9th-10th October you will earn a souvenir. I’m not sure why Geocaching HQ call it International Earthcache Day when to earn the souvenir a log on an earthcache anytime over the weekend qualifies, surely it should be International Earthcache Weekend!
If you do not have premium membership and use the Geocaching® app, limitations based on D/T ratings will be removed for this weekend on all non-premium earthcaches.

Event Reminder

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……..

CITO 2022 Season 2, Thank You

GC9ZVCP CITO 2022 Season 2 by 9 Usual Suspects

Norman Hughes, Clean & Tidy Officer, on behalf of Gwynedd Council would like us to pass on their thanks and appreciation to all attendees for the work we do.

Christmas Dinner

I know we are only at the beginning of October and no one wants to think about Christmas, but we really do need to book a venue by the end of this month. Proposed date and venue is Wednesday 30th November back at the Anglesey Arms, Caernarfon. Please could you let us know if this date and venue are OK, once we have some rough numbers I will contact them to book the evening, obtain menus and most importantly the cost. At this stage there is no commitment.

CITO 2022 Season 2

Event Attendees

GC9ZVCP CITO 2022 Season 2 by 9 Usual Suspects

Dinas Dinlle is beautiful whatever the weather, but today, the weather was perfect, blue skies, sunshine and just enough breeze to form some lovely waves.

Elaine hard at work

Base camp was set up in the corner of the first carpark to be close to the amenities. After everyone was issued with equipment and had listened to Petes brief safety briefing we all dispersed and collected litter from a very wide area.

We came here a couple of weeks ago while looking for some where to hold a Season 2 CITO and there was quite a bit of litter around, plenty for a worth while litter pick. Today we found very little litter, either the high winds on Friday had blown the rubbish away or someone has had a bit of a clear up. We still picked several bags, mostly small bits of plastic and the usual drink bottles/cans plus a fish and large polystyrene box.

After the litter pick we all returned to base for refreshments of cold drinks and cake. Eventually, after lots of geochat and a few photographs, everything was loaded into the car and people drifted off home or to the chip/ice cream shop.

Thank you everyone for supporting us by attending and helping make another very successful event also not forgetting Gwynedd Council for suppling the equipment and their on going support of our events.

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.

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 42

Just one new cache to report:

GC9XQ0Q Borth Y Gest seafront geocache by cadielsss Traditional D1.5/D1.5

Beginning of Signals Third Labyrinth Souvenirs

Monday 1st August sees the start of the third labyrinth challenge which runs to October 3rd. Signal continues his journey through the mysterious land of labyrinths following the path out of the swamp to find the path leads to a mysterious cave. The cave is home to a troll, Signal needs your help to get past the troll and continue his quest. Gemstones are the special bonus item for the labyrinth in the cave and are worth 50 points. There are two souvenirs available, you must collect 50 points to earn the first souvenir and 500 points to earn the second souvenir.

Gemstones are the bonus items, every time you log a geocache you will have a chance of finding one. If you go geocaching with a group of people, there’s a chance that one member of the group might find an item at a cache, but others don’t.

Here are the point values for the labyrinth in the cave:

Found an Adventure Lab Cache (Adventure Location)10
Found a cache with 10+ Favourite points30
Attended any Event30
Found an EarthCache30
Found a Multi-Cache20
Found a Mystery Cache20
Found a Signal’s Labyrinth item50
Found it*15

*Log a Found it on any other cache type
The maximum number of points you can earn for any cache log is 80 points.

Piratemania & UK Mega

Today sees the start of ‘UK Mega Week’ with the gates of Piratemania opening at 12pm……………hopefully we will be there in the queue!

Hear ye! Hear ye!  All rapscallions and Privateers this is their current event timetable
Thursday 28th July
GC9RKE9 Piratemania Meet & greet
8 bells prompt! (that be 8PM for landlubbers)

Friday 29th July
GC9RQEF Friday night with the pirates
Sail with us from 8PM till late

Saturday 30th July
GC9M3MT Piratemania 14 (2022) Pirates Pudding & Tarrrt’s
The BIG Day itself!

Sunday 31th July
GC9RQFC Pointy Pirates Flash Mob Day!
Come dressed as a Pirates or be cursed! 10.00am

GC9RQG4 The Pirate Quiz night
be on the  evening tide at 7.30PM