News & New Caches 93

Just 3 new earthcaches have been published since our last post:

Premium Member Only
GCAA1JW Syncline or Anticline? by The Magna Defender Earthcache D3.5/T3.5
GCAA1GE Go With the Flow. by The Magna Defender Earthcache D2.5/T1.5
GCAA66R Criccieth Castle Columns by The Magna Defender Earthcache D2/T2.5

Event Reminders

GCA9NXV 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 58 by 9 Usual Suspects

When: Wednesday 28th June
Where: Car Park Dinas Dinlle
Time: 6.30pm to 8.30pm or when the last person leaves

For this months N&N we are doing something a little bit different by holding the event outside on the picnic benches at Dinas Dinlle. Either bring your own picnic or grab fish and chips from the highly recommended Surfer Chippy. (We have confirmed that they will be open.)

Let’s hope for a lovely sunny warm evening!

Please note the earlier start time of 6.30pm

Maker Magic

GCA8D3G Maker Magic: 9US Get Creative…..

Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle. LL54 6BB
When: 1st July 2023
Time: 2.00pm-6pm (the bar will remain open until the last person leaves!)

We are planning another fun afternoon of creativity with plenty of laughs and geochat.

Pete will be running a 3D printing workshop with the usual demonstrations plus taking a look at the advantages and disadvantages of 3D printed containers. In the makers area there will be a wide variety of materials, tools and containers for you to make unique geocaches. Help will be at hand if required. Need some inspiration? Then take a look at the large display of hand crafted containers on display.

As part of the event we will be running a competition for favourite custom local geocaches giving everyone a chance to vote for the winner. Please nominate your chosen caches in your ‘will attend’ logs remembering to quote GC code.

All refreshments are free, with coffee, tea and soft drinks available on a ‘self service’ basis through out the event, later in the day the bar will be open and we will be lighting the BBQ. To help us with planning and catering for the day please could you log ‘will attends’ in advance, include number of persons that will be attending and your nomination for local favourite caches.

We have very basic camping available and space for the odd caravan/motorhome, please message us for details.

Please note we are a working small holding and do have chickens, geese and sheep so no unruly dogs!

As part of our weekend of Maker Magic Celebrations there will be a few new caches going live at 6pm Friday evening………. all with interesting containers.

News & New Caches 92

There are no new caches or Adventure Labs to report since our last post, but we are working on a new series……..

Queen Vic’s Pillar Resurrected Again

GC52GYT QUEEN VIC’S PILLAR RESURRECTED (WBMC 13) by signyred D5/T5

Last Sunday saw this missing cache on the Nantlle ridge replaced. It’s in sight of our house yet I have never found it and I have visited the obelisk many times. Does anyone fancy going as a group and maybe an event here? Please let us know your thoughts through the comments.

The Solstice Souvenir

On June 21, 2023, the Northern Hemisphere will experience the height of summer and the “longest” day of the year, while the very same day will bring the depth of winter to the Southern Hemisphere and the “shortest” day of the year.

In celebration of the June solstice, Geocaching HQ created a souvenir for geocachers. To earn this special souvenir, geocachers must find a total of 21 geocaches, Event Caches, and/or Adventure Lab® Locations between June 18–24, 2023.

Virtual Rewards 4.0

Geocache Arten: Welche Cache Typen gibt es beim Geocaching?

Geocaching HQ has announced Virtual Rewards 4.0, giving another 4,000 lucky cache owners a chance to own a virtual cache.

Unlike prior Virtual Rewards, there’s no need to opt in or apply. Geocachers who meet the following criteria will automatically be eligible for selection on January 17, 2024.

You must have a non-Event geocache published in 2023 that has earned at least 4 Favorite points by December 31, 2023.
You must have created your geocaching account before June 13, 2023.
Prior Virtual Reward recipients are eligible to participate.
Players who opted-in for Virtual Reward 2.0 and 3.0, but did not receive a Virtual Cache will have a higher likelihood to receive a Virtual Reward 4.0

On January 17, 2024, Geocaching HQ will randomly select up to 4,000 eligible geocachers, with geographic distribution, to receive one Virtual Cache. Recipients will have one year to create their Virtual Cache page and submit it for review (January 17, 2024–January 17, 2025). The caches must comply with Virtual Cache-specific guidelines.

All geocaching community volunteers (reviewers, moderators, and translators) who qualify will receive a Virtual Reward as thanks for giving their time to support the geocaching community.

News & New Caches 90

There have been no new caches or Adventure Labs published since our last post.

This event is out of our area but as Suli is a regular attendee at our events we feel it deserves to be mentioned here. Shame it is on a Monday evening.

GCA9BR5 A Ten Year Celebration with the Hitman (2013-2023) by Hitman D1/T1

9 Usual Suspects Re-visit Ynys Enlli

GCA5EAK 9 Usual Suspects Re-visit Ynys Enlli Event by 9 Usual Suspects

Firstly we would like to Thank everyone who attended and making another fun 9US adventure.

After a week of very good weather and a good forecast for the weekend we were shocked when Pete picked up the message to confirm our sailing that there was some doubt in it taking place. There was high winds forecast for the afternoon, the 9.30 crossing was going ahead as planned but we had to call back at 8am when a more accurate assessment of the weather could be made. With FfiLli travelling on the 9.30 boat the event would have at least one attendee! At 8.02am we gathered around Petes phone to hear that we were in luck the boat was sailing as planned but to be prepared for ‘very wet crossings’.

The weather made for some ‘interesting’ crossings, especially the return journey where I think we all got very wet apart from Captain Colin and Bryan who managed to secure the only dry standing spot on the boat!

The highlight of the outward journey was getting close to the puffins, guillemots and other sea birds. On our arrival we headed to the cafe to set up the event, here we found the other 3 attendees who had arrived on the earlier boats enjoying the offerings of the cafe. During our four hour stay there was lots of comings and goings from our base at the cafe as everyone called in for refreshments as they explored the island, found the Ad Labs and caches. The breezy sunshine ensured we all dried very quickly.

For our return journey the breeze had developed into quite a strong wind making for some choppy seas and lots of spray soaking us all. Once in the shelter of the mainland the sea calmed and the boat stopped bouncing as the waves subsided. On our way out we had all commented on the large sea cave not ever expecting to get close let alone enter, but now on flat water, in we went. Amazing rock formations and such clear water, what a treat!

After thanking and paying Captain Colin we all headed up the hill to the carpark before finishing the cake and heading home. Just a fabulous day out.

Souvenir Challenges

Mays Wheel of Challenges finishes on Monday June 4th, so there is only a few days left to gain the 1,000 points to earn both souvenirs.

Junes Wheel of Challenges starts on Monday 5th June and runs until Sunday 2nd July. This challenge is all about seeing how many days you can get outside and find a geocache. There are three new souvenirs for easy, medium, or hard levels of the challenge.

Earn the easy souvenir for this month by logging a find on five different days. Earn the medium souvenir for this month by logging a find on ten different days. Earn the hard souvenir for this month by logging a find on 20 different days.

News & New Caches 89

Just one new traditional cache and couple of event reminders/updates.

GCA8Y30 Passing by the barrier by MagpieNorthWales Traditional D1/T1

Event Reminders

GCA5EAK 9 Usual Suspects Re-visit Ynys Enlli Event
When: Sunday 28th May 2023
Time: 12pm-4pm
Where: Café Tŷ Pellaf Farm, Ynys Enlli
I have just looked at the weather forecast, it looks perfect, so we are very confident there will be no problems with our ferry crossings. We will put an ‘announcement’ on the event page just to confirm our sailing. Don’t forget cameras, sunscreen and hats! See you Sunday.

GCA8D9R 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 57 by 9 Usual Suspects
When: Wednesday 31st May
Where: Anglesey Arms, Harbour Front, Caernarfon LL55 1SG
Time: 7pm to 9pm or when the last person leaves
For this months N&N we are back at the Anglesey Arms, lets hope for a lovely sunset!

Postponed Event

We are postponing our visit to Coed y Brenin as several of the caches are missing and we are not sure when they are to be replaced. As soon as the series is back up and running we will reschedule.

Springwatch 2023 is Local

The BBC’s Springwatch returns to our screens on Monday 29th at 7.30pm and will continue at 8pm from Tuesday 30th May until Thursday 15th June. This year our local wildlife will be featured in two live broadcasts from Gwaith Powdwr Nature Reserve on the 30th and 31st May and Cemlyn Nature Reserve on the 13th June. Plus there will be daily features from wild places around North Wales. If you miss any episodes the series will be available on iPlayer after the live broadcasts.

News & New Caches 88

Just 3 new caches, all around Llangefni, Anglesey, since our last post.

GCA8TE6 Bondys trail by CheesyPasta Traditional D1/T1.5
GCA8VP2 Around the bend by Cheesypasta Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GCA8W2Y If you go down to the woods today…! by Cheesypasta Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Ynys Enlli/Bardsey Island Event Info

GCA5EAK 9 Usual Suspects Re-visit Ynys Enlli Event

The ferry being launched recently.

We had not expected this event to be nearly as popular, we have attendees arriving on 3 different ferry sailings!

As there is little or no phone signal on the island, Pete and I have opened the adventure lab stages enabling access to the questions. For anyone travelling with us on the 11.30am ferry we will give a printed copy of the questions and the above map. The answers can then be logged on your return to the mainland where hopefully we will all get a good phone signal.

Trips are dependent on good weather so please be aware that our crossing may be subject to cancellation at very short notice. Sailings are confirmed around 6.30pm on the evening prior to departure. Once we have confirmation of our sailing is going ahead we will make an announcement on the cache page.

Bearing this in mind payment is made on the day in cash, therefore no deposits are needed.
Fares: Adult £45.00 Child £25.00

Please allow plenty of time for your journey, it is further than you think and if you get stuck behind slow moving traffic there is little chance of over taking on the narrow bendy lanes.

The parking is in the National Trust car park, a small field, N 52° 47.941 W 004° 43.915, Sat Nav LL53 8DA, Grid Ref SH163255, from here there is a 10 minute walk to Porth Meudwy along a rough fisherman’s track. There is no parking at point of departure.

You are advised to wear waterproofs for the crossing. Life jackets are mandatory and will be issued before departure.

There is a café at Tŷ Pellaf farm, run by the Roberts family, which serves a limited variety of drinks, ice cream, snacks and homemade cakes. It is advisable to bring your own basic supplies as the café can sometimes run low on cake!

Dogs are not permitted to visit the island.

The Bardsey Island Trust does not permit the flying of private drones anywhere on the island.

Lastly, don’t forget your camera and binoculars!

A Little Bit of History

Porth Meudwy, meaning ‘hermit’s cove’, is the traditional landing place for boats from Ynys Enlli.

In medieval times the abbey on the Ynys Enlli had many lands and privileges on the mainland. A Court and Exchequer was established at Cwrt, giving the farm its name, where legal and administrative duties were conducted. It is said that the abbott would declare the sentences of those who had been on trial whilst standing on the large stone in the farm courtyard. Records show that hangings took place on the farm, and one of the fields is called Bryn Crogbren, meaning ‘gallows hill’.

Before your visit we recommend taking a look at Bardsey.org for a fascinating look at the Islands history, wildlife and general points of interest.

News & New Caches 86

We have just one new event for July and an event reminder to report since our last post.

GCA7B67 The Chens on Tour 2023 – Llandanwg by the Chens
When: Saturday 15th July
Where: Y Maes Caffi, Beach Car Park, Llandanwg LL46 2SD
Time: 11-11.30am

The Chens are a couple from Devizes, Wiltshire, and will be touring around Wales in their caravan. They would love to meet up with local and not so local geocachers while staying in LLandanwg.

Event Reminder

Just a quick reminder its N&N tomorrow night.

GCA72GP 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 56 by 9 Usual Suspects
When: Wednesday 26th April 2023
Where: Parc Snowdonia, Waunfawr, Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL55 4AQ
Time: 7pm to 9pm or when the last person leaves

Hope to see you there…….

Souvenir Challenges

Wheel of Challenges

Aprils Wheel of Challenges finishes on April 30th, there are only a few days left to reach the maximum cache find score of a 100 to qualify for all 3 souvenirs.
Are you ready to start the next challenge which starts on May 1st?

Mays Wheel of Challenges starts on May 1st and runs to June 4th, there are just 2 souvenirs to earn, easy and hard. To earn the easy souvenir you must earn 100 points, to earn the hard souvenir you must reach 1000 points. To help you keep track of your current point total it will be shown on your leaderboard. Here are this months point values :

Found a cache with 10+ Favorite points	20
Received a Favorite point on an owned geocache	50
Found it*	10

*Log a Found it on any cache type including Adventure Lab® Locations

Blue Switch Day 2023

Prior to 2000, the U.S. military created and deployed satellites to produce accurate location information for military applications. Selective Availability restricted precise GPS data to the U.S. government. On May 2nd, 2000, the U.S. government “flipped the switch” and made accurate GPS available to all. The very next day, May 3rd, the first geocache was hidden.

Earn the Blue Switch Day 2023 souvenir by finding a geocache, Adventure Lab® Location, or by attending an Event between May 1st–3rd.

News & New Caches 85

Looks like everyone was out over Easter placing new caches, a good mixture of types, 3 Traditional, a Wherigo, Adventure Lab with bonus and an event all recently published.

GCA56PX Dylan gran by Dylansgran Traditional D2/T1.5
GCA70Q2 Reservoir Adventure by ClurPailing Traditional D2/T2
GCA70ZE Spring on the Seiont by Clueless_Goose Traditional D1.5/T2
GCA72H5 Cache y Cofi Dre by Clueless_Goose Wherigo D2.5/T1.5

Adventure Lab with Bonus Cache

Celtic Quest Created by RichieBlod 5 locations nonsequential

A circular route, see above map, following footpaths and back roads to visit ancients sites from the Neolithic period. Remember to collect the info for the bonus cache.

GCA714R Celtic Quest Bonus Cache by RichieBlod Mystery D2.5/T3

Event

New Souvenir: Blue Switch Day 2023!

Earn the Blue Switch Day 2023 souvenir by finding a geocache, Adventure Lab® Location, or by attending an Event between May 1st–3rd.

Aberlleiniog Castle Trail, Red Squirrels

Red Squirrel photo by Andy (YnysMonBirders)

If visiting Aberlleiniog Castle keep a look out for Red Squirrels. On a recent maintenance run we were rewarded by spotting high in the branches a Red Squirrel, as we watched it ran and jumped from branch to branch taking no notice of us. At this time of year they are easy to spot as the trees branches are bare only just coming into leaf, later in the summer when there is a full leaf canopy they will be much harder to see. This is the first time we have seen them here even though it is advertised they have been in residence for a while.

Return of the Glaslyn Ospreys

Aran, the male, returned on the 3rd April but sadly there is still no sign of his mate Mrs G, this would have been her 20th successful migration. The good news is that Aran has found himself another mate, an unrung female who he has been providing with fish and they have been seen mating.

Would anyone be interested in holding an event here? The centre caters for everyone with

Free car parking.
Toilets.
Disabled parking and access to the Visitor Centre and Toilets.
Dogs on leads welcome.
Picnic area with spectacular views.
A warm welcome from knowledgeable volunteers.
Steam trains on the Welsh Highland Railway passing nearby.

We suggest in June when, hopefully, there will be young in the nest and maybe have a picnic. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

CITO, Let’s Make Spaces for Wildlife

GCA5MYF CITO 2023 Season 1, Let’s Make Spaces for Wildlife by 9 Usual Suspects

This was the first 9 Usual Suspect CITO event that did not involve picking up litter. The activities ranged from making bat/bird boxes, insect/beetle buckets, bee-friendly seed bombs, nearly every attendee took something home.

Please let us know if your bat/bird boxes attract any residents and how many bees enjoy the flowers from the seed bombs.

Again we must thank everyone for attending and helping to make another successful 9 Usual Suspects event. A special mention goes to Bess’s Friends (Ray, the Woodwork Teacher and Julie) for all their hard work in manufacturing the bird/bat box, insect house kits and help in organising this event.

News & New Caches 84

Two new caches and an Adventure Lab have been published just in time for the Easter break.

GCA6MZR Saron: Rest & Reflect by Clueless_Goose Traditional D2/T1.5

Premium Member Only

GCA6J8X Mackenzie Pier by Glaslyn1 Multi D2.5/T2

Adventure Lab
Ynys Llanddwyn/Llanddwyn Island created by RichieBlod 5 locations nonsequential

This Adventure Lab is based upon the legend of Saint Dwynwen, the Welsh patron saint of lovers and a little history of the beautiful isle.

Event Reminder

GCA5MYF CITO 2023 Season 1, Let’s Make Spaces for Wildlife by 9 Usual Suspects
When: Friday 7^th April, 2023 (Good Friday)
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle, Caernarfon LL54 6BB
Time: 2.00-4.00pm

GIFF Returns in 2023

This year sees the 10 anniversary of Geocaching International Film Festival (GIFF), it began in 2013 as part of the annual Geocaching Block Party held at Geocaching HQ, in Seattle. The finalist films were screened in a park near HQ and it was a huge success. This event was successfully repeated again in 2014, but in 2015 awful wet weather forced the outdoor event to be cancelled. With the finalist films ready to be shown an alternative plan was made and the film festival was released to geocachers across the world to be shown at GIFF events. This was very popular with geocaching community with 449 GIFF events hosted in 46 different countries, one of those events was hosted by 9 Usual Suspects at Witch’s Brew, Pwllheli. Since then GIFF has become an annual event in 9US’s calendar.

There was no film festival in 2022 due to HQ focusing on the 20th anniversary celebrations that had to be deferred from 2020 due to Covid 19.

To mark this special anniversary year gold has been chosen for the colour of GIFF 2023. The GIFF 2023 Souvenir will be available to anyone attending an official GIFF Event from Thursday, November 9th to Sunday, November 19th. 9 Usual Suspects will be hosting their event on Sunday 19th, venue yet to be confirmed.

Have you ever fancied making a film? GIFF 2023 may be the time to make your red carpet debut……
The deadline for submitting a film for this years GIFF is August 3rd.

News & New Caches 80

Just one new cache to report since our last post, please note Premium Member only.

GCA5YRH Thomas Hughes Port by Glaslyn1 Traditional D2.5/T2

CITO Event Thank You

GCA5C5J CITO 2023 Season 1 by 9 Usual Suspects

For this event we returned to Caernarfon to one of our regular CITO sites Morfa Park/Parc Dre and the wooded area behind Tesco. This being our 6th CITO here since April 2018. We have increased the area picked but it is always disappointing to find so much rubbish when the park litter bins are emptied weekly. On the positive side there isn’t the fly tipping problem that we first encountered.

The hot spot behind Tesco recycling bins, again nice and tidy

Again the ‘Weather God’ looked after us, holding off the rain for the litter pick, the cake, paned and geochat, even for the visit to the recycling centre but sadly not for the unloading of the car.

Todays hard working Team with the results of their labours

Another trailer filled with all the usual cans, bottles, fast food containers and general litter. The odd finds included a couple of bread trays, part of a lifebuoy/ring stand, a silver sequinned stiletto shoe, a pair of glasses, a couple of old milk bottles and a Japanese soft drink Codd-bottle.

According to the guy at the tip the oldest milk bottle, pictured above, is from the 1960’s due to the telephone number for the dairy being Chwilog 251.

Hatakosen Ramune Soda – Blueberry Flavour 200m modern Codd-bottle

The design for the above bottle was patented in 1872 by Hiram Codd a carbonated soft drink manufacturer from Camberwell, London. The original bottles were made from thick glass to withstand internal pressure with a chamber to house a marble and a rubber washer in the neck. The bottles were filled upside down, pressure from the gas in the bottle forces the marble against the washer, sealing in the carbonated drink. The bottle is pinched into a special shape to provide a chamber into which the marble is pushed to open the bottle. This prevents the marble from blocking the neck as the drink is poured.

Ramune (ラムネ) (Japanese pronunciation: ɾamɯne) History

In 1884 at Kobe, Japan, a British pharmacist, Alexander Cameron Sim, started producing a carbonated lemonade drink in Codd-bottles. This soon became very popular with the local Japanese after it was advertised in the Tokyo Mainichi Newspaper as a preventative for cholera. Today the drink remains a popular soft drink, sold worldwide, under the name of Ramune and is still available in Codd-bottles. There have been 57 different flavours which include peach, melon, and bubble gum, some of the more unusual flavours include takoyaki, curry, and wasabi. In Japan the empty bottles are recycled.

What have the council done to the park?

We quote Norman Hughes from the council, ‘I am pleased to confirm that Cyngor Gwynedd have completed work at “Parc Dre” hopefully you will notice a great improvement and will lessen some of the workload for all volunteers.’
How could you not notice, I think the best description is they have implemented a scorched earth policy. Gone are all the massive Rhododendrons that surrounded the lake leaving vast areas of stumps and wood chip. It will be interesting to see how the council maintain their ‘improvements’.

At least the resident swans are still here

A big improvement to the park would be the re-opening of the toilets.

A very big Thank You to all who attended, your efforts are, as always, very much appreciated.

Time	Type	Height
03:34	high	3.81m
10:06	low	2.45m
16:02	high	4.12m
22:57	low	2.06m

Tag: 9 Usual Suspects