Keeping the fun in Geocaching
GCB3F98 Pi Day Party
When: Saturday 15th March, 2025
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle LL54 6BB
Time: 3.14pm to 5.14pm or when the last person leaves
The tradition to celebrate Pi Day began in the United States and has since gained worldwide recognition. We will be celebrating by sampling many different types of pies.
Sadly the 14th March falls on a Friday so we will be having our event 24 hours late!
Nine new caches, 7 traditionals, a multi and an earthcache have been published since our last post:
GCA9NZC Bright Eyes Revived by 9 Usual Suspects Traditional D2/T3.5
GCA9RBX Fly Over by 9 Usual Suspects Traditional D3.5/T1
GCA9WT2 The Gateway to Talysarn Hall by 9 Usual Suspects Traditional D3/T1.5
GCAAC90 Take a Break, Look at that View! by 9 Usual Suspects Traditional D3/T2.5
GCAADDX Out for Zero by 9 Usual Suspects Traditional D2.5/T2
GCAADZA Cornish Beam Engine House by 9 Usual Suspects Multi D2/T2
GCAAM10 By the steamtrain tracks bye e+l Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GCAAPCB Kyle’s Cache by Destructo405 Traditional D2/T2.5
GCAA66P Coedydd Beddgelert a Cheunant Aberglaslyn by The Magna Defender Earthcache D3/T3
Wheel of Challenge, Streak Star!
The Wheel of Challenge, ‘Out and About’, finished on Sunday 2nd July. There is no break as the next challenge, Streak Star! started on Monday 3rd July and finishes on Sunday 6th August. For this challenge it is all about how long you can keep a daily find streak going. There are 3 souvenirs available.
Easy Souvenir is awarded after completing a two day find streak.
Medium Souvenir is awarded after completing a seven day find streak.
Hard Souvenir is awarded after completing a twenty eight day streak.
We presume all cache types, events and Adventure Lab stages count as a find.
This souvenir is not connected to the leaderboard. Premium members can keep track of streaks statistics in the Geocaching® mobile app and also see detailed statistics including streaks on the website.
The next challenge will be announced on the 1st August.
Events Reviews & News
GCA5MYF CITO 2023 Season 1, Let’s Make Spaces for Wildlife by 9 Usual Suspects
Do you remember the seed bombs we made at this event? The above photos are from Ali showing her success including a bumble bee feeding on the borage flowers.
GCA9NXV 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 58
All I can say is ‘All the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry’……… When we put this event in for review the weather was fab. Sunday we checked with the chip shop who confirmed they would be open, luckily Jen also checked and tipped us off that they were going to be closed. Only one thing for it, dig out the BBQ! The morning weather looked very much against us, grey drizzle that by lunchtime had deteriorated to heavy rain and strong wind. But once again the weather god took pity on us and gave us a lovely sunny evening with some amazing cloud formations. Thank you to everyone for attending and making another memorable 9US event.
GCA8D3G Maker Magic: 9US Get Creative….. by 9 Usual Suspects
We spent most of the week leading up to this event looking at weather forecasts, Saturdays weather varied from dry & sunny to heavy rain & strong winds. We decided to go with just one tent, squeeze everything into the bar and covered area. A very BIG THANK YOU to Richard & Elaine for answering our call for help in setting up on Friday, especially their assistance in putting the tent up in the rain!
What a fun day it turned out to be with lots of geochat and the usual banter. The makers table and the 3D printing demonstrations proved very popular. After the BBQ it was not long before Mike started the games.
Knife throwing is definitely a new one for 9US! The bar stayed open till late………. amazingly there was not too many headaches Sunday morning!
I must apologise to everyone who wasted there time looking for the 2 caches that had gone missing before they were published. I will try and get them replaced this week.
We would like to Thank everyone for sharing their original caches, can’t wait for Bess’s Friends cleverly constructed caches to go ‘live’, all the contributions of food and drink, the team of washer uppers and everyone who supported us by buying raffle tickets. Lastly Thank everyone for attending without your support there would be no events.
Other Bits
I apologise for the event to Ballast Island not happening, we hope to reschedule later in the year.
A date for your diary, our Halloween Party will be Friday 3rd November from 6pm until the last person leaves.
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 |
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.
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 7th 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.
2016: 123 film submissions | 16 finalists | 526 Events | 44 countries
2017: 47 submissions | 17 finalists | 601 Events | 55 countries
2018: 83 submissions | 16 finalists | 656 Events | 58 countries
2019: 54 submissions | 16 finalists | 688 Events | 56 countries
2020: Cancelled due to 20th anniversary celebrations
2021: 61 submissions | 17 finalists | 425 Events | 40 countries
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.
One new traditional cache has been published since our last post and one event awaiting publication.
GCA47BR Mural by Glaslyn1 Traditional D2/T1.5
Event
GCA4CH4 9 Usual Suspects Get Puzzled by 9 Usual Suspects
When: Sunday 26th February, 2023
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle LL54 6BB (Pete & Ann’s)
Time: 2.30pm – 4.30pm
Are you stuck on a puzzle cache? Maybe we can help one another with hints and some fresh ideas, so come and join us for an afternoon of puzzle fun.
Not interested in puzzles caches? Then still join us for a geochat, the Cache Bar will be open, hot drinks will be available on a self service basis and it wouldn’t be a 9US event without cake!
February Nosh & Natter
Please note this event will be Tuesday 28th, venue to be confirmed.
Signal’s Labyrinth Challenge, The Dragon’s Lair
Monday 6th February sees the end of the current labyrinth challenge and the beginning of the final labyrinth in this challenge, The Dragon’s Lair. Like the other maze challenges there are 2 souvenirs available, 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. In the Dragon’s Lair finding a multi cache is worth the maximum 35 points, with the bonus item, hams, earning an extra 50 points. For some reason Geocaching HQ believe a dragons favourite food is ham! Like previous mazes the bonuses 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 Multi-Cache | 35 |
| Found a Mystery Cache | 30 |
| Attended an Event | 25 |
| Found a cache with 10+ Favorite points | 20 |
| Found a Signal’s Labyrinth item | 50 |
| Found it* | 15 |
*Log a Found it on any other cache type
This challenge runs until Monday 3rd April 2023. If you’ve earned all 12 available Signal’s Labyrinth souvenirs from each of the 6 labyrinths, you will be awarded the “You brought Signal back to HQ” souvenir.
Save the bees: but which ones? (Menai Bridge) by North Wales Wildlife Trust
Nothing to do with geocaching but may bee of interest. This free lecture about bees and the threats they face is by Jonathan Garratt. You do not have to be a member to attend. For more information and to book visit North Wales Wildlife Trust .
When: Wednesday 22 February 2023
Where: Thomas Telford Centre, Mona Road, Menai Bridge, Anglesey, LL59 5EA
Time: 7:30pm – 9:00pm
9 Usual Suspects would like to take this opportunity to say a very BIG THANK YOU to everyone for their support and making 2022 a very special geocaching year. We also wish everyone Blwyddyn Newydd Dda/Happy New Year and look forward to another year of fun and adventures………….
We have put together a video of our 2022 escapades………
Bet you can’t wait to see what we are planning for 2023!
3 dates for your diary:
GCA31Z2 9 Usual Suspects Say Goodbye to 2022 by 9 Usual Suspects
Where: Dinas Dinlle
When: Saturday 31st December, 2022
Time: 10.30-11.00am
There is a rumour that a new set of Adventure Labs plus a bonus cache may appear during this event.
GCA3214 9 Usual Suspects Say Hello 2023 by 9 Usual Suspects
Where: Ty Coch Inn, Porthdinllaen, Morfa Nefyn, Gwynedd LL53 6DB
When: Sunday 1st January, 2023
Time: 12.30-1.30pm or when the last person leaves
According to the pubs website ‘The Ty Coch Inn is arguably the best pub in Wales and OFFICIALLY in the top ten beach bars in the world…’
Please note the Ty Coch does not open until 12pm, food is only available until 2.30pm and there is no table reservations.
GCA31ZX 9 Usual Suspects Present Ski Sunday by 9 Usual Suspects
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle LL54 6BB
When: Sunday 15th January, 2023
Time: 2-4.15pm or the last person leaves……
The Cache Bar will be open, hot drinks available all afternoon and fondue will be on the menu.
9 Usual Suspects Visit Penrhyn Quarry
GCA2704 9 Usual Suspects Visit Penrhyn Quarry by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T1
We would like to thank everyone for attending on a very cold Sunday afternoon. It was our first event here in the Blondin Restaurant, chosen because of the facilities and to launch our slate geocoins, Penrhyn Quarry being the source of the slate. We must say thanks to Mike for suppling the entertainment, a new game to us, Fossball. Who says geocachers are not competitive?
We still have some coins available at £9.00 each, to place an order please contact us through the comments or message 9 Usual Suspects geocaching account.
Zip World, Velocity 2
Do you fancy zooming down a 1.5 kilometre zip line at speeds up to a 100 miles per hour?
In planning events for 2023 we are considering the Blondin Restaurant but also giving attendees the opportunity to ‘fly’ Velocity 2. Prior to Covid we had a very positive response from Zip World about hosting an event here, placing a geocache and discounts on Velocity 2. Before we approach Zip World to negotiate discounts we need rough numbers for those interested in the zip wire or maybe one of the other activities at Penrhyn Quarry, Quarry Karts or Quarry Flyer.
Note To join us on Velocity 2 you do not have to be a geocacher, friends and family are very welcome.
Please contact us through the comments or message 9 Usual Suspects geocaching account.
Bob & Judy (Jude100)
Bob and Judy are now settled into their bungalow at Chorley, though they very much miss North Wales and their geocaching friends. Their new home overlooks Astley Park, is in easy walking distance to the centre of Chorley and most importantly close to their family. They would like to say ‘Hello’ to all their geocaching friends and wish them a very Happy Christmas and New Year.
Just two new traditional caches published since our last post:
GCA2QQK Golygfa Cob Porthmadog (Porthmadog Cob View) by Hitch-Hikers Traditional D1.5/T2.5
GCA2TNZ Cornel Cob Crwn (Cob Crwn Corner) by Hitch-Hikers Traditional D2/T1.5
Be safe in the hills and mountains this winter
To have safe adventures in the hills and mountains, it’s important to plan ahead and be prepared for the conditions. Here are some tips to help you have a safe and enjoyable time:
By following these tips and using common sense, you can have a safe and enjoyable adventures this winter.
9 Usual Suspects 2022
We are in the process of compiling a YouTube video of our 2022 Geocaching adventures. Have you any photos/video that you would like to be included? If so please email them to me, ann@birdbrook.net, in original or large format.
and finally…..
We have relaunched the 9 Usual Suspects website today, with an improved look, easier to use and the Russian hackers locked out! It will still be primarily for Geocaching but will include anything that catches our collective attention, so if you have anything to contribute please let us know. e.g. the favourite cache series that has been started, what’s your favourite and why? Also, there is an improved diary section, if you want an event added give us a shout.