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 60

Since our last post we have a new series at Bala by martin&lindabryn published to coincide with their Halloween event. Please note number 3 has not yet been published.

GCA1C1X Mary Jones Took a Walk 1 by martin&lindabryn Traditional D1/T1
GCA1C1K Mary Jones Took a Walk 2 by martin&lindabryn Traditional D1/T1
GCA1C1E Mary Jones Took a Walk 4 by martin&lindabryn Traditional D1/T1
GCA1C09 Mary Jones Took a Walk 5 by martin&lindabryn Traditional D1/T1
GCA1BZA Mary Jones Took a Walk 6 by martin&lindabryn Traditional D1/T1
GCA1BYK Mary Jones Took a Walk 7 by martin&lindabryn Traditional D1/T1
GCA1BXM Mary Jones Took a Walk 8 by martin&lindabryn Traditional D1/T1.5

We have one new Earthcache please note this cache is Premium Member only.

GC9V8XA Stromatolites by The Magna Defender Earthcache D2.5/T4

Snag the Tag

Not sure what Snag the Tag is all about? Click here to read Jacks post

Celestial Witches Cat Hunt

This new game started on 28th October, 2022 and runs until 28th February 2023 so plenty of time to get out and find a little cat.

Toil Trouble

Stella and Nebula, two very mischievous witches have been amusing themselves all summer; however, they carelessly lost their familiars, cats that they rely on to harness their magical powers. Luna and Sola will be disappointed if the hocus pocus is not restored, and the cosmic equilibrium between the wizards and the witches will be threatened. We need your help to find their cats Toil and Trouble and restore the balance.

The game is simple:

(1) Go to a mystical place on the map where a green Toil () or Trouble () cat icon appears.

(2) If you get there first, you will find a cat tag waiting for you.

(3) Take the tag and claim it online as soon as possible.

(4) You will then receive instructions how to get a trackable Celestial Witch geocoin prize that combines with the tag! How cool is that?

New tags appear at random times so be sure to set an alert. As a finder you can find one of each cat. Get them both to restore the balance.

Redemption rules: Strictly one coin of each type per household (not per account or family member); One Trouble tag, One Toil tag, that is it! There is no cost for the geocoin, but you are responsible for any shipping charges.

Hider deadline: January 7th, 2023, Redemption deadline: February 27th, 2023

Game questions: support@snagthetag.com, Redemption questions: support@geoswag.com

We know it will be very competitive, remember hidden tags are published at 7am and 7pm. Good Luck!

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 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……..

Post Card from the Azores, Flores

After five and a half years planning we are here in Flores, the most westerly point of Europe, surrounded by the Atlantic ocean, next stop the USA. The scenery is truly amazing and we find ourselves repeatedly exclaiming WOW. With Waterfalls over half a kilometre high and volcano calderas two a penny here it’s hard to describe the beauty. Geocaches however are a contrast often a small fragile plastic bottle from a popular local non alcoholic drink being abandoned in strategic locations, without the respect of private property or stone walls. Our lack of Portuguese is a handicap even with google translate often the text and hint are often incomprehensible.

Ann@Birdbrook’s favourite caches

GC4WEDK 147 Snooker Challenge D5/T4 Challenge Cache UK
I like a good challenge and this is certainly one. For this cache all you have to do is find 36 caches in a day, simple, well it’s not quite that easy. Basically, you are playing geocaching snooker, different types of cache count as the different coloured balls as in snooker and you have to score a maximum break of 147! See the cache page for the rules. The idea for this cache is “borrowed” from Just-Us-Two, the original cache being GC4NYHP.
Disappointedly we failed this challenge on our first attempt, too many DNF’s and too long spent looking for parking spots resulted in us running out of time. Having learnt from our mistakes we planned our next attempt like a military operation – even having a dry run to check parking spots. We had a great sense of achievement in signing the logbook of the well-hidden nano.

GC1TG4P Intertidal Footprints D5/T3.5 Earthcache UK
I am not a big fan of earthcaches but this one is very special. Coastal erosion at Formby has revealed the sub-fossil footprints of humans, animals and birds preserved in laminated silt exposures. Due to constant erosion and shifting sand, the coordinates are for the general area. We had tried twice unsuccessfully to find this earthcache so signed up for The National Trust Guided walk. Our guide was excellent, answered all our questions and took us to an area about 500m away from the published coordinates where we immediately found human footprints. At the first location, we found Human, Oyster Catcher and what was probably Aurochs footprints. The best discovery of the day was a trail of footprints left by an adult with a child’s set of prints running alongside. They looked so perfect that they could have been made that morning. At the second location a bit further south, we found Crane and Red Deer, here the laminated deposit was a completely different colour. The guided walk is highly recommended for this one, cost about £5.00 – worth every penny!

A Red Deer hoof print from approx 4,000 years ago.

GCKCJV Ghost Village (Wiltshire) D5/T1.5 Virtual UK
This is one of those places I would never have known about, let alone visited if it had not been for geocaching. The virtual cache is found in Imber, Salisbury Plain, a village taken over by the army in 1943 as a training ground. Originally the residents were told that they would be allowed to return after the war but this was never permitted. As the village finds itself in the centre of a military range danger area it is only open to the public at certain times of the year and with very strict access rules. The whole experience is very surreal, the drive across Salisbury Plain with its abandoned tanks to the perfectly preserved church and graveyard.

A house converted into a training room Imber

GC6K8BF Ogof Clogwyn D5/T5 Letterbox UK
I have not found many letterbox caches mainly because there are very few in our local area. While planning a trip to find the oldest cache in Wales this letterbox caught my attention initially because of its type but also it being a D5/T5. I’m not that good with confined spaces but after studying the cache page and a bit of general research on the internet there didn’t appear to be any tight squeezes or anything too difficult. Ogof Clogwyn is rated as a beginners cave therefore it has plenty of space and head room. This cave really has the WOW factor. The walls are lined with amazing rock formed shelves, so, as with any cave/mine, hard hats are a must. I’m surprised there is not an Earthcache here. The hardest bit was getting into the cave as there was a lot of water tumbling out of the entrance which is quite high. Once in, armed with a laminated copy of the excellent instructions it was easy to find the route to the cache. To be honest it would be very hard to get lost. Be prepared to get wet! Oh and the water is very, very cold.
This is one of those caches that you wish you could give more than one favourite point too.
As the cache pages says ‘its simply a pretty cave in a pretty spot”.

Ogof Clogwyn Cave – Photo published by kind permission of cache owner Stuart (Funk to Funky)

GCM7R6 Northside Pub Crawl D2.5/T1.5 Virtual
GCJJVZ Southside Pub Crawl D3.5/T1 Virtual Ireland
If you are in Dublin and love pubs these two caches are a must. All answers to the clues are on the outside of the buildings but the inside of the pubs are worth a look and you really should sample the quality of their Guinness. These two caches are great to do in a group, we had a fantastic weekend of drinking and caching around the City, only realising a little too much Guinness had been consumed when it came to working out the final calculations! Also after visiting the 20th pub the terrain rating maybe a little on the light side……..

A pint of the black stuff always tastes better in a Dublin Pub

GC3D4F9 Arte de Portas Abertas D2.5/T1 Multi Portugal Madeira
I usually avoid Multi Caches especially if they have lots of stages, they always seem a lot of work for very little. This cache guides you through an area that is best described as an outdoor art gallery. A near derelict street of Funchal was brought back to life by The Art of Open Doors project. Local artists were commissioned, each artist being allocated a space/door to express themselves, with their imagination and a few low-cost resources, the street was transformed. As the tourists began to visit they were quickly followed by shops, cafes and bars. The area is now thriving with very little evidence of its past. The final cache is not great but the artwork makes up for this.

Painted doors in Funchal