News & New Caches 61

The missing cache from the Mary Jones Took a Walk series has finally been published.

GCA1C13 Mary Jones Took a Walk 3 by martin&lindabryn Traditional D1/T1

Christmas Dinner Reminder

We have just 2 weeks before we have to confirm our booking, so please can you let me know menu choices etc.

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.

9US Slate Coins

We are pleased to announce the arrival of our 9US slate coins.

The slate is local from Penrhyn Quarry, Bethesda, the coins are approximately 56mm wide, by 3mm thick with the design laser engraved, each coin will be trackable on geocaching.com.

The cost is a bargain price of £9 each. To order contact us through the comments, 9 Usual Suspect geocaching account or see us at an event.

We would like to thank Pesh, Rainbow Caching, for all his help in producing the coins, a service we can highly recommend.

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 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.

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 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 50

Just two new caches on the edge of our area.

GC9ZFBT Pappa Bear – The Cuckoo Trail by Cuckoosuzie Traditional D1.5/T2
GC9ZFCZ Momma Bear – The Cuckoo Trail by Cuckoosuzie Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Final Event Reminder

GC8Q963 Makers Community Celebration Event by Naturesbyte D1/T1.5
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle
When: 10th September, 2022
Time: 2.00pm-6pm (the bar will remain open until the last person leaves!)
BBQ: 5pm
Trackable Raffle Draw: 5.30pm

Haven’t heard of ‘Snag the Tag’? Well, neither had we until Jack contacted us, see previous post. During the afternoon Jack, Clueless_Goose, will explain the rules of this game, how to claim your prize if you are lucky enough to find a tag and of course try to answer any questions you might have.

We will also have the Adventure labs from the UK Mega available to solve, these have been kindly donated by the SOS_Mega_Crew.

Please log a ‘Will Attend’ or contact us so that we have some idea of numbers for catering etc.

Signal’s Labyrinth Survey

Help Geocaching HQ plan future souvenir campaigns by taking this survey Your feedback about this challenge will give HQ insight into helping improve future souvenir campaigns!

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

new 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.

News & New Caches

Three new traditional caches have been recently published:

GC9PX90 Brooks’ Barmouth Bash #4.5 – Route Finder Traditional D1.5/T2

Following caches are Premium Members only:
GC9P15M CITO – Slightly Higher Flying Aircraft by PPJ889 Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GC9PBE4 CITO – Valley Layby by Squaddie101 Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Where are the First to Finders?

Crown of the Carneddau by Clueless_Goose

GC9MHKC Crown of the Carneddau by Clueless_Goose Mystery D5/T5

Amazingly the FTF is still up for grabs on this Adventure Lab and bonus cache, 8 weeks after publication! To give everyone a bigger incentive, cache owner Clueless_Goose, has increased the difficulty and terrain ratings of the bonus to the maximum D5/T5. Will this carrot lead the donkeys up the hill?

Event Reminder

GC8MAT4 Community Celebration Event – Final Daily Grid by welshgirl11 & gmoseley88
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………….. and there will be cake!

Last weekends CITO

GC9N9C1 Plas vs Plastic CITO by Squaddie101

escapefromwork, Bess’s Friends and naturesbyte with some of the bags of litter collected

We would like to say a Big Thank You to Squaddie101 for organising. This event was part of the Million Mile Beach Clean and was run in conjunction with British Divers Marine Life Medics (BDMLR), Keep Wales Tidy – Cadwch Grymu’n Daclus and Orthios Group who removed/recycled all trash and plastic collected. The 50+ volunteers collected a huge 720kg rubbish, mainly plastic of which 400kg was recycled.

Guess the Cache 6

So far no correct guesses, so here is a very big clue, you may find yourself on a Magical Mystery Tour….

News & New Caches

After several weeks with very little geocaching activity in our area I’m pleased to say this week we have an event, Adventure Lab series, a multi and 2 mystery caches all being published.

Adventure Lab Series & Bonus

This Adventure Lab consists of 4 Lab caches set on four peaks in the Carneddau with a physical bonus cache. I don’t think Ecobake will be doing a slight detour on his way home form work for this series!

Crown of the Carneddau by Clueless_Goose

GC9MHKC Crown of the Carneddau by Clueless_Goose Mystery D3.5/T4

Event

GC8MAT4 Community Celebration Event – Final Daily Grid by welshgirl11 & gmoseley88 D1/T1.5

Other Caches

GC9MKBP Y Coleg ar y Fenai by Clueless_Goose Multi D2/T1.5

GC9FKR2 Village Hall Series 1141 – Beddgelert by Flowerpot_man Mystery D2.5/T1.5

Is this the first Village Hall cache in our area?

Request your Free Kamp Koral badge trackable!

To celebrate the SpongeBob SquarePants spinoff, Geocaching has teamed up with Nickelodeon to release 7,000 limited-edition Kamp Koral: SpongeBob’s Under Years character badge trackables across the globe.

Click on this link to apply Request your Free Kamp Koral badge trackable

If more requests are received than trackables available, Geocaching will randomly select people from the U.S. and other countries worldwide to receive them.

Guess the Cache 3

This one is proving a bit more difficult, so far no correct answers even though the cache does have 50 favourite points! Below is another picture clue.