Tag: North Wales

News & New Caches 103

It has been a busy few days so apologies for the delayed post and it may be a bit longer than normal.
We have 3 recently published caches:

GCASW19 Cefni Dam by CheesyPasta Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GCADW0A Damsel fly city! by CheesyPasta Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Premium Member Only
GCADNZN Village Hall Series 1475 – Llanfairpwll by Glaslyn1 Traitional D2.5/T1.5

Event

GCADQC3 CITO 2023 Season 2 by 9 Usual Suspects
When: Saturday 16th September 2023
Where: Parc Dre/Morfa Caernarfon
Time: 11am-1pm

Why not come and join us for another litter pick at one of regular sites. Our task for the day will be to pick up as much litter as possible starting from the the bridge, around the park then following the River Seiont towards Lon Eifion cycle path. By attending this event you will earn 75 points towards this months Wheel of Challenges souvenirs.

Wheel Of Challenges, Teamwork

This is the final month of the Wheel of Challenges souvenir challenges and there is another two souvenirs available, easy and hard. To qualify for the easy earn 100 points and the hard 1,000 points, you can keep track of your progress on your leaderboard. Events and CITO’s gain the maximum 75 points and unlike other challenges Ad Lab stages do not count as a ‘found it’ log.

This challenge started on Monday 4th September and runs to Sunday 1st October.

Here are the leaderboard point values for this challenge:

Attended an Event75
Attended a CITO Event75
Found a cache with 10+ Favorite points50
Received a Favorite point on an owned cache50
Found it*25
*Log a Found it on any other cache type except Adventure Lab® Locations.

SS Denham Event

GCACYNA 9 Usual Suspects Visit a Wreck by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T5

Well what can we say about this event? Here in North Wales 9US hold a lot of events with the average attendees of 8 -12, for this event within a week of publication we had 25 ‘will attends’! This has certainly smashed our records as I write this we have 37 logged attendances and over 100 photos in the gallery! We have joked many times in the past about ‘our’ weather god and they certainly came up trumps for this event, a perfect evening for a stroll across the sand followed by beautiful sunset. It was a shame about the photographic club who thought they had sole rights to the wreck site. We would like to say a very BIG THANK YOU to everyone who attend making this such a special event. See our video below:

One for the Future…….

GC7B7E1 St Helens Fort by Mario McTavish Virtual D4/T5

Any one interested in a trip to the Isle of Wight? This has been on our ‘to do’ list for a while, maybe a 9US road trip with an event here. Interested? Contact us either through the comments or message us via our geocaching account.

News & New Caches 102

A couple of new caches since our last post:

GCADDJN Mountain View by TeuluOBedwar Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GCAD7W2 St. Iestyn by BobPuffin Traditional D1/T1.5

Event Reminder

GCACYNA 9 Usual Suspects Visit a Wreck by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T5
When: Saturday 2nd September 2023
Where: Wallasey Beach, New Brighton, Wirral
Time: 7.15-7.45pm

For any one who would like to walk out to the wreck as part of a group we’ll be meeting in the corner of the Wallasey beach car park, N 53° 25.888 W 003° 04.748. We will be starting our walk to the wreck around 6.50pm. Let’s hope for a lovely dry evening…….

The Demise of the SS Denham

The SS Denham, a 103-ton survey vessel, had left Liverpool landing stage between 8am and 8.30am on the morning of July 18th 1946 to make a survey in Liverpool Bay. The vessel was heading back to Liverpool after completing its survey between 1pm and 2pm when it struck a German mine that was still hidden in the waters off New Brighton despite the bay having been swept for such devices. The explosion tore the vessel apart, killing eight members of the crew and left only one survivor, FC Whitby, who was thrown unconscious into the water by the force of the blast.

Photo by kind permission of Ian M Hazeldine https://antonymes.pb.photography/

The inquest found the German mine had lain undetected on the bed of the river after being dropped during an air raid. A crater was later found underneath the wrecked vessel containing fragments of the detonated mine.

The inquest heard from a witness who upon hearing the boat had struck a mine, left Liverpool landing stage by motor boat to try and aid the stricken vessel. On arrival he heard Mr Whitby had been rescued, and spotted the SS Denham. It had sunk in 18 feet of water just over a mile from St. Nicholas’s Church. The tide was ebbing and as soon as the wheelhouse was uncovered he boarded the wreck with a diver. After the tide had fallen further and they had removed a considerable amount of wreckage they recovered the body of ship’s master, Kennedy, from the wheelhouse. He was found alongside the wheel. They searched the engine room and found MacDonald. The weather began to deteriorate, and they discontinued the search when all the bodies but those of Campbell, Roscoe, and Haldane had been found. They searched again on July 20, and these last three were found. He added that the SS Denham was so damaged as to be a total loss.

Photo by Jo (73JLS)

Later the wreck’s wheelhouse and funnel were removed so as not to cause a hazard to shipping.

Crew on board SS Denham killed in the explosion

  • CAMPBELL, WALTER JAMES (59), First Engineer Officer, Denham SS, Lighthouse and Pilotage Authorities
  • COLLINS, WILLIAM (37), Able Seaman, Denham SS, Lighthouse and Pilotage Authorities
  • GIBBONS, GILBERT ERNEST (61), Principal Surveyor, Denham SS, Lighthouse and Pilotage Authorities
  • HALDANE, WILLIAM HENRY JAMES (56), Steward, Denham SS, Lighthouse and Pilotage Authorities
  • KENNEDY, MALCOLM (43), Master, Denham SS, Lighthouse and Pilotage Authorities
  • MACDONALD, ROBERT (37), Fireman, Denham SS, Lighthouse and Pilotage Authorities
  • RICHARDSON, JOHN EDWARD (28), Seaman, Denham SS, Lighthouse and Pilotage Authorities
  • THOMAS ATKINSON (31), Mate, Denham SS, Lighthouse and Pilotage Authorities

New Section of Coastal Path from Aberogwen to Porth Penrhyn

The new section of the Wales Coast Path between the Spinnies Nature Reserve, Aberogwen and Porth Penrhyn, Bangor was opened to the public on the 31 July 2023.

Guidebook to walking the Wales Coast Path | Cicerone Press

Back in May 2021 Gwynedd Council issued a ‘Public Footpath Creation Order’ to establish a public footpath through the Spinnies Nature Reserve and the Penrhyn Estate. After successful negotiations between Gwynedd Council, Penrhyn Estate and North Wales Wildlife Trust the new route was agreed. The new path will be accessed through the Spinnies main gate, then follow the estate wall crossing over Afon Ogwen via the old estate bridge.

The new section follows the coast on the edge of Penrhyn Estate with stunning views of the Menai Straits, Anglesey and Penrhyn Docks. This is the most significant re-alignment project since the opening of the Wales Coast Path in 2012.

The path has been developed sensitively to ensure that the unique intertidal habitat of the Menai Strait is protected. Work have been taken to reduce any negative impact including screening the path from the beach roosting birds, erecting bat and bird boxes to mitigate the effects of creating the new path through a semi ancient woodland.

 Please note, you will not be able to access the Penrhyn Castle from the path.

News & New Caches 100

Two new caches since our last post, both Premium Member only, plus several events for your diary:

GCACMY5 A Fine Pair # 1737 ~ Llanfairpwllgwyngyll by Glaslyn1 Multi D3/T1.5
GCACNPA The geocaching bug by seanx90 Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Events
GCACV3K 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 60 by 9 Usual Suspects
For this months Nosh & Natter we are back at the Snowdonia Parc, Waunfawr.
When: Wednesday 30th August 2023
Where: Parc Snowdonia, Waunfawr, Caernarfon, Gwynedd LL55 4AQ
Time: 7pm to 9pm or when the last person leaves

Photo by Jo (73JLS)

GCACYNA 9 Usual Suspects Visit a Wreck by 9 Usual Suspects
Another 9US adventure this time to visit the wreck site of the SS Denham…… more details in our next post.
When: Saturday 2nd September 2023
Where: Wallasey Beach, New Brighton, Wirral
Time: 7.15-7.45pm

GCACVFT REALLY SideTracked – Great Orme, Victoria Station by Pink icing
When: Saturday 14th October 2023
Where: King’s Head, Old Rd, Llandudno LL30 2NB
Time: 1.30-2.30pm

GCACRX3 Geocaching Halloween Event at The Bryntirion Inn by martin&lindabryn
Whether you’re looking for tricks or treats, this Halloween bash at The Bryntirion Inn is the place to be. 
When: Saturday 28th October 2023
Where: The Bryntirion Inn, Llandderfel, Bala
Time: 7pm – 11pm

Event Reminder

GCAB70R 9US Celebrate International Geocaching Day 2023 by 9 Usual Suspects Event D1/T1.5
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle
When: Saturday 19th August, 2023
Time: 2.00pm-6pm (the bar will remain open until the last person leaves!)
Games Start Time: 2.30pm
BBQ: 5pm
Trackable Raffle Draw: 5.30pm
9 Usual Suspects invite you to join them in the beautiful Nantlle Valley to celebrate International Geocaching Day, the theme for this years event is ‘An Afternoon in the Pub’. There will be darts, dominos and a pub quiz, fun for everyone. If intending to be there please log a ‘will attend’ to enable us to plan catering for the day.

By attending this event you will earn a souvenir, International Geocaching Day 2023.

9 Usual Suspects 29 Series

Some of our caches in our 29 series are getting increasingly difficult to maintain so we are giving notice of intention to archive all at the end of October except the 3 Church Micros and the TB hotel. The series has been very popular since its publication on the 29.2.2016.

For everyone that has completed the series Lon has designed a profile badge.

Copy and paste the following text to your profile page:

<a href=”https://imgflip.com/gif/148sl8″><img src=”https://i.imgflip.com/148sl8.gif“/></a>

We hope to place a new series on leap day 2024………..

News & New Caches 99

Five new caches and an event have been published since our last post:

GCACEYB The Tree-O Squad by JSWhitehead21378 Traditional D3/T1.5
GC6RC4B A bridge to nowhere by Gumpay Traditional D2/T2
GC9Z20R Take a seat by Mossfamilymacc Traditional D1.5/T2
GC9Z219 Carreg y Defaid by Mossfamilymacc Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Premium Member Only
GCACNPA The geocaching bug by seanx90 Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Event
GCACR6T Trotting in to Prestatyn by TeeferTheCat Event
When: Saturday 14th October 2023
Where: The William Morgan, 29-31 High Street, Prestatyn LL19 9AH
Time: 6.30-7.30pm

Event Reminder
GCAB70R 9US Celebrate International Geocaching Day 2023 by 9 Usual Suspects Event D1/T1.5
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle
When: Saturday 19th August, 2023
Time: 2.00pm-6pm (the bar will remain open until the last person leaves!)
Games Start Time: 2.30pm
BBQ: 5pm
Trackable Raffle Draw: 5.30pm
9 Usual Suspects invite you to join them in the beautiful Nantlle Valley to celebrate International Geocaching Day, the theme for this years event is ‘An Afternoon in the Pub’. There will be darts, dominos and a pub quiz, fun for everyone. If intending to be there please log a ‘will attend’ to enable us to plan catering for the day.

Piratemania 15 Pirates Royalists & Roundheads

GCA2BBR Piratemania 15 Pirates Royalists & Roundheads

This years Piratemania was held in the village of Naseby, Northamptonshire. The village is famous for the ‘Battle of Naseby’, fought in open fields on the foggy morning of the 14th June 1645 between the 14,000 strong Parliamentarian New Model Army (Roundheads) and the less than 9,000 Royalist army (Cavaliers) of King Charles I.  After nearly three years of conflict, this was the decisive battle of the Civil War. Only about 4000 Royalists escaped the field, most of whom were either cavalry or senior officers, some seriously wounded. The main royalist field army had been literally destroyed. The King had lost his best officers, seasoned troops and artillery. All that now remained was for the Parliamentarian armies to wipe out the last pockets of Royalist resistance, which it did within the year.

Naseby village hall was a perfect location for this years Piratemania with everything on one site, camping on the large, level, playing field, an excellent children’s playground featuring a pirate ship and plenty of on site parking. The village has a very friendly well stocked shop and we can highly recommend the pub, The Royal Oak, where we had a few P&P stops plus Sunday Lunch. Shame the weather was not a little kinder, I have never seen so many Pirates wearing down jackets!

We all enjoyed the new caches, though one road section was a bit hairy with small children, the adventure labs were fun especially the night ones, but the best bit of ‘pirates’ is to catch up with geocaching friends. This year a record 5 of the original 9 Usual Suspects in attendance, we were also accompanied by more friends and reserves than in previous years.

Sunday nights quiz saw the Usual Suspects Team return a respectable score of 54 out of a possible 64. After the quiz came the geocoin auction to help raise funds for next years Piratemania. We know how hard it is to raise funds to support 9US, it must be a nightmare trying to fund a Mega event. So we had donated one of our slate coins which made £51.00!

News & New Caches 98

First we must apologise for the lack of recent posts so this one maybe a bit longer than normal!

Lets start with the caches that have been published since our last post

GCABP1M watch out for the trolls! by CheesyPasta Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GCABQDY Brambles of Lon las by CheesyPasta Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GCABRND The Wright Box by Brynvj Traditional D1/T1.5
GCAC0DF Bay Books by escapefromwork Multi D3.5/T1
GCAC3VK Bryn Wylfa View by cacheB8S Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GCAC6DN Coastal Cache. The old Lifeboat Station by cacheB8S Traditional D1.5/T2.5
GCACB4E HHH – A Hunt on the Hindlea Headland by cacheB8S Traditional D2/T2
GCAC9PK Portable Magic by escapefromwork Traditional D2/T1

Event Reviews

GCAB60H CITO, A487 South, Quick Pick by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T4

Before………..
After……….

Thank you everyone for attending and for all your hard work in tiding up this lay-by. Again our weather god was on our side, it might have been grey but there was no rain until we had packed up. After the previous days rain we were very surprised on attendance numbers. With many hands making light work we saw the area quickly transformed, 11 bags of rubbish picked from this very small area. In an ideal world there would be no litter as everyone would dispose of their rubbish responsibly.

The hard working team

After a litter pick we always message Gwynedd Council with our results and reporting any concerns we might have, the following is taken from our latest report:

“We think part of the problem here is caused by lack of litter bins. The lay-by is a popular stop off point for visitors travelling to/through our area, a litter infested lay-by is not a good look. Please could the council consider placing a couple of bins in each lay-by.” 

We received the following reply from Norman Hughes:

“Thank you all for your work, clearly a great improvement. Thanks for highlighting this location I have passed on your comments regarding new bins at the location. I have also forwarded your message to our Street Scene Manager. I will update you once I receive an update.
Again many thanks to all volunteers.”

Let’s hope we won’t have to be back here for a long time……..

Nosh & Natter 59

GCAB6AZ 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 59 by 9 Usual Suspect D1/T1

What an awful night? Not the weather you expect for the end of July! Again we were amazed at the turnout for an outside event, not just wet but very cold for July. A huge thank you to Cemlyn for coming to our aid and opening up his works canteen, giving us a dry and very comfortable venue for our event.

Wheel of Challenge, Iconic Cacher

What comes next in Wheel of Challenges? – Official Blog

The Wheel of Challenge, Streak Star!, ended on Sunday 6th August. The next challenge, Iconic Cacher, started on Monday 7th August and finishes on Sunday 3rd September. To qualify for the 2 souvenirs, easy and hard, find as many different icons that you can.

Earn the easy souvenir for this challenge by finding and logging these three different cache types:

  • Traditional Cache
  • Adventure Location
  • Event Cache

Earn the hard souvenir for this challenge by finding and logging these eight different cache types:

  • Traditional Cache
  • Adventure Location
  • Event Cache
  • Virtual Cache
  • EarthCache
  • Multi-Cache
  • Mystery Cache
  • Letterbox Hybrid

The next challenge will be announced on August 29th.

News & New Caches 97

At last we have our two new caches on Lon Eifion replaced, still can’t believe they went missing before they were published. Both are different containers than the original but are custom made. There are no hints so we have increased the difficulty ratings.
GCAAH62 Lon Eifion, Depend by 9 Usual Suspects Traditional D3/T1
GCAAH55 Lon Eifion, On the Defence 9 Usual Suspects Traditional D4/T1

This is the first Victoria’s Post Box cache in North Wales and only the second in Wales.
GCAB5H7 Victoria’s Post Box #170 – Llanfaglan by Clueless_Goose Letterbox D3/T1.5

All the other caches published this week are premium member only.

Premium Member Only

GCABBGQ Togetherness by Clueless_Goose Traditional D3.5/T1.5

Congratulations to Dawn, escapefromwork, on her 4th anniversary of geocaching and placing a new series of 5 caches to mark this occasion.
GCABEYH Happy Anniversary by escapefromwork Traditional D1/T1
GCABEYT Happy Anniversary 2 by escapefromwork Traditional D1.5/T1.5
GCABEZ7 Happy Anniversary 3 by escapefromwork Traditional D2/T1.5
GCABEZM Happy Anniversary 4 by escapefromwork Traditional D2/T1
GCABF07 Happy Anniversary 5 by escapefromwork Traditional D1.5/T1.5

Event Reminders

It is a busy week for events with 3 local and the start of Piratemania.

GCAB60H CITO, A487 South, Quick Pick by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T4

When: Sunday 23rd July 2023
Where: Lab-by, Caernarfon By-pass
Time: 11-12pm

Please note there is a very steep bank involved in this litter pick. Parking is limited at the  published coordinates, if anyone could car share it would be appreciated.
Note: This not a souvenir event
I am hoping that the current weather forecast for Sunday is not correct.

GCAB75D The great garden of Gwynedd by Young Heed Event D1/T1.5
When: Monday 24th July 2023
Where: Garth Point Garden, Bangor
Time: 5-5.30pm
Young Heed is attending a conference in Bangor and would like to meet local and not so local geocachers.

GCAB6AZ 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 59 by 9 Usual Suspect D1/T1

For this months N&N we will be visiting The Cube a kebab/burger van at Brynrefail, a quick catch up before we head off for Piratemania. Our last event here was way back in April 2017. Let’s hope for a dry, warm, sunny evening!

When: Wednesday 26th July 2023
Where: The Cube, Brynrefail, Llanberis
Time: 6.00pm to 7.30pm or when the last person leaves

Please note the earlier start time.

News & New Caches 96

No new caches, just a couple of events have been published since our last post:

GCAB75D The great garden of Gwynedd by Young Heed Event D1/T1.5
When: Monday 24th July 2023
Where: Garth Point Garden, Bangor
Time: 5-5.30pm
Young Heed is attending a conference in Bangor and would like to meet local and not so local geocachers.

GCAB70R 9US Celebrate International Geocaching Day 2023 by 9 Usual Suspects Event D1/T1.5
Where: Plas Gwernoer, Nantlle
When: Saturday 19th August, 2023
Time: 2.00pm-6pm (the bar will remain open until the last person leaves!)
Games Start Time: 2.30pm
BBQ: 5pm
Trackable Raffle Draw: 5.30pm
9 Usual Suspects invite you to join them in the beautiful Nantlle Valley to celebrate International Geocaching Day, the theme for this years event is ‘An Afternoon in the Pub’. There will be darts, dominos, a quiz, and other activities, fun for everyone.

Event Reminder

GCA7B67 The Chens on Tour 2023 – Llandanwg by The Chens Event D1/T1
When: Saturday 15th July 2023
Where: Y Maes Caffi, Llandanwg LL46 2SD
Time: 11-11.30am
The Chens are touring our area and would like to meet local and not so local geocachers.

Dorothea Slate Quarry Captured on Film

Dorothea Quarry is a fascinating place full of industrial history which as the buildings and structures decay is slowly being reclaimed by nature. We have recently had 5 caches published here, anyone who has or is about to visit may find the links below of interest.

The following film links and text is taken from the National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales.

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-men-against-death-a-story-of-peril-in-our-time-1933-online

The year is 1933, ‘C H Dand, a publicist and scenario writer, here turned his hand to film- making and produced what is believed to be the first sound film made and set in Wales. He used Dorothea Quarry, Tal-y-sarn and the men employed there to enact a dramatic story, the (lost) second reel of which would show a rock taking its revenge on the men for blasting away its supporting slate by collapsing. The quarry’s assistant manager makes a daily risk assessment of the “angry rock”. 

Dand’s film shows the scale of Dorothea Quarry in the Nantlle Valley, possibly the deepest man-made pit in the northern hemisphere, the equipment used and the dangerous nature of the work. The film was premiered at the newly opened Plaza Cinema in Pen-y-groes, its audience the very quarrymen who had taken part in the drama, together with their co-workers and families.’

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-rails-to-talsarn-1962-online

The year is 1962, Horse-drawn railway: ‘Prince’ and ‘Corwen’ pull slate wagons from Pen-yr-Orsedd quarry to Tal-y-sarn station, guided by Mr Oswald Jones, guard/driver. 

‘The horse-drawn railway from the station at Tal-y-sarn to Pen-yr-Orsedd quarry was part of a longer line – originally all horse-drawn – that ran from the quay at Caernarfon to the quarries of the Nantlle Valley. ‘Prince’ and ‘Corwen’ pull the wagons on this section that closed in 1963. They were probably the last horses used by British Rail. They are guided by Mr Oswald Jones who uses wooden sprags in the wheels as brakes. Oswald’s father, aged 81, helps out at Tal-y-Sarn.

The Nantlle Railway was the first quarry railway to provide a passenger service also. The section from Tal-y-sarn to Pen-yr-Orsedd quarry continued until 1963, the only British Rail horse-drawn line. This footage was shot and is narrated by David E Sutcliffe, a Bull Bay-based BBC stringer (i.e. he would provide the BBC with newsworthy footage from his area) and local cinema operator, not long before the railway ceased operation altogether.’

For a history of the Nantlle valley quarries visit penmorfa.com

News & New Caches 95

One new traditional cache and a couple of new events to report since our last post:

GCAA10B Buddy Boy 2 by Teamtart Traditional D2/T1.5

Events

GCAB60H CITO, A487 South, Quick Pick by 9 Usual Suspects D1/T4

When: Sunday 23rd July 2023
Where: Lab-by, Caernarfon By-pass
Time: 11-12pm

How can we place a cache here……..

We stopped here looking for a hide for a new cache after doing a maintenance run on some 9US caches. We were horrified by the state of this lay-by. It is not some where we would want to encourage geocachers to stop and search for a well hidden cache. We had already removed 2 bags and a carrier bag full of bottles, cans and general litter from the lay-by on the other carriageway. Why can’t people be responsible and take their litter home with them? Please note there is a very steep bank involved in this litter pick. Parking is limited at the  published coordinates, if anyone could car share it would be appreciated.
Note: This not a souvenir event

GCAB6AZ 9 Usual Suspects – Nosh & Natter 59 by 9 usual Suspect D1/T1

For this months N&N we will be visiting The Cube a kebab/burger van at Brynrefail, a quick catch up before we head off for Piratemania. Our last event here was way back in April 2017. Let’s hope for a dry, warm, sunny evening!

When: Wednesday 26th July 2023
Where: The Cube, Brynrefail, Llanberis
Time: 6.00pm to 7.30pm or when the last person leaves

Please note the earlier start time.

Wheel of Challenge, Streak Star!

Bryan, lostnwet, contacted us about a problem with the latest challenge, Streak Star:

‘Not too sure ad lab caches count towards your streak for this next challenge???
Ian (Browni) has ad lab finds for the first 2 days but he didn’t get the souvenir [:(]
I think “Geocaching.com” may be broken though!!!
We and Kevin (Snakes77) both have ordinary finds on the first two days and we’ve both got a new souvenir [:P] Check out our profiles and you’ll see we’ve both been given “Project Ape Cache Finders” souvenirs ? (Personally I’m not complaining as I can’t afford a trip to Brazil for that one) [;-)]’.

Geocaching has tweeted:

‘The issue with the souvenirs not awarding for Wheel of Challenges: Streak Star has been resolved. We will retroactively award souvenirs to players who should have received them and hope to release this fix soon. Thank you for your patience as we continue to work on this.’

But no mention of the ‘Project Ape Cache Finders’ souvenir which still shows on some Geocachers profiles.

And Finally……

We have the above caches left on the display table at our Maker’s Magic event……. please contact us to claim them or they might get released into the wild!

News & New Caches 94

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

Custom Cache Display Photo Andy, YnysMonBirders

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.

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.