We don't normally bother with 'First to Finds'- finding a brand new cache before anyone else. Caches tend to be published in the evening, just as the kids are going to bed and when Daddy QC isn't home. I wont cache on my own in the dark, so most new caches are ruled out. Big QC is always asking when we are going to get a FTF, but the opportunity to get one during a non-school day is hard.
However, we were having dinner with our caching friends when an email popped up with the notification of a new cache just over a mile from our pub! We loaded Big QC and her caching friend into the car and drove the cache location. My GPS ran out of batteries and we'd forgotten a torch; great start! Using an iphone each we made our way to GZ, but it was still too dark, so I turned the car around and pointed the headlights at GZ. The cache was ours! Big QC was so happy with her FTF.
We launched a new puzzle on Friday GC2NB03 I rated it 4 stars as you need a specific bit of 'equipment' to solve it! It has been found 4 times so far.
Geocaching.com recently launch a new 'favourites' button. You earn points from finding caches, you can then allocate these points to your favourite caches. Our 'Micros in Ivy' cache has 4 points so far, considering only 5 people have found this cache, this is good going! 'Sophies Country Cache' puzzle has 3 votes from 9 finders and our series currently has 3 votes.
Sunday, 6 February 2011
Tuesday, 1 February 2011
An Ammo in Alley?
Over Christmas we tried to find an ammo can hidden in a residential alley way...we failed!
Today, I was having lunch with a friend in Reading; it seemed rude not to try and find this cache again. Little QC and I parked up and walked down the GZ. The GPS took us to within 6ft which was pretty good. Now where would someone hide an ammo can?
The cache owner hadn't stated the size of the cache, but had written it was a 'well stocked ammo'. I had a quick search and then, bingo...got it. Here is Little QC holding the box...yep, the green thing in his hand!
Today, I was having lunch with a friend in Reading; it seemed rude not to try and find this cache again. Little QC and I parked up and walked down the GZ. The GPS took us to within 6ft which was pretty good. Now where would someone hide an ammo can?
The cache owner hadn't stated the size of the cache, but had written it was a 'well stocked ammo'. I had a quick search and then, bingo...got it. Here is Little QC holding the box...yep, the green thing in his hand!
Friday, 28 January 2011
1500!
Today, we reached the 1500 cache milestone. It was also our 150th day of continuous caching. I picked an old historic cache for this milestone. Little QC, myself and Grandpa Q enjoyed a very cold, but interesting morning at Stonehenge. It was bitterly cold, but was still had a good trip. I opted for the Virtual Cache, this just involved a quick photo at a set of specific stones. Little QC was none to pleased with the weather so refused to look at the camera.
I then took Grandpa Q to Salisbury where I picked up a few other caches including a virtual cache at the cathedral.
Monday, 24 January 2011
3 days, 73 caches, 19 miles!
In the past 3 days, Little QC and I have walked 19 miles and found 73 caches! Big QC joined us for 3 of those miles and 6 of the caches.
Tomorrow, I will be doing one drive by cache, I fear my legs will be very very tired!
Today, my caching friends, collectively known as the CCC (Cache and Cake Club) completed a series called CHOO- Chuffing and Huffing Out of Ogbourne. The series was 8 miles and contained 22 caches. We had intended to only do the first half of the series, then come back and finish it off another week. We had the option of finishing at cache #10 or #15. However, at #10, we decided to carry on. At #15 we were all enjoying the series so much that we felt we should finish it off! This was one of the best series we've done in a while. 22 well place, well thought out large caches, the route was well marked and easy to follow, the scenery was great and the hills were...um... For me, there wasn't a single stile or gate to lift the buggy over!
Tomorrow, I will be doing one drive by cache, I fear my legs will be very very tired!
Today, my caching friends, collectively known as the CCC (Cache and Cake Club) completed a series called CHOO- Chuffing and Huffing Out of Ogbourne. The series was 8 miles and contained 22 caches. We had intended to only do the first half of the series, then come back and finish it off another week. We had the option of finishing at cache #10 or #15. However, at #10, we decided to carry on. At #15 we were all enjoying the series so much that we felt we should finish it off! This was one of the best series we've done in a while. 22 well place, well thought out large caches, the route was well marked and easy to follow, the scenery was great and the hills were...um... For me, there wasn't a single stile or gate to lift the buggy over!
Sunday, 23 January 2011
The Surrey Icon Challenge
Back in September, Little QC and I set ourselves the challenge of seeing how many cache types we could find in one day- read here.
Unbeknown to me, there are a few caches that you can only complete if you have found a required number of cache types in 24hours. One of which is the Surrey Icon Challenge Cache.
As we were already in the area, we drove up to collect this cache.
The prize was a well stocked ammo can on a byway, a short walk from a parking spot.
I am so pleased to have got this cache. Unfortunately, Little QC was asleep in his car seat so was unable to collect his prize too.
Unbeknown to me, there are a few caches that you can only complete if you have found a required number of cache types in 24hours. One of which is the Surrey Icon Challenge Cache.
As we were already in the area, we drove up to collect this cache.
The prize was a well stocked ammo can on a byway, a short walk from a parking spot.
I am so pleased to have got this cache. Unfortunately, Little QC was asleep in his car seat so was unable to collect his prize too.
Our best day...so far!
With Big QC off at a sleepover with Granny, we decided to head down into Surrey and take in a series. Big QC is only 5 years old so struggles with anything over about 5 miles. We took the opportunity to walk an 8 mile loop- The Betchworth Brockham Loop.
This was a series of 35 caches with an extra 5 caches close by. We set off after a large cooked breakfast and wandered round. The series was mainly flat which made life with the buggy much easier. It was however, very muddy. We had a few stiles to contend with but overall, it was a very buggy friendly route. We really enjoyed this series plus the extra caches on it.
One cache we found was called 'Veteran Cache', it involved a short climb of a tree...
I sent Daddy QC up for this one. A few caches later there was another tree to climb. We couldn't get the buggy close enough so I went ahead and grabbed it.
We ended our day with 45 finds. We had plenty of time left for some nice pudding and coffee at the restaurant near our hotel before we headed off to pick up Big QC.
This was a series of 35 caches with an extra 5 caches close by. We set off after a large cooked breakfast and wandered round. The series was mainly flat which made life with the buggy much easier. It was however, very muddy. We had a few stiles to contend with but overall, it was a very buggy friendly route. We really enjoyed this series plus the extra caches on it.
One cache we found was called 'Veteran Cache', it involved a short climb of a tree...
We ended our day with 45 finds. We had plenty of time left for some nice pudding and coffee at the restaurant near our hotel before we headed off to pick up Big QC.
Monday, 17 January 2011
Caching in Belgium
We spent a great weekend in Belgium staying with some very good friends of ours. In our three days there, we found 5 caches.
Our first two caches were located very close to each other in La Foret de Soignes. The first cache was an easy find as there was a lovely hint describing the tree. This was a quick find. We then headed to another cache. Here, I failed in the translation (it was in Flemish) and completely missed the massive hint in the cache description. With thick tree cover this was a very hard to find cache. I went back for just 'one last look' and discovered a sand coloured bag wedged into the roots of a fallen tree. This was then covered with several logs.
The next day we headed out and found a micro cache located on a roundabout. It was now dark so we drove to see Napoleon's Butte du Lion. This is a large man-made hill constructed on the battlefield of the Battle of Waterloo. It was nicely lit up and something worth seeing. There was a cache located within 100 meters of car park, so we headed there with a wind up torch and the 'torch' of the iphone! We found a travel bug that had come from Finland; this was quite funny seeing as our friends are Finnish. A few visitors before us had also been Finnish, though they'd not placed the TB!
Our last day saw us find a great ammo can in the Folon woods. We let our Finnish friends navigate to the cache and find it...much to Big QCs disgust. Our friends now have their own Geocaching account!
We have now cached in France, Netherlands, Belgium and Wales. Next stop...Scotland!
Our first two caches were located very close to each other in La Foret de Soignes. The first cache was an easy find as there was a lovely hint describing the tree. This was a quick find. We then headed to another cache. Here, I failed in the translation (it was in Flemish) and completely missed the massive hint in the cache description. With thick tree cover this was a very hard to find cache. I went back for just 'one last look' and discovered a sand coloured bag wedged into the roots of a fallen tree. This was then covered with several logs.
Our last day saw us find a great ammo can in the Folon woods. We let our Finnish friends navigate to the cache and find it...much to Big QCs disgust. Our friends now have their own Geocaching account!
We have now cached in France, Netherlands, Belgium and Wales. Next stop...Scotland!
Tuesday, 11 January 2011
Caching in Devon
Over New Year we visited friends in Devon. Naturally we had to take in a few caches!
We found some excellent caches on SheepsTor on Dartmoor; 2 of which involved small caves. All caches are rated by their difficulty and the terrain difficulty. Anything over a 3 for us means the buggy will struggle, so we switch to the packpack sling. These cave caches were rated as 2 for terrain. We had to scramble over rocks to get to the caves; no mean feat with a 25lb baby on your back, so I felt the terrain ratings should have been harder, there was just no way we'd have got the buggy within about 200 meters of these caches.
Anyhow, we had an excellent time.
We found some excellent caches on SheepsTor on Dartmoor; 2 of which involved small caves. All caches are rated by their difficulty and the terrain difficulty. Anything over a 3 for us means the buggy will struggle, so we switch to the packpack sling. These cave caches were rated as 2 for terrain. We had to scramble over rocks to get to the caves; no mean feat with a 25lb baby on your back, so I felt the terrain ratings should have been harder, there was just no way we'd have got the buggy within about 200 meters of these caches.
Anyhow, we had an excellent time.
Monday, 10 January 2011
Fab ABS!
We realised we hadn't been out for a good proper walk as a family for a few weeks, so this weekend, we found a circuit that looked kid friendly. We headed over to Wokingham for a wander round the ABS series.
The series had 11 caches set on it, with a further 2 set by other cachers. The highlight of the walk for Big QC was finding a well stocked ammo can in a spooky 'dinosaur' forest. We really enjoyed walking through the most enormous fruit farm ever, we guessed this was where local supermarkets got their berry stock from. It was an amazing site; it had never really occurred to us how fruit on this scale is grown.
By the time we returned to the car, we'd covered 4 miles in about 2.5hours. We'd also spotted a cache called 'The World's Biggest Strawberry' situated near the entrance to the above mentioned fruit farm. I retrieved the cache whilst Daddy QC took the kids up to see the huge strawberry. Big QC doesn't like strawberries, but she was quite impressed with this one!
The series had 11 caches set on it, with a further 2 set by other cachers. The highlight of the walk for Big QC was finding a well stocked ammo can in a spooky 'dinosaur' forest. We really enjoyed walking through the most enormous fruit farm ever, we guessed this was where local supermarkets got their berry stock from. It was an amazing site; it had never really occurred to us how fruit on this scale is grown.
By the time we returned to the car, we'd covered 4 miles in about 2.5hours. We'd also spotted a cache called 'The World's Biggest Strawberry' situated near the entrance to the above mentioned fruit farm. I retrieved the cache whilst Daddy QC took the kids up to see the huge strawberry. Big QC doesn't like strawberries, but she was quite impressed with this one!
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Electric Fences
Today, Little QC and I took a walk round the BlackMill Series near Calne. This was a 4 mile walk, though we walked nearly an extra mile, with 14 caches placed around the circuit.
I had Little QC in the sling as I knew, from reading the logs, that the series was very muddy and contained a lot of stiles. What I hadn't bargained for were the electric fences.
We found caches 1-3 easily and then set off across a field. Electric fence #1 blocked our way. We detoured round the field and bypassed that fence, only to be greeted with a succession of electrical cabling. It was like a scene from the Krypton Factor with fences criss crossing each other.
There was no possible way I could leap the fences with Little QC on my back, so we back tracked...hence adding an extra mile to the road and walked round to cache #4.
This was a great series that I really enjoyed walking round.
According to the GPS, we walked 4.7miles in 1 hours 30 mins, with an extra 30 mins for stopping time and cache finding. This time also includes Little QC's walk between caches when he needed to stretch his legs.
I had Little QC in the sling as I knew, from reading the logs, that the series was very muddy and contained a lot of stiles. What I hadn't bargained for were the electric fences.
We found caches 1-3 easily and then set off across a field. Electric fence #1 blocked our way. We detoured round the field and bypassed that fence, only to be greeted with a succession of electrical cabling. It was like a scene from the Krypton Factor with fences criss crossing each other.
There was no possible way I could leap the fences with Little QC on my back, so we back tracked...hence adding an extra mile to the road and walked round to cache #4.
This was a great series that I really enjoyed walking round.
According to the GPS, we walked 4.7miles in 1 hours 30 mins, with an extra 30 mins for stopping time and cache finding. This time also includes Little QC's walk between caches when he needed to stretch his legs.
Monday, 3 January 2011
2010 statistics
Back on the 21st March 2010, we found our first cache. We ended the year on 1320 finds.
Our best month was October with 240 finds. Over the last 10 months our caching rate has been 4.6 finds per day.
We've managed to fill in 43 of the 81 squares on our D/T (difficulty/terrain) grid. Each cache is rated for the hide difficulty and the terrain. Anything over a 3 for terrain is always quite tricky with Little QC's buggy.
Now that I am aiming for the '365 days of caching' cache, we've had to cache daily to fill in our 'finds by date' grid. We've covered 57% of the year so far.
We managed to cache in 17 different counties, including 5 in Wales, plus we've found caches in 2 other countries (Netherlands and France).
Our best caching day resulted in 40 finds, our best week yielded 72 finds. I found 7 different cache types in one day.
Our fasted 100 caches took 11 days, and our fastest 1000 caches took 162 days.
The average length of my logs are 31 words.
Our best month was October with 240 finds. Over the last 10 months our caching rate has been 4.6 finds per day.
We've managed to fill in 43 of the 81 squares on our D/T (difficulty/terrain) grid. Each cache is rated for the hide difficulty and the terrain. Anything over a 3 for terrain is always quite tricky with Little QC's buggy.
Now that I am aiming for the '365 days of caching' cache, we've had to cache daily to fill in our 'finds by date' grid. We've covered 57% of the year so far.
We managed to cache in 17 different counties, including 5 in Wales, plus we've found caches in 2 other countries (Netherlands and France).
Our best caching day resulted in 40 finds, our best week yielded 72 finds. I found 7 different cache types in one day.
Our fasted 100 caches took 11 days, and our fastest 1000 caches took 162 days.
The average length of my logs are 31 words.
1-1-11 caching!
Our first cache of 2011 came as we headed down the M5 to see friends of ours. It was a quick Motorway Mayhem cache located at a service station. We droppped off 2 Travel Bugs at another cache in Devon.
During our few days in Devon we picked up another 6 caches but I'll write more when I sort out the photos.
During our few days in Devon we picked up another 6 caches but I'll write more when I sort out the photos.
Sunday, 26 December 2010
Christmas Caching
Seeing as we still aiming for '365 days of caching', we had to find a cache on Christmas Day. All 4 of us took a walk along the Kennet and Avon canal. The canal itself was frozen over and the ground was snow covered. Big QC skipped along, Little QC slept and we walked off our Christmas lunch. We found one cache and then decided that since there was another cache within half a mile, we'd get that too. We had a great walk.
Tuesday, 21 December 2010
Bizarre objects
Little QC and I took a walk round Inkpen recently. We found this in a back garden/field...yes, a giant 10 ft tall Timberland boot!
Monday, 13 December 2010
Les Vaches, Les Caches, part deux!
Argh, the cows!
Here are 9 of the 25 bullocks that I had to walk through! Je n'aime pas les vaches!
Here are 9 of the 25 bullocks that I had to walk through! Je n'aime pas les vaches!
It might have been slightly better had they not insisted on walking towards me looking evil with their beady black eye patches! In the end, I backtracked to the edge of the field, dropped down out of sight and ran! Needless to say, cow pats, buggy wheels and my clothes do not mix well!
I found a fab old (2003) cache today. I sat and read through the log book and realised that 'old' logs used to be paragraphs long; nowadays a quick 'TFTC' is normally left.
Thursday, 9 December 2010
100 days of caching!
Today I hit the 100th day of continuous caching!
I started on the 1st September and since then, have found at least one cache per day. In the last 100 days I have clocked up 692 caches!!! I'm rather surprised at that number!
Also, in that time frame, I hit 7 different caches in one day, found my record of 40 caches in 12 hours, finally got over 50% of my D/T chart filled, found my record of 72 caches in a week and walked miles! Little QC has been with me for all but 3 of those days.
It has been fun! So now what? Do I continue or do I stop? I have my eye on a cache called 'The 365 days of caching'. This requires you to have cached on every single day of the year (over several years)...maybe, just maybe!
I started on the 1st September and since then, have found at least one cache per day. In the last 100 days I have clocked up 692 caches!!! I'm rather surprised at that number!
Also, in that time frame, I hit 7 different caches in one day, found my record of 40 caches in 12 hours, finally got over 50% of my D/T chart filled, found my record of 72 caches in a week and walked miles! Little QC has been with me for all but 3 of those days.
It has been fun! So now what? Do I continue or do I stop? I have my eye on a cache called 'The 365 days of caching'. This requires you to have cached on every single day of the year (over several years)...maybe, just maybe!
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Little QC finds his first cache
Today, Little QC found his first cache! Ok, it was completely by accident, but he found it!
We parked up, left the buggy in the car and headed into the woods. A short walk of 200ft took us 20 minutes. Little QC had leaves to kick, leaves to roll in, sticks to pick up, sticks to eat...
Eventually we reached GZ, this had lots of low branches to duck under which made it hard work for the 14 month old. I started a search of the area when I heard a splat; he'd tripped and fallen over a log. I moved the log and there, inside was the cache container!
We parked up, left the buggy in the car and headed into the woods. A short walk of 200ft took us 20 minutes. Little QC had leaves to kick, leaves to roll in, sticks to pick up, sticks to eat...
Eventually we reached GZ, this had lots of low branches to duck under which made it hard work for the 14 month old. I started a search of the area when I heard a splat; he'd tripped and fallen over a log. I moved the log and there, inside was the cache container!
Sunday, 5 December 2010
Snow
This week, it snowed! Not much snow, but it snowed.
How does one find caches hidden in the bases of trees when everything is covered in snow? I had a high number of DNFs this week because of the snow.
I did a nice series with my caching friends, A and M. We signed the cache logs as The Cold HAMs! We thought it was funny!
Today, I left the kids at home with Daddy and went and did a 5 mile loop in Netheravon. It was a great walk and I found all 21 caches on the route. I also managed a bit of data: it took me 1h24mins of walking, with 22 mins of stopping time! I must have walked quite quickly!
I did a nice series with my caching friends, A and M. We signed the cache logs as The Cold HAMs! We thought it was funny!
Today, I left the kids at home with Daddy and went and did a 5 mile loop in Netheravon. It was a great walk and I found all 21 caches on the route. I also managed a bit of data: it took me 1h24mins of walking, with 22 mins of stopping time! I must have walked quite quickly!
Eeek, eek, eek!
My worst fear - mice and rats.
I've read logs where other cachers have discovered a rat looking at them or stuck their hand in a hole and been bitten by something. Bah, I thought, it wont happen to me.
I took Little QC up onto the Ridgeway this week. We did a few caches, but the going was tough; snow and ice don't make it easy to push the buggy. We came across one cache, it had a nice hidey hole in the top of a fence post. I removed the cache and "eeeeeeek" lots of little mice looked up at me. I dropped the cache in surprise, swore a bit, quickly replaced the cache and ran away! I had to go back as I hadn't signed the log. I wasn't touching the cache again so took a photo of the hide, I used the zoom so I didn't have to get too close to the mice!
I've read logs where other cachers have discovered a rat looking at them or stuck their hand in a hole and been bitten by something. Bah, I thought, it wont happen to me.
I took Little QC up onto the Ridgeway this week. We did a few caches, but the going was tough; snow and ice don't make it easy to push the buggy. We came across one cache, it had a nice hidey hole in the top of a fence post. I removed the cache and "eeeeeeek" lots of little mice looked up at me. I dropped the cache in surprise, swore a bit, quickly replaced the cache and ran away! I had to go back as I hadn't signed the log. I wasn't touching the cache again so took a photo of the hide, I used the zoom so I didn't have to get too close to the mice!
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