Firth of Forth

I think that this brand new cache in the Angus Glens of Scotland is a great example of a long distance walk + caching: Angus Glens - Jocks Road by Snaik

Just name the place and time, and I will do my very best to be there!

There are far too many excellent parts of Scotland to hold cache bashes in. Don't forget we (hopefully) have many more years of them to come. Perhaps we're getting confused between a cache bash and a geocachers day out? The former needs more organisation, and a new cache or two (I think that is in fact a requirement for approval of the event) as well as a suitable venue for socialising and refreshments. The latter was intended to be a way for cachers to bag remote or more inaccessible caches together (with socialising en route and in the pub afterwards), although the huge level of interest in such an event probably means that it's a good way of organising any kind of group caching for those who are interested. So far, there have been two offers to host a cache bash - Neafearjustbeer up in the far North and Marmal in East Lothian/Borders. I would suggest that anyone who is keen to organise something and wants to make a definite commitment to doing so should be encouraged to do so - and should just post their intention and give possible dates as soon as possible. I'm sure that there is enough enthusiasm to make any event a good one and cachers can choose for themselves what their priorities are - whether hard caching or hard socialising or a mixture of the two.

In Scotland, you'll need to add the 8 caches situated along the West Highland Way, the 17 caches on the Water of Leith walkway in Edinburgh, the caches along the Fife Coastal Path, and the Snaik caches along the Cateran Trail in Perthshire. Those are just the 'official' routes. There are probably lots of other caches that could be combined in a very good day's walking.

Well, I did check out the flights, and believe it or not there is a direct flight from Edinburgh to Exeter. Unfortunately there is only one a day, and at 2.15pm on a Sunday. No use whatsoever as I have to be at work on Monday. My childern would probably object to me going off for another geocaching weekend so soon too! Sorry, maybe another time.

Losing count now! Met the Tupperware Party at Haggis Hunt in Holyrood Park in Edinburgh one evening. This is a multicache, and I spotted the suspicious behaviour of the couple from a cliff overlooking the site. After they had gone and were headed to the final locatio, I nipped down and found the micro. I was surprised that they were not at the final location when I got there, but was given a fright when they crept up behind me as I held the container. I recently got another fright when I bumped (almost literally) into Ullium, as he has already mentioned. Met DeputyDawg at Peden's Stone too. The GPS, printouts or curious behaviour usually give the game away. However, I have once accosted someone and asked them if they were looking for a cache, and to my embarrassment, they didn't know what I was talking about! I went to visit one of my caches the other day for a maintenance visit, and spotted a chap sitting on the nearby bench reading some printed A4 sheets. I was just about to accost him as well, when I saw that they were nothing to do with geocaching and quickly shut my mouth! Edit 24/8/04: I also have to add an encounter today with Marmal, in the wilds of the Borders. Just as well I came along, as he had forgotten to look at the map in the car park (how many times have I done that!) and didn't know where to go!

The only time I have given no clue at all is for a cache on top of a hill, where GPS reception is good, where I was confident that the coords I had given for the cache were also good, and where the cache had previously been muggled. I got a bit paranoid thinking that the thieves could look it up on the website and find it again with a clue after I had moved it to a nearby location!

Naefearjustbeer - you've clearly thought out all the details of what sounds like a smashing forthcoming Scottish event! I look forward to it sometime in 2005!

Excluding virtuals, webcams, events etc, mine is 204:54, roughly 4:1. For a while about six months to a year ago there seemed to be very few TBs in local caches, but now they turn up much more frequently.

I think that it often depends on the terrain, and how difficult or long the walk is to the cache. As an extreme example, it would be very annoying to hike all the way up Ben Nevis and find that the clue is something like 'under a rock' given that the whole of the top of the mountain is covered by millions of rocks and piles of rocks. If the location is such that a GPS signal is very difficult to receive and the vast undergrowth all looks the same then, again, a clue that directs you to the right spot is very welcome. But if the cache is hidden a short walk away from the car, and there are a number of good hiding places, then I think it's Ok to make the clue less specific and get cachers to search about. Part of the pleasure of retrieving the cache is the effort that has gone in to finding it! It's that 'Finally!!' feeling.

Hey Folk! We may need to have a rethink!! I've just done a double take looking at the cache map when I saw that Billy Twigger has hidden 7 new caches on the Isle of Bute to add to the 6 already there. Do you think that this is possibly a 'Come to Bute' bid for a cache bash/Geocachers Day Out??

Such enthusiasm from the South for the Northerly events! makes me feel guilty that noone (as far as I know) from up here is attending the forthcoming Southerly event in Exeter!

Unfortunately Jon tells me that he is moving to Swindon in a few weeks, so no chance of more caches from him up here. Shame!

I'm pleased to report a further century North of the border by Jonnyahh at A Split Personaility! Congratulations! Perhaps now he's gained some experience, we might see some new caches appearing in or around Edinburgh??

You need to bear in mind that it's best that there are cachers who are local to the area to set it up.

Over to Naefearjustbeer and Ssmokin' & Mr Rhu then for a date in May maybe? We weren't bothered by midgies in Aviemore in May, shouldn't think they would be a problem further north at that time of year. Similarly, the more notice the better to plan ahead. It will be a great excuse to grab some of those boxes that litter the northern coastline on the map.

Don't know how I managed 16th place considering that I had two+ cache free weeks in France during July. I guess that the withdrawal effect sent me into a end of month caching frenzy!

Just seen allieballie - those midgie bites even 4 days later are something else! Poor thing! I've had contributions for a write up of the event from Ullium and from Pharisee, which is great and thank you to both. A little bit from the mad Devon/Cornwall crowd would be great - loud hint hint.

My best ever investment was in a couple of lightweight walking poles - made the going down bit half as difficult I reckon and easy on the knees. I was glad I was not working on Monday, that's for sure and could take it easy, but was forced to play tennis yesterday - a bit stiff, but maybe yet more exercise was a good cure.

Nae problem Stuey!

Might as well try to get this thread up to 7,000 views! I'm hoping that one or more who attended this event would like to write something about it for www.geocachingtoday.com. If noone wants to do an overall piece, then I could try to put together contributions of a paragraph or two from the different groups. Please let me know if you would like to be involved. Many thanks.

That's brilliant Snaik! My daughter (13 years) has just started S3 (back to school today in fact) and wants to sign up to do the Duke of Edinburgh award. Now I have a carrot to encourage her to come geocaching with me! She recently spent two weeks with relatives in Switzerland and became very homesick. She even told me over the phone that she wanted to do lots of geocaching with me when she returned, it was that bad!

PS Avon Skin So Soft does work - you can see the midgies hovering about a foot away from your face after applying it. However, it seems that you need to reapply it regularly as the effect wears off. Either that, or go for Rollku's strategy of wearing a midgie net - however you may end up looking like an alien being. Go on HH - post the photo that you took of him!

Another milestone achieved at the Scottish Geocachers Day Out event! I didn't realise that this cache was the 300th for both you and Stuey! Congratulations and extremely well done! And nice to meet all of you who travelled so far for this one.

Stuey claimed his 300th cache at the top of Ben Nevis at the Scottish Geocachers Day Out event. What an achievement, and what a great way to reach this milestone. Congratulations!