Firth of Forth

I've received mine and it wants to go to...........................Selby! Not much of a journey from Edinburgh. I don't see a problem with adding a tag, and have done so: Front and Back

Bump, bump, bump. Just in case you'd forgotten about this event on Saturday! And 5 new caches near to the event to be published tomorrow, courtesy of Cache Hit.

Ewan's family received their geocaching calendar, courtesy of Us 4 and Jess and are very grateful! Ewan knows all about the Hogmanay bash and has asked to thank everybody involved. There have been ups and downs. He has struggled with terrible pain and most recently a nasty bout of pneumonia. However, he has improved a lot in the last few days, but he still has a long way to go before he can return home. Ewan hopes that some of his Geocaching pals will be able to visit him next year. His wife wants to thank the Geocaching community for their kind wishes, letters and messages. She and his sons are very touched by everyone's kindness.

Ewan's Dad contacted me at the end of November. He is extremely grateful and impressed by the response from the geocaching community. Ewan is, mercifully, sharp mentally and quite philosophical about his new circumstances. The family will, however, need to move house to accomodate his needs. He is learning how to use a wheelchair and has come on immeasurably since the accident. Oh - and it's worth pointing out that the funds raised for Spinal Injuries Scotland stand now at £230, not counting what Mandy has raised through the sale of the geocaching calendar. The Hogmanay Hang Out event in Edinburgh on December 30th will also likely raise a good sum of money which will be donated to the spinal injuries unit where Ewan is currently receiving help.

bump....bump....bump This should be a great event, worth a good turn out and lots of activities and, of course, for a most worthwhile cause. Get yourselves along to it!

It's been a great success. Thanks to Mandy, especially, and to everyone who bought a calendar. Ewan's dad contacted me a while ago and said that he was gratified and humbled by the fund-raising that's going on, and said that "Geocachers seem to have a highly-developed sense of community!"

I think Firth of Forth may be the best person for you to get in touch with for the contact with his family. I'm not sure of anyone else who is in constant contact? I have already been in touch with Deceangi with an email addres as I don't think that the geocaching one is being used or monitored. I should add that Ewan's Dad also contacted me a while ago and said that he was gratified and humbled by the fund-raising that's going on, and said that "Geocachers seem to have a highly-developed sense of community!"

You might like to post information about this on one or both of the Scottish/Irish geocaching related forums (GeoX and Geofrees). Email me if you need the links. I'd love to come, as I'm sure would my partner Jack Aubrey, as long as it doesn't clash with other committments (most importantly a week's skiing that we are planning around that time).

cool what college is he applying to? What is he going to study? Sidney Sussex; maths

I had a short trip to Cambridge in September, and like others, was disappointed by the lack of caches. However there were a few worth doing - though there were others that would have taken too long for a day trip. My son has a university interview in December - if he ends up there next year maybe I can place one or two and get him to look after them!

Yeah - those two are good, but the best I've seen is at Hope Springs Eternal on the far North coast of Scotland. All of us were going 'Ohhh!' and 'Ahhh!' all the way up alongside it. Sorry...this is turning into a 'What's your favourite waterall?' discussion and is way off topic.

The best log I've seen is "Took stamp and stamp pad and left a fluffy pen and becky kola travel bug" for a letterbox cache!

The Scottish data can't really be compared to the English. Those regions are not the administrative councils - of which there are 32 (as exemplified by Stones of Scotland). Central region, for example, is a vast area comprising the Lothians, Falkirk, Stirling, and Perth & Kinross.

No problem - though none of the ones I sent you earlier were taken by me! Got them off event pages!

There's one here: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...d3-eb6cdae8248a and here: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...24-da8746d2d568 and here: http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/d84617...1b0b35e902e.jpg and here: http://img.geocaching.com/cache/log/85c52f...cebb578cc0f.jpg

That's great! Thanks so much Pharisee. I look forward to it!

Got your home co ordinates entered in your profile. NB I do not enter my home co ordinates in this section i enter the co ords of my nearest cache as the site is unsecure. I'm being really useless - I don't see anywhere on the profile page to enter home coordinates. I have my postcode entered - so I can find nearest caches. Surely this would do it? Try this link should work if you are logged in http://www.geocaching.com/my/home.aspx Some people have had to rekey these to get it to register its linked from this page http://www.geocaching.com/my/home.aspx as for useless GC dont do well on helping peeps set up there account pages etc to me they should offer a step by step set up process for account pages. I have NEVER seen that page and I've been using the site for nearly 4 years! I still can't work out how to get to it apart from your link. But the task is done now and the geocoin map is working. Thanks a lot. Edit: Ok I ve now seen the link on the My Account page to the home coordinates. Just shows what you can miss!

Got your home co ordinates entered in your profile. NB I do not enter my home co ordinates in this section i enter the co ords of my nearest cache as the site is unsecure. I'm being really useless - I don't see anywhere on the profile page to enter home coordinates. I have my postcode entered - so I can find nearest caches. Surely this would do it?

I think I'm missing something - the map generated when I click on the geocoins page seems to be completely randon - Dublin, Dallas to name a few. How do I get it to show my home area?

What a wonderful chap! I'll definitely be there - plane tickets are already booked.

That's a very good idea. There must be a reasonably simple way of organising it.

Billy Twigger was one of the first active cachers in Scotland. He has set caches all over Scotland, but more recently has concentrated on placing caches on the Isle of Bute, where his family has a house. These are some of the best caches in Scotland. He played host when we held the Scootish Geocachers' Weekend event on Bute in April 2004, and has been an active event attender ever since. Ewan achieved his 1000th cache on the top of the Empire State building in New York this summer. After the death early this year of another much loved Scottish cacher, Bill of Team Ullium, Ewan (Billy Twigger's real name) organised a remembrance event so that Bill's wife, Angela, could be accompanied to the top of one of Bill's favourite Munros - Schiehallion, in order to spread Bill's ashes. It was also Angela's first Munro. Unfortunately, shortly after his return from America, Ewan feel ill. Although he had returned to work, he wasn't well enough to be able to attend his own event. Two days later, Ewan was placing a new cache on Bute near a cliff, and fell. He was seriously injured. Ewan spent several months in intensive care, but he has recently been transferred to the spinal injuries unit at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. The outlook at the start appeared to be very bleak, but he has gradually made a recovery. The most recent news from his wife, Lorna, is that he will be wheechair bound, but has suffered no damage to his personality. Anyone who knows Ewan would describe him, as Allieballie once did as "possibly the nicest man I have ever met". He is a soft-spoken man, who makes people immediately feel at ease, and he has a great sense of humour. Ewan has two grown sons, Fraser and Callum. At the forthcoming Hogmanay Hang-Out event in Edinburgh on December 30th, any money raised through the raffle will be donated to the spinal injuries unit, which is his family's chosen recipient. Crazy Druid is organising the raffle and will be glad of any items, especially geocaching-related ones. A good number of people have already donated various geocoins. Ewan's mobility problems have brought into focus the need to be conscious of being able to easily identify those caches which are suitable for wheelchair users, as I hope that he will want to continue with his hobby in the future.

Can I ask a moderator to close this thread? I will start a new one as suggested.

Ewan will be wheelchair bound after his injuiries but his wife says that his personality is intact. Anyone who knows Ewan knows that he has a wonderful personality, so this is really good news.

Lorna, Ewan's wife, asked me to pass on the latest news... Ewan is now in the Spinal Unit at the Southern General Hospital in Glasgow. He is still quite unwell, but he can breath on his own and can speak to his family.