Write and Mane

Campsite Bookings As we have no idea of the definite number of people camping, it is not possible to make a Block Booking, bearing in mind that this is a Bank Holiday Weekend. However the Warden is very helpful and if people making a booking mention 'The Geocaching Event' he will try to arrange for them to be together.

Checked out the pub at Gilfach today. This Real Ale Pub has a lovely atmosphere, fortunately for those who want to come the Beer Festival is being held on the Bank Holiday weekend of our Event Cache. So many different ales to choose from I'm beginning to understand why people drink half pints!!!

Ah but are they WATERPROOF!! Sorry been informed I should have written BUT ARE THEY REALLY WATERPROOF!! We test by immersing the box in a bowl of water - Check after half an hour!

Within 25 miles of our home in North Cardiff:- Total Caches 174 20 of the nearest 25 belong to us Of the Five not done:- 1 NEW yippee! - I on an Island!!! - 2 caches were missing when we went to do them, but now replaced. 66 of the nearest are ours 27 involve crossing the Severn Bridge into England We have done the all rest! Oh you lucky people who have lots and lots near your homes - where should we relocate to? LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION!!!!!

Wow 1st January 2006 Just found this congratulatory thread We are really surprised - we didn't know anything about this Thanks Folk for your good wishes - we are now up to 356+ caches

We have 65 caches and have no difficulty maintaining them. If a log mentions a concern we try to respond or address the problem within a week or two. We think this is reasonable and have no complaints - ooh that may be opening the floodgates - hold of till we have passed our 66 Cache

What's all the fuss about. . . . Down here in deepest South Wales we DO NOT have the luxury of lots of caches saturating the area. So we hope it is possible that if a ban is implemented - please exclude South Wales and the surrounding area. Hope this doesn't add fuel to the fireworks!!!

Hi Shaun and Tracy So pleased you are feeling better - we (Write and Mane) have been observing your recovery, by watching your logs on our caches. We wish you both a Good Christmas and look forward to seeing you both (you know where) at our Un-kept Resolution meet on the 18th January. The Manager of the Pub has been kept informed about how you are and looks forward to seeing you again!!!!!

This is Wales and the walking is NOT for softies!!!

Yes the Caerphilly Collection Cache Series does take you along the Rhymney Valley Ridgeway Footpath. The subset 1 - 14 follows this route and the distance is about 64 kilometres, however some of the other CC Caches are located nearby so could be picked of as well! You would need to get the maps out and do some planning if you want to take in all the nearby ones. We did not set out to make these that easy to do - we want to encourage folk to explore the countryside of South wales

We have 2 sets of Caches Merthyr Marathon - the Ninth in the set stands alone. The Caerphilly Collection consists of 50 caches. To complete the 48th Cache you have to collect information from other caches. We are trying to encourage folk to walk routes of interest around South Wales

Ooh 9 makes our 2 finds look very sad But we are cheered up by the fact that we own 2

Sorry to learn Father Christmas is unable to attend Thoughts are with him and his family Mane

Just watching the News, had just been checking on how Alibags Event went yesterday. Join others in hoping casualties are few Thoughts with all in the area. Mane

It is possible to find a Pub with a Function Room, which does not charge. Find a Pub that looks promising and ask nicely Mane

Okay Guys - Just how do I see the photos at the top - I used to see them and then they suddenly vanished - If any one can tell me how to get them back I would like to hear from you. Mane (Write and Mane)

Sorry NO Pub Campsite BUT Nearest Pub is up the road a bit - Just so you can roll back to Parc Cwm Darren Also Beer Fest at Gilfach Pub over the Bank Holiday Weekend (80 Different Beers on offer) Whose buying me a pint?

We did not know or understand exactly how the Forums work (we still don't) When we wanted to organise a meet betwween local cachers - we just sent an email to most folk who had done our caches and a few neighbouring caches. Generally people seemed to find this reasonable and apart from one local cacher (Swansea way) we targeted all our locals and those who couldn't make the meeting had good reasons, work, school commitments etc. We had a lovely evening and it gave everybody a chance to socialise We were probably fortunate that the majority of us had not met any other cachers We were all strangers to each other - oops Mane did know Write! And Mrs B knew Mr B..... So if we did the wrong thing - abject apologies - grovel, grovel! On the plus side some Cachers have requested that we email then .... We have your names - you know who you are!!

Glad Matrix knows how to put a link to Parc Cwm Darren Many thanks. Mane

South Wales first Geocaching Event will be held at Parc Cwm Darran, near Bargoed, on Saturday 29 April 2006. This is the weekend of the May Day Bank Holiday. The event “cache” will be posted in January, 3 months before the date in accordance with the rules. Preliminary information at this stage: · The park has a campsite, for anyone wishing to stay a night or two. Early booking is recommended · There is a Visitor Centre, with a coffee shop that does light lunches. The event reception will be housed here. · The Visitor Centre has disabled access and toilets and there are extensive surfaced paths around the park. · The park has a large lake, waymarked walks, an adventure playground, barbecue sites and is dog friendly. · There are currently about 20 caches within 5 miles of the park and about 60 within 10 miles. There will be new caches set up for the Event.

Merthyr Marathon - Wheelchair Friendly Conversion We had a wheel chair cacher in mind when we produced this simpler version. The full version is available to any one who requests it by email. The eight caches in the Merthyr Marathon series have a total of 53 stages, of which 35-45 are wheelchair accessible, depending on one's degree of mobility. This listing gives information on access to each virtual and regular cache location, key information from those sites which disabled people are unlikely to get to and details of the information which needs to be provided by email to Write and Mane in order to log a find. We acknowledge that, in trying to help and advise those with restricted mobility, we suffer from being able-bodied. We would, therefore, appreciate any constructive feedback that will enable us to improve this listing. The table is designed to suit those with a higher degree of mobility. If, after checking the listing, you feel that other stages are out of your reach, please contact us and we will provide further specific advice with the objective of enabling you to complete the series.

Our Merthyr Marathon Series of caches have a wheelchair friendly version should you ever feel sorry for Merthyr and want to pay it a visit - it really is a lovely place and the folk are very pleasant.

Got up this morning - all is so quiet I wonder why? Our next door neighbour has been out and sprinkled all the gardens, rooftops and bushes with flour. Well that's what he who knows best said, I rather think it's icing sugar, either way . . . Cardiff has SNOW, wake the kids and go out to play - oh sorry the kids have all gone away to play in other places, let's hope they have snow otherwise we will GLOAT. Mane

Could someone possible provide a roll call on the photo. Its great to put faces to the names. Think these are the names of people in the Cardiff Picture (Identified as follows) Left to Right 2 at the very back Chris (The Blorenges) J Leyshon (JLeyshon) Brian (Dart 17) Simon (The Wildleys) Shelly (Princess) not a cacher just at the pub for a meal behind her Gordon (Write) ???? (???) Tracey (Top Cat & Co) ???? (???) Liz (Mane) Helen (Nemo) Elizabeth (The Wildleys) ??? (Dory) ???? (???) Jon and Gail (Zetetic) Andrew (Moosbestmate) Dave and Niki (The Geckos) ???? ?Beth? (Number14) Keith (Aquaman11) In front kneeling Colin (GW1VRW) Ken (The Cacheman) kneeling Lucilla (The Blorenges) and Doreen (Aquamann11) Positive about all named but Beth (Number14) and Moosbestmate's partner was there somewhere Hope this helps people put names to faces. Mane

So it appears all those who came enjoyed themselves - Mane is sitting here wondering if it would be worth while booking the same venue towards the end of January 2006. For no other reason than that we enjoyed meeting everybody and it would give those who couldn't come another opportunity to see exactly what Write and Mane look like.