Primitive Person

Hi there, it was GCNR55 Linky thing MaxKim. There's a huge amount of building work going on in the area at the moment, as the station is being redeveloped. Network Rail have had to move the "Platform 9 3/4" sign to a new location. Lee

I'm not saying it should be an enforced option which like you say can't be objectively applied. However the availability of such an attribute could at least prick the conscious of the setter - if it's not available how can it be used. Obviously the solution is to only cache in the early morning or late at night then there'll be no bother! The thing is, an attribute *should* be objective. For example, the attributes most useful to me are the ones that tell me if there is public transport nearby, if a long hike is involved, if it's available 24/7, and if there are any specific hazards. These are all very clear as to what they mean, and therefore meaningful. They're genuinely useful in helping me decide whether to attempt a cache or not. Everyone has completely different reasons for attempting caches alone or not, everyone has different abilities, and situations change rapidly anyway. Some caches might be perfectly safe in dry weather and lethal in the wet, and you'd need to decide whether to do it or not based on your own fitness and ability, and the conditions you find when you get there. Some might be fine with doing that alone, others might need assistance. A cache might be easy to do alone at certain times of day, and not others. And conditions at a cache site can't be predicted in advance - you have to decide, right there and then, whether a hide is suitable for you to attempt safely, and this is a completely subjective decision. I've walked away from plenty that others would tackle, and have done some that would scare the willies out of other people - what I'm saying is that this attribute would effectively be useless, and it's much better just to provide specific information in the description, or use other attributes, to give cachers the measure of what a particular hide is like. These are the things that will help people decide whether to do a cache alone or not. If you don't know how to risk-assess a situation for yourself, and can't decide what's appropriate for your ability level and the prevailing conditions, caching is probably not the best hobby for you. Lee

I very much disagree with this. I think that specifically for the issue that you raise, it's a matter of common sense whether to go for a cache or not, but setting an attribute for it would be utterly pointless, as what is suitable for one solo cacher may not be for another. I've done the overwhelming majority of my 300 finds alone, and I've only once been in a position where I've felt I needed someone with me to make one of those finds possible - that was "Cold War In Oxfordshire", which is hidden inside a Royal Observer Corps bunker. The text on the cache page strongly suggests it is not attempted alone, due to the dangers of getting stuck inside the bunker (your phone won't work down there), but that's got nothing to do with the issue raised on this thread. Just use your common sense, people - if you find yourself uncomfortable or worried about your safety, just walk away. Lee

This is far too vague to be of any use to anyone at all, and also can't be objectively applied. There's plenty of caches I'd happily do alone that could be completely off-limits to others, and other caches I wouldn't do in a million years that other people love. This is a decision we all have to make ourselves - we don't need such excessive hand-holding. Lee

First you have to define "cacher": someone who has found 1/10/100 caches this week/month/year/ever? Yup - lots of people sign up to websites and never use them, or use them for a while and give up, or adopt different usernames etc. Finding the number of *active* UK cachers would be pretty diffcult. As an example, I host my blog at Livejournal, which in its ten-year history has seen about thirteen million accounts created. A huge number of those are inactive, and somewhere between 100 and 150 thousand accounts are accessed in a 24-hour period - but which ones of those thirteen million are accessed, it's impossible to tell. Lee

My experience exactly - it returned a big fat nothing, in the middle of central London where there's caches everywhere. I'd like it to work though, as it's the sort of thing I've wanted for ages. Any hints/tips? I tried running it with Memory Map in the background as has been suggested elsewhere, but still nothing. Lee

You must have a lot of fingers. There were 43 UK caches on the day you signed up. If you want to return to that sort of cache density, just sign up with Navicache. And even then they're mostly virtuals. Yup...I joined up to see if it would open up more caches to me locally, but the number within about twenty miles can be counted on the fingers of one hand, all hidden by the same person. The site seems to attract a lot of loyalty, which I guess is good, but I found it a horrible site to use, and I've only found one Navicache-listed cache so far. Whatever Groundspeak's perceived crimes are, this site is light years ahead in terms of usability, features, and - of course - sheer volume of caches. Quality is more important than quantity, sure, but I use my judgement to decide which caches to go for. I won't do it just because it's there (usually!). Lee

You must have a lot of fingers. There were 43 UK caches on the day you signed up. If you want to return to that sort of cache density, just sign up with Navicache.

OK, I'm going to stick my head above the parapet here and say something that risks incurring the wrath of lots of people, but hey, I'm going to say it anyway. The Prevention of Terrorism Act is one of the most utterly retarded and pointless pieces of legislation ever, that has been misused by the police dozens of times to harass ordinary people going about their business, and it's time we all complained about it. The "if you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to hide" argument is terribly lame indeed - the police in many areas, especially London, now seem to enjoy throwing their weight around and assuming you're guilty until proven innocent. I dread the day I'll get stopped and searched - and it's bound to happen eventually - because I'm likely to kick up such a fuss that I'll probably get arrested. Ordinary people doing legal things should not have to go to extraordinary lengths to prove their innocence, and it's about time the police stopped being such a bunch of aggressive bully-boys over this sort of thing.

I'm happy to oblige with a discussion/demonstration...I'm in London and usually cache in its environs, suburbs and surrounding countryside. Lee

I use OS Maps on my GPS-enabled phone, which runs Memory Map. It works very well, but has the drawbacks of any non-dedicated GPS, which are poor weather resistance and lousy battery life. It does the job, though - Memory Map is a superb bit of software, and with Lordelph's Lovely Icons, it's a very effective paperless caching tool. Any portable device that runs Windows Mobile with built-in GPS should be suitable for your needs here. Lee

Count me in - I live in Raynes Park. Lee

I certainly don't go for ones I KNOW I'm not going to like, but in some cases cache descriptions are very short and it's only when you get there that you discover it's a terrible hide. Also locations can deteriorate fast - what was once a nice spot can end up colonised by society's less pleasant people, with little or no warning. I can't think of many caches I've not enjoyed or found to be unpleasant for any reason, but we do owe it to other cachers to point out obvious major problems or dangers. Whilst I don't advocate a particularly heavy-handed approach - we're all different and what might be a huge issue for me could be trivial to someone else, and vice-versa - it's good to be constructively critical if it's necessary. I think caching is generally pretty safe, but by its very nature - getting out into isolated places - it can carry risks, and these need to be considered. While cache setters can't be held responsible for the idiocy of others, a clear understanding of what a cache involves is invaluable to potential finders, and finders are the ones coming to caches blind, as it were, and their feedback is valuable. We all change and learn as well. My first cache hide was hidden in a location I now consider to be highly unsuitable, and was muggled in a particularly nasty way, but for a year or so it worked just fine, although that was probably more luck than judgement. Everyone who did it was positive, but if anyone has any issues with my hides, I'd far rather be told so I can deal with them promptly. I want people to enjoy my caches, not come away with an injury, a problem or a grudge. Lee

They don't allow moving caches any more. I don't think this rule stands up to scrutiny. Does not the Earth revolve on its own axis? Does it not revolve around the Sun? Does not the Sun make its own slow sure way through our galaxy? All caches are moving caches. If this rule is to be upheld fairly then all caches must be archived immediately. Either that, or anchored above the surface of the earth in a geostationary orbit. Or something. Lee

Yup - I found my first 100 or so with my Garmin Geko 201, but now I find almost all my caches with my HTC TyTN II phone, using Memory Map and BeeLine. I do most of my logging from it as well, out in the field. Battery life is a major problem - GPS absolutely hammers it in about three hours. However, I've now got a charger using 4 AA batteries that keeps it topped up, so that's fine for longer expeditions. The Geko still proves its value, though. I often just leave it switched on all the time to record where I've been, as the battery life is so good. It also comes out in bad weather, as it's waterproof, which the phone most certainly isn't. I also like using it for multis where you have to enter co-ords as you go along, as I just find it easier to enter them using one hand, holding a notebook in the other...so a few of my finds are still thanks to one of the most basic GPS units going. A dedicated unit will give you the benefits of robustness, weather resistance and battery life - if you think those will come in handy, splash out the cash. Lee

That's 60 and a very big 'plus'. Try closer to 100 if you're starting from scratch. With 42000 caches in the UK, theoretically, you could get away with 84 PQs at 500 caches each but with instances of a few 100's of caches being placed on a single day, using date related PQs you will need quite a few extra to cope. I can't quite see the point of this. Apart from it being far, far more caches than my PDA can even remotely cope with storing, how can you possibly need to have every single UK cache stored all the time? Even if you travel a lot, is it necessary? I run 6 PQs covering a large area around my home, which provides me with YEARS worth of potential finds. If I'm travelling to a different part of the country, I'll just run a one-off PQ to cover that area. Does me fine, Lee

I have a very general-purpose blog which is here... http://primitivepeople.livejournal.com ...and I do often write about caching in it. When I can be bothered and manage to remember, I tag my caching entries and they can be found here... http://primitivepeople.livejournal.com/tag/geocaching

I've hidden a few, but not that many - 9 in total, with 3 archived. They don't get found too often, but some of the logs have given me a great deal of pleasure. Logs of few words or just "TFTC" are annoying! I prefer finding myself, although I'm not a particularly prolific cacher - the most I've ever found in one day was 14, although that was very much a one-off and I've never come close to that since - on average I'll find about three or four in a day, although often it'll only be one. This is mainly down to time constraints more than anything else, and although I'm trying to clear my local patch, I'm not busting a gut to do so. I just enjoy getting out for a nice walk and finding a good cache while I'm at it. Lee

Does an AA battery extender really work - will it charge a PDA to full power from a set of AAs ? Any info appreciated - my PDA dies after about 3 hours in the field. I spent quite a long time attempting to research these, before buying one. There's several options, using either 1, 2 or 4 AAs. I was a bit concerned that the 1 or 2 AA ones might be a bit wimpy, so I went for a 4-AA option. It's a bit big, but fits in my bag quite unobtrusively and reminds me of my old 3-FAX modem for my Psion 3a. I've not thrashed it particularly hard yet, but yes, it will charge my HTC TyTN II from a low point to more or less full power, albeit fairly slowly (somewhat slower than the mains charger) and I can get about 2 or 3 full charges out of 2700mAh rechargeable batteries in it (not tried alkalines yet). So...carrying a couple of sets of charged up batteries around should be good enough for several days away from the mains. It looks like a good investment. Lee

I cache entirely using my legs and public transport. Yup - single-issue groups are usually pretty crap at seeing the bigger picture, which makes me despair a little. As part of the bigger picture, caching is almost certainly overwhelmingly positive - but I can see how it looks. However, it's not a new activity if you consider letterboxing and treasure-hunting of various kinds, which have been around for years. Lee

I had a slightly belated Easter break, going to Scotland from Monday to today. On Monday, I did Bellfield Park Cache in Inverness, and on Tuesday I did Transect Line in Altnabreac - the most remote cache I've ever attempted, and a really memorable experience! Check out my log - I even managed to acquire a dog for company on this one... Lee

My nearest 500 are all within 7.8 miles, centred around Raynes Park (near Wimbledon), London. So...that just about gets to the edge of central London. It's pretty dense around here - although I've been caching all over the place, the vast majority of my 210 or so finds are within about 4 or 5 miles of home. I run about four PQs for different cache types centred around home, which gives me everything within about 20 or so miles, so covering almost all of London and a sizable chunk of the area to the south and west. My nearest unfound cache is now 2.1 miles away, but it's a puzzle I've got no idea how to tackle, so I suspect it'll go unsolved for a while. Lee

I would suggest a "war of attrition" type approach - replace every single "GROPEd" cache as soon as possible, and keep doing so every time it gets removed. I suspect this will pass soon enough. I doubt there's any high-minded principles involved, and I suspect it's one or two people with a grudge who will soon get bored and give up. Once again, I'd be wary of discussing this too much in the open, as it gives them what most of these people crave - publicity. Lee

Argh! Don't go there! I wish people were a bit more consistent with labelling nanos actually - personally I'd classify them as micros, but a lot of people list them as "Other", making them show up as non-micros on Memory Map. I get very annoyed when it looks like I'm near a regular-sized cache, only to discover it's a nano when reading the description. Grrr. I'm angry now. Lee

I think you're doing the wrong thing drawing attention to it here. Attention is what they want. Ignore them and they'll go away. Seriously - the novelty will wear off. There's often been things like this going on, but people come and go, and you'll probably find it gets resolved eventually. It's a shame, but the world is full of knob-ends. Just don't let it get to you. Lee