FantasticCat

What?? Down to 38th. Thought finding 3 a week would be enough to keep me in top 25 Must write up my backlog of 5 caches- that should get me racing up the charts again.

Also slowed down a lot. Spent some of extra time playing loads of games of chess on the internet where you have to make all of your moves in one minute. Also going on long walks with no caches on them (or ones I have already done).

I don't think someone who has done 1,000 plus in a day on the ultimate of power trails should be making the comment that numbers don't matter (in the sense of comparing with others) etc . It is a bit like a millionaire telling someone in poverty that money really isn't important. I still am amazed that Groundspeak have this guideline Please don't hide a cache every 600 feet just because you can. The two main goals of the saturation guideline are to encourage you to seek out new places to hide caches rather than putting them in areas where caches already exist, and to limit the number of caches hidden in a particular area, especially by the same hider. Groundspeak may further restrict cache listings in areas where cache saturation becomes a concern. Yet they published this trail.

This trail, well to be more exact noticing that UK cachers had started doing it was what made me stop chasing numbers. In that sense I'm glad it exists. Looking forward to going out at the weekend. Don't care if I get 1 or 10 caches. If nothing takes my fancy, we will just have a nice walk instead. Guess I'm caching like the majority of cachers now.

Thanks N&A. Sorry to hijack the thread V&S, but I suppose at least I gave you a lot of info! Few caches isn't a problem for me now. My numbers days are hopefully permanently behind me.

I went to Barcelona this time last year and had a very nice time. It was nice to get some sun as a break from the winter. Prices weren't too bad accomodation or food wise. You should do Barcelona Invasion if you go- leave yourself 2 days min to do it though (can also combine it with others en route). Catch a Barcelona football match also- easy to get tickets for league matches and much cheaper than Premiership (20-25 euros for seats "up with the Gods"). You can print your own tickets also and choose your seats (and see the view online). Worth doing for the experience even if you don't really care for football. You get free tuition in learning how to swear in Spanish also! Went to Dublin in the autumn. The caches were plentiful and good enough. I found Dublin expensive and relatively disappointing tourist wise. Expected a lot more historical sites etc than there were. Guinness is 5+ euros a pint. Also people wax lyrical about the atmosphere in the pubs but you have to be careful this isn't a very manufactured atmosphere. Not like Britain isn't stuffed full of decent pubs with a far bigger selection of beer. Was still very pleased I went, but that was because I saw two great gigs by New Model Army and had a long chat with one of the band. Go to Berlin every June for chess tournament. Lots of caches there. Berlin is a bit of a grey city, but thats part of the charm- it still retains its communist feel in eastern parts. You can also find large wooded areas and even a beach (Straband Wansee I think) at the edge of the U bahn network. Lots of garden areas with large sheds/chalets closer in which you can wander through, which have some caches in. Caches are generally harder than in UK, although part of this is down to the clues log notes can give you (which you miss unless fluent). Berlin is reasonable for accomodation, close-ish and cheap to get from airport and has plenty of cheap good quality restaurants, even in Western parts. Certainly cheaper than London to eat. Have just been told about prepaid Mastercards btw. They seem to offer a much better exchange rate than anything else will offer you (including changing cash). Think they also get around Ryanairs extortionate £5 per flight admin fee even for booking with a debit card. More a general walking rather than caching question- has anyone been to the Austrian Alps? Is it easy to get around without a car and are there plenty of walking trails?

I have virtually stopped caching- for now at least. Tell tale signs apart from having done so few are not being bothered to write caches up done in October (including one of my favourites- a virtual), not going for FTFs just a mile away, nor having any inclination to "tidy up" the local area. Benefits of stopping? 1. Frees up loads of time- not just the caching itself, but working out where to go and writing up the logs (I couldn't bring myself to do these minimal or cut n paste logs that many power cachers do). 2. Going back for walks in nice areas. Local to me are Trent Park and Epping Forest- great areas for walking in. However I wasn't interested once I had done all the caches there. Really enjoyed revisiting these places recently. 3. Whilst caching has taken me to great places, it may have taken me to places not as nice as I could have gone to if I hadn't been looking to get lots of caches. Sometimes the two coincided, sometimes they didn't. The last two summers I have been on big UK caching tours. I looked in my wardrobe the other day and saw some of my three-quarter length trousers and thought "I never wore them last summer". Next summer I am planning to spend it playing chess somewhere sunny! Expect I will continue caching but is likely to be caching when it fits in with what I am already doing rather than other things fitting in with caching. This favourites thing does look a very positive development and should help with getting quality over quantity.

I don't follow your logic. How does the mere existence of a 'power trail' change the game for anyone who is not interested in finding poer trails? It seems to me that such a power trail would only enhance the game for those that like to hike My logic was that I was competing to be one of the top finders in the UK. I was achieving this through doing lots of caching. Some were power trails but ones that required walking, and maybe getting 5 an hour. A typical day would see me get 30-40 caches from a 6-8 hour walk. Now with people getting 1,000 caches in 2 days (ok this may be a one off exception but maybe not) and increasingly common 100+ drive bys a day, I will slip down the rankings at this present pace. Unless I spend most days caching I would have to also do these drive bys to maintain or improve my position. I don't want to do this. Many people I find are inconsistent in their attitude to numbers (fully admitting they really didn't mean much if anything but still looking to increase them anyway). I would have included myself in this group. This new situation has caused me to recognise the futility (in my mind at least) of going for numbers. This is likely to improve my life for the better, but for better or worse it has changed things.

You seemed to have misread my post. Although I always aimed to go for nice caching experiences, I found it fun to move up the rankings, as I am a generally very competitive person. The ability of people to do 1,000+ caches in 2 days with the ET and well over a 100 in other UK drive by series means that with many of my "rivals" doing these type of caches that either I had to do them also or that I would not be able to keep pace with them. I have the financial means and time to do this but certainly not the inclination- if you were to tell a non cacher that your hobby was to go round driving from cache to cache to find as many as possible they would think you are crazy, especially as you had driven large distances just to get to the starting line also. It was then that I finally realised that chasing numbers was now getting very silly. I will repeat that I am not unhappy about the situation, but people playing the game this way have changed the game for people who were playing the game by finding a lot by walking. I am not saying the cache placer or the cache finders are wrong, but they have altered the dynamics of one aspect of caching for good.

This series and other smaller drive by series in the UK like the Skeg to Ness series (230 or so caches) have altered my attitude to caching for good. I used to like trying to move up the rankings even though I am normally a very logical person and know this really is meaningless as all caches don't require the same effort. As time went on in the UK, power trails separated by only 200m or so have become more common. Still I'm up for a good long walk so was sort of happy to do these despite knowing they meant that numbers were meaning less and less. The final straw has been the realisation that if I want to continue to move up the rankings now I have to sit in my car all day. Many of the top UK numbers cachers are apparently happy to do this and at least 3 have already completed the Alien trail. I am not and have finally seen the futility of these rankings. In many ways this has done me a big favour as I am now focussing a lot more time on what should be my main hobby chess. In other ways it has done me a big disservice as I am not getting outdoors anywhere near as much. For all the apparent faults of number chasing, many people do enjoy this aspect. I wonder whether a lot will disregard this as I have done and lose interest in caching. I think it is a somewhat risky decision by Groundspeak not to enforce their own saturation rules in this and other series. Looking on the bright side hopefully I can now just do only the caches I want to, rather than stopping somewhere for the sole intention of getting one more find. Many (if not the majority?) of people do cache in this way and I have always respected them for approaching caching this way.

I have travelled many miles to get virtuals and have probably one of the top 20 totals in the UK. I would like to see virtuals re-instated but only if they were separate from the historic virtuals- it would devalue the efforts of virtual chasers like myself and others if 100's of new ones appeared. The suggestion that they would be ideal for the US national parks seems a very strong argument. With earthcaches being allowed, I don't see the lack of a physical container as a reason for them not to exist. I was told that the quality of virtuals was getting worse and worse and that was why they were discontinued. I know (having placed one) that earthcaches have a rigorous process to being accepted. I suppose this could be a sticking point in bringing back virtuals- geological experts monitor earthcaches, but who would be a virtual expert? Reviewers with some justification seem very reluctant to get involved in issues of quality.

I've spent many a late evening in a different English county trying to get enough finds to get a county to change colour. Thanks for all your hard work. Really hope someone can carry it on.

Terribly sad news to lose such a good friend and helper. My thoughts are with you Wendy.

Is caching an olympic sport? By 2012 you should be up there with the top Americans and get us a gold! I see Team Alamo has over 29,000 finds, but I wouldn't put it past you to go past them!

These series did not exist for the first 5 years of caching. I wasn't aware that caching was dying out and these series came along to save the hobby. Still thanks very much for the personal attack.

This seems very good news to me. This dreadful series seems to grow and grow and now hopefully will have the clamps put on it as permission should be awkward to get. Actually the offending cache in question, St Pancras would be one of a small number that held any interest to me (yes I know people's interests differ and there are lots of people who are very interested in drab surburban stations). I like caching in London but it doesn't surprise me that concerns have been raised/issues have occured. Any chance of requiring permission for the supermarket series also (or indeed banning them on the grounds of commerciality) Groundspeak?

Won't be able to make the event but do go to the Shetlands to see the outlaws every 18 months. Am planning to place a few caches there at Christmas as there won't be enough caching activity for me otherwise. Shetlands is a very nice place btw and would recommend going there. If anyone needs any info about the Shetlands I'll see what I can do. My father-in-law knows virtually everything that goes on in Shetland.

These two young hunks must have already heard about the calendar when they posed for this photo at the Never had a FTF? cache ! http://www.geocaching.com/seek/log.aspx?LU...96-104692a09a72

The one man caching phenomenon that is DrSolly hit 4,000 caches yesterday, smashing the 0-4,000 record (I seem to point all the records out to you ). A fine performance. His enthusiasm is an inspiration to me and hopefully many others. Expect to see you at the top of the caching charts by this time next year (if not earlier).

Watford Wobble? That must be taken from the Horns last 2 seasons and no doubt the next one to come The caches should all be on public land (but won't be!) but that doesn't necessarily mean you won't stray off into private land without realising it. Think your cycling experience should pretty much be replicated when caching. That said, I don't think I have had anyone tell me to get orf his land yet. It could be the case of course that some illegal private land notices are up, as the landowners aren't too impressed with right to roam and all that.

The work you guys have done on the Nuvi series is awesome. You are not the only people to 'pimp my Nuvi' though http://glad-you-asked.blogspot.com/2008/01...ks-dig-car.html This person has managed to change the car icon to a batmobile! Not sure it will help you find caches any better though. They have also created other items like the Beatles' yellow submarine

Congratulations on being the second UK person to log 5,000 finds!

We have been very pleased with how many people have done the Stort Navi Series and it is great if people are going to use this series to meet up. Sorry I can't meet up in the near future. As an aside I would welcome an extentsion of the series up to Bishop's Stortford (partly because we want to walk up the river to there!). The Essex Kellys have done the last 2 and may want to do more. If you are interested, it would good to speak to them to see if they had anymore planned. We are done with the placing ourseleves- it is getting too far from our home in North London. Don't want to dictate what caches should be, but we have gaps of about 600-700m per cache and feel that is appropriate to stop an unabashed numbers grab. Larger or shorter gaps would be fine, but feel say 20 placed in 200m gaps would be getting a bit silly.

Pilotsnipes paperless caching is awesome- turns the Nuvi from a very useful geocaching unit to an exremely strong one. Screen display really good, very good accuracy and reception also. Two drawbacks- battery life, I would say probably 3 hrs 45. Recharges very quickly from car adaptor though. Ruggedness- not as rugged as handheld GPS units, but is more rugged than you may imagine. Because of pilotsnipes guide I have bought a Nuvi 350 (got it for £135 incl. postage)to go with my Nuvi 300. I wanted European mapping for trips to Berlin and Belgium, it gives me double the battery life (more if 1 is charging while using the other) and increases the caches loaded from 500 to 1,000! The cache info includes description, hint and the last 5 log notes. The Nuvi also alerts you when driving to if there is one of the loaded caches within 400m.

I think Garmin would be unsure as to whether to give Pilotsnipes royalties- his work could seriously increase Nuvi sales, on the other hand it could make a big dent in their non-auto GPS sales. Perhaps the fact that models have either been either a car device or a GPS and they haven't tried to bring out a hybrid recognises this. Even more pleased with my paperless Nuvi after today's big trip btw!