Simply Paul

I'd love to see Auto-Temping for events the day after them, as well as the current Auto-Archiving feature.

I've spotted the reason it doesn't follow GC's figures - these are for events in the UK only. I've hosted my 150th recently, but it was in the US. Goldpot has exceeded 180... Stats interesting to no one but me

It is with some sadness and considerable disappointment (and speaking personally, anger) that the Geolympix team and I withdraw formally from the 2020 UK Mega request process for the following reasons: To quote the Stakeholder Committee's 'How and Why the UK Mega Event Account Stakeholder Committee' page, "If only one Request is submitted, that Requesting Committee is Automatically Awarded the Account." - Except when the Stakeholder Committee unilaterally decide to exceed their stated remit and reject the only requesting committee's tender on dubious and disputed grounds. On Dec 2nd the Geolympix core committee were told the final rejection of our plans was due to fear about the future status of the UK Mega account. Discussions were still ongoing when the Stakeholder committee publically called for further applications (during a January window) the same day. It wasn't until Dec 13th that our offer to contact Groundspeak to confirm the safety of the UK Mega account was rejected by the Stakeholders as irrelevant. If it wasn't relevant, why give it as the reason to reject the Geolympix team's pitch? Given we had explained we intended to use the UK Mega profile to host the UK Mega, just what 'risk' did the Stakeholder committee think it was at? We don't know. You'll see here http://ukmegastakeholder.boards.net/thread/11/mega-event-account-stakeholder-committee that on Dec 12th 2017 the Stakeholder guidelines were extended/changed, but this was well after the November 2017 request window, after time and effort went into negotiations with the National Trust at Ashridge, after considerable work went into the Geolympix/UK Mega Hybrid tender document and after some discussion with the Stakeholders. Unwritten rules are bad rules and retrospective changes are usually bad changes. Also reflecting badly on the supposedly independent Stakeholder Committee, not only have they moved the goalposts and rejected a perfectly viable, funded UK Mega plan combining all the usual UK Mega tropes - including on-site camping, which has never been a Geolympix feature - with a 'mega mega' concept, Stakeholders also contacted the 2019 proposed Sussex Mega committee to ask them to reform and request the 2020 slot. So much for being impartial. When challenged on this clear misuse of their position the Stakeholders denied the contact. Contact which has been independently confirmed by several members of the Sussex committee. I don't like liars. I definitely don't trust liars. During the tender process, a parallel given was the 'East Anglia situation' where, having been unopposed and awarded the 2015 UK Mega slot, the 'chairman' was revealed to be a schoolboy and the plan collapsed - I say the Geolympix core committee (combined age 190+ and with well over 70k finds between the four of us) is hardly similar. Despite having the potential to be the first UK Mega to be operated by a highly experienced previous-successful-Megas-running committee with significant funding and a great venue, Stakeholders ultimately rejected it on no more substantial grounds than 'it's not how it's been done before'. The 2020 UK Mega will be the 13th. We felt it could use some innovation by then. Apparently not. Nor is a 'mega mega' with the stated ambition of international promotion and the potential to go Giga of interest to the Stakeholders. Greatness rarely flourishes where there's a stifling lack of ambition. The original Geolympix/UK Mega Hybrid pitch was made in good faith. Clearly faith in the award process and those operating it has been severely eroded by the above. There is no appeal process. There has also been insufficient time over the Christmas period to generate the required groundswell of caching community support and form an alternative, cohesive UK Mega Committee needed to proceed with revised branding (Bucks, Beds & Herts UK Mega? London Mega?) with confidence. Operating a Mega is a huge commitment, requiring complex planning, hard work and financial risks. I wouldn't wish to be involved in one I didn't feel was going to deliver on its potential. So I'm out. No doubt some will reject this post as the whining of a sore loser. There may be some truth in that (if by sore you mean disgusted), but the facts remain. The UK Caching Community deserves a great UK Mega in 2020 and on those grounds I and the rest of the Geolympix team wish the winner of this tainted process well. But where were you in November?

Cyclerama between Thame and Princes Risborough is one such series, but there's no national list that I know of.

I think it's about two miles, so 10,560ft.

Thanks for the suggestion & I couldn't agree more. We're committed to the categories & shortlists we have this year (which refer to '2016 stuff') but I imagine OFTH will find themselves heavily nominated for Special Achievement and/or Cacher of the Year for the 2018 awards - assuming this year's continue to go well. Over 600 cachers have placed over 6,200 votes thus far, so it's ticking along happily at the moment Thanks again for your feedback & stay tuned!

Eurovision? Pft! General Election? You get a government no matter who you vote for. No, the real hot poll is the 2017 British & Irish National Geocaching Awards! http://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/ngas 24 categories to research via links & vote on (it's fine to skip categories), with the winners being announced & awards presented at the Devon Mega's evening do on Saturday August 5th 2017. http://coord.info/gc6jzny Last year we got over 1,400 responses & 15,000 individual votes across all award categories. Can the British & Irish Caching Community (it's only open to cachers usually resident in the UK, RoI, CIs or IoM) beat that this year to make the 2017 NGAs even more representative & relevant? You've already topped 500 responses! Voting closes in mid-July. Make yours count ☑ (One vote per person. Due to detected & discounted attempts at cheating last year -tut tut- additional filtering has been applied this year. Please don't waste your time.)

If you liked the look of Rum, you can get there for £8.30 return from Mallaig (free parking) and you can bring your bicycle for nothing. In related news, SNH have approved the hiding of more caches on Rum, so stick with me for some dubious FTFs See IsleOfRum.com for general info. It's nice there.

You can see Chequers from GC171, England's oldest cache. Monarch & Head of State... sounds like our Queen. But as we're not a Republic, I'll say Denmark.

Posted on the Geocaching Awards Facebook group at 4am yesterday morning: For the last two weeks I've tried everything I can think of to access the GeocachingAwards@gmail.com account -which had been working quite happily as recently as early March. Having spent around 40 hours struggling to get in, it's time I admit defeat. I'm not sure why my password isn't working & the security is set up in such a way as I can't get a new one, recover the old one, use a validated backup email account or otherwise get in. Again, I don't know why my linked account is being rejected & the only advice Gmail give is to start a fresh account. Not very helpful. So, I'm only left with one option. **Please forward your nomination emails to paulalexsmith@gmail.com**, which is working fine. I'm very sorry to have to ask you to do this but at 4am, with less than three months until the awards will be presented, I'm out of time, ideas & alternatives. I'll continue to try to access geocachingawards@gmail.com but consider it a dead email address for now. If I do get in, I'll consolidate the emails so there's no duplication. Apologies again for the inconvenience. The only other option was to scrap the awards for this year & that would be very unfair on the NGAs team who've already put a lot of work into them. Fingers crossed & over to you! Again Computers eh? Tsk.

That's another OotR DING! In those years, the person having the birthday is the same age as the square route of the year. Perfectly clear Over to you!

Last one - I think! Evening of June 16th in Portree, Skye: Keep Away..!

Since this has stalled, I'll jump in. If you were born in 1980, something happens to you in 2025 which last happened to people born in 1892 in 1936, and will happen to people born in 2070 in 2116. What is that thing?

And also June 8th (General Election Day): X Marks the SPoT for a Cache Meet Each of these pages has a link to the others for June. But, on August 8th I have Reclaiming Lundy for the People of Freedonia!

Further updates! June 5th on Great Cumbrae (west of Glasgow, in the sea): Make it Snappy June 13th on a beach: Britain's Shortest River Beach Party! (Morar) June 15th on a remote corner of Rum: I Claim Rùm for the People of Freedonia! Should be something for someone in that list? Two more ideas have been 'parked' until 2019, in time for the Aberdeenshire Mega.

Credit where credit's due. I was shocked by the turnout for the Cavern meet. I arrived thinking "Why are all these people here? Are the cachers behind them?" Genuinely thrilled with the numbers. And yet, I've still not seen the goldfish in the pond! Lots more events planned - Winter Geolympix 2018, Megalympix 2020? - so I hope our paths cross too. I like the tidal list. I've visited several and even held a CITO on Piel back in 2013. I'm looking at Chapel Island for June, as I missed the walk to it back in 2012.

Thanks Yorkshire Yellow. In 2011 I held a CITO on top of Ben Nevis with the co-ords (which I visited) right on top of the shelter up there, to ensure it beat my 2009 meet, which was at the trig-point, so I think I have Highest covered. Love the idea of the lowest too, and have tried to organise meets in deep mines and caves (Cathedral Cavern in 2015) in the past, but like your idea better. Thank you! Thanks too for inspiring England's Most Northerly Cache Meet! (June 19th 2017) with your Pub Quiz question - which my guess got right

I know there's a trig point listed as -3m in Cambridgeshire; Britain's very own Death Valley

Ding to OotR. Yes, it's confirmed as England's highest village and is perhaps Britain's highest, depending how you define 'highest settlement' - mean height of all the houses or highest individual building. I've been there too. Easter 2011, with an ex. Happy memories Over to you!

The first addition to the above has been published. June 7th, 9pm for the sunset in one of Britain's most remote buildings: Morar is Less (easy to reach- remote Oban Bothy!) - A challenging kayak paddle or tough 9 mile walk from parking (and 9 miles back!), this one is for the tough/brave/crazy sort of cacher who laughs in the face of discomfort and midges. Bring a head net.

It is not.

I've been holding a series of 'Remote' events since 2007's memorable trip into the wild wild west and the North Atlantic to visit St Kilda. Since then I've held events at the UK's most southerly point (St Agnes, IoS, 2008), most northerly (Unst, Shetland, 2009), Britian's most southerly (two meets off Jersey's south coast in 2010), and the top of Eigg (2011), plus England's most westerly (Bryher, IoS, 2012), an abandoned event (due to pregnancy!) at the InPinn, Skye in 2013, another tidal island off Jersey in 2014, Ben More on Mull (the only island Munro not on Skye, 2015) and White Island (IoS's most northern spot) in 2016. Heading back to Scotland for 2017's summer adventures, I'm inviting cachers to join me at Mainland Britian's most northerly point - Dunnet Head - (which I last visited in 2009. An Earthcache has popped-up since!) on June 10th got a WWFM XIV meet: WWFM Britain's 11th Most Remote Event -Dunnet Head In addition, in 2013 I held Meet at the End (Mainland Britain's most Westerly) at Ardnamurchan Point, which sticks out further than Land's End. However! Since Skye got a fixed link - the bridge - some people now regard it as part of the mainland, and it sticks out further than Ardnamurchan. So, I have to visit the stunning Neist Point on Skye for Wester is Bester on June 17th. Other events to be announced. Please keep an eye on this thread, or on the Remote Geo Events group on FB, if that's your bag

Great fun last year - so much so I'm back to Lundy on August 8th: Reclaiming Lundy for the People of Freedonia! - Ideal for a visit after the Devon Mega. For details of my other summer caching plans, look for 'SP Takes it to Extremes Again - June 2017' Also thanks to Happy Humphrey for this suggestion of the Azores. I got to Sao Miguel - the big island - last month for £86 there-and-back-via-a-stop-in-Lisbon and had a lovely time. I'll be back for the most westerly cache in a year or two

I've done the cache up there. Wild landscape- it's lovely. I should actually walk down to the coast on my next trip in the area... Gives me an idea! Thanks for the ding. On a similar tangent, what makes Flash in Staffordshire special?

Following the success of the first British and Irish National Geocaching Awards, presented at the 2016 Geolympix Mega, we're back for the second year! The awards will be presented at the evening do of the Devon Mega on August 5th, but before then, there's several steps to pass through... Initially, we asked the UK/RoI/IoM & CI caching communities to suggest awards categories. Several from last year have returned, but to keep it fresh and interesting, lots of new ones have been introduced. Categories resting this year will return in future. Our thanks for all the suggestions. They've produced the list of awards categories we're now asking for Nominations for, below. Nominations and voting is open to cachers usually living in Britain or Ireland. Links and GC codes are always appreciated, Groundspeak-listed caches only please, and remember, we're looking for the best of British and Irish cachers, caches and caching! Please copy and paste the categories into an email, edit to add your nominations and caching name, and send to geocachingawards@gmail.com. Or if you don't mind nominating publically - one per category only this year, and yes, you can nominate yourself or your caches! - you can post here. NOTE: Nominations close at midnight on Monday April 24th 2017, with a shotlist of finalists being released in late April/early May, to be voted on in May and June. 2017 British and Irish National Geocaching Awards' Categories: 1- Scotland's Best Cache (as with the others, which was live at the end of 2016) 2- Northern Ireland's Best Cache. (The Republic's is GC43, we learned last year) 3- England's Best Cache 4- Wales' Best Cache 5- Best Offshore Island Cache (CI, IoM, IoW, Shetland, Orkney, Hebrides, Scillies, etc!) - 6- Special Caching Achievement (Sadex won in 2016 & wouldn't be eligible in 2017. Someone who did something remarkable and inspiring in pursuit of tupperware, as either a Lifetime Achievement award, or for someone who’s Overcome Adversity to cache) 7- Since CM won the Best National Series Award in 2016, which is the Best Church Micro Series cache? (published by the end of 2016) 8- Best New Cache of 2016 (can be anything but events of any sort as they have their own category) 9- Best Multi Cache (replaces 2016's Best Non-Physical Cache) 10- UK's Best Mega Event 2008-2016. (22 to pick from! No need to nominate for this category. We'll put them all up for voting) - 11- Best non-Mega event of 2016 (includes side events & CITOs) 12- Best Event Series (including recurring events, such as local area meets and roving meets, plus Souvenir Day meets, but not Megas. They have their own category) 13- Best Wheelchair-Accessible Cache (must be Terrain 1 & have the wheelchair attribute showing please!) 14- Best Log of 2016 (includes those enhanced by a photo or pics. Can be a Find, Note, DNF etc, so long as it's publicly visible) 15- Best New Cache Series of 2016 - Could be National Series or Ring/Cluster. - 16- Best New Coin of 2016. 17- Best Geo-Traveller (coin, TB, whatever) Mission. (To make it different from last year's category) 18- Geocaching Family of the Year (a new category celebrating caching families where everyone gets involved) 19- Geocacher/s of the Year. (Who deserves some special credit and recognition? Could be the most dedicated cache owner, keenest cache maintainer, most inspiring or creative cache owner, most helpful event host, most committed -or should be- cacher who went the extra mile and more…) 20- Newbie/s of the Year. (Must have found their first cache in 2016, and have been a credit to geocaching) - 21- Best Geocaching Blog or Vlog. (Anything by a British or Irish B/Vlogger is eligible) 22- Best Promotional Item (non-coin) - (Either Mega-related, or a personal souvenir left in caches) 23- Best New Extreme Cache of 2016. (Doesn't have to be T5, but needs to be a physically challenging cache) 24- World's Most Desirable Cache? (Global Guest Category!) 25- Thank You Award - Hall of Fame (Not voted on) - For cachers no longer with us who made a significant contribution to the game. 2016's inductee was Billy Twigger. The more nominations we get, the more representative and relevant these community awards will be, by better representing the opinions of British and Irish cachers. Thank you!