Kelsborrow Wayfinders

Having looked back through this thread I wonder whether there is such a strong anti-micro feeling as everyone (well currykev anyway ) seems to think. In this thread the only cachers who appear to be strongly anti-micro are Pharisee and Boneychest and Catsuey (apologies if I missed anyone else). Everyone else has put a reasonable explaination why they don't like micros under certain circumstances. It seems to me that the main complaint is about caches that appear to be placed without any thought and for many people the examples that first spring to mind happen to be inappropriate 35mm film containers. Incidentally I did a micro in a wood yesterday and enjoyed it.

There is no definitive answer to the micro good or bad question. Some are good some are bad the same as with traditional caches. That well-used getout clause "Everyone Caches By their Own Rules" means that if you enjoy setting them then continue with what you are doing as there are lots of cachers who love finding them. Personally I enjoy a well thought out micro and I think there are some excellent ones around but unfortunately, in my opinion, this doesn't include the road series which in general have very little merit unless you want to boost your numbers (there are of course exceptions). I also think that some of them can be dangerous for parking - reading the logs is evidence of that - and I'm convinced they must be a distraction for other drivers when they see cachers searching around barriers and motorway roundabouts. But hey - that's just me.

I also thought that the forum had become les confrontational than it used to be which is fine by me. Perhaps it is the use of the "Everyone caches by their own rules" trump card which can effectively bring to a halt any disagreement over caching

My next DNF will now read "Couldn't find due to violent solar activity" it sounds so much better than couldn't find due to general incompetence.

Does anyone have a spare TB tag that I could buy off them tonight?

Perhaps your "deliberate" mistake was spotted Foinavon. It certainly had me fooled

How about based on a road name.

The trick of "searching for the cache using the parking co-ords" is one of my favourite methods for getting a DNF. I've spent many a happy hour searching around the edge of a car-park for a non-existent cache. However my favourite method is still the simple adding up method. If going for "the 24" I would try and select a few simple multis involving adding digits together. I'd then get Pieman to help look for it. This is a tried and trusted method.

A few months ago we were attempting the first stage of a puzzle cache and due to an error on my part (hard to believe I know) had got the co-ords slightly wrong and instead of wandering round aimlessly within a park we were wandering around aimlessly on the road outside. On the point of giving up we were walking back to the car when a familiar voice asked us what we were doing. It was Bargee who happened to be driving past on a non-caching expedition who stopped when he recognised us. I explained what we were doing and although he hadn't done the cache himself by an amazing coincidence he had the first set of co-ordinates with him and was able to point us in the right direction. Possibly the luckiest start to a puzzle cache ever.

Paul I look forward to assisting you not find your 100th cache (sometime around Christmas I reckon ) and I have every confidence that you will not find at least one of those caches today. Perhaps we should go for a 24 hour DNF record.

I think Pieman has unfairly refused to acknowledge the help I have given him in claiming his 68 DNF's. If it wasn't for me he would have found a few more thereby knocking down his impressive total. I'm only on 42 DNF's but I'm determined to catch him up.

I'm deeply honoured. I should point out that amongst other things: you would find no more than 4 caches and get at least 2 DNFs the chances of completing a multi or puzzle would be about zero you would need the ability to read instructions properly and add numbers together

The earlier non-events were just for a quick get together only really publicised on this forum. I don't think the Mill is very good for a fully blown event because it is very hit and miss as to whether there are enough seats. I think it's a great idea to move it. Telford's often has concerts so it is probably a good one to avoid. I think an out of town pub would be better. In the same general location as the Stanney Oaks there is the Rake which is huge and also the Bunbury Arms (I think) at Stoak which was Pub of the Year and very close to one of the Heavenly Hides but I've never been in that.

On the gloomy side we've lost 4 out of 6 so are having a similar sort of attrition rate. On the bright side the remaining 2 have managed 29,000 and 11,000 miles.

I can't disagree with the points you make and I'm not saying any method of caching is right or wrong. It has been proved in this thread that there are arguments for and against I was just trying to express a nagging feeling at the back of my mind and hoping that people would understand the general point I was trying to make. I could well be wrong, I was just trying to look at it from the viewpoint of a first timer who perhaps hasn't got the knowledge of an experienced cacher.

While I agree that there are a lot of excellent micros out there (one of my favourite caches is a micro) in my experience there is a much higher proportion of useless micros compared with traditionals. However my main concern is the impact they have on new cachers. When describing geocaching to other people how many say it is the art of finding a tupperware container and then exchanging items? I would suggest that most of the people who have posted on here are experienced cachers and know how to ignore micros. However a new cacher would probably look for their nearest cache at the first attempt and there is an increased chance that this would be a micro. Certainly if some of the recent micros I have done had been my first then I would probably have had second thoughts about continuing. It seems to me that a lot of micros these days are placed purely for numbers and I wonder about the impact on newcomers.

As King of the Cheshire non-events I hope to get down there.

Fair enough. Perhaps I should post on the China messageboard instead.

My excuse is that part of my area includes the Dee and Mersey estuaries otherwise it would have been much higher. . At least 74.

That sounds like a challenge

...actually I should include South Lancashire and the Wirral in that statement.

Hazel - I didn't want to give the impression I was knocking it at all. I was just intrigued by the large increase in recent weeks and genuinely wondered if Cheshire was the current centre of the universe as far as caching goes.

Looking through the new caches nearly all of them appear to be from the "Usual Suspects" so it appears to be a case of existing cachers getting more enthusiastic rather than new people hiding them.

As someone who pays close attention to caches within a 20 mile radius of home I have been intrigued by the huge increase of caches in recent weeks. My caching pattern has always tended to average 2 or 3 a trip rather than 15 to 20 a go and I have noticed that my number of unfound caches within 20 miles is now going up faster than I can find them. I ran a Pocket Query last night and found that there have been 51 new caches hidden within 20 miles of Kelsall (middle of Cheshire) since May 1st and out of curiousity I wondered if this area is exceptional or are other places increasing at the same rate.

It could be a SOTA cache (Summits on the Air - I think). These are on the top of hills and often appear as caches several months after they were hidden).