Fianccetto
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Posts posted by Fianccetto
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Keewee, hope you and your family have a great trip! I should have gone to bed ages ago, so won't post a suggestion/date just yet.
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There are people who pretend to be disabled, as a cover for all manner of criminal activity. There was an egg thief at large in Scotland some while back who did this, for example, to try to get information about the location of nests. The police are not hassling anyone if they eliminate them from their enquiries by simply asking a few questions at a reasonable time of the day. I don't get why so many people see helping the police with their investigations as a negative thing.
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Would misjudging the tides mean certain DEATH or would it just mean being stranded for a few hours until the sea goes out again?
If the latter, then it's not a problem
If then former then you would want to make it VERY clear about the risks
Mark
Yeah its definitely the former.
If the tide cuts you off you'd be in big big trouble.
When the tide is out, it there any danger of getting stuck in silt/mud or quicksand, and warnings not to go on the beach? Is there time to get off the beach once you see the tide coming in, or do you need to know the time to allow yourself to get to safety, and be able to calculate that in relation to the tide times? Some beaches are so flat or funnel shaped that if you were out at the water line when the tide turns, you can't outrun the tide coming in and could drown. (I'd rule out Morecambe Bay, for this reason).
I know of a few coastal areas like this, and to me it would be too great a risk to place a cache in any of these locations, but I am of a cautious nature when it comes to risking people's lives for a game like this. That said, I regard 5/5 caches as generally out of my league unless it's an area I know something about, or have access to the relevant experts and equipment in the area. I do think it would make geocaching boring if there were no caving/diving/rock climbing/boating caches, and for many people that's what geocaching is mostly about, and what makes it most interesting. It comes down to your local knowledge and accepting there will be some people who will try to do the cache by picking up a phone and heading for the coordinates if they can. Your cache might be the first one they attempt. What can you do to keep them safe?
If you were to go ahead with it, I'd hope you would make it a 4/4 - 5/5 puzzle cache with the puzzle involving research into the local tides - number of deaths in certain years/newspaper reports of fatalities/rescues/ etc. to get the coords! Cachers who know the lay of the land would rattle through any puzzle you set but for the uninitiated, it could be enough for them to arrive properly prepared. Also, a way to get people to look up the tide times and the coastguard's number to call in case something goes wrong. Check with the the local coastguard and RNLI, as they might have some good advice too. You would also need to be prepared to keep an eye on the changes in tides and weather and disable the cache if it's going to be too dangerous to attempt a find. what are you going to do about people who have downloaded the cache page onto their GPS already?
There was a cache off somewhere near St Ives, Cornwall (can't find it now, maybe it got archived...) which warns of being cut off by the tide - would be worth taking a look at how similar caches are set up and discussing with the COs (and any others with similar caches) about the best wording and layout. Maybe suggest cachers have to collect some specialist equipment from somewhere first, or call you to let you know they're attempting the cache?
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I am back in the states now. Never did get more than one sat. Let it sit out side for almost an hour, now joy. Thanks for all the help.
Sorry to hear that it didn't work out for you and noone could really help. How frustrating. If you make a return trip this side of the pond, let us know in time for someone over here to at least try and arrange a small meet and greet event and try to help with the GPS issues in person, or do a joint caching trip.
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oops, not needed!
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i'll go for Star Wars day: May the 4th (be with you).
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I appreciate this is serious thread necromancy, but I was trying to find info on blanket permissions for BW land, and got nothing, but this thread came up.
To bring this up to date, for anyone following me, I emailed BW customer services and got the following reply.
Hi Dawncraft,
Thanks for the email. You are more than welcome to place caches on BW land, as long as you don't damage the towpaths or surrounding area
Hope this helps,
<<name redacted>>
Customer Service Advisor
British Waterways
E: customer.services@britishwaterways.co.uk
T: 01923 201120
This summer the canals and rivers that British Waterways cares for and maintains in England and Wales will become part of a new charity called the Canal & River Trust.
Want to know more? Go to - www. waterscape.com/findoutmore
Follow the BW Customer Service team on Twitter at http://twitter.com/BWCustServ
So basically, fill ya boots, but don't break anything.
That's great!
There's a lovely series of caches along our local canal. One of them is in view of a lock keeper's cottage and he's been known to get on his loud hailer and shout 'up a bit, left a bit, getting colder' to struggling cachers in foul weather conditions!
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My ideal combination is caching with my droid and explorist. I'm thinking of getting a spare battery for my phone, as its annoying when that dies on a trip out. The cost of data connection can be high, so good to check you have wifi on when in range of free WiFi, but turn that off when out of range to save on battery use.
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Just seen this thread, and see you haven't logged any read finds in the UK yet. Hope all is well and you found the answers you needed. If not, what region of the UK are you visiting?
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Thanks for the explanation, Saraya. I hope you will give geocaching a try, now that you've found out about it and you've started an account. It can be a lot of fun and take you to some interesting and beautiful places sometimes.
It isn't often that geocachers are quite this dramatic in arousing suspicion. Despite using the term 'muggle', we are not under the illusion that we are magical beings or that non-cachers should not be respected. The majority of us tend to avoid the few caches which would have us standing in a river (well, at least where anyone can see us, and unless the kids and family dog can join in safely!)
Opinions are split over what to say to muggles, and some cachers will steadfastly want to mind their own business and expect others to do the same, and will only give an explanation to the police. Sadly it seems the geocacher involved was taking this line, but in rather more extreme conditions than usual. I can see where you're coming from, but it is also easy to see how this could happen.
Some cachers also prefer to go caching at night, when there are fewer people about. This seems to have backfired too. I do feel sorry for the unfortunate cacher, and hope that they have recovered from the ordeal.
Hopefully they have been busy getting their injury seen to (I hope it wasn't too nasty) and haven't contracted any additional deseases from the river water. With any luck, they will live to tell the tale (soon) and come here to give their side of the story.
You might not have changed the mind of the cachers you encountered, saraya, but you've given the rest of us pause for thought, thanks. Weils desease is no fun.
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Were going to need a whole new range of smileys for the 1.5/1.5 caches with inaccurate cache coordinates, a hint that is a red herring, and then you find it when the CO tells you their hint is a decoy (but no other info) but its out of reach (if you're shorter than 6'), so can't sign the log. Oh no, we have one for that its the blue DNF!
COs all have their own ways of playing the game too. There will never be any consistency in geocache hides and finds. That is part of what makes it fun and Interesting, all kinds of people play, and they take us to all kinds of places.
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Devices to Westminster.
Used to be a kayak/canoe only race, don;t know if it still is - first heard of it back in the 60's when a scout in Bath - came across it early one morning in the 70's when moored up in a narrow boat on the Thames whilst looping the GU, Thames, Oxford canal.
Kept us awake half the night!!
DDD
DING!
(Devized to Westminster)
Some do it in 4 stages, but for the non stop race they carry on all through the night.
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Is it as simple as The Thames Challenge?
Would love to give you a ding but the first 55 miles of the race are on different waterways (both rivers and canals).
The name of the challenge gets shortened to 2 letters, the initials of the start and finish of the race. X-Y So will accept the correct letters and the type of boat involved. (checking paper maps is allowed, online maps not allowed).
Another minor clue, because if you were near one of the waterways last weekend, you might have seen some participants (a red herring otherwise.): When we walked around Reading on Saturday we saw a lot of the participants, some singles, some doubles. This is just over half way, they have to go through the town centre and it is at Reading they join the Thames. A race number with the name of the race is clearly fixed to each boat.
Going to work today, will check back when I get home.
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I've seen people use a 'just giving' website for donations. Links to paypal, Facebook, etc.
Good luck!
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I have a memory like ... um ... you know those small fishy things, live in a bowl, what are they called?
A cornflake?
An orange sieve?
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Which long distance boat race, held over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend, is 125 miles long, has 77 portages and finishes on the tidal portion of the River Thames, opposite the houses of Parliament. (The non-stop version of this race is the longest non-stop boat race of its kind in the world.)
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I know that one.
Wenlock and Manderville.
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I don't have access to look to see if you have been to any events, OZ, or where you live (so apologies if this suggestion isnt helpful) but maybe another way around this would be to hold a meet and greet event in your area and bring it up with other local cachers. Perhaps as a good will gesture, you could provide a small lock n lock with a log sheet to everyone who attends. (Again, just a suggestion, I've hears this works well and Mr F went to an event in Houston where they did this, even for him! (He arrived a little on the late side.)
It seems to me that Groundspeak do consider all these rules and weigh up the pros and cons of each one. I'm sure they have thought this through already.
Bottom line, will the rule you want to make result in the game being more fun, or less fun for hiders and seekers?
(I think the rule will result in more NM logs for petty things, false owner maintenance logs, COs archiving good caches because they can't get to them to maintain them the very next day, and some long standing, experienced cachers being picked on by people who never got out and walked more than a mile in their lives before they got a geocaching app on their phone!)
Some regions are better than others for cache maintenance, if it is something you're concerned about locally to you, maybe see what your local/national reviewers think about it.
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A retractable cord with a choice of interchangable attachments ... mini grappling hook, magnet, grabber, net, scoop...
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CAN YOU SEE now and its not the ammo box
If you cant maybe you should go look
It was made harder by people hunting and spreading dirt about and rain and snow I am happy in my mind and I did not hear any one on the day moan other than if we had just looked harder
I think this many people i would have been in concrete boots in the bottom of the lake
I think that's great.
We'll be over that way soon, and hope to do some caching around Reading, so maybe our DNF will be added to the long list very soon!
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You've been told about other events, but not attended (or even responded to the suggestion). Seems a waste of time to mention any more.
I'm clearly not the OP's type, so won't suggest any more. *sniff*
I'll add though that there's another easy way to check what events are on in the local area, as they show up as red speech bubbles on the geocaching.com maps.
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If we're taking essential at it's true meaning (I wouldn't go and look for a cache without...) that would be something with a GPS or phone and a pen. Nothing else is essential.
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I was asked where I found a cache in a local series (now archived). One of the caches in the series was disabled and the cache owner hadn't logged on very recently, and we were the last to find the cache. It was, for us, the easiest in the series, a magnetic nano on a fence, the coords were a bit out and the hint was about a tree, so misleading. I felt it was fine in that instance to help with a clearer hint and description. If it had been one of the other caches which had better hints and coords, but were just very well hidden/disguised (hidden in a busy park) or they were asking for help on every cache in the series, I'd have been a bit less inclined to help.
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1. Pen
2. varies
3. varies
4. varies
5. varies
6. varies
7. varies
8. varies
9. varies
10. varies
Good point...maybe a pick n mix option is a good idea.
Tides and Cache Placement
in United Kingdom and Ireland
Posted
That looks like the one I was thinking of...No wonder I couldn't find it near St Ives!
From the 'extreme caches' bookmarked list, here are a few more which might be of interest. (I think I read that cache listings are copyrighted, so copying too closely without COs permissions isn't allowed, but it would probably be a good idea to see how cachers have fared with finding them, and if they have any suggestions anyway.)
Monkey Island
Pirate's treasure Trove
Red Sand's Fort
Somewhere over the...? (Not a Tidal cache, but another interesting cache page, good to see the wording in various extreme caches.)