MrPloppy

Wow - when "only 15 caches were bagged" is mentioned, I look at my tally and think to myself that my original thought that 21 in total in about a month doing this geocaching was going some, is probably unfounded... But hey, although I'm not in the same league as most (if not all) of you (I'm probably Sunday League 5-a-side!!), I did get a whopping three, including my very first Travel Bug, which I was able to take another 36 miles on it's quest to "see the world". Mind you, I didn't go out specifically to geo-cache, but to visit a place and see if there were any geo-caches about. Still, its not all about the numbers, is it?! MrP.

I hope you all don't mind a "geocashette" (that is someone new to this geocaching lark! ) joining in with his twopenneth. For me, geocaching offers the opportunity to go out walking with a purpose in mind - this is, at least, my stance when I'm trying to get the kids out. They certainly love it, and I love the walking. While I remain certainly a new chap at all this, I cannot see the argument for trying to get as many as one can. I wouldn't have thought that was the point, surely? Its like climbing a mountain - you climb a mountain to reach the top and enjoy the journey - not, perhaps, to add one to your mountain climb list. In this respect, while mini-caches may not be ideal, they are certainly better than nothing, right? And once you've found them, you've reached the top of the mountain (or hill in this case), and enjoyed the journey to get there. I've certainly found little areas I didn't know about right on my doorstep as a result of geocaching, and while something like 80% of my small number of caches I've got are mini-caches, I've enjoyed every one of them. However, having said all that, I can see how certain caches would stick in the mind. One of the ones I've found had a big surprise where it was hid which made me and kids jump back. This one was brilliant, and I said so, but the cache was still a minicache. Having read all the posts on here, I've thought long and hard about my first caches that I will put down. I will try and put them down with this criteria in mind, which is my thought on what constitutes the best caches: 1. Put a few down which follow a trail. 2. It doesn't matter if most are minicaches... 3. ...but the walker should be rewarded with something at the end. 4. Make some of them unique - something people will remember them for. This way, I hope that the second of the OP's points wouldn't be a problem; that people won't just write "TFTC" at the end, but something a little more detailed - online. As I say, just my twopenneth worth. Probably all wrong...! MrP.

Thanks all for that - that explains it then! I suppose it's a good way of getting rid of stuff. Now to create a cache big enough to get rid of those broken fence panels down the side of my house!

Yeah, it's a n00b question, but when people leave things in a cache, like a toy car, or an eyeball (yes, there was one), what's the etiquette for taking these? They have no tracking number on them, so how to their owners find out where they are? MrP.

I was caught with a 35mm film cannister in my hand. I suppose they might have been more suspiscious if I had an ammo can!!

After downloading a geocache application to my Windows Mobile phone, I thought I'd give this a go. I'd heard of geo-caching, but didn't really know the "ins and outs" as it were. Using the application and logging on here, I found a cache very close to my home, so this afternoon I took a little walk. I'm getting over an ear operation at the moment, so despite this being a warmish spring day, I had to wear a black wooly hat to keep it protected - a detail that becomes important later I get to the first cache location, but I can't find it for the life of me, and after about five minutes of searching, I move onto the next one, about a 1/3rd of a mile away. The path I walk down is a very quiet and pleasant path beside a river, and it's not long before I'm rummaging around the undergrowth trying to find the second cache. So there I was, not really thinking about what's around me, when I find the cache! Great stuff! I pick it up, and start to walk back to the path again when there's two policemen looking at me! "Is everything alright, sir?" they ask. Well, I had to explain what I was doing, and they said that there had been a burgulary just up the road about an hour beforehand and they were looking for anything suspiscious. They thought the sight of a man in dark clothes, wearing a black hat rummaging around the undergrowth warranted investigation! I wasn't arrested or anything (!), but I now know to by ultra cautious so that these (what I've since learned are called) "muggles" don't see what you're up to!! As it happens, I didn't have a pen or a pencil, so couldn't "officially" find the caches - that's a job for tomorrow. Just thought you'd all like to know anyways, as a way of introduction to the clan! MrP.