Team Clova

No EVERYBODY has access to thousands of caches for free as the OP has found on the website.. What premium membership pays for is the extras (PQs/Instant notifications/the ability to find MO caches etc) and while I think the $30 a year is worth it for the PQs, I dont believe that any cacher would believe that $30 was a good deal for an extra few caches???? The only reason we pay for premium membership is to get the extras - definitely not the PMO caches (which we wont do anyway until they are open to all)

Our coins on the continent seem to be the ones that get moved about more often. As far as I can remember we haven't had any go missing over there and once they get to the Germany/Switzerland /Belguim area cachers seem to be falling over themselves to log them? We had one that was reported missing from a cache in Luxembourg last month which then turned up in Belguim but i think that is as close to losing a coin on the continent that we have come. All coins we send out are undrilled, some have mission statements in their slip cases but since we just want to keep the coins moving we aren't too bothered about where they go/what they do. I dont really see the point of drilling coins though. If its to attach a mission tag, it just makes the coin harder to place in a small cache and if its to deter thieves - Why?? Are there really cachers out there who have vast collections of stolen lumps of metal? Emmm what do they do with them???? Look at them???? A lot of the coins we have bought have been cheaper than TB tags so its not like we are sending out items of value. Perhaps a lot of the missing coins are ones that have slipped down to the bottom of cachers bags only to be found after 6 months or so of not logging them out the cache they were found in and are too embarrased to admit to it?

Have just had the video working? Perhaps its something on your computer Mrs TC (extra and agent of interviewee!!!)

UK reviewers are going to send us a free gift with every cache published??

http://www.geograph.org.uk/

Oh! I do agree with you. My comments on that where directed mainly at Team Clova as they have stated that they KNEW it wasn't what they volunteered for. When there wasn't actually a proper description of what we were volunteering for and it was just feedback being requested at that point. As you will see I volunteered fairly quickly. But you are correct, there will be more volunteers to come forward if someone does want to pull out, if it turns out not to be what they think it should be! No Dave yet again you have tried to misunderstand/twist the words of someone who dared to disagree with you by again bringing your petty niggles onto this forum. When I made my initial post on the forum I was expressing our interest in the project in the hope that we would be able to set a quality cache that would represent the best of my county. A 10 minute cache just off the main road is not going to do that. I therefore KNOW that I didnt sign up for We are still interested in participating in this project but from speaking to several other cachers we know that some of the rules and restraints being bandied about on this thread are putting them off from participating. Is this what the challenge needs? To us and many other cachers that is not the challenge we envisaged.

Ah!! thats solved a problem that Id tried to solve, got bored and forgotten about long ago when I first tried using caches along a route! Just tried a Route on MM as opposed to Track and worked first time! THANKS!

The series you mention is a challenge, yes, but if you look at the profiles of the cachers who have chosen to complete that one, they did it over a comparitively short time - or over just a 2 or 3 visits to the area. they specifically went after this series. We have collected 2 of the required answers for this one ourselves but are unlikely to make a special trip just to complete this series. The BIG quest is more likely to attract competition from cachers to be the first to complete it. I know That looking at the location of the Scottish regions, mainland Scotland could easily be done in a couple of days with simple 2.5/2.5 caches. From your home, I imagine at least 20-25 of the Scottish caches will be within a radius of 50 miles? Not a particularly huge challenge for you to complete over a short period of time? Why can cachers not just place caches they feel comfortable placing? Perhaps some cachers know of perfect spots that a roadside cache would be in a perfect location? There is nothing wrong with a few simple drive bys. We have done caches with a 2 minute flat walk that have been rated 2.5 for terrain - so do we have all the BIGquest caches like that? What we might classify as a 2 star puzzle, you might class as a 5 star. it just means that you find puzzles more difficult. You would find a 5 star terrain cache easy - we woulod find that a lot harder - I know I would feel a greater sense of accomplishment completing a 5* terrain cache than a flat walk?? Would the same not apply to solving a puzzle? I suspect that is aimed directly at us? Yes I know that some puzzles can be difficult, we will always help out anyone who asks us. No, we won't give a direct answer, but will point people towards web resources/a starting point where they can work it out themselves. We would do the same with any cacher who was having trouble with a BIG quest puzzle - help them to start working it out themselves! I find myself totally agreeing with your last statement - It has become a challenge of who can afford to drive round 100+ easily accesible caches - I dont think that is what the challenge should or was envisaged to be? I think OldGimmer is doing an extremely good job of implementing that at the moment. He has also done it very democratically. Yes OldGimmer has done an excellent job so far. He has got cachers throughout the country enthusiastic about this project, but surely to be a challenge the quest should include the best of what the country has to offer? Cachers who can think up fiendish puzzles, caches that will show you breathtaking scenery from the top of a mountain, caches that you can drive up to and draw breath at the beauty you can see at a viewpoint not just a load of short walks with a 3 figure number at the end? Unless all cachers can choose the type and difficulty of their caches the whole challenge just becomes a driving challenge. It could be noted that most cachers had agreed to set a cache for this project BEFORE rules about where and what caches they could place were even mentioned? (page 5 of the 7 page thread)I know I didnt sign up to set a cache that someone could drive 10 minutes off the motorway/dual carriageway, park, have a 5/10minute walk, then back to the car and onto the next county - as I see it, thats what the quest will become if we are constrained to what we can set so the challenge isn't too difficult??

Would the program be the free SMC contour maps? Details HERE

Tomtom feedback can be sent in HERE (You need to be logged into your MyTomTom account)

Found this coin tree just past The Fairy Glen cache - maybe its the faries that are doing it!! About 6 miles from this cache is the now archived Clootie Well cache, so maybe its some sort of local thing??

The idea of Traditional style caches only has been included in the project virtually from the start, and the majority of posts have been in favour of this, with some feeling for Offset caches also to be included. That seems sensible where the cache-placer want to take the seeker to somewhere interesting e.g. a monument or similar, but it is not allowable to place the actual cacahe at that site. In such cases an offset is more appropriate. The US scheme also recommends Traditional caches only, in Regular sized containers. They don't allow anything else in their guidelines. I'm sorry that you think that limiting to Trads and Offsets trivialise the quest. Most posters seem to think that the idea of collecting all the caches, Regional, National or overall, is a definite challenge. Also a number of cachers have made very valid points that, considering the distances involved (and the time commitment made), it would be very frustrating to find that what was assumed to be a fairly simple puzzle-cache turned out to be impossible to crack when at the site. If you want puzzle caches , sneaky hides etc. why not add those to your visit to the area where the Quest cache is placed. There are lots of caches around, there will, almost certainly, be others near the Quest cache site. I dont think that limiting it to Trads and Offsets in any way trivialises the quest, and I would hope that no cacher would place "what was assumed to be a fairly simple puzzle-cache turned out to be impossible to crack when at the site." as it most definitely wouldnt be fair if a cacher had made a journey of great length specifically to find that one cache. However I dont see what the problem would be in a solve at home and check the co-ords with the cache owner before setting off on 300mile trip type puzzle? The main thing that I think is trivialising the quest is limiting terrain rating to 2.5. As you said in your first post, the US equivalent could take up to 5 years to be completed. Some of the terrain 2.5 caches we have done could be classed as cache and dashes. Yes in the UK it might be a big undertaking to complete the challenge geographically but several counties could be done in one day here. Mainland Scotland could probably be completed in one weekend without any problems! Could as many caches in the US equivalent be collected in a weekend? The BIGquest could be completed in under a month! The geographical challenge in the US is huge taking into account the distances involved - on mainland Britain the distance between John O Groats and Lands End is 874 miles - yes its a large distance but not HUGE. The geographical challenge here is tiny compared to the equivalent. Dont get us wrong - we think the quest is an excellent idea (thats why we signed up at the start) but for it to be a true challenge there should be a variety of caches in a variety of terrains. Leave it up to the individual setter to decide on the cache they want to place. have less rules - I know of cachers who are put off this idea by the rules they will have to understand and abide by to have their caches included. So what if the challenge isnt completed for 3-4 years here because there are several 5/5 caches which take a great deal of planning into completing, along with a few 2 hour multis, some quick drive bys along with what will probably be the majority of traditional 2.5/2.5 caches. If a cacher really wants to be proud of their achievement make it a real challenge- physically and mentally

When we signed up for this all of 6 short days ago, it was a challenge where the FTF would collect some info from a cache in every county A challenge!! Now we cant set multis - definitely no puzzles - no difficult terrain - no sneaky hides etc Its meant to be a challenge???? The US version is probably going to take 5 years to complete - with 50 caches. This version, with double the number of caches, could probably be completed by a keen cacher in less than a month. Where is the challenge?? What started off as an exciting challenge that would be a huge achievement to accomplish has become a watered down version to make it easy for people to complete? Not sure we still want to be part of it

Just wait till you see the men in kilts!

You missed us out for ANGUS!! (yep it really does exist!! ) We could also do Dundee if there are no other takers

Thats a brilliant idea Mandy I think giving people plenty of notice will help sell more as well. The last one was done with only a few days for people to sign up for them, so you should be able to sell lots more! Pre-booking is also a good idea, put us down for one too. Now we all need to go out and take caching pics worthy of your calendar!

Eeeek NO!!!! Tayside WAS made up of (mostly) Angus and Perthshire, to say either is a district of Tayside could start a civil war! Its a bit like saying North South East and West Yorkshire are all just districts of Yorkshire!! (that arent are they??? ) I'll put the question to the Scottish forum and see if we can come up with a list for you!

Have also posted a link to this thread on the SCOTTISH FORUM

Put us down for Angus (there is no Tayside!!)

Oh - sounds like we might bump into you tomorrow!!! I use GSAK to download them - on the send to bit for your GPS you tell it how many characters it can display for a waypoint- I use %smart and have it set at 8 letters- but you can do it as 6 (thought your new one would take more??) i then get names on the GPS like "SECRETGA" "SEALSLIK""GOINGGRE" although when it comes to series of caches it can be a bit difficult to work out "FIFEROCA" is one of the Fife Rocks! series ( dont ask me what one though!!)

Strange looks a bit Alien to me! conspiracy ???? Ta - works now!

Just tried putting a link using the (url=www.redlichtie.co.uk/zelda.wmv) linky (/url) [square brackets obviously!!]but got http://www.geocaching.com/seek/www.redlich...co.uk/zelda.wmv as the link?? Any ideas why that is happening??

This TB does seem to like being grabbed!!! SNAIKS BUTT!!!! Edited to Blur Snaiks Butt slightly!!

The event page for the Gathering in the Glens 2 has just been published. (returning due to popular demand!) We deliberately chose the last weekend in August to allow more English and Welsh cachers to come as (eeek we hope) its the Bank Holiday weekend. Last years event was a great success, lets hope the weather is as kind to us this year. BBQ, camp fire, shallow river, dogs and kids welcome, variety of caches from drive-by's to mountain expeditions, suits all. A variety of accommodation to suit all tastes and pockets. Should be another great weekend! http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...a6-c843edfb581c Any questions just post here /email or post a note on the page

snap!