Birdman-of-liskatraz

Just for you Birdie. 13% Gwent 24% Gloucestershire 25% Cornwall 31% Herefordshire 31% Somerset 40% Wiltshire 40% Avon 42% Devon much better - thanks!

Here's a rough idea of the percentage of micros in some SW(ish) counties. 42% Devon 40% Avon 40% Wiltshire 31% Somerset 31% Herefordshire 25% Cornwall 24% Gloucestershire 13% Gwent Oh I don't like seeing Cornwall near the bottom of the list... I must get out and hide some more micros..

and the latest updated Leaderboard is here.. sorry there, not here... Nice to see muttoners least found entry has been found - now he must praying its not found again till the end of the year! The local cachers who think they're getting close to finding my entry are threatening not to find it yet.. but to do a mass find on December 31st.... *peach* is still holding on to her top two spots - obviously close to the Mega Event location was a good spot. and for those who haven't entered but think they know who's going to win, then why not have a look at the "Predict the winner" thread and win yourself a Geocoin. Link here

Sorry chaps - but I'm still working on my Power trail around the Cornwall Coast path... it takes a while to get 8763 micros out in place and published... next year maybe...

GC15455 and GC1X298 ???? Neither of those I'm afraid..

During the intermission... which are the two closest caches to these sandcastles..

Can anyone help? .... otherwise, can someone else take over please. Yep.. when you compose your reply, theres an INSERT IMAGE on the toolbar, hit that and type in th eURL of your picture on slide.com.... and that should be it. But I'm sure you've sussed that out! and I can't think of a reason why it won't work here if it's ok at GAGB

I have to say I rather like going to one of my caches and reading the actual log book. Now and again theres a little surprise when it's been logged by a muggle or by a non-online logging cacher. And when I archive a cache, its the real signed log book I keep for the future not a backup of the online logs on a CD. Whatever floats your boat - go with it, makes no difference to me.

Tries again... Birdie's Peach Jar Challenge - A bit of Fun 2. For everyone let see how good you are at predicting the outcome of the challenge. This challenge is open to any cacher - anywhere on the planet. Details of entrants and links to the rules etc are available here send an email, before 18th September, to steve@gwia.co.uk with the following information - please do not publish this information on the forum. a) Which cache will win the "most found" challenge Which cache will win the "least found - (but found once) challenge c) How many cachers will find the most found cache Points will be awarded as follows: + 30 points if you pick the winner of the Most found challenge - 2 points for each 5 cachers you are away from the actual total of finds for the most found cache + 10 points if you pick the winner of the least found - but found once challenge + 2 points for each BPJC cache you find. + 2 points if you've hidden a BPJC (can only be claimed once) + 2 points if you log Preseli's BPJC Travelbug + 2 points if you've reveiwed more than 10 BPJCs + 2 if there isn't a BPJC in your county Rules: Caches that are archived will no longer count for the competition. Each cacher can only enter the competition once. Please play nicely and within the spirit of the competition If the need arises Birdie's decision is final After the 31st December you'll need to email me again outlining the points you claim towards your total. The closing date will be the 14th January 2010. Prize: Well, mainly the kudos of winning, but I'll throw in a nicely framed certificate and a random geocoin (as long as theres only one winner!).

Sorry Welsh Gal! There's always next year and watch out for the new thread in which everyone can join in - Plastic peach jar or not. I've just updated the Leaderboard here I see *mouse* is hanging on to her 1st and 2nd positions rather well and suspect the Least find cache will be much harder to predict the winner in advance.

I walked up the trail near Eden last night to do the Mustards cache and whilst I can confirm theres quite a quantity of Horse Poo on the way, it does have the advantage over dog poo of being pretty large and therefore obvious - the only danger to a cacher being that of a tripping hazard if you're not looking where you're going. I found the cache and if the topic hadn't been raised here I'd not deem it worthy of further mention. Dog poo on the other hand - is somewhat less obvious to a walker and in my opinion stinks to high heaven and is a b***** to get off your shoes! In my spare time (some of it anyway) I volunteer at an animal saunctuary - and I have to say Racoon poo is gross and merekats not much better!

Theres two issues that I see... a) Who want's to run it ? and If theres more than one contender for a year - who decides which one (or more maybe) runs? It's pointless voting for every UK region if theres nobody in a region prepared to run it. Is it worth a system like the Olympics where various regions propose an event and cachers can vote on the offerred venues? Do you let (and whos to stop anyone anyway?) anyone who wants to run a Mega event run it? On the current "system" Megapiratemania - won't happen at the earliest until 2013 and MegaKernow(!) until 2014.. and MegaIndianSummer until 2022.... Just adding to the debate

There's no such thing as an "official" mega event. As far as I know, Mega status is given by Groundspeak and just because an event attracts over 500 doesn't automatically mean it's granted Mega status (Though it seems highly likely that it might be!) The following link explains a bit more... Mega Events

No idea why I'm sticking my nose into the debate, but I will. It seems right that it should head towards London/South East - IF- there's a group in the area willing to host it. My concern would be that during the Olympics, factilities across London and area are likely to be heavily booked. On a more general note, I think it would be be useful if some protocol could be developed to decide where "The Annual Mega Event" is to be held. If that's decided by a small group from previous Mega's or if local groups propose a venue and date, which could then be voted upon? I have no idea what would work but feel it would be worth some discussion. As I understand the Mega rules, having 500 people at event doesn't automatically mean Mega status will be given by Groundspeak. A Mega has to be something a bit special as well. I'd side with those saying that the UK could host more than one Mega a year. Even if one was "The Annual Mega Event" in the summer months and one was something special and slightly different at say Easter or May Bank Holiday. From reading the various forums it looks like there's several areas talking about hosting an event.

I once found 5 letterboxes well hunting one cache..

Well I'm back from my week away "up country" and i've updated the "Official" Leaderboard.. Numbers on some caches have increased slightly (eh? peach)... I think I've added all the BPJCs but please giv eme a shout if I've missed anyone or got your total wrong - anyway, for anyone interested have a peek here Thanks to all the entrants for joining in the fun.

Not according to the official leader board, which I take it is the last word in the competition? Did I not mention a log from Birdie on your cache resets it's find count to Zero? Seriously.. I've been away for a week - I'll get the leaderboard updated tomorrow

You can store 500 (1000?) caches as Geocaches or... as many as your storage will allow if you save them as POIs instead. Theres a mention in this thread

Shessh .. a sudden rush.. I'm quite worn out at updating the Leaderboard - but the latest version is here

I've noticed a small loophole in the rules which I am tempted to exploit in order to win Least Found. The rules say the cache must be hidden before the 9th, not that it has to be published. My jar has actually been hidden for about a fortnight so if I hold off getting it published until just before the closing date and send my caching partner out to find it.... *Gasps* There's always one...

Cuz I'm a decent and reasonable chap... and is too scared to argue with Graculus's argument - you can all have till next Wednesday (12th August) to have your caches published - how fair is that!

Birdman - GC status was refused as expected - Am willing to resort to bribery now like the Blorenges have already done to get their event BPJC passed the no event rule! What is your price? A jar of peaches? Two jars of peaches? Em I'm well stocked on Peaches as Somerfield had them on offer recently! I can make no comment re Jaffacakes as it would be (or would it) too big a clue for cachers attempting my BPJC entry...

Well theres an idea.... but there will be another competition open to everyone, which I'll launch verrrry shortly.... Worringly, I even have next years competition sketched out - and it's simple and evil at the same time...

Isn't caching what ever you want it to be? If some enjoy the numbers game. or dashing out at 5 am in the rain to grab a FTF, or spending 7 weeks deciphering some "pointless" puzzle or walking around the gorgeous Cornish coast path picking up a cache or two along the way whilst licking a Kellys cornet or some may even enjoy finding 100 micros in hedges in a day or going to events and meeting loads of other cachers - so what? Can we not all just play it as we like to? I've had great days walking miles over Dartmoor and finding 3 caches and equally great days doing circular walks in Wiltshire and claiming 30 caches and a really good day just finding one 5/5 cache in Devon.

I recentlyish gave some very negative feedback on a new cache, because it was on the edge of a road on a almost blind bend - I felt, as an adult, that it was dangerous for me and that for children it would be even more so. So whilst I wrote what was a very negative log, I also emailed the cacher and explained why I felt it was in a bad location. The cache was archived shortly afterwards. Did I feel bad about it? Yes Would I do it again? Yes, I surely would... because I'd feel even worse to hear that a youngster had been hit by a car whilst looking for a cache. Has it stopped those Cachers from placing some new caches in "better" locations - Nope!