The Hornet

All sounds horribly familiar Masher! I made the "shorts mistake" one sunny day a few weeks ago. Never again ;-( I've also twisted my ankle about a mile away from the car, been torn to shreds by brambles and soaked to the skin. Despite all this we keep coming back for more. Maybe people who think I'm mad have a point!

All sounds horribly familiar Masher! I made the "shorts mistake" one sunny day a few weeks ago. Never again ;-( I've also twisted my ankle about a mile away from the car, been torn to shreds by brambles and soaked to the skin. Despite all this we keep coming back for more. Maybe people who think I'm mad have a point!

Great to have you on board LimaOne. Like everyone else I leave the e-Trex set on the defaults and this has kept me on the straight and narrow (well all over the place really but you know what I mean!). Unlike some others I actually use OS maps to get me in the right area and to find suitable parking spots and footpaths. Once I'm walking though I concentrate on the GPS to actually get me to the cache. Doing it this way I've not had a problem with the default settings. As an aside, as many here will know, I was having problems with an apparent 35ft offset on my e-trex summit. I've found that once I get within 100ft or so if I stop for about 2-3 minutes for the GPS to stabilise it's spot on. Happy caching, Peter

I go back to my original point. Let's be sensible. We are in danger of talking ourselves out of existence here. If we spend our time worrying about guidelines, legislation, byelaws, regulations and all the other parerphanalia of the legal profession we will never plant another cache. I don't know about anyone else but I'm planning 5 more caches and I'm damned if I'm going to lose sleep about whether they're legal in the strictest sense of the law. I'm sure as hell I'm going make sure that I consider the realistic impact they are going to make on the local environment but that's all I've done on all my previous caches. I suggest we stop trying to act as amateur lawyers and stick to what we have been doing up to now - enjoying a harmless (even pointless!) hobby which interferes with no-one unconnected with it. After all, there are not that many pastimes that don't interfere with somebody.

I go back to my original point. Let's be sensible. We are in danger of talking ourselves out of existence here. If we spend our time worrying about guidelines, legislation, byelaws, regulations and all the other parerphanalia of the legal profession we will never plant another cache. I don't know about anyone else but I'm planning 5 more caches and I'm damned if I'm going to lose sleep about whether they're legal in the strictest sense of the law. I'm sure as hell I'm going make sure that I consider the realistic impact they are going to make on the local environment but that's all I've done on all my previous caches. I suggest we stop trying to act as amateur lawyers and stick to what we have been doing up to now - enjoying a harmless (even pointless!) hobby which interferes with no-one unconnected with it. After all, there are not that many pastimes that don't interfere with somebody.

Congrats to all new members of the 100 club. I'm hoping to join you soon - 90 already and plans to go to that honeypot of caches in the south - Winchester in the next few days. To dragonseeker - don't despair. I bagged caches 1 & 2 in February so it doesn't take forever. I was talking to Finger the other day (he who supplies Geocaching stuff in the UK) about the possibility of producing a special cap or something for "centurians". He said he'd approach Geocaching.com to see what they think. What do you ton-uppers think?

At last Tim & June have found a use for McDonalds - a free car park for Geocachers. A world first.

At last Tim & June have found a use for McDonalds - a free car park for Geocachers. A world first.

I think we are in danger of getting a bit too "heavy" here. After all what are we doing? Hiding a harmless plastic or metal box under tree stumps, rocks etc. There's no major construction work, no pollution, no crowds of people. Even in the most densely "cached" areas we are talking about no more than 1 box in an area of several square miles. I would suggest that rather than trying to get specific permission we continue as we have done up to now and follow one simple rule "Be Sensible". I've found 90 caches now and I can't think of an instance where I've thought "this shouldn't be here".

I think we are in danger of getting a bit too "heavy" here. After all what are we doing? Hiding a harmless plastic or metal box under tree stumps, rocks etc. There's no major construction work, no pollution, no crowds of people. Even in the most densely "cached" areas we are talking about no more than 1 box in an area of several square miles. I would suggest that rather than trying to get specific permission we continue as we have done up to now and follow one simple rule "Be Sensible". I've found 90 caches now and I can't think of an instance where I've thought "this shouldn't be here".

I did give a pretty comprehensive description of Geocaching and suggested that the cache would be placed under a tree stump or under stones etc. I also suggested they looked at www.geocaching.com so there shouldn't have been any confusion (but you never know!)

I did give a pretty comprehensive description of Geocaching and suggested that the cache would be placed under a tree stump or under stones etc. I also suggested they looked at www.geocaching.com so there shouldn't have been any confusion (but you never know!)

Rather than repeat my other posting please check out the UK Guidelines thread started by Moss Trooper. It adds to the discussion.

How appropriate you started this thread as I was about to mention a related item. I thought about planting a cache on an English Heritage site but decided to ask their permission first. I pointed out that it would not be on the actual archealogical site itself but nearby adjacent to a footpath. Take note of their reply.................... Dear Mr Howard Thank you for your e-mail about placing a Geocache at Old Gorhambury. I regret that we will not give permission for this. While the placing of the cache itself might not do any significant damage to the site it might be seen as an encouragement to others to deposit items in archaeologically sensitive areas . This is something that we cannot condone because of the likely damage that it would cause. You should be aware that it is an offence to disturb any Scheduled Ancient Monument (including Old Gorhambury) without formal permission from the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. You should also be aware that although the ruins of Old Gorhambury are in the care of English Heritage, the site is owned by the Gorhambury Estate. Indeed the footpath to the site is not a public path but is only open by permission of the Estate. You would therefore require the permission of the Estate to bury the Geocache anywhere along the line of the path. You should also note that much of the area around Gorhambuy and St Albans is either scheduled as ancient monuments or is otherwise archaeologically sensitive and we would not wish to encourage any unnecessary disturbance. Yours sincerely.......etc

How appropriate you started this thread as I was about to mention a related item. I thought about planting a cache on an English Heritage site but decided to ask their permission first. I pointed out that it would not be on the actual archealogical site itself but nearby adjacent to a footpath. Take note of their reply.................... Dear Mr Howard Thank you for your e-mail about placing a Geocache at Old Gorhambury. I regret that we will not give permission for this. While the placing of the cache itself might not do any significant damage to the site it might be seen as an encouragement to others to deposit items in archaeologically sensitive areas . This is something that we cannot condone because of the likely damage that it would cause. You should be aware that it is an offence to disturb any Scheduled Ancient Monument (including Old Gorhambury) without formal permission from the Secretary of State for Culture Media and Sport. You should also be aware that although the ruins of Old Gorhambury are in the care of English Heritage, the site is owned by the Gorhambury Estate. Indeed the footpath to the site is not a public path but is only open by permission of the Estate. You would therefore require the permission of the Estate to bury the Geocache anywhere along the line of the path. You should also note that much of the area around Gorhambuy and St Albans is either scheduled as ancient monuments or is otherwise archaeologically sensitive and we would not wish to encourage any unnecessary disturbance. Yours sincerely.......etc

Hi Pid, my take on this would be that anywhere to which the public has access is a valid location for a cache. Two obvious examples are public footpaths or common land. Another good spot would be National Trust land. Although not strictly speaking public, they do encourage free roaming over much of it. I would see forestry commission land in the same light. I know some caches are located on private land to which an entrance fee must be paid. So bottom line - if you have legitimate access to the land it's good for a cache. Peter

I'd also like to thank Grovsie and Finger for Sunday. Good caches, good beer and good company. I'll be there on the 7th. See you all there (and hopefully a few new faces as well.

I'll answer my query myself in the hope that it might help others. To quote Garmin Technical support: "A 30ft position difference (~10m) is well within the expected accuracy of the GPS system (stated as 'within 15m 2D RMS 95% of the time') ....... accuracy is defined by the system, not the receiver" So there we are. Matter closed.

Perhaps I just think the best of people until and unless I'm proved wrong.

Perhaps I just think the best of people until and unless I'm proved wrong.

Yep, that's the first thing I checked.

I have one possible answer. There is a well known user who is very active in Geocaching who visited one of my caches at the weekend. Fortunately I had left my e-mail in the logbook so he was able to e-mail me a message. Unfortunately he has been barred from participating in www.geocaching.com due to a disagreement over supposed advertising. I don't know the full background but it seems sad to me that Robin is not allowed to log his visits in the normal way. Peter

I have one possible answer. There is a well known user who is very active in Geocaching who visited one of my caches at the weekend. Fortunately I had left my e-mail in the logbook so he was able to e-mail me a message. Unfortunately he has been barred from participating in www.geocaching.com due to a disagreement over supposed advertising. I don't know the full background but it seems sad to me that Robin is not allowed to log his visits in the normal way. Peter

Can anyone help with a problem I'm having with my Garmin e-trex summit. Whenever I hide or seek a cache the waypoint used is always about 35ft away from most other people's. I have checked the units, datum etc and these match other GPS's. I've downloaded the latest firmware from Garmin and still I get this consistent offset. It seems to be consistently along a SE - NW axis. I can understand a random innacuracy but this is just too consistent. Any ideas?

I guess as Oz is just a vast flat desert clues would be pointless ;-) Seriously though, I think a description adds something to the cache. It's like a shop window advertising the sort of place you are likely to encounter. When planning which caches to go to I rely to some extent on the descriptions. I'm more likely to visit an attractive or unusual sounding cache if there's a choice. Peter p.s. don't take offence at the first comment (joke)! Oz is a place I'd dearly love to visit and WHEN I do I'll certainly take the GPS - clues or not.