-Phoenix-

Maybe this requires a little management, ie a long thread of lots of people offering help and only a few asking for it is a little intimidating, as are the long newbie helping threads... yes, I know that everyone contributing wants to help, but frankly I and a lot of people cant be assed reading through 30 posts of conflicting information and argument over the best way to do.... Newbie information needs to be factual and concise, it needs to get people on their feet and in action in the quickest, easiest and least costly way possible.... sure there will be a compromise, sure this method isnt the best, sure the experien ced cachers have more tricks up their sleeves, but these can wait. Take a look at our stickies, there are over 140 post of newbie information, surely this can be reduced to 1

Ive been caught out on the wrong side of a Canal before now, again the map showed the cache one side and the cache being the other... cest la vie What you need to remember is, and be prepared for the shock.... maps are not accurate, certainly not as accurate as GPS. Its wrong to say that this is a problem, but the 'problem' is that maps predate GPS, and were initially made by cartographers using very primative instuments, among which included note pads and tape measures. back in the times when these maps were initially made and indeed up until recently the navigation equipment we were using then were the likes of the compass, so the maps were more that accurate enough, and these inaccuracies didnt matter. However, GPS has changed all this, now its possible for a computer to plot a point on a map 'accurate' to 1M, and for the GPS to navigate us there... and all too often we find that there are differences. The thing is the Map, computer, GPS et al are just tools, and the important thing is to learn to use them wisely, and to recognise situations where you may need to test the water a little before committing rivers are always a good example, cliffs are anotehr, now may times has a cache been mapped to the top of a cliff by a computer map, only to find that in reality its at the bottom!

get yourself a Trunk Monkey http://www.trunkmonkeyad.com/

Ill be happy to help anyone in the North Wales/Wirrel/Cheshire/Shropshire/ Area, Im busy ploughing through this area, and often available for mid week trips dependent upon shifts. Im still fairly new to GC, but Ive hit the ground running, having a background in Hill walking has probably helped.

Ive just bought a new Palm Zire 72 with Via Michelin Satnav and a BT-308 bluetooth GPS receiver from ebay for £206. The Via Michelin is carp for Geocacing, but great for finding the parking spot, Ive added a 256Mb memory card (£15), which now has a complete UK map and a POI file of all UK caches, and a set of Speed Camera alert POIs With the addition of Cachemate and Cachenav (about £6), and a download of the 500 nearest caches to home, it now makes an excellent caching tool, plus, with the bluetooth connection and my GPRS bluetooth mobile I can access Geocaching.com live whilst out in the field. Highly reccomend this setup.

Another Bird rider here, and heres my reason for NOT geocaching on the bike ...... walking in leathers and Bike boots isnt great fun, especially in the middle of Summer!

actually Ive been putting a lot of thought into this sort of thing, and have been seriously considering something along these lines

here is a tip that will prevent you looking dodgy at night Wear a hi-vis vest (not a jacket) The general public will hold it inconcievable that anyone wearing such a vest could be up to anything dis-reputable, and will more than likely ignore you activities as something to do with the council... and they are always up to strange stuff

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie...DME:B:EOAB:UK:6