Gackt

I can't argue with this. But would add, that although I am not an OAP myself, £8 is a lot to me. In the few years I have been caching Groundspeak have implemented a number of things in a half arsed fashion, paying for premium membership is just one more, and so I was quite happy to recently save that amount from the current UK price through one of the many loopholes they have left open.

cotswoldcaching.boards.net/ The Cotswold Caching group is also available on CacheFace.social, and can also be followed on twitter @CotswoldCaching. On CacheFace a new group has just started, West Country Geocachers, which covers your area.

Much prefer the old format too.

There's been quite a few interesting local events recently, a splash mob, flash mobs, and even a Christmas themed camping event. Hopefully a few more pics will be posted by others. From me, firstly an old photo which was taken at a 'geocaching challenge', remember them? Taken whilst attending the 10 Years of Glorious Gloucestershire event. It's of xJ drinking from a spring. Think it was set by I! but there's no reference to the challenges on the site now I took a drink too, we both survived And one from yesterday. After the Ascension event a group of us ascended the nearby 162' church tower to view the trig on top for a YOSM find. This photo was taken using xJ's camera on walktall's gorilla tripod fixed onto a flagpole support.

cotswoldcaching.co.uk have set up a group on the very new cacheface.social site for those who use that platform.

My own views aside, a quick answer for you HH on "I don't see why people don't..." in regards to an increasing amount of younger people it is because it is not "ccol" anymore, or actually should I be saying "sick" now? Instagram, Vine, Twitter, and other newer social media platforms like Pheed are cool... at the moment. One net report I read quoted a teenager saying about FB "It's like the mom and dad version of Instagram and Twitter". I am happy for those who still use FB and get what they want out of it. I don't. I am not anti-social media, far from it. I do use Instagram, Twitter and Pheed in connection with the CC forum. I also use CafeFace.com. And hey, I also have a life What I wanted to get across in my long last post was: - FB is not Groundspeak's, this forum is, and here is where we are directed to from Geocaching.com when looking for a Local Organisation to connect to. - Please could the first post in the Geocaching Organisations in the UK sticky thread be tidied up, and kept up together, to make it clear where to point people so they do not have to trawl though many posts to find a still existing active group. It can list FB groups if we like, the remaining few forums too, but also the newer social media places teens hang out. In it's current state the thread is not very useful.

@DrDick&Vick, it was a security flaw in FB which was one of the reasons I left it years ago, people who I definitely did not want to have certain details of mine obtained them. Some would say that was my fault for entering the info into the site, and I would agree with them mostly, but that's in the past. Reason for resurrecting this old thread is this... There is a wealth of information to be found in these forums including a section which is meant to be informative about UK and regional caching organisations. If you click from the main pages of geocaching.com and select 'Local Organisations' you are taken to a thread on these main forums with a list of countries. From there any new member or anyone who wants to know more about caching in the UK can click on our country and are taken to this sticky thread. The thread is now nearly a 150 posts long. There are various groups mentioned which no longer exist. It would be great if that thread could be tidied up by someone, can the moderators do this? Ideally so that the first post is nice and tidy with a list of links to the various groups in the UK similar to the GAGB site list, and kept up together as people list new groups, and report old group deletions. Whatever my views on FB, and I do feel I am in the minority so will not harp on about them too much, the fact is that FB is a separate entity to geocaching.com. It is a social media platform. Net history has shown that all social media platforms eventually decline. A lot of caching talk has moved to FB, I have seen that through other's accounts, but the younger generation are pulling away from the platform and moving to other newer (cooler) ones, I am seeing this through my own children and their friends and recent reports on the net are saying the same thing. Wherever the main talk currently is at, I feel this forum, as it is still the place Groundspeak directs people to for info, is the main hub and should be clearly laid out. There is no point directing a teenager about to hide their first cache to a FB group for help when they've recently abandoned the platform for another.

I've been told this one's a cracker, but haven't done it myself yet.

The GAGB site list some FB groups and non-FB forums for various regions of the UK. They might be worth checking out if you know same areas you are heading. If you are into adventurous and tricky puzzle caches I can recommend the South Cotswolds as an area to visit. A few caches that our local forum members enjoyed last year are detailed here.

This. I love my phone for caching. I use it more and more. I use it more than my dedicated GPSr. In fact, thinking about it, it's been so long since I got it out I am not 100% sure where my dedicated GPSr is at the moment. But a dedicated GPSr still is more rugged than a phone, that much I am aware of. I haven't seen the newer eTrex's in operation, but I have held and used a Dakota. I liked the clear display of he maps that were on it.

Welcome back to the hobby Jonoah. It can be hard to get a new forum up and running in this age where other social platforms seem to rule, but it can be done. I hope this one comes to life for you. I do not live in that part of the country but may still join up, I am a member of a few other forums for different regions. There is another established forum for that area through, which is EA GeoMobbers.

Plenty of caches to find on this route, if you're up for nice lengthy walk. It can be broken up into three loops and done over a few days if wanted. 130 caches in the series, plus a few others on, or just off of the route.

On route of Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate This was the #300 milestone for my son xJammmzy, and the #200 milestone for gittuss who was on our team for that day. Photo was taken in March 2012, so James would of only been 12 years old at the time. I was impressed with how well he did, but even more impressed / surprised to meet an even younger Wizard's apprentice on our way back. Can't say that it was definitely me who took the photo of James, it might well of been piddypug or billiethecat, but was found on James' phone after the adventure.

It's great to see a few people listing that they carry pens and pencils. So many times on this forum, and others, where similar threads have popped up about listing what you carry with you, I haven't seen pens or pencils listed. IMO a writing implement is the next most important item to carry after a GPSr. I now carry a neat little Swiss army knife clone that a Geocaching Secret Santa gave me Christmas past that have some tools on it that have been very useful in helping me extract logs from nanos.. something I find real tricky, not least because my eyes are not what they used to be. Whilst I may, or may not, own a whip, I have not found the need to carry one with me caching.. yet.

The most icons I have achieved in one day was 4 on the day of the Geolympix, of which there were 11 possible. The Kent Mega in May is looking like there will be 11 possible to achieve again, 10 on the web page list, plus a Lab Cache now too.

I had a full set from the Geolympix, so I should be able to answer many of the questions, but I cannot easily now. I have sent them on their way through little FTF prizes in caches. I did take a photo of them before I started to send them on their way, but could take me quite some time to search it out. 1) Yes. 2) Black was one, as Andy stated. There was Green, Blue, a Pinky colour, then my mind is cloudy. 3) Don't know. 4) Yes. 5) Short of me finding my photos, try asking Simply Paul as MartyBartfast suggested, or one of the other event organisers or helpers. Dr Solly was on the stall at the event with these and the Geocoins. 6) AAND is the preferred name for these now. If you use one of the other names you mentioned above in a cache listing then the cache will not be approved. That goes for even if you are not using one to set a puzzle cache with, I used the original name for them once just to say I was leaving one in as a FTF prize and I was asked to change to AAND.

I haven't gotten far yet. And in case I don't get the chance to in the next few days, I thought I would do a close one. This was taken from GZ of what was GCAE4C Roman Amphitheatre (Cirencester, Glocs), by The Wombles. Hidden 28th Nov 2002, finally archived 7th Apr 2004 because the location had been compromised. There have been a few more caches hidden in the general area since, one of which I have found. But this particular one was way before my time. I took the dog out for a walk this afternoon, and headed there as it's only a half mile from home. I knew the general area already, and planned to take a photo of one of the wood carvings that are in situ now. But when I got to the carvings I found I was still over 100' from the original GZ and so went further into the wood to have a look. I just expected to see a tree to be honest.. a tree surrounded by other trees. But I found the area had been cleared. So I got myself a different photo. I stood by what I believed was the original tree the cache would have been hidden at, and took a shot of this large felled tree with its limbs chopped. Only a phone cam shot. Not that I can use that as an excuse now seeing some of the phone shots of late, but hey

Not wanting to litter the thread with non-photo entry posts, but I just wanted to say this looks a very fun idea to start the year off Looking forward to getting out there for this.

How do you know?! Now I am intrigued, and will feel irritable until I do know. *tell* *tell* *or try to tell*

I know people that do. And others that use different tablets. My son xJammmzy has used his Nexus7. You've got the advantage of a nice sized screen to display maps etc. You've got the general disadvantages, or at least the ones people consider are, that you have of using a phone. Biggest disadvantage though is that you can't easily slip it into your pocket In short, you can use for, but for me it wouldn't be my first choice of tool.

Yep. That's exactly what cotswoldcaching.boards.net/page/logacache does behind the scenes.

Thank you for posting that link BaseOverApex, I have not seen that one before. Additionally, if you don't have a PM account but know the GC number, we have a facility on our local forum that lets you easily log a cache. It would be good to know Groundspeak's current stance on logging PMs without having a PM account. I have always believed, through word of mouth from other cachers and not from anywhere I have read, that the backdoor for logging was left open by them because "anyone who finds a cache should be able to log it". If that is just myth, then please put me straight

Sad to hear another regional forum is gone. Even if some forums are not as socially active as they once were, they still have uses including being references of information.

Something did change with the cache page layout not too long ago with one of Groundspeak's updates. There used to be a link on the right hand side of the cache page where the 'View Gallery' and 'Watch' links are to click to add to your favourites. That foxed me for a while till I found clicking the Favourites button as mentioned above which reveals the option to add to favourites. I think the update must of confused a few other people too because I have seen logs on caches I am watching where people have posted notes after they have logged caches as found just to say they are adding a fav point.

That setup is illegal, a work colleague recently had an on the spot fine for a similar plate arrangement. If you're a cacher it does look quite cool, but is it worth the risk?