dougandsonia

Actually, who cares? The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Are we in danger of taking ourselves, and this idiosyncratic pastime, a little too seriously? As I see it, we're just a bunch of folk who hide things in Tupperware boxes - all these rules, guidelines etc. seem a bit over the top. I appreciate that it seems different up here where we have hundreds (thousands?) of square miles in which to place and seek caches, but I do think people are in danger of getting a trifle over-wrought. Do we need leaders, moderators, censors, etc. or whatever? Maybe we do, and I'm really not not intending to knock anyone, especially T & J, but I guess the majority of us are over 16 (I'm more than 3 times that) and I don't think all this organisation / policing is necessary. If by our actions we do harm to "geocaching", so what - it's not an entity in itself! - (though I hope not to!) but it's a long way from being illegal or immoral, so who cares? And geocaching - what is it anyway? I avoided joining rugby / football / singing / drama / photography clubs because I dont't want to belong - why am I being encouraged to follow someone else's rules now? I know I've been shouting my mouth off, and I really don't approve of vandalism, pollutiion etc., but I do feel that we're adults and don't need herding. Those who do need herding won't pay any bl**dy attention anyway! The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Especially since some counties are enormous, and those that live near a boundary aren't necessarily going to find that a cache on the far side of the same county is very close. I agree - I could go 122 miles Northish from here (near enough 100 westerly, about 50 eastward and about 80 equator-wards) and still be in Highland. The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

My two girls (13, 10) were heavily into geocaching for the first cache. They came along on the second, showed a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the third and then started to complain to their mother (who has more sense than me). I recently tricked the 10 year old into coming and she was furious when she found out. As for the contents of caches, if I have the girls with me I'm responsible for them. I'd be angry about any extremes, but beyond that I have no real problem. I accept the good advice about sweets etc. and would avoid them on health grounds. The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Up in the frozen / sodden / windy North (that's the real North, not just Yorkshire ), we are a little out of touch and with fewer caches around, we probably check the postings less and go out cacheing less frequently as well. So, what's this all about - presumably not just some incestuous squabbling, but something worth getting heated about? I don't want to rake over coals or stir up ill-feeling, but unless you're in on the story, these postings make no sense whatsoever! The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

http://www.unca.edu/housing/images/policies-regulations/_alcohol_beer2.gif Hope you like it! Trouble is, I prefer a good heavy / export to that lagery stuff - how's about another icon? The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

I saw someone advertising mini-maps with a viewer. I think the map was about post card size, with a small folding magnifier / viewer. Designed for hill walking etc., it may not cover the whole of Britain (and probably not the boring bits ), but it might be of interest - low-tech(ish), but portable. If I remember who makes them, I'll ket you know. Doug The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

I saw someone advertising mini-maps with a viewer. I think the map was about post card size, with a small folding magnifier / viewer. Designed for hill walking etc., it may not cover the whole of Britain (and probably not the boring bits ), but it might be of interest - low-tech(ish), but portable. If I remember who makes them, I'll ket you know. Doug The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Like the idea of a well-spread out game. Those of us in the frozen North are far from the hub of the game normally. I would be glad to be involved in the positioning / placing of cache in this area and generally being involved at this end if that's any help. The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Wasn't there also some sort of easter egg hunt based on the same idea? Yes Cadbury's. Don't know if anyone found the prize(s) I still have the book somewhere - a number of eggs all "laid" in parts of the country, with a book of poems / pictures providing clues. The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

I think that's a great suggestion. Can we get some brief explanation, too, of the role and appointment of moderators? Note to moderators - no criticism implied! The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Yep, OK the display of locations in OSGB format would be great. Yep, it's great to hack a bit of code and the results will look impressive. Surely the simplest (non technical) answer is for folk to include the OSGB reference in the descriptive text. We could handle our OS maps happily, the GPS will read it in almost any format you like to mention and our American cousins could use the clumsy hhddmmss (or whatever) system if they really want to. The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Make the two multi-caches. Make the third a mystery/unknown cache and give approximate co-ords - a suitable parking place for example. This was the advice I was given when I did something similar recently. Hope it goes well. The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

I like living dangerously, so I'm going to advertise. I recommend the series of 5 Ness caches I have just set up round Loch Ness area, plus the "secret" 6th one which you get the co-ords for when you've done the others. Radio1 (and Wendy) have recently started the set and Silverfox is apparently raring to go when he's up. Let me know if you hit a problem. I'm in Inverness and always willing to meet anybody (even cachers) for a pint (or two). Doug The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

What a knowledgeable bunch! I just thought ... and then all this OSGB 36 / 84 stuff, not to mention rivets. I'm mightily impressed. Thanks guys. Doug The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Would there be any scope for adopting the Benchmarking idea here? The old OS trig points would be a good basis, especially as there is/was a plan on the part of the OS to remove them. I seem to remember a Society for the Protection of Triangulation Points a few years ago. Admittedly, most of these would be on the top of hills, rather than in town squares. Any thoughts? The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

I'll send you a good photo from my Wildness cache (sorry about the boasting). It'll be a full size job, so you may want to downsize it. All the best. Doug The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Our little friend Miffy, who has just left the Highlands of Scotland to travel the World (currently in New Hampshire) met up with Dufus when he visted at her starting point - WildNess. Judging by her last postcard, she was absolutely besotted with him and hopes to meet up again.She may make that a goal later in life, when she's bummed around a bit more. The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Our little friend Miffy, who has just left the Highlands of Scotland to travel the World (currently in New Hampshire) met up with Dufus when he visted at her starting point - WildNess. Judging by her last postcard, she was absolutely besotted with him and hopes to meet up again.She may make that a goal later in life, when she's bummed around a bit more. The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Thank you all for your advice. I have now bought a suitable lead, along with car fag-lighter adaptor. Am just getting into GPSU, which looks very useful. Amazed at the extra bits I will soon be able to do! Anyone interfaced an etrex to a teasmade? The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

Inverness The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

So right! Maps and GPS are not mutually exclusive. I've just spent two days in the NW Highlands, walking: both map and GPS have their part to play. Similarly with Geocaching. And maps are fascinating. However, Lewis Carrol wrote a story where map-makers got so ambitious with map-scales that maps became miles wide - eventually they did away with maps altogether and used the country as a 1:1 map of itself. The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.

This is probably an old chestnut: maybe I'm just nuts. I realise the need for Lat Long on the Geocaching site, to provide a standard, but could we not also include the OSGB version as well? We're off to Phredd and Dotty land soon and thought we'd look to see which caches are around our holiday home. What a palaver - configure the Etrex, type in the frankly unwieldy Lat Long, reconfigure the Etrex. There are lots of caches in the area - what a time it took! This is not intended to criticise P&D or anyone else, but I would be interested in observations. Doug The nearer your destination, the more you keep slip sliding away.