Harry_Bristol_UK

"a burn" - that has to be a Northern thing, right? A "burn" to me is something a fire does, how can you fall into it? Glad I am not the only person mad enough to venture out in the storms anyway!

I have this really awful habit of leaving my pen or pencil in a cache that doesn't have one!!!! I think I will put a pen on a chain and wear it around my neck. I purchased a load of "neck pens" (pens with string to hang around your neck) on Ebay and have been putting these in caches. I thought they were a really appropriate swap, looks like I might have been right

Who else went caching during last nights terrific thunder storms? I had promised a mate I would show him what Geocaching was all about, so we set off from my house in glorious sunshine to bag a couple of caches 25 miles down the road. When we got there I commented "oh, look at the colour of the Sky" which was followed by an almighty clap of thunder that shook the ground - then the heavens opened and the thunder started to sound more like artillery fire! As I am not a defeatest by any stretch I thanked myself for buying a waterproof GPS and we proceeded to the cache coordinates, in the rain, wearing only t-shirts. We struggled at first as the GPS was going nuts every time there was local lightning (which was frequent!) then we worked out the cache was hidden in some trees, so like fools we headed for the clump of trees, in a field, in a thunderstorm I think I broke all my own self imposed rules on survival last night. Still, we found both caches we set out to find. LOL! Luckily the car has leather seats as we were both a little, erm, damp when we got back to it. The mud will have to be brushed out when the car has dried though Driving home was a whole new challenge as the roads had turned to rivers and you really couldn't see where the verges were, any curbs, or very much through the windscreen! As luck would have it the car never got washed off the road and we somehow made it home. Go on, lets hear your near death caching experiences.

That just worked for me on my 60C. I was out caching last night and saw accuracy to +/- 4 metres which suggested that it was working better. Just now, left it sat under a clear sky unmoved for 10 minutes and the accuracy is down to +/- 2 metres. Will see what happens next time I am out caching (tomorrow night maybe).

LOL, great post which I am sure many people can relate to I am realising more and more that it is essential to carry things with you that you may need - pen (!) torch, water, change of clothes, underpants, shoes etc and would have kicked myself if I never had a point and shoot camera with me on many of the trips as some of the places we are led to provide for such wonderful photographic opportunities. I am more grateful for the chance to see so many things that I wouldn't normally see than anything else about the hobby. (although the walking / fitness aspect is a great bonus too!) I don't want to drag your thread off topic, but here are a couple of pics from last nights caching which support the need to always carry a camera. I feel it only fair to add that neither of these pictures would have been possible had I, like you, not been blindly following the arrow

LOL, it occured to me the other day that no matter how accurate my own handheld is I only stand a reasonable chance if the coordinates that it was placed with are any good! It looks like you may well have put that theory into practice

Anyone know why my 60C only says "accuracy +/- 5m" with or without WAAS enabled? The unit seems to be functioning happily enough and often pinponits caches to with a couple of metres. I checked yesterday and the "d"s light up on the signal level meter and sat 33 was being seen.

Whatever Fiats name for the Pug 807 lookalike is! My boss has one and it is essentially a Peugeot with a Fiat name! The electrics, sat nav and everything else about it are the same! I proved the theory last night whilst in my PUG307SW and can confirm that my Garmin 60C has very weak reception (if any at all) when sat on the dashboard. Hold it near a side window and the signal ramps up staraight away.

You are exactly right and it applies to Peugeout (I have a 307SW with this screen), Citroen and some of the Fiats too as others have discovered!

I know this is a bit OT, but how the hell do you lot find the time? I have managed 8 caches this weekend, 6 of them today. We walked 5KMs yesterday & 11 KMs today and I am feeling a little tired at the moment! I couldn't keep the pace yet some of you must go out most days judging by your stats! Perhaps I am just jealous that you have so much spare time?

Took my new Garmin 60C out last night for the first time. It really is the dogs nuts! Thouroughly recommended to anyone who wants something a little more gadgety than basic

LOL

The point is though that the NAD shutdown is likely to happen anyway, as it has before, whether or not we are driving cars in the UK! We make so little difference in the grand scheme of things, yet are being made to believe that the planet is about to be destroyed because we drive instead of catching buses or don't use low energy light bulbs etc. It is nothing more than a convenient reason to tax the population as far as the government of the UK are concerned. I know we DO make a difference, but if the NAD is going to stop it will stop whether we are here or not. I think other countries need to play an active roll in saving the planet too. The UK isn't going to achieve anything on it's own and in the grand scheme of things we are insignificant. Anyone who has been to America will understand why! I guess the bottom line is that the UK Government could come up with much more efficient means of taxing the population and could even come clean and stop giving us political bull all the time, but they are not known for their efficiency or honesty, are they?

LOL, that is impressive!

But the "disaster that is brewing" is not a definite science. There is no evidence, yet, that humans have directly influenced the warming of the planet. In-fact pollution from cars accounts for a fraction of a percent of Co2 emissions globally. A volcano eruption, which happens daily somewhere on the planet, can cause so much more damage! The public have been brainwashed into thinking that any temperature out of the ordinary is caused by "Global Warming" which frankly is nonsense! Turn the clock back 100 years to Victorian times and the climate in the UK was warm enough that the Southern UK was a successful vine grower and made enormous quantities of wines. Turn the clock back another 100 years and the UK was in the middle of a freeze. Look back even further in time and the Southern coast of the UK was tropical (fossilised remains of tropical plants have been uncovered). The pattern is, hot, cold, hot, cold. As far as we can prove it always has been and probably always will be. There is currently talk among scientists of a possible shutdown of the NAD (this causes the warm waters to reach the UK providing us with our temperate climate). If the NAD shuts down (as it has before) the UK will experience freezing temperatures as it should do for an island at this latitude. Why hasn't Joe Public heard this theory? Because it doesn't fit in with the Governments promotion of taxing "warming". Even as things stand right now the UK is in the grip of a drought. Rainfall since last October is at less than 50% of normal levels with the South East of the UK already on water restrictions and reservoirs nearly dry. The Global Warming "model" and everything about the "science" surrounding Global Warming says that the UKs climate will be wetter than normal with flooding the "norm" - where is the rain if we are already on the slippery slope to doom? I am all for controlling pollution. In fact I actively recycle, spent money making sure the house is as efficient as modern practises allow, conserve water where possible etc etc but I do not agree with the Government using motorists as an easy means of raising taxation (which lets face it won't serve any useful purpose to the UK and will be chucked into Europe, Wars, IT projects that don't work etc). The very way that the UK has grown over the last decades means that for most the car is essential to modern day living. I am young (ish!) but still would not be able to do a weekly shop without a car as there is nowhere near enough that can provide for my needs. I object to being forced to hand over money to the Government to drive my car to the nearest supermarket when the reality is that I have no choice. Also, I don't think many people have worked out yet that the cost of living in the UK will rise again as a direct result of per mile charging. I work in the service sector (telephones) providing a service that we all use day to day. I drive around 30,000 miles per year maintaining the network, as do another 150 engineers in my team! The miles we drive are essential to keep the network running. It won't repair itself! Guess who will end up paying the cost of keeping the engineers on the road? Apply this to Electricity, Gas, Water, Cable etc, all services that many of us depend upon and you can imagine how bills might start to spiral! Sorry it was such a long post, I had a lot to say!

I have only had one TB pass through my hands at the moment, but I played the game I picked up Cap'n Wee Eck who "loves being close to the water and has bet his 2 old sea-mates (Cap'n Wullie & Cap'n Fat Bob) that he can be photographed at more water locations than either of them (Sea / Lakes / Rivers / Reservoirs etc all count)" I took him to the Portishead Marina near Bristol: but managed to score a double hit for him by sitting him near my fish tank in his brief visit to my home It's crazy really, isn't it? Got to say I love the India & Florida TB adventures above, very imaginative

Plenty of good hiding places though. So much open space - some with fantastic views! The move abroad option becomes more tempting by the year, I must admit!

Do you have a file you could share via upload / email with the basic template for your design? I like the look of it and would like to make a similar card for some caches I intend placing soon. Failing that, does anyone have any pointers where to design such a thing? I managed to come up with a decent calling card design but it tokk me a bleedin age and I don't much fancy all that again I am an engineer too. Great at fixing things, not so good at making them

So glad the results of this thread are positive as I also took the plunge yesterday and ordered a 60C. I have no need for the electronic compass or altimeter so used some of the saved money to invest in some super duper heavy duty NiMh batteries too Can't wait for it to arrive now, hopefully early next week!

I seem to remember a certain Mr. Bliar also making a clear commitment to "listen to the people". Just another Labour lie Here's a nice, although somewhat biased, summary of the nonsense proposals: http://www.safespeed.org.uk/roadpricing.html

I have a site in mind just off the M5 / M4 interchange for a cache-n-dash affair. It boasts fantastic views of the Severn Estuary too so should hopefully appeal to a wide range of cachers - both the motorway hoppers and the scenic view seekers! I've just come out of Hospital so am restricted at the moment as to what I can do, but when I am back out and about I am going to go and check out the site a bit better to find the safest muggleless (new word?) spot and do the business.

I did This One last week. It is just off J17 of the M4 (Chippenham junction) and literally a minute from the motorway. edit - but you may not be travelling that far! Must read posts properly before replying!

We need public transport that works in the first place! I live in a major town on the outskirts of Bristol. If I want to get into the City Centre I will have to walk nearly a mile (up hill!) to the roads where the busses run, then I'd have to endure a 50 minute journey on a dirty, smelly, hot, sweaty & uncomfortable bus - Or I can jump in the car and be there in 15 minutes. Which option am I likely to keep using? It's all very well talking about introducing a system which is likely to restrict most peoples movements (the poorest members of society / the working class?), but I can't see it happening. Remember the Poll Tax? Governments make mistakes and this would be a blinder! I agree with others thoughts that it is more likely the Government are scaring people now so that in a years time they can do us a "favour" by only doubling road tax / fuel duty. edit - Also meant to add that as most "public transport" is now privatised and run for the benefit of the shareholders, just how "public" is it exactly?

That is the one I use too. It's brilliant for a freebie and very easy to use.

Here is another bug with a photographic mission. I recently picked this one up, took pictures and posted them back to the TBs log page. It didn't take long, didn't cost me anything, was fun and made me feel I was doing my bit to keep the game (/sport) interesting. A couple of other people have taken pictures, but sadly the majority don't bother. Perhaps there aren't as many digital camera owners as I think?