The Golem

Thanks for that Paul, it was good to relive the trip again...

Well, it's been a while since I've been caching but I think I might come along to this...

Thanks to the Smileys, Stonefielders and Maxkim - that'll help to keep them going until I can get back out again...

That would be a big help Thankyou! - I'm not giving up caching, just having a break...

I haven't had time to go caching for months now, and I'm finding it difficult to maintain my own caches at the moment. I've already archived a few of them but rather than archive the rest I thought I'd offer them up for adoption. My main concern is the Lord of the Rings series, if you're interested in taking any of them on please let me know...

I hate congratulations threads... Congratulations to a discerning cacher! (His thousandth find was one of mine.)

Cumbria please (I wouldn't trust Scaw with it...)

I have. I also added a link to the cache page - I thought she might like to see some pictures of the boat being launched. I also emailed Angus and told him, I asked him to let Seamus know too... I also googled Gwen Evans and she appears to be an RSPB warden, there's a video interview from a few years ago about the effect of mink on native species - I wonder if this is our lady...? As an aside, I think it was Benbecula where they were trying to get rid of hedgehogs for the same reason a few years ago.

"We found your mailboat on Baleshare on Sunday 15th July – a relatively quick passage from St Kilda – unfortunately your letters were not sealed well and all were stuck together. We did send them all on though, apart from the enclosed which had no associated letter. From the position on the beach my guess is that your mailboat had come ashore a few days earlier, but being at the bottom of Baleshare NF 788 582, few folk had passed by. I hope you are delighted with your mailboat being successful and so quick. Best Wishes, Gwen Evans"

I was sitting at work having a brew first thing when someone told me the postcard had arrived - I was delighted, it's now on the notice board Just returned home to find another one among all my daughter's birthday cards The postmark is from Balinvalich on the isle of Benbecula - could you copy out the text of the letter from Gwen Edwards please Paul?

There's a good campsite at Hollows Farm in Borrowdale. I hosted an event there last month and put out a load of extra caches especially for it. It's a bit basic but a lovely location and it only costs a fiver per person per night. Another option of you're on a budget is to wild camp - just keep a low profile

Yes, I noticed the caches were hidden in telephone boxes. My point was that the series "It's good to talk" weren't all that good to find. I would have perhaps overlooked the phone boxes, (the one near the Green Welly Shop being particularly memorable) and hidden a better cache up the road near the Commando statue...

For what it's worth, we visited a few of this series as we headed north for the St Kilda event. There are only so many places you can hide a micro in and around a phone box and the standard of hides grew steadily worse the more we found. My logs reflected what I thought of the caches - I could have said a lot more... The strange thing is there were some lovely viewpoints a mile or two up the road from each one which would have made much more worthwhile hides in my opinion

I don't feel to bad about not getting FTF now, the prize was just a cheap bivi bag - I've already got a decent one

It would appear someone has got the FTF. I slept in the car last night down at Seathwaite with a view to getting an early start this morning. Sadly, Seathwaite lived up to it's reputation as the rainiest place in England and by the time it was light at about 3.30am I didn't fancy venturing out into a downpour so I came home Well done to SummitGood...

Well, I'm about ready to set off - the mailboat is ready (I really hope it floats, it hasn't had it's sea trials yet:) ) My neighbour made the mailboat for me and he mixed the dimensions up a bit but we should be able to squeeze a few letters in there... See you all on Friday

Home again after a great weekend. Thanks to everyone who attended, some of them are still out there caching as I type this. The weather held off for most of the weekend, apart from a light shower as we sat in the garden of the pub - it wouldn't be the Lake District if we didn't have any rain!

Sorry - can't make it...

Thanks to Scaw for supplying 4 new caches, I'll get them hidden in time for the weekend. In the meantime there are 7 new caches dotted around as well as the event. We'll be heading down to Hollows Farm later this evening...

If you've got some to spare I'd be grateful There are already half a dozen new caches ready for the event but a few more wouldn't do any harm...

Thanks for the bump I've checked the forecast for next weekend but it seems it could go either way - perhaps MrsB would kindly share her boudoir with any cachers whose tent is blown away I'll be at the site from Thursday evening, the group field is the first on the left as you enter the site - look out for the Geocaching logo

This is my favorite...

I'm going to use more modern materials to make my mailboat - I do find sheep bladders to be such messy things - don't you? How small is small? Let's say 6 x 4 - and that's inches before you ask! Anything larger will have to be folded...

I'm hoping to make a St Kilda mailboat for the event - if anyone would like to bring a small self addressed postcard or letter feel free. "The 'St Kilda Mailboat' A St Kilda mailboat is a wooden 'boat', containing a letter, usually sealed in a cocoa tin. A sheep's bladder acts as a float. The first mailboat was sent out as a distress signal in time of famine by John Sands, a journalist, who was stranded on St Kilda during winter of 1876. It was later used by St Kildans as a tourist gimmick. Mailboats are now sent by St Kilda work parties as part of the ritual of visiting St Kilda. They are carried by the Gulf Stream and usually reach land in Scotland or Scandinavia. Records of mailboats, and where they were washed up, are published in the St Kilda Mail. A recent mailboat sent with greetings to the new Scottish Parliament arrived within a few weeks!"

I always log my DNF's - there's no shame in not being able to find a cache...