The Great Redmondo

Nice to see a company respond so swiftly to the Geocaching community and a good outcome in the end.

Paul and I loved caching trips on our bikes, it makes it such a different outing to caching with the car. We recently purchased a motor home so cycles are the perfect solution when out on road trips. We had a very unfortunate experience on our last cycle/caching trip away from the motor home. We cycled a six-mile route mainly on roads, to access an N T Wood. Everything was great; we past by some lovely properties in a village, hardly any traffic or people about and we were enjoying a very pleasant bike ride in what seemed a lovely area. I’d stopped to pet the horses in a field; it was that type of outing. We arrived at the wood, which was gated in such a way as to prevent cycles gaining access. We could have hauled them over the fence but that didn’t seem right. No problem, we have a thick and hefty combination lock and have on numerous occasions secured the bikes slightly out of the way, waypointed their location and gone off on foot to find a few caches. We didn’t think anything about leaving the bikes locked up for an hour at this particular location, nice village and not a soul about. When we returned, probably about an hour and a half later all that was left was our bike lock, which had been cleanly cut with some heavy-duty bolt croppers. Both bikes gone. It turns out that the area is a crime hotspot and a certain community of residents are tooled-up, out with their van trolling the area. We spoke to the local farmer who was literally at his wits end because of the theft of all sorts of machinery and the like from his property. The police were very nice but said it’s unlikely that the bikes will be recovered. Also said if we’d had three locks on the bikes they would still have been taken, after all this type of theft is some peoples day job. To add to that, we’ve fallen into an insurance loophole. We discovered that our contents insurance only covered our bikes if they were at the homestead. The extra contents insurance for the motor home would have covered them if they had been stolen while attached to the motor home bike racks. Moral of the story, whey up the value of your bike and the cost of separate cycle insurance if you’re leaving them unattended when you go caching. This has not put Paul and I off caching with cycles (after all, bikes get stolen from just about anywhere) but if/when we buy new replacement bikes we’ll be a bit wiser. We’re considering buying some cheap older bikes but always end up debating the weight/comfort/suitability argument. There are some scumbags out there but I still believe that most people in the world would sooner do you good than bad. Happy caching, whether by bike, car or on foot. Debs

When you've acquired your frog, don't forget to go to Amersham station. I'm waiting for the Amersham station power trail drsolly. Has Amersham station FTF been claimed? Can I stop doing this silly walk yet? D

No worrying about having a pen/pencil to sign the log. No more purchasing trades for caches. If a cache box gets muggled ....simples...turn it into a Challenge site. A whole new Challenge Stats leader board. I bet someone will have fun with that and why not! No maintenance issues. I feel a revolution starting......lets grandfather caches with a container to find, this is much more convenient. Debs.

No more shelling our for cache containers/ammo cans. I'm cured and can now walk passed tupperware in the supermarket. No more missing TBs and GCs No more money setting caches coming from my pocket at all. I'm thinking I now like Challenge Caches. Now ....where can I buy a frog? Debs

Challenge caches will allow me to gain a cache find in loads of other counties. Ha ....I'll have stats to match my Geo friends who have spent time, effort and hard earned income attempting this. All I'll have to do is cuddle a dog, drink a beer, kiss a hog. Challenges completely eleiminates the underground reputation to this hobby, it makes it more open and mainstream. We can all play now so when Hubby refuses to loosen his grip on the GPSr it won't matter 'cause I can find the Eiffel Tower and London Eye. Challenges will take me to places that Geocaching never allowed. I can now book our DisneyLand holiday and cancel Mr. Reds walking holiday in the Peaks.

So to complete 'Kiss a frog' challenge I don't need co-ords or a GPSr. How on earth is this geocaching? Debs

This cache needs a new safety warning. We had so much fun when we did it, we almost killed ourselves laughing

BN dates still work for us (Grandma Red booked for teenage watch) so basically ....... I can't wait !!!!

Just a quick one. Are the supporter coins going to be the only Mega2 geocoins available or will an attendee coin be released nearer the time of the event? Debs

Ahhhhh how romantic They've found a few caches in my local area so putting 2 and 2 together they must be SW cachers????? D

I have tentatively used my iPhone for actually walking on to tupperware using the GC.COM application and found it difficult to use. The 'arrow' tends to freeze and you have no indication of whether you are heading in the right direction. As has been stated, it is excellant for instant 'what caches are round here' questions and therefore an ideal supplementary tool...but I couldn't cache with it alone. I still need my PDA, MM & Cachemate.

We also love TM caches and events. Mike, Gail and Aliss certainly make us most welcome whenever we venture in their direction. Apart from their caches and events I'd like to thank TM for their 'juggling' influence on our youngest lad. He had no interest in juggling until two years ago when we attended a TM camping event, he followed Mike around like a bad smell and learnt to juggle in that one weekend. He's not looked back since, juggles every single day and still talks about juggling all night on the pier along with Mike. Just goes to show how caching can indeed change your life ........one way or another. . Please add us to the Team Marzipan appreciation society.

Not sure where I am going wrong but I can't find the iPhone application anywhere ?

Sorry double post.

Well done Megs and Art. We're really pleased for you both. Jess was thrilled with the card, it came as a real surprise. All went well at the weekend. Look forward to catching up soon. Love from TGR and Cheddar Pink.

Congrats to both of you on both celebrations! Debs and Paul

I don't often get involved in the forum debates for the reasons I will outline below, but this thread urged me to pass comment: We have been caching for 3 yrs now and have for a long time held the view that Geocaching is many things to many people. It is true that some people literally treat each cache as 'just a number' (we have certainly been guilty of that at one time or another), other's treat each cache as a unique experience to be aborbed and enjoyed in its own right before considering the next (we've also done that). The many point I would like to bring out is that when setting a cache, we all need to consider that all types of people will do a cache in a multitude of ways none of which can be wrong or incorrect because we're all individuals doing things the way that suits us.

Good on ya Bob. Debs and Paul.

A big well done Ali. Luv from all of the Redmondos

A quick reply because we're away at the mo. but we'll take Old Town Quarry if no one else wants it.

CP and I just happen to be in Pershore that weekend so count us in. Paul may even be able to join us. See you soon, Debs

A BIG well done to this super caching family !!!

Never mind all that, referring to Mark's original comments, how sad do you have to be to remember SOHCAHTOA ?

A big well done from us too.