Foinavon

The scottish mountain is spelt with an E not an O, now I think the owners of the race horse made an error because they also had a (much better) horse called Arkle. Arkle is the neighbouring mountain to Foinaven. I have been a hiker/hill walker for longer than I have been a cacher and to this day the walk up Foinaven remains the best walk I have ever done. It was this that led me to my caching name (even though I made the same mistake as the racehorse owners). Foinaven is largely an ignored mountain, the reason is that mountain walkers like Geocachers can get sidetracked by pointless statistics and Foinaven is not a Munro (i.e . it is not 3000ft high it only misses it by a few feet its something like 2993) so people don't bother with it. Mountain Walkers often talk about their "Munro Count", the same way that geocachers talk about their "found" count. For what its worth my Munro Count is about 15 and I think there are about 290 of them. I think that's how the racehorse was pronounced. There is a much-told story in my family about how my grandfather almost, but didn't quite, bet £1 on it, which at 100/1 would have yielded a small fortune in those days. The mountain in Scotland is pronounced "FON-yaaven" by my hill-yomping friends, although a quick Google for confirmation turns up various alternatives. While I'm by no means an expert on these things, it looks like it's already a corruption of the original Gaelic name... so I guess all bets are off.

when I go to events people often ask me about my caching name. Well today was the Grand National, it was also the 40th anniversiary of one of the most remarkable Grand Nationals ever when a rank outsider won at 100-1, due to an extordinary incident. This horse was the winner.

Hands up who's done's exactly what you describe and gone looking for puzzle caches at the published coordinates. I know I have!

Right you went from the building site. You see I didn't because of this "private, keep off" sign, did you see that sign at all? To be fair it would not have been there when Mr Underhill reanabled it because I think the works are new, and Temple Road is a public highway I am not sure what rights they have to stick such a sign at the entrance to it. It was due to this sign I took the route I did and ended up in the mess I described. I just don't have any luck with this one. Maybe I should attempt it for a 4th time on my own.

If you look at Thespian's profile he has a link to his personal webpage where he states his other hobbies. It turns out he's a naturist! Well I think I am going to ask him to find this cache in the buff, he might then view thorns and barbed wire in a slightly different light. Having said all this, geocachers must be getting back to nature kind of people. How about a nudist event, any one interested? Or maybe we can all turn up to Lollybob's forthcomming Golborne event in our birthday suits? After receiving a recent email off Thespian (Mr Underhills uncle) it appears they do actually still cache but under different caching names. They do have other caches out there but Oscars Prowl was Thespians first cache and, I presume, Near Nana's was Mr Underhills first. I have thought of going to find Near Nana's in it's new location to make it a "proper" find at some point but not sure when i'll get around to it.

I have a suncatcher coin and its been out in the wild for 6 months now. From what I can see of coins, the biggest danger to them seems to be going missing at events.

What are the chances of that happening? I suppose I should say ex muggle now. Hello vernuk if you are reading.

Now that I would like to see, it would be a case of "After You"! I did wonder if he left it as a booby trap, thinking I would be the only person daft enough to try and find it! They haven't done any caching themselves for over three years now.

It's a bit of a long story this one! I now have a modest 245 finds and about 30 DNF's,of these trips I have enjoyed nearly all of them. There are about only 3 when I have wondered why the hider bothered but even these where very quick finds so it really didn't matter that the hider saw something in these places that I didn't. And then there is this cache., my nemesis. Its the only cache I have attempted three times. I have climbed over fences, gone through peoples gardens, been berated by other caches for moaning about it, its given me guilt trips and now its at it again,over this Easter holiday it gave me my worst caching experience to date, and I still haven't found it! It all started when I was new to Geocaching. I come from the East side of Bolton, the opposite side to the caching metropolis of Horwich. This was one of the few caches in this area and it was and still is one of the oldest caches in Bolton. Nobody had attempted it for a while and I go past this spot every week on my way to my parent's house so it wasn't long before I had a go at it. The only apparent way in was over a fence as the gate was padlocked. I noticed that most of the recent finders had vaulted over the fence to get it. I had my little lad with me so I didn't want do do this. I (wrongly) assumed that the only way to get to the cache had been taken away and posted a Should Be Archived. This was a bit hasty as the notes did say another way in, another cacher Thespian came on and berated me saying that he had checked it recently and it was fine. I felt a bit foolish and so I decided to go for it again with the intention of posting an apology. However once again it went belly up. The footpath seemed to take me through somebodys garden and when I got to the cache it was just a box full of rainwater. I felt somewhat annoyed, not because it had been muggled but because Thespian had been clearly been fibbing. There was no way he could have checked it a few days ago as he said because it was full of rainwater and it hadn't rained for weeks. I didn't want to go back through anybodys front garden so I vaulted over the fence. My DNF report was a bit of a rant. A few other cachers came on agreeing with me saying that it should be archived but a different opinion was voiced by mongoose who said that our comments where over the top. Well I thought about this and sometimes you forget its just a hunt for a Tupperware Box, maybe Tony had a point. I then found out that Mr Underhill the hider was a child and Thespian was his uncle. I did feel rather bad then, I have kids myself and when they are old enough I would love the thought of them placing caches at places that mean a lot to them. The cache was under threat of being archived so I posted an apology for being so grumpy and asked if Mr Underhill could replace it. Nothing happend and it was archived. That was that I thought, but then to my surprise at the beginning of March it reappeared in a slightly different location , "less contraversial" as Mr Underhill put it. This was my chance to finally put this one to bed, find it, and write a nice happy log thanking Mr Underhill for his efforts. So on a sunny Easter day I set of with my little lad George (aged 4) with the aim of bagging it. I suppose that when you arrive at the start of the walk and you see a sign that says "Private Keep Off" you know it might not be a good trip. However I was still hopeful as the sign was referring to the recommended parking area not the place where the arrow was pointing. Then it went from bad to worse, we had to contend with Rusty Oil Drums, Discarded Tyres, lots and lots of litter, barbed wire strewn around, thorns and brambles everywhere. This was all within 100ft of the coordinates. My heart sank and I knew it was going to be another Near Nana's experience for me. George was getting scratched and hurt but going back would make us have to go through it all again so I pressed on in the hope of finding an easier exit further on. I tried to have a look around but it was hard going due to all the mess that was around. Then I heard George crying and he'd taken a tumble and fallen in a quagmire. He was completley covered in mud , I had to get him out of there. There was no way I was going back through all that again so yet again it was a case of a vault over the fence. I then had to take him to his grandparents wondering if he would ever want to go caching with me again and how I would explain the fact that their Grandson was was crying, badly scratched and covered in mud. All this from a cache that has a "child friendly" icon on it. I haven't actually logged a DNF and I am not sure if I want to because (i) I don't want the owner or his family to think I have some kind of grudge against them because I don't. (ii) If you looked at this cache its mostly my logs. It may give the impression that I am moaning git (and I'm not!). (iii) There is part of me that realises that you cache at your own risk and I am the one responsible for my kids. If I choose to take them to a place like this then its my fault. (iv) I am the only cacher that has attempted this one in over a year (apart from ferreter38 who appears to have given up caching after having the misfortune to make this his second trip) and I still wonder if there is some easy way in that I have missed. The way its described gives you no indication of whats in store, so have I missed something? I will be interested to see what others make of it. So this is my DNF log here. Its not a nice place for a cache.

Any chance of a break to give me chance to catch up? I have only found 17 of them!

He's growing up a bit Isaac isn't he? You can tell by looking at the pictures! The first time anyone took any pictures of any of my hides was Isaac holding Oxmoor Surprise. Well done you two.

Yeah I did thanks. Thanks for all your replies. I will look forward to the icon, and then I will release it into the wild.

Hi Folks I bought only my second geocoin on ebay a "geocacher on board coin". It was sold as one with its own icon and it's a lovely coin but I was dissapointed when I activated it to see that it was in fact a personal coin and didn't have a unique icon. The seller offered to refund me and I can see he sold it in good faith as when I searched for it on ebay there where numerous other sellers selling it and saying that it had a unique icon. Here's just one on ebay now, not the one that I used. So is there a way of telling before activation wether a coin does really have its own icon or not. This is a newly released coin so is it that case that sometimes the icons get created after the coin? thanks Paul

I seem to be 500038. A few days earliar and I might have managed to hit 500000!

If you are not familiar with it Dragon's Den is a show where budding entrepreneurs ask a panel of multi millionaires (The Dragons) for cash for their whacky ideas. Well last night these two chaps came on with this idea of a puzzle treasure hunt called the ISIS Adventure. You buy these pyramid things (for £99 ) and this is some kind of puzzle which when you have solved it give enables you to find one of many golden pyramids hidden throughout the UK. These pyramids have coins in them and when you get lots of these, get this, you can go on the internet and see maps telling you where some of the other pyramids are hidden. For this they wanted £200,000 for 15% of the buisness. Well it all seemed a bit familiar to me I'm sure someone else is doing something like this! The Dragon's have a habit of deflating enthusastic entrepreneurs by telling them that someone else is already doing it, and I was really hoping one of them might mention geocaching! But they didn't and not only that they said it was a really good idea and offered them the money. However they wanted 50% not 15% so the two entrepeneurs rejected them. Anyway if you can't get enough treasure hunting and puzzle solving already here is the website for the Isis Adventure

I am glad to see you come in and join the debate OutForTheHunt. Out of interest can you tell us how you decide which is to be the next "Active" trig. Is it just random? Do you try and ensure they are evenly distributed over the uk (which of course if it was random they would be over time).

I think Bargee must take some kudos for this log on Runcorn Calling.

Why not - I've seen smaller nanos!? Ok John you persuaded me. http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_detai...32-853759c07cc3

I have never logged this one but I have always wanted to. I like visiting trig points (thats how I got into geocaching). However all the nearby YOSM are rivets and bolts and try as I might I cant bring myself to go and find a little bit of metal and log it as a cache.

I hope this isn't off topic as its not specifically about geocaching. I went to see Lily Allen at the Apollo in Manchester on Saturday. I know where the Apollo is but I haven't had the TOM TOM long and I thought "just in case". I went on yell or google searched for the Apollo Manchester and plugged the post code into Tom Tom. When we set off my friend and I both commented on the bizarre route that TOM TOM was taking us on. Not familiar at all, we where on roads I had never seen before, but "Trust TOM TOM" I said it must know a clever way and we only had a few minutes to go. Suddenly "Sandra" said "You have reached your destination". WTF? We where in the middle of what looked like a rough housing estate. Certainly no sign of the Apollo anywhere, or so I thought. I suddenly noticed we where outside a pub, and yes the name of the pub was "The Apollo Inn". Now we where in a spot of bother as we didn't know where we were and also how to get to the "other" Apollo. We had a look on the tickets and it said Apollo "Stockport Road". I plugged it into Tom Tom but as its name suggests Stockport Road goes all the way to Stockport so when we where on it, still no sign of the Apollo. We eventually had to stop and ask for directions. I wonder if the people we asked noticed they where being asked for directions by somebody with a sat nav system? To get it on topic a bit, the Tom Tom did several of what my little lad calls "Bing Bongs". i.e. alerted me to a nearby geocache. I had to explain to my friend what is was. My wife borrowed it the other day to drive to a works party. After several "Bing Bongs" her drunken workmates all wanted to stop the car and go and look for it until she explained that you also needed a handheld gps. So I think the moral of the story is if you know where you are going. Don't ask Tom Tom! Oh and Lily Allen was very good.

So, You have found a typical thread that summarizes why you don't like to post on the forums and as a result of this you have errm posted on the forum!

Can I mention my log for the The Muppet Show - Miss Piggy? Well I just did. It was a bit surreal really.

Thats a very good idea actually, thanks for that. My only slight quibble would be that I then have to turn it into a multi. I like multi's myself but I have noticed that they do get ignored by lots of cachers. However I suppose it's their loss!

I have never had one of mine muggled before until Runcorn Gap I really like this spot which is just as well as my cache setting has made me visit it 6 times and there is still currently no cache there! It all came to pass when I was walking along Runcorn Promenade when I noticed these strange large tubes pointing out into the Mersey which I think oncee contained telescopes. I had one of those "lightbulb" moments when you think "thats a good spot for a cache". First Attempt. A put a magnetic micro in the lip. It was muggled before anyone had the chance to find it. Second Attempt. Same spot but I found a container which would reach right down into the bottom. You could only get it by sticking your arm right in and even then you would have to feel around. It was found about three times and then it went. What kind of nutter goes looking in empty telescope tubes? (Apart from me obviosuly.) Third Attempt : I saw a hole in the railings and I went to put a micro in it. Unfortunatley the hole was so large that the micro went suffiently far in so that it was impossible to retreive it. I actually muggled my own cache. Its still in there but impossible to retreive. My last hope is a fake rock. I have one on order. So next week I will make my seventh visit and hope that it stays. My only other fake Rock Bolton Town Centre was nicked in the same week as one the Runcorn mugglings. You wonder what kind of nutter goes around taking fake rocks? I would admit defeat but I do quite like the spot, you get a lovely view of the Runcorn Bridge.

After nearly a year of scrawling details on scraps of paper I went paperless and got a PDA. I had not had it long when one trip resulted in a cracked screen (and I didn't find the cache!). There's no black ink anywhere but of course its not resonding very well to the stylus. I know the moral of the story is to get a hard case for it but in the meantime I would like to repair it. It's second hand so there is no garuntee. There are various companies online offering a repair service but there is quite a big difference in cost. Has anyone ever used any of these? Expansys ipaq repair or does anyone know anywhere you can take them in to be repaired in the North West? Thanks Paul