The Blorenges

For me, part of the fun in setting up a cache is getting together the items to start it off. Each of the last 4 caches we've placed have had a "theme" (i.e. Glowing/Cats/Romans/Famous Men) and I've spent time selecting related items - Ebay is extremely useful for this! No item has cost more than about £3. Our next cache has a "Welsh" identity... so naturally it'll have woolly sheep, red dragons, a couple of old welsh postcards, a cd of welsh bands etc. Obviously, it won't stay totally Welsh, but we'll try and top it up with a few welsh items each time we check it. So, come on, any of you cheapskates out there!...If you get enjoyment out of geocaching the least you can do is put a half decent (or a full decent) swop in the box! Mrs B

Ahhh.... you mean a problem between the chair and the keyboard?

I used my Vista C on a recent flight from Tripoli to Heathrow. I did ask first and there was no problem other than turning if off during landing. I very sadly connected it to my laptop with Mapsorce Europe and was able to prove the planes onboard 'moving map' was correct including the altitude and speed! Reception was fine with it near the window. It did lose tracking when the aircraft made large turns (avoiding weather), as the satelites came into view and then went past before the GPS could lock on. Great fun!

I thought about the Legend C (upgrading from the original legend) but opted for the Vista C because I wanted a proper barometer. Trouble is when I go out I usually forget to calibrate it! So unless I happen upon a trig point on my travels it's never accurate! As to the compass......hmm.... useful when you are almost on a cache and want to just turn left and right and see where it points but don't often use that.... So on reflection, the Legend C would have done me too!!

This gave me a wry smile...July 28 by prh514 First cache ever, took the kids, one loved it, one will never come with me again if I have anything to do with it. Great location! From "A Day at the Races" (Chepstow) I thought those few choice words captured the scenario beautifully... but obviously prh was not totally disenchanted as they've gone on to find more... Mrs B

I've been following this thread with interest as I think a couple of our caches here in SE Wales may be suitable for some differently-abled cachers. I would support the idea of a phrase or logo that would convey the message "This cache may be suitable for those with different abilities or wheelchair users. Please contact me directly for further discussion or advice". In this way extra guidance and explanation could be given without giving away extra clues to other cachers. Mrs B

Our cache near Tintern Abbey had the corner chewed out of it but there was nothing very yummy in it at the time. It was probably some small rodent's protest at us inadvertently placing a plastic box right across the middle of its favourite path... Mrs B

....And we just got our FTF last week. It was the Severnsiders Border Town Walk GCQ4VQ, which was a most enjoyable sunny stroll around Chepstow and it was our 65th cache find. Mrs B

Surely someone over there in Berkshire will help out with this one? I know a chap who did one of these locationless caches where you have to get someone on the other side of the world to help you out...apparently he ended up having to stand in the middle of some stranger's back garden to get on the right co-ord (with their permission, of course!). But then both of you get to log the cache. If I was nearer I'd partner you, but perhaps by responding to your request I'll move your question up to the top of the listings and someone might take pity on you....

Just want to put in a mention of the first in Wales....which, strangely enough, is called The First in Wales GC2BA. We have a particular attachment to this one as it's at 520m on top of Blorenge, near Abergavenny, and it was the first geocache we ever found (May 04). It's was quite a tough challenge for a first search and we spent about 45 minutes scrambling over identical-looking piles of rock. Just at the point when we were thinking "This has to be one of the stupidest games ever thought up...it doesn't work..." we found it! Henceforth, we are The Blorenges. It was originally placed by "Glyndwyr" but I don't think he's around any more (Does anyone know of his whereabouts?) and it has now been adopted by The Gecko's.

The Blorenges regularly wander around S.E. Wales to scrabble inside tree trunks, pull large black slugs out of holes, drop heavy rocks onto thumb nails and get wet to the ankles in reens...We would be happy to assist anyone in our area who wants to appreciate The Joys of Geocaching. Sometimes we even venture as far afield as Bristol or Gloucester or Weston Super Mare....

There's a wonderful log in Compare/Contrast GCKXRN, 17th May 2005 where Milothedog and owner end up abseiling over a cliff in south Wales...such dedication to Geocaching should be recognised! Read it and weep... Unfortunately, it's just too long to quote in full, but a great saga, none the less.

I know of one in Usk, S Wales, that Purplepenguin logged as having been trashed a while back. I've tried emailing the owner (in USA), offering to sort it out and restock it on his behalf...that was a week ago....no response as yet.

You know, I thought Tesco had the monopoly or had cut a deal with geocachers because just about every cache we've done has Tesco bags in 'em! Chris

Slightly off the original topic but on the things you find in caches....Did a cache recently and in it was a small pot of lip balm.... nice but it had been used! There were still fingerprints in it! I've found a childs watch that was actually rusty and obviously didn't work. I'll say what you guys have said; why do people leave this stuff? We go to some trouble to buy 'goodies' for caches and really appreciate finding nice things in return (such as an adsl microfilter and 2 pair of boot laces which I needed!!).

..... Or alternatively go to your local fabrics/craft shop and buy a metre of camo ripstop nylon material, a metre of velcro and a reel of green thread. Then go and buy a large box of Cadbury's Roses. Go and find an amenable lady with a sewing machine. Show her your lunchbox. Offer the chocs in return for her covering your box in a personally fitted, made to measure cover. How you go about finding the amenable lady is down to your ingenuity....

On my Vista C I set the Units/Position format to British Grid - Ord Survey. Then go to the trip screen, choose the bottom field and set it to 'Location Lat Long' and it shows exactly that. What you can't do is have it the other way round which is annoying cos I normally use decimal deg/mins lat and long. Hope this helps Chris

Had similar prob with XP. Found the default registry file for the contour maps had the path for Mapsource wrong: Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Garmin\MapSource\Products\131] "BMap"="c:\\program files\\Garmin\\contours\\contours.img" "Loc"="c:\\program files\\Garmin\\contours\\" "TDB"="c:\\program files\\Garmin\\contours\\contours.tdb" Mapsource actually installed to C:\garmin so I had to edit the registry file. Worked fine then. Chris

Which Etrex? 4.4.2 MM supports USB connection now (I use on my VistaC). Have you tried setting MM to the USB connection? Chris

Can only echo others comments. Upgraded from Legend to Vista C. Color screen is excellent. Very bright and easy to see in the sun. Extra memory a must if u use maps. Receiver side is more sensitive, I can easily maintain a 'lock' under trees. The 'Etrex' case doesn't fit exactly (it covers up a bit of screen) but I made myself a new one which is fine. Go for The Legend C, you'll regret it if you don't. Chris

Never used altitude for finding caches. GPS which record altitude do so from the satelites and has been said is not that accurate. My Vista C has a barometric altimeter which is very accurate - as long as you remember to set it to the correct pressure before leaving - which I always forget! I use an airband receiver to tune into Bristol airport and get the setting from there! Bit of a pain. So.... all that wizzy altimeter stuff in the Vista doesn't get used that much! Chris

I have MetroGuide Europe and used it with my Legend very succesfully. It's UK coverage is excellent and you can easily navigate with it. You can use it to create routes on the PC (like Autoroute) with full directions. What you cannot do is transfer these to the Legend. What you end up with is a series of straight lines between the waypoints - you lose the routing. The City Select version of MapSource (the expensive one that has to be registered to your GPS serial number) will do that but only on the Legend C and Vista C (color). But with MetroGuide you can do waypoints and then create a route on the Legend. Works well. You can also download a route you've done onto the PC and it overlays it on the map. If you are into running/jogging its very useful as it gives you all the stats too. One drawback with the Legend is the memory size, you can only load up so many areas (tiles) into it. I never found it a real problem though. Chris

I've had a Legend for over a year. In order of importance: NiMH rechargeable batteries - 2000Mah - they seem to keep my unit going forever before needing charging! Neoprene case - got to have it to protect the screen if you are out and about. Maps - I've got the European MetroGuide - bought cheap off e-bay and you don't need a serial number to make it work. The City Select costs about 3 years salary so no way I'm having that! Cheap dashboard mobile phone clip that holds it in place in the car. Enjoy it - great intro to GPS and geocaching Chris

Go for more RAM!! You can never have enough! Seriously, my Etrex Legend (8Mb) is fine for waypoints. I then got the Europe (UK) mapsource and realised 8Mb is seriously small! I can never load all the maps I need into it and really wish I'd researched it more before I bought it. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. The 24Mb on the lastest Etrex Legend and Vista would be fine. Have to ask the wife if I can buy a new one! Chris