Oxford Stone

http://www.sibeg.it/en/promozioni-concorsi/elenco-promozioni/collect-the-new-coca-cola-flask-available-at-autogrill.html "won" this while buying lunch at an Italian motorway service station - was never going to use it so covered it in black tape and stuck it 15 feet up a tree. I see a previous poster mentions flasks too. Might drop by Poundstretcher at lunchtime to see what I can find!

My top 10 in project-gc.com absolute most is GC4E95 lake Vegas virtual cache 434 (8%), but Lisbon's Love Boat GC3RHPK is on an impressive 43% (140) Home-made cache guru JJEF has over 50% for most of his caches, without even pruning out the non-voting standard members.

I wish I still travelled for business - beyond my 2 or 3 trips to France per year. Would be great for collecting counties and just getting the daily fix. As it is, living 30 miles from work, my Found map looks like a 40-mile dog bone, 2 big blobs with a line in between.

Haycock sees hundreds of hunters each year deer season alone. CJ and I hunted squirrel with my Niece on most of the mountain (even found a cache in '05 just down where you were) and not thought it different than many other game lands we've hunted. So yes, I agree that there is a bit of risk taking when situations are outside the scope of ones familiarity or skill set. Best not to go out with that comedy antler hat you got given at the Christmas party?

Good variety of answers, keep them coming! I've been round the world on that total distance one (Vegas trip helped; Lisbon did the last few thousand miles). I stopped my stretch on 100. Would love to do exactly 3 caches a day, 1095, for 2013 but I don't think it's going to happen. Forgot about my N/S/E/W! S & W are in Vegas. W probably always will be, but we'll visit the inlaws in Brazil one of these days (not too close to the World Cup or the Olympics, or it'll be silly money); E is in Italy; N is feeble, in Cambridgeshire (so about 1/4 of the way up Great Britain if you like). Also please post any unusual stats you notice elsewhere - don't have to name names: One of the UK's most prolific cachers - approaching 35000 - has done all but 5 in the UK A lady who's on just under 2900 has done 617 "?"s and 227 multis, with a good smattering of other non-trads. Under 69% trads. The first to 100 5/5s in the UK, and the leading lady 5/5er in the UK, are both in my region. Not a game I'm playing but all credit to those who do. Maybe when I was younger and not averse to a bit of caving and canoeing!

I'm interested to hear which of all those stats that caching throws at you, either through the official site or GSAK / project-gc / mygeocaching profile, you're trying to work on. I've long since given up trying to up my average D & T - they're in the 1.7, 1.8s and probably always will be. I'm on 339/366 (not bad for 13 1/2 months' work though I say it myself) so getting to 366 by 29 Feb 2016 should be a breeze. Noticed that it won't take much to get trads under 90% by doing half a dozen others (though of course I'll then go on a trail and pick up 20 trads and need to solve 2 more puzzles!) Loving colouring in the county maps but have done all the easy stuff there. On 43 I think on D/T and will aim to get another dozen in 2014. A spot of boat-borrowing and a few more would become available but it's not a massive priority. More of a D man than T (enjoy puzzles!) The project-gc "months cache hidden in" grid might get my attention one day but again I'm not deliberately going out of my way for anything there. Also on there, I can see my hides have an average of I think 21% fave points - I'd like to keep that above 20% if I can. Up to me to put out more some nice hides! There's a challenge cache near me where you have to have visited a cache 0-5, 5.01-10 etc miles, all the 5-mile increments up to 250. A lot of finders have commented the research is the time consuming bit there, no idea how many I've got. How about the rest of you?

Put out some more perplexing caches - I have 3 puzzle ideas up my sleeve. Have the cache with the most fave points in town. I've got a 6 and a 5 but there's one on 9... Keep my fave point averaage up above 20%. I think 6 out of my 8 caches have earned points and I'm proud to be adding quality not quantity to the game. Get to 365/366. I only started last October 27 and am on 339. By Valentine's Day I'll only have about 7 to do I think. then just wait for leap year! Chip away at D/T grid if only to see some more challenging caches. On 43 or 44 or something at the moment, doing better on D than T! I was actually going to start a separate thread but will just keep the idea on here - which of the myriad of stats are people actually trying to improve on their profile? I've just noticed my trads constitue 90.5% of my total and it would be nice to get that below 90%. I always enjoy puzzles and multis. Just noticed on the log of the puzzle I did at lunch, the previous finder was picking up ther 500th "?". She's now on 617 out of 2877 finds with 227 multis! I know another caching couple who've done over 50 puzzles in their total of about 540. Colouring in countries and counties is always good for a map freak like me. Can't really see any other stats that make me fret. http://coord.info/GC14CGC is an interesting idea - chase 4 TBs to get to the final cache. Have got 2, "acquired" info about a 3rd so could walk to the final tomorrow as the 4th only changes the co-ords by a few feet. But I want to do it properly. A significant part of my caching, with OS Junior and Mrs OS, and anyone else who happens to be with us, is caching on a Sunday afternoon after a pub lunch. So 52 new pubs, walks and anything from 1 to 20 caches each Sunday, will be lovely.

Interesting thread. I own http://coord.info/GC4PYCF which is a tree climb. Any comments on my wording re the risk are welcomed. You'll see that the STF (who also owns a tree cache, on my to-do list) has one arm! Last Saturday I did a gentle but fun tree climb with OS Junior who's 4 1/2. A step from a fence into a cradle of boughs about 5-8 feet up (tree on a bank) but easily room for us both to stand and sign the log. Irresponsible parent? quite the opposite I hope, in that I made sure he was aware he needed to be careful, hold on and not start clowning around. I used to go caving, which of course can be extremely, fatally risky - so you take lots of precautions. Here's one I passed on in Grenoble http://coord.info/GC3RHZP Not managing to insert my own photo, but if you look on Streetview the cache is on the grey pole. Seems to get found fairly regularly. You have to run up the bridge to get it. Possibilities of falling 20' onto the road one way, 80' into the river the other. A CO local to me has started hiding caches down the drains. Despite my caving history, I'm putting them on the ignore list. This sort of thing: http://coord.info/GC4TXRG - just noticed FTF is the guy with one arm! He's hardcore!

An X (crossbones) of pirate-related names of letterbox caches, N of Burnham on Crouch.

Did 100 from 19 Aug until 26 Nov. Stupid number of 1s, daily fixes. I live 30 miles from the office, so small detours for quick caches were easy enough. Glad to have done it, sure I'll never beat it. Calendar filling is the next priority; next Tuesday to Thursday need to be done... I'm on 335 or so.

Magnetic snails A couple of flat ones - magnetic sheets with paper in a plastic sleeve I've used a pill tube, Tyrozets I think they were called Saw a metal cigar tube today

Haha love the drive-by photos! I think in Scandinavia too, it's the best time to get those lacustrine island caches. My Finnish colleague / caching buddy could only look at snowdrifts and guess where a few caches were, until late April this year. We're just going to visit a few different small towns in coming weekends, have fun doing some multis with numbers from plaques, gravestones etc... and leave the longer walks for the spring and summer. That said, it's currently coldish (about 5ºC) but dry in the UK so the mud is not too horrendous. I'm off now for a newly published "Sidetracked" outside Maidenhead Station, perfect for a winter weekday.

It was that (add to a thread about cycling and caching, which I found by searching for bridleway IIRC) or start a new one. Does it really matter either way?

As the seasons change, just a reminder to cycling cachers - and to COs with caches on mud-prone footpaths: PLEASE don't take your bike onto footpaths. COs, add the no bikes icon to the attributes (yes, yes, I know, no sod reads them...) That includes most of the Thames Path, although the stretch upstream from Abingdon where I have two caches is already ploughed up (hoofprints, bike and motorbike tracks visible!) It's a common assumption that it's OK to cycle on towpaths but it's not true. This is not an anti-bike post... everything in its place... I'm very tempted to get my neglected mountain bike serviced and try a day's two-wheel caching. Good trail near Fairford (Glos) I'm told?

As the owner of 2 Thames Path caches, and seeing the towpath get ploughed up by horses, bikes and even motorbikes, I've added this to the cache pages: NB you should NOT be riding a bike or a horse along here: The Thames Path National Trail is not a long distance route for cyclists. Most of the Thames Path is a public footpath on which cyclists have no legal right to ride unless they have permission from the landowners - cycling without permission is a trespass offence against landowners. However there are some sections of the Thames Path outside London which cyclists can use - the longest section being the 5.4 miles (8.7 km) through Oxford and the 5.8 miles (9.4 Km) from Weybridge to Hampton Court. If you choose to cycle by the river, please be aware it is a potentially dangerous activity. See the interactive map for more information on cycling. Cyclists wanting a long-distance ride should not attempt the Thames Path. http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/thames-path/information

This sounds about right. There's a 10-yr-old cache by the Thames near Oxford that I've not yet visited, but reading the logs it's in a state and CO offline for a year. I'm planning to go along with a bag to empty out all the gunk, bit of old towel to dry it out, notepad in sealed bag for new log. I wouldn't make the effort for a younger cache though.

Winter. It's dark. No more stopping off for a quick jaunt across a field for the daily fix on the way home from work. It's muddy. On Monday I was third to find a cache 4 feet up a tree and it was muddy! How does that happen? ...yet there are STILL nettles! Time for urban caches of course - explore a new town get some caches maybe even some Xmas shopping! And / or just take a few days off and come back fresh; or, what the hell, just get muddy, cold and stung; or emigrate to the Southern Hemisphere?

Quick update - we had a great time and found 14 caches in Lisbon. Most recent at the top: O Cauteleiro da colina de S.Roque - interesting container, I think a bottle top with the bottle neck somehow melted to form a container? Praça Luís de Camões [Lisboa] - met some German cachers here A great view of Lisbon [Lisboa] well up my 'oldest' list along with some Las Vegas virtuals and the UK's oldest cache. The Love Boat FAVE - well it has to be! Vasco da Gama [Lisboa] - well we found a bit of paper in a tree, signed it and it wasn't actually the cache... should possibly DNF. Strange one. [332] O pontão da expo... the fisherman had his stool in the way but knew the cache was there! Vasco da Gama Tower FAVE, enjoyed the climb Peixanário de Lisboa The Pavilion of Knowledge of the Seas - Expo98 FAVE, just a nice cheeky hide Feira da Ladra left a TB which has already gone on its way PARQUE EDUARDO VII nice place for it! Museu Militar Estação do Rossio [Lisboa] Regimento de Transmissões - first one, about 250m up from our flat, then we got the 28 tram All good fun. But we put tourism 1st, caching 2nd (didn't go more than 100m out of our way for a cache), enjoying the various districts, forms of transport, views and food. Obrigado Lisboa!

OP, see also the thread I started a month or two ago about changing priorities, which got some really interesting answers about how caching can evolve for people.

Thrill of the find Poring over maps Knowing more corners of that map than I would otherwise Poring over stats Walking Subversion Meeting people (though lone caching has its plus points too) Educating my son - observation, map-reading, respecting nature, getting out for a walk on a Saturday. And again on a Sunday. Solving puzzles / challenges Setting puzzles / challenges

Great list! It's a bit shorter if you remember that the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland are all part of Scotland which, for the time being, is still part of the UK... I doubt that will change. The UN geopolitical ontology and ISO 3166 standard list the UK and Ireland as separate "countries" but not Scotland, Northern Ireland, or Wales. Since the GS list is based on an existing standard there isn't a unique identifier for those countries. As good as geonames is for place name lookups it's not considered a standard and I've been told that it's essentially a site created and managed by one person. The only countries that I've visited where I didn't find a cache are Zambia and Kenya (and I don't really count Kenya as I never got out of the airport). I used to have Ethiopia in that list because the first time I was in Addis I didn't get a find but I went back last year and got one. What I meant about Scotland is that they are having a referendum on independence next year!

Interesting read! No skirts to lift in the UK (not on lamp-posts at least) - but yes I do know what they are after a brief trip to Vegas where I fit caching into the other suspicious activities. London - yes, need for stealth on two in particular, at Oxford and Cambridge circuses. Being brisk, quick and businesslike when possible is always good. The times I've been seen and had to give an explanation: 1. "Are you trapping dormice?", 2. "Are you doing a wildlife survey?" (yes they were both rural) - next time I'll say Yes. Bearin gin mind wildlife is everywhere, it's a great excuse even in a city (looking for bat / rat / beetle habitats...) Oh and 3. OS Junior and I emerging hand-in-han from a hedge, me sweaty. Look of horror on the dog-walker's face, thought she'd uncovered a perverts' ring I think. So I showed her the cache, luckily OSJ had a TB too. I don't quite understand ignoring all stealth required caches - it's part of the fun as far as I'm concerned. But as always, each to his own. 5 of my 8 are urban and stealth almost goes without saying - can't remember how many times I've used the icon though. And you could be 5 miles from the nearest road and attracting attention to a cache which then gets trashed because the next walking group are morons. So - what is "stealth required"?

Pre-caching I've been here: http://coord.info/GC42JEF I've even sat in the wood cabin under which the cache is hidden! Unlikely to go back as prices have tripled in the last 10 years. Just spent a few minutes looking at maps of other obscure places I've been and caches I could have picked up: Ohrid (Macedonia), various corners of Israel (was on a kibbutz on my gap year, 87/8), Teruel (Spanish interior)... Plus I was a sales rep in France for 3 years, visited 94/95 départements, would have done hundreds of caches if they'd existed at the time! A GC hotspot I WILL get back to as have a great friend there and have already been 4 times, is Budapest. Might just have to lose the wife for a day and go off caching with OS Junior...

Great list! It's a bit shorter if you remember that the Outer Hebrides, Orkney and Shetland are all part of Scotland which, for the time being, is still part of the UK... I'm not quite sure what we'll call the UK (not very united, has a queen not a king) if Scotland secedes... no, my American cousins, sh*tty overcrowded island is not an acceptable title!

I have just done my 300th / 366 and only started 349 days ago! Only missed 22 days in 2013, vast majority of those before mid-Feb. I wonder what the quickest for a new cacher to 366 is? I'll hope to get to at least 350 within 2 years. Will obviously have to wait until 29/2/16 for 366. Longest strech BTW is only 74, but currently on 54 I think. Weekdays getting tough as home town, work town and the various routes between I'm really running out.