drsolly

The poor Dr would be about 27 stone before long, and have to trade in the bike for a mobility scooter! The only difference between my bike and a mobility scooter, is that the bike is cooler. I'd expect the cache owner to give an opinion on the quality of the offerings on the cache page. It's a bit like the church micros, or the "At Your Convenience" series.

Appeals to me. Indeed, I could envisage a series, "Burger van micros".

And for another year running, I am admiring you from behind. I wonder, will the view improve in 2012? Could be - I'm planning to buy a new pair of trousers.

Heh heh heh.

Another one which took the biscuit for me (on Christmas Day in fact). Dog bounds towards me barking... stops in my path starts growling... owner comes up (having ineffectually shouted at said dog who does not stop growling) "It's because you don't have a dog with you".. I was speechless. Well, so all I need to do, is go without a hat or stick, and have my own dog. I've got a stuffed dog, would that do? Oh - just to be clear on this, 1) it isn't mine, it's ladysolly's, and 2) it isn't a dog that has been stuffed, it's a toy dog. But it's quite realistic. Experience is,while caching,a big dog came running across from a distance, and plonked its' front paws on my shoulders.I shouted at big dog as a fear response and dog the owner told me off.It was my fault the dog jumped up because I was frightened? I start raising my voice at the dog owner and he did similar exchanges back . Stopped shouting at dog owner and dog owner re-iterated it was my fault! Shouting exchanges resumed only by then I was so incensed I had gone marching across to dog owner for a close exchange of words! Eventually the dog owner got the message I wanted an apology. But dog owner spoilt the apology with a parting retort(when he was a safe distance away from this little angry woman half his size and twice his age )that he hoped the next dog we met was a rotweiler. (no offence meant to rotweilers,the tone was enough ) Husband with me at the time decided to keep as far away as possible from the proceedings. He has his theories and he's sticking to them. Maybe we should look at this from the dog owner's point of view. He has this furry friend, who is well behaved at home, hardly ever chews up socks and always goes outside when need be. And he and his furry friend are going for a walk. Furry friend wants to run and sniff things, so he lets him off the lead, and everything is tickety-boo. Then along comes this strange character, wearing a hat and walking with a stick, and his dog bounds up to him and woofs joyfully to him, and jumps happily up to him to play. And this strange character gets all upset, and claims that the dog is out of control, and should be on a lead. What a horrible person this strange character is, and wouldn't it be a good idea to tell him so. So he explains to the strange character that the dog is just being friendly, and what's your problem? And then the strange character, for no reason at all, gets upset. And when the dog continues to woof happily at him, and bounce up in a friendly fashion, the strange character claims that he's being attacked! As if!! Furry friend has *never* attacked anyone. Can't he see that the dog is just being friendly? And then the strange character pushes the dog away, a vicious and unprovoked attack, doesn't he know that you shouldn't push a dog? And so on. Maybe one of the dog experts amongst us could give us the dog's point of view in all this?

I've reported two caches. One was attached magnetically to a gravestone, and didn't have the permission of the relatives of the deceased or of the vicar. The other was in the middle of a field of crops, a long way from the footpath, and the only way to get to it would mean trampling the crops. There's no way that reviewers can know that this has happened, unless someone tells them. So I email the cache owners. If that doesn't work, I tell the reviewers. It's important to all of us that people don't think that geocaching is vandalism. And so it's important to deal with caches that shouldn't be where they are.

Another one which took the biscuit for me (on Christmas Day in fact). Dog bounds towards me barking... stops in my path starts growling... owner comes up (having ineffectually shouted at said dog who does not stop growling) "It's because you don't have a dog with you".. I was speechless. Well, so all I need to do, is go without a hat or stick, and have my own dog. I've got a stuffed dog, would that do? Oh - just to be clear on this, 1) it isn't mine, it's ladysolly's, and 2) it isn't a dog that has been stuffed, it's a toy dog. But it's quite realistic.

Hardly ever. Or raw vegetables. Actually, I do like dogs. That is, I like dogs that approach me politely and say good afternoon, or take a sniff at my boots. What I don't like is the small percentage (probably less than 5%) of dogs that rush at me screaming threats, jumping up at me and showing what sharp teeth they have to bite me with, and I like even less dog owners who 1) don't care that their dogs behave that way and 2) think that it's somehow my fault that their dog wants to attack me and 3) say "He's just being friendly" or "He's just playing". I like horses too. And cats, cows, sheep, pigs and rabbits. Can anyone recommend a useful dog forum that I could post to? Maybe some dog owners need to have all this explained to them, but my ownership of a dog preceeded the existence of the internet, so I don't know where would be a good place to post.

Or both. Or maybe I dress like a chew. Or make noises like a chew? OK - I'll tell you what. In the spirit of scientific enquiry, if everyone brings their dogs to the next event that I'm at, and I'll offer each dog a nice juicy leg. Some dogs will be blindfolded, and some will be nosebagged, so we can see which of their senses they use. All dogs that refuse the bait will be given a doggie-treat (you also have to bring the treat).

Ah, yes, my <5% was from rural encounters. I'm sure it would be different in the urban wastelands. I have a hypothesis that something about Dr Solly gives him the appearance of a doggie chew-toy. I'm secretly hoping he'll post a high disagreeable-encounters percentage so I can smugly recommend he goes on a course. I'd guess my percentage of disagreeable-encounters is pretty low. Many dogs are on leads, and so they don't get a chance to misbehave, many dogs are well trained, and of those that aren't, I'd guess that a large percentage aren't interested in me. I was out all day today, I'd estimate that I had maybe ten dog encounters (maybe half of them were on leads), and apart from one that did a bit of a jump-up at me (possibly in a friendly way), they were all good. I've been told by some dog owners in the past, that wearing a hat sets their dog off, and I usually wear a hat (and when biking, I always wear a helmet). And a few have told me that carrying a walking pole sets their dog off, and I usually walk with a walking pole. I also have a shoulder bag - is it possible that dogs are triggered by shoulder bags? I don't know. I don't think I look like a doggie chew toy. Next time you see me, you might give me your opinion on that.

Another advantage of a walking pole is that you can hold it in such a way that suggests to the dog owner, who is a key player in such encounters, that you're ready and willing to hurt his furry friend, coupled with a request to "Control your dog or I will defend myself". I've found that this sometimes encourages the dog owner to stop saying "He's only playing" and start getting hold of his dog. It's the dog owner who is the main problem, I think, not the dog.

It's because I've been bitten when doing absolutely nothing to the dog, that my policy now is to defend myself if I need to. I'm not going to attack a dog, but neither am I going to stand still while being attacked.

I like caching by bike, but my waistline has seen no wonders.

I agree, it's the dog owner, not the dog. Maybe it would be a good idea to have dog owners licences, that requires you to pass a dog ownership test before you're allowed to own a dog. A bit like a car driving test. In the situation that happened yesterday, the owner got aggressive as soon as I opened my mouth. Maybe the dog learned its aggressiveness from the owner. And I don't believe the "He's never done that before". I was very glad I had my walking pole with me. I didn't use it; I didn't even lift it off the ground. But I think an attacking dog would be thoroughly deterred if I did need to use it. Better than a can of air, with the disadvantage that the dog gets hurt, but that's a drawback I'm willing to accept, if need be.

Ladysolly and I were walking along the footpath on our way to a cache, and we encountered a dog walker, with dog. The dog ran up to me and started its aggressive barking thing, so I just stood still and waited for it to go away, or for the owner to do something. The owner, of course, called and yelled, the dog took no notice, and I carried on standing there, keeping an eye on the dog, because I don't want to be attacked from the rear. Eventually, the owner reached where I was, and I told him "I think you should get your dog under control." I was really surprised by his reaction. "Someone should get you under control!" he retorted. Huh? I was just standing there, not moving. Not shouting. Not being aggressive. "He's never done this before," he continued. I didn't tell him that the last time I heard that, it was just after I'd been bitten by an Alsatian. "You must have done something for him to react like that!" he said. Well, I hadn't. I'd just stood there, waiting for the dog to go away, or get put on a lead, or something. But in his mind, his lovely furry friend had never barked at anyone before, therefore it must be my fault. Eventually, he walked on, still unable to get his dog under control, and for a while afterwards, his dog was rushing back to have another bark at me, and I could hear the owner calling futilely to get him back. I suspect that this is an accident waiting to happen.

That isn't going to happen. We're as grown up as we're ever going to be. This is what people are like. There's been many attempts to change human nature; none of them have worked.

I think what you're saying is that when people have had some experience of a bunch of caches, then they start to get opinions about which are better and which are worse. Sounds sensible to me.

For me, not quite so. One of the many varieties that I enjoy, is the variety that consists of a long series of 104 caches all of which are easy to find, but where the entire experience is a lot further than I can comfortably do, and which leaves me exhausted for days afterwards. That isn't, for me, a "lack of variety", it is one variety.

Ten miles is really my limit; the 14 miles of the Chelmer Nav was really four miles more than I can really do. Which is why I did it. But when I do a long series, singlehanded or with a buddy, the pauses for searching are good, because they're a chance for me to catch my breath and give my legs and back a chance to recover. Without those stops, I'd be stopping en route anyway. I can fully understand that. However, a 10-minute pause to search for a cache is a rest, whereas a half-hour stop becomes a frustrating delay. Particularly if you have to give up on the cache altogether in the interest of being able to finish the walk. I honestly can't see the point of hiding a cache so that it's really hard to find if it's part of a walking or cycling series. Hiding a cache in most cases is simply meant protect it from muggles anyway, not to make it difficult to find. It varies. Sometimes one, sometimes the other. I've been on many trails where the "hunt" for the cache takes about three seconds, and that's good, because I get to cover lots of ground, and if I need a rest, I'll sit on a stile. And I've been on many caches where I stand and wonder, hunt and delve, read the hint, read the past logs, and eventually, with a considerable sense of satisfaction, locate the cunningly hidden cache. And I've racked up plenty of DNFs.

Spam. Moderator, do your duty!

Ten miles is really my limit; the 14 miles of the Chelmer Nav was really four miles more than I can really do. Which is why I did it. But when I do a long series, singlehanded or with a buddy, the pauses for searching are good, because they're a chance for me to catch my breath and give my legs and back a chance to recover. Without those stops, I'd be stopping en route anyway. The Essex 104-cache trail was really good, and I'm hoping that other such trails will be set in the South East, because I, for one, would be delighted to do another Death March. I've learned a few things from this one - 1) I shouldn't have put heel gels into that particular pair of boots, because they made the toe end too cramped which I was really feeling from mile 10 onwards, 2) I was carrying far too much food, 3) two bottles of water, in winter, for 7 hours wasn't quite enough, I should have had three and 4) two days later I'm still suffering. And surely what caching is about, is that different folks like different strokes? You can have your 5 mile trek with wonderful views and varied terrain to get a single cache (and I've done at least one of those), and I can have my Death Marches.

Progress report; good news - the agony in my thighs has subsided to the point where I can feel the intense pain in my lower back.

OK, I see, it's CBN 88 I'd already done 15 of this series.

Now that I've logged them, I see that I've done about a dozen of them four years ago on a bike trip along this towpath. I remember the trip, but it was so much easier on the bike! It's now about 24 hours after the walk, and I'm beginning to be able to stagger a little. With luck, I might make a partial recovery, but playing the violin is not going to be a possibility.. What happened to number CBN 088?

Urggghhhh... A great outing, my thighs might never talk to me again. We arrived at the event, and had an excellent breakfast at the local cafe, who were very surprised at the number of people (20-ish) who turned up. Then the early group set off, and then the late group, 11 of us, followed half an hour later. That was good - a single big group would have been too big. It was then cache cache cache cache ... until number 61, which was at the cafe, where we all sat down and had various edibles. Then cache cache cache cache. Round about number 75, I was running out of steam, which was about what I'd expected, but there were still 30 more to do. After that, it got progressively more difficult for me, until by the time we reached number 104, I could barely stagger along. The injury tally was, jollyjax fell badly once, Heffalump fell into brambles (ouch ouch ouch), and I fell onto my bum, and bounced straight up. The track was very slippery and muddy, although I thought that most of it would be bikable even in the condition it was in today. In summer, it would be a dream for biking. Thanks a lot to Mel and Ray for meeting us at the start with coffee and cakes, and for meeting us at the other end with cars, thus making it easy to get back to the start. And then we had another coffee-and-cakes with Mel and Ray, plus (in my case, as I wasn't driving) quite a lot of metal-bijou's Sloe Gin (also thanks for organising it), which revived me enough to make it possible for me to get into the car so I could be driven home. And the fun of the day wasn't in the caches, which were pretty ordinary looked at individually, but in the overall experience, which will take me at least three days to recover from. Thanks to metal bijou for getting it organised.