Richard & Beth

Glad to see I'm not the only one building their total slowly! Congratulations Moss!

The pictures from the third camera in the Queens Oak cache have been posted to the cache pictures page ready to identify the suspects. Anybody wishing to confess, or shop someone else who has been hanging around the Churchyard let me know. For any newer cachers who weren't around when previous sets of pictures were posted, it's also a chance to have a look at how certain well known cachers looked several hundred caches ago, back in the heady days of 2001! Regards, Richard

Like MossT, I'm an occasional cacher now, but it was with a great deal of sadness that I heard about Mark's death. I met him on several occasions, but one I particularly remember is the first of his CIN Foxhunts. He'd published an approximate route, having gathered requests for stops from the cachers around the country. I had tracked his progress down the east coast and around London, and headed to Leatherhead to try and head him off. However, unbenown to me, thanks to the lack of hunters (I think only one or two had even tried during the journey south) he'd decided to skip on to Watford, so had gone straight past on the M25. When I called, he kindly sat in a layby in Staines and waited to be caught! More than that, having done it all once, he went out and did a bigger CIN event last year. May he rest in peace. Richard

Got a similar response from Garmin, generally they don't seem to believe that Magellan have OS Topo for the UK, as Garmin haven't signed anything. Anyone know if there are some comparison screenshots for the Mapsend UK Topo with a real OS map. I'd be interested to know how much detail they've actually managed to include, considering it's only a single CD. Regards, Richard

There doesn't seem to be any 'standard' way that people do the pictures from caches. We post ours on our own web site, however if you look at GC171 - View from Coombe Hill which was the first cache we did, the cache owner has made a single collage of all the pictures. Richard

Sorry, that will teach me to leave it syncing the website whilst posting and not double check... Looks like the update decided to pack up halfway through. I've updated it again now, and it all looks ok. R

We've just replaced the second camera in the Queens Oak cache. The pictures are now online here with names of those who have come forward already! The previous cameras pictures are still on the page below the new set, so those into nostalgia can look back at some pictures of one or two well know geocachers when they had somewhat fewer caches to their name... Richard

I heard mention that Magellan were showing their new UK Topo product based on Ordnance Survey data at the show. Did anyone who went along see it? Richard

quote:Originally posted by Slytherin:I wonder if there is anything in the Labour party's constitution that bars anyone from standing for office if they are an elected official of another political party. I think a better analogy would be the relationship between a union and the Labour party, rather than two different parties. Having said that I'm not sure whether someone can hold office in both a union and the Labour party, however they can certainly be members of both. Richard

quote:Originally posted by Dan Wilson: I don't know if I speak on behalf of anyone but myself but I want caching to go back to its roots, it's time to stick together and to enhance, not destroy the foundations we have laid. Whilst I agree with the sentiments, it's not true to say that everything was quiet and peaceful before Feb 02. Most notably in the UK there was the saga of a certain person, which at the time, and on a number of occasions since resulted in caches being pulled, or the threat of pulling caches. Even before then there were rows in the geocaching community that resulted in the other geocaching sites, in the person who hid the first cache falling out with GC.com and so on. To be honest whilst we'd all like everybody to get on, and that people on both sides of the current arguments have good intentions, I seriously doubt if that will happen. As with any group some element of group politics comes in. There is public discussion on forums such as this, and at GC:UK and GAGB, and then private discussion over e-mail, MSN, and at cacher meets. All of which contributes to the politics. Whilst a lot of the time it seems that by only looking at the forums people have overeacted, perhaps it is due to the private discussions rather than what has been said in public. IMHO it happens in any organisation or group of people, whether that be Geocachers, in a company or in the government. People are always going to have different aims and opinions, and there will always be times when these different aims and opinions will lead to arguments and conflict. It's just a fact of life. As an example, one of my workmates has just told me about this... Apparently one of the groups that dress up as Star Wars characters is currently going through arguments over realism. One group says that when in costume, members should always be in character, the other said there should be exceptions, for example having a sandwich or going to the loo. However the first group maintains that as we never saw a Storm Trooper eat a sandwich or use the loo in the films, then without guidance from George Lucas people dressed as Storm Troopers aren't allowed to go to the loo in sight of the public. It all sounds totally trivial, but to those people involved, it is serious enough to split. Richard

quote:Originally posted by The Spokes:The following appears in the GUIDELINES but to me these are most definatly rules. I can live with that. It is worth saying that ultimately the site has no control over where a cache is placed, what goes in it, and so on. As has been said, if you bury a cache in the middle of an army base, until it gets reported, the cache will stay listed on the site. The GC.com rules basically define a framework for the game under which caches will be listed here. Other sites have different guidelines, and may list caches on their sites that don't get listed here. Equally caches that GC.com list may not be acceptable elsewhere. Certainly when I was approving caches I would use the guidelines as a base, but there were always variations, caches that may or may not fall within the guidelines. Ultimately common sense and experience were the main skills used, rather than rigidly applying a set of rules. To be blunt there are so many caches that could break the guidelines but probably weren't that if all the guidelines were rigidly applied it would get incredibly frustrating for all involved. In an ideal world every cache should be approved after physically checking it, but that is practically impossible with the number of caches being hidden, and the limited time available to approvers, all of whom have 'real' jobs to do as well. As I see it, the guidelines provide a common starting point so cachers can be fairly certain that a cache they go to find will not be dangerous when they find it, that they won't get arrested or hurt trying to find it, and also that the cache and the cachers will not damage the environment playing the game. Ultimately, by maintaining guidelines based around those ideals, and allowing those guidelines to evolve according to circumstance the game can grow, and the landowners, who ultimately 'control' the game by allowing us to play on their land, can be happy to let the game can continue to be played. Richard

There used to be a worldwide geocaching stats page, however the owner of the site didn't have time to maintain it any more, and nobody would take it over so it was shut down. There are stats here however there is only a total number of caches (not totally acurate as if a cache is placed on more than one geocaching site it will get counted once for each site) for the UK, with only density information for the USA. Worth noting that whereas we used to be third in the league table for caches behind the USA and Canada, Germany has now overtaken the UK and pushed us into fourth!!!! Richard

Oddly enough Chris Packham didn't seem to be the one who was enthusiastic about Geocaching when we did the filming for Inside Out. I mean he wasn't disinterested, just didn't seem to be his kind of thing. The real enthusastic person was Helen the segment producer who went out caching with Tim and June beforehand, and I hear came along to the HCC event in Winchester. Regards, Richard

quote:Originally posted by Mr & Mrs Hedgehog:I am really taking about when the cache goes missing. If I look for a cache and can't find it then we log it as a DNF. However there has been a couple of times where it has been obvious that the cache is no longer there e.g. one was supposed to be under a rock next to a post, the post and rock were there and there was a cache shaped hole under the rock. Now it's not our fault the cache has gone missing. Peter I can think of at least one occasion in the last year where three people over the space of a year had failed to find a cache, all of them adamant that the cache has gone as nobody had found it for so long. They also were all sure they were following the clue correctly. In the end I was asked to archive, however after e-mailing the cache owner it turned out that the cache was still there, and it has been succesfully found since. We too have had the frustration of not finding a cache, but I really think that not finding it is as much a part of the game as finding it. Certainly there have been two or three caches that I was sure I knew where they were, complete with pictures and clues, but on the first, and sometimes second attempts failed to find them. Then on a return visit you find you've been looking in the wrong bit of woodland, or under the wrong rock. Although it's frustrating at the time, I find I get much more satisfaction from finding one that I've had problems with than any number of lunchbox under a log caches. Richard

We came across the problem of people logging phoney finds a number of times when being UK admins. We have always taken the opinion that if we couldn't find the box, then we haven't found the cache. Another similar problem is people who visually spot the cache, but then can't get it. To use Paul Blitz's night cache as an example, there was a cache out of reach up a tree, if that were considered 'found' for merely spotting the cache, you wouldn't have solved it. The frustrating thing about this game is that one person, even a pretty experienced cacher can have real problems with a cache that other people have found really easy. I guess the only way round the problem would be to introduce something like the TravelBug logging system where each cache has a unique number marked on it in some way, and then you can only log a find when you have that number, that would then force you to physically find and retrieve the box. Regards, Richard

Yes, the OS Get-a-map service is nice. Is the only source of 1:25,000 maps online as far as I am aware. From further messing around the Wokingham council maps look to be getting down to 1:10,000 at least, plus they have various additional layers that highlight transport (bus stops, car parks, railway stations etc), education (schools, colleges etc), sport and leisure and so on. Not sure if they'd consider adding local geocaches to the sport and leisure layer. Richard

I've just been onto my local council web site and found that they've been investing my taxes in this little wonder, called PlanAccess. It looks to be using the Ordanace Survey MasterMap data, so allows you to find, and retrieve a detailed map of anywhere in the district via an address search. I haven't found a way to get an exactly centred lat/lon location from it yet though. Zooming out it only covers the council area, which lies to the south and west of Reading. However it does provide printouts of the maps, so may be useful for people in the area. Anyone know of any other local councils who are providing something similar for their area? Regards, Richard

quote:Originally posted by Team Blitz:Maybe I should post my house as a cache? That way, it will get visited by nice geocachers, who will (a) do some CITO, and ( cache-up a few things!!!! Paul Another proud member of the GAGB! Sounds like the now archived Fish and Coffee Cache!!! Richard

quote:Originally posted by beachcaster:Looked again and still can't see any link to the map though , even after searching for UK caches ! It only appears to come up if you go through the 'Hide and Seek' link on the front page, and then search by country. The list comes up headed All Geocaches, with a subtitle 'In country: United Kingdom' at which point there is a link to the map alongside. It doesn't appear to come up on the search from a set of co-ordinates. Regards, Richard

There is a UK map here and it is also available from a link at the top of any search you do for UK caches. There is also another UK cache map here. Hope that gives you what you're looking for. Regards, Richard

quote:Originally posted by Weston Wanderers:I've written a Java Midlet that will let you search/view caches. If your mobile phone supports 'downloadable games' you may want to try it..... It is much faster than using a normal wap browser, as the data is pre-processed by http://www.geocacheuk.com, who remove all of the HTML formatting before sending to the phone. Also, it has the advantage of still working when you have no signal.. It's a pity it's UK only though. We're off to France next week, and my phone will quite happily roam GPRS (or so O2 tell me!) so having the midlet working for French caches as well would save us having to prepick the caches we want to do... Richard

quote:Originally posted by jstead:I know that it shows me as the longest serving nut in the game but it's not so. I think the statistic is derived by comparing the first posting of a find with the most recent - so if you are not active for a while you drop down the list. Indeed, there are people who I know were around in the community when I started who aren't listed above me on the list. 37 caches... Those were the days - when the entire UK listing fitted onto four pages, and you could fit all the UK caches into your GPS. The 'How did you get started' thread is here. Could probably establish a UK history from that and the list of caches and when they were hidden. Richard

quote:Originally posted by jstead:Fascinating - anyone got a history of geocaching in the UK? Well according to the stats at GeocacheUK, you were the first UK cacher... I don't know of a UK specific history, but the UK does get a mention in this page on the history of Geocaching. Richard

I think we've probably hit the wall a couple of times now. We tend to go caching in bursts now, although as others have said that is as much to do with all the other hobbies and responsibilities we've got. I agree with the sentiments expressed by Chris and Maria. We'll now not tend to make special trips for simple quick to find caches, (although I may go off and do any local ones, or ones close to work if I have some spare time). If we make a special trip or detour it will be for a multi-cache, or a cache that has got a load of good recommendations on it's logs. I also find that we are not driving nearly so far to do caches - the first few we did were 20-30 miles away. Having said that, with the great selection of caches there are around our area now, we don't really have to. Richard

quote:Originally posted by Stu & Sarah:We, too, have found a box at an archived cache location. Now, looking back at the 'littering' arguments of the Modern Antiquarians etc. I (Stu) think this is well out of order. If you're archiving a cache, surely you should go and fetch the box back. If it's due to no-finds, you should be checking if it's there before archiving anyway. To archive a cache and leave the box in the wild is just wrong. Quite agree with the sentiments, however there may be a number of circumstances where a cache could be archived on the site, but remain in the wild. There have been situations where admins have had to archive a cache, and the cache owner either ignores requests to remove the cache themselves, or, as has happened, say that they are unable to remove the cache because they are too far away/too busy to visit the cache site. It is also worth remembering that for various reasons caches on here may have been archived, either by their owners, or by admins, but other sites continue to list them, and people on those other sites continue to find them. Richard