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Why do some areas have so few geocache trails/circuits?


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I tend to prefer doing caching trails rather than picking off odd caches mainly because I like going on nice walks and you get the numbers up of course!

 

I am going on holiday to Cornwall later in the summer so decided to suss out what geocaching circuits/trails I could do but there was such a lack of circuits. I was assuming they'd be lots, as there are in my area (Oxfordshire), but was disappointed to hardly find any.

 

I then just discovered the http://geocachetrails.com/index.html website (which is excellant and will come in very handy) and that demonstrates the variation across the country.

 

There are hardly any in Wales, Scotland, East Anglia and Devon among other places (I realise the site is still work in progress so they may not all be added yet but it seems to accord with skim of the areas). There are a decent enough number of single caches in these places so cachers are there to set them but I wonder why some area have so few circuits?

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I tend to prefer doing caching trails rather than picking off odd caches mainly because I like going on nice walks and you get the numbers up of course!

 

I am going on holiday to Cornwall later in the summer so decided to suss out what geocaching circuits/trails I could do but there was such a lack of circuits. I was assuming they'd be lots, as there are in my area (Oxfordshire), but was disappointed to hardly find any.

 

I then just discovered the http://geocachetrails.com/index.html website (which is excellant and will come in very handy) and that demonstrates the variation across the country.

 

There are hardly any in Wales, Scotland, East Anglia and Devon among other places (I realise the site is still work in progress so they may not all be added yet but it seems to accord with skim of the areas). There are a decent enough number of single caches in these places so cachers are there to set them but I wonder why some area have so few circuits?

 

Perhaps the local cachers in those areas aren't all number hounds? :anibad:

 

And, of course, in some parts of the country you don't need a micro every few hundred meters to make a nice walk :lol::lol:

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I've been thinking back...

 

We've been caching for a good while and the only circuit I can remember doing was Fox's Trail near Northampton. We just don't cache that way. When we go to a new area for a couple of days we (for "we" read "I") usually pick lots of individual caches that look like the sort we enjoy and these are rarely "on a circuit". Then we just do a selection off the list as and when we feel like it.

 

Consequently we don't set circuits either. We set caches for individual locations.

 

Each to their own, and all that. :anibad:

 

MrsB

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Lots of us hate them so personally I am relieved that power trails haven't taken over everywhere yet!! :anibad:

We deliberately go to places like Wales and Cornwall because the caches still have a more 'old school' feel to them and we find the standard of the hides is generally better.

 

Power trails used to be banned - there's a growing movement out there to get the ban reinstated. Whether it is or not remains to be seen I guess....

 

So I guess that having a mix of trails in some places and none in others keeps the variety going and ensures that there remains something for every taste here in the UK.

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It's the ley lines. To lay a trail of caches, you have to find an unused ley line and put your caches along that - unfortunately, not all areas are rich in ley lines.

 

For a circuit, you need to work around a Fairy Ring, and fairies prefer some parts of the country over others, so the fairy-poor areas are also deficient in cache circuits.

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I like doing circular walks, but tend to plan my own using an OS map rather than following a caching trail (which may also be micros). I also don't go for numbers (just counties :anibad: ) so don't want to have my head stuck in the GPS (and missing the view) or having to keep stopping to find a pen etc.

I am quite happy to walk a few miles for one or two nice caches/scenic views.

 

We set 4 individual caches about a year ago (3 trads and a puzzle) which make up a nice 3 to 4 mile circular walk but I don't think hardly anyone has done them all in one go yet (except those at the associated event) and the furthest ones haven't had that many visits anyway.

I wonder if people would look at them differently if I had called them a series? (which can cause problems if one is archived in the future)

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We tend to look for the short circular series with maybe between 4 and 12 caches as these tend to be up to about the 5 - 6 mile distance, about the limit on some days for our old legs.

Power trails are just to long for us and, although we have no great problem with micros, we don't want to just pick one up every .25 of a mile (even .1 in some cases) so prefer it when there is a really good set of hides and mixture of containers.

In relation to the OP's question about Cornwall, there are so many really excellant caches/small series based around the coastal walk and the interesting mining sites that a power trail would spoil the enjoyment of being in Cornwall.

If you want a power weekend while you are down in the South West then have a weekend up near Barnstaple and do the Way Down West series which is a figure of eight circuit with 100+ caches

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I didn't know about the geocache trails site, it is very useful. I have just submitted one of my series to it. The Colwick Park series here in Nottingham. Known as the CCP series, it is 18 caches of various sizes around the country park. Nice and flat, around 3 miles in total and varying degrees of difficulty. It has been a very popular series for local cachers so hopefully the trails site will direct people towards it if they are in this area. Would just like to say thanks to Queen Of Maps for pointing me towards the site.

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when you have a little one in tow i have to find caches that meet the following criteria.

 

1. is circular walk

2. is 5-10 miles, but preferably 6 miles

3. doesnt or hardly involves micros

4. is decent size caches and/that holds swag for the little one to look through (part of the fun when you are a kid)

5. that are close by (not a huge drive to the otherside of the country)

6. distance wise are no further than half a mile apart with some 524ft apart so she can run a head and start looking.

 

All my series have been set out in that way that a child will enjoy, with interesting containers, that dont make it a power trail, but kid friendly distances so they dont realise they have walked as far as they have.

 

The problem with non circular trails is the walk back afterwards, this is when the kids start the "im bored", "my legs hurt", "its too far" where as a circular your back at the start where you arrived and before they know it they have finished and probably not whinged or whined and off to get something to eat.

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Without getting too much into a debate if they are good or bad (personally I like them, as long as it is a nice walk) - I've found it is generally a small number of hiders who tend to hide them, and often they hide multiple circuits. E.g. there are quite a few near Devizes (Wiltshire); most all of them set by one of two hiders. So it becomes a bit random where they are... is there a hider who likes creating them in the area? Local custom could also come into play; if they are particularly frowned upon in a specific area then hiders may be less likely to hide them.

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I'm with 'Queen of Maps'. Myself and partner *LOVE* trails and we specifically go for them. Last summer (Way before we started Geocaching) we used to walk miles around the same old footpaths. After we discovered GeoCaching in March we have kept up the same amount of walking (Way more actually!) but now we have other footpaths to walk on and find caches to make it more exciting.

 

I had no idea about the trails website, thank you so much for the link. There are loads of trails near the South Coast, but other coasts don't seem to have so much. The Way Down West trail in North Devon (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC24XHH) has 109 caches across 20 miles which we are going to do next month.

 

We're planning some hides ourselves and all of our hides will be circular trails. These do seem to be received very well in my area (Essex) and I was as shocked as you when I saw there was nothing in Cornwall at all. :signalviolin: I'd recommend the various river trails around the country (River Ouse, River Lea, Stort, Thames Path, etc.) for a nice day out, particularly if you're biking. There are also loads along the Worthing, Brighton, Eastbourne and Hastings sea fronts, but nothing much along other sea fronts.

 

I don't want to sit in a hot car in the summer driving from cache to cache and then walking a little bit, then back to the car each time. I want to get out into the sunshine and explore the countryside and pick up a nice lot of caches on my way as a bonus! I had no idea that some people don't like trails! :wacko:

 

...Also might explain why I didn't get much support for my idea of a trail attribute to filter caches on the new feedback site :(

Edited by Cassandy
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What would people regard as a "power trail?"

 

I have been on a few walks where you find maybe about 8 caches then you collect details from those caches to find a bonus cache which is usually placed between the final cache and the recommended parking on the circular walk.

 

These smaller walks if well placed can take you along some nice footpaths and scenic views, and the hides have been good quality, as the cache owners don't feel the need to put them out at exactly 528 ft intervals, but instead leaving a bit more space and finding the best hiding spots along the route. Surely more walks like this should be encouraged.

 

I haven't been on any of the longer walks, but I do hope to at some point. My impression is that the people who set these walks would have done alot of groundwork beforehand, with working out a route, and be active geocachers themselves, in the same way as people who set the smaller series out. Therefore, although there would be quite a few micros, there would be plenty of small or regular sized containers for people to swap trackables along the way.

Edited by Shiggaddi
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What would people regard as a "power trail?"

 

I don't think we have any true Power Trails in the UK! Power Trails are trails of caches that are placed in extremely close proximity, from the minimum 528ft to 0.1mile. I haven't found any in the UK and they are more of an American thing. I wouldn't class something like 30 caches over 20miles as a power trail as you're definitely working hard to get them all. It would be interesting to see what others class as power trails. To me they are just extremely long trails where caches are placed as close together as you can possibly get away with. I don't think long circular trails should be classed as power trails

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Because not everyone likes them! On that map you linked to, zoom in on Bristol, then go east a bit. There's dozens of these series in the Bath/Chippenham/Devizes area which is where I cache! Trust me to live in one of the densest cache circuit areas in the country! They just fill up your Pocket Queries, and adding every one to the ignore list would take forever. I generally find that they are far too long as I can't usually handle more than 4 or 5 caches in a day.

 

The reason for this density is a couple of local cachers - stanthews and The Chens, to name names, who like to hide these series. At a 10 Years! event back in May, stanthews was telling me how he went on a series of 100+ caches somewhere in Devon. He enjoyed it, but it sounds like torture to me!

 

I guess the only thing I can do is to find them. Slowly.

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At a 10 Years! event back in May, stanthews was telling me how he went on a series of 100+ caches somewhere in Devon. He enjoyed it, but it sounds like torture to me!

 

Yeah, that's the one I linked to in a previous reply. Personally I can't wait to do it and will be doing it early August. Our typical caching days are usually between 20 and 30 finds. However I'll add that there aren't many caches close to us nowadays and we have to travel at least 15 miles out of our way to find any so we figure if we're going that far we might as well make it worth it!!! :)

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I tend to prefer doing caching trails rather than picking off odd caches mainly because I like going on nice walks and you get the numbers up of course!

 

I am going on holiday to Cornwall later in the summer so decided to suss out what geocaching circuits/trails I could do but there was such a lack of circuits. I was assuming they'd be lots, as there are in my area (Oxfordshire), but was disappointed to hardly find any.

I've nothing against trails and circuits, and regularly do them. But in my opinion Devon and Cornwall are the best places in the UK for caching, and I travel there from London a couple of times a year just for a few days caching. There are few trails, but there are loads of truly outstanding caches, especially the OpenCaches of which there are more in the West Country than elsewhere.

 

I strongly suggest you completely forget going for numbers on your holiday and just concentrate on quality. Forget the towns, concentrate on the coast and the moors, and you'll have a fantastic time caching.

 

Rgds, Andy

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...concentrate on the coast and the moors, and you'll have a fantastic time caching...

 

Completely agree. Now, trails on the moors = bliss :laughing: Proper moors caching = isolation, wildlife, views, no muggles, no farm dogs, and generally there's lots and lots to see from wooded valleys to open plains to peat bogs to waterfalls etc etc.

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We recently spent a weekend in Devizes doing two of the larger trails there. My 5 year old loved both series as the caches were close together, this meant she had no complaints about the distance between the caches- we could hand her the GPS and off she'd go. The longer series allow us to have a picnic half way round which the 5 year old also loves. Doing odd caches here and there is a pain for us. We have to unload two kids, set up the pushchair for the tiny one, head off, find the cache, dismantle buggy, load two kids into the car. I can do these in the week with only the Tiny one in tow.

 

So for us, the more caches per mile, the happier the 5 year old is! We just enjoy being out.

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I think it would be helpful to be clear whether you are talking pleasant walks as trails (circular or otherwise) or if you mean powertrails: tedious micros every 200metres, ruining a good walk! I would have thought Cornwall was a good place for the former, however, ....

 

Come to the Lakes - best caching in the country!! :D:huh::laughing:;):laughing:

 

Not a great place if you want powertrails, (thank goodness!) but lots of circuits, either intentionally or easily put together by looking at the map. Always marvelous scenery and some excellent pubs! Whatever you fancy: easy valley walks, glorious oak woodlands, open fresh moors, mountain summits and tarns, even urban mysteries. Caching on foot, by ferry, bike, or bus, as well as those new fangled automobiles! :laughing:

 

Lots of caches to take you off the beaten track to quiet and spectacular places. :D

 

(Not that I'm biased or anything!) :laughing:

 

Cheers

Martlakes

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Because not everyone likes them! On that map you linked to, zoom in on Bristol, then go east a bit. There's dozens of these series in the Bath/Chippenham/Devizes area which is where I cache! Trust me to live in one of the densest cache circuit areas in the country! They just fill up your Pocket Queries, and adding every one to the ignore list would take forever. I generally find that they are far too long as I can't usually handle more than 4 or 5 caches in a day.

 

The reason for this density is a couple of local cachers - stanthews and The Chens, to name names, who like to hide these series...<snip>

 

Yes, these were the 2 cachers I was talking about (but did not name) in post #12. I've very much enjoyed several series by both of them.

 

I must admit now living in Hampshire you get my vote to... Its a lazy way to plan a good walk... Then those that do not like them can simply ignore them in there PQ's?

 

I'm not sure about "lazy". I think it is just a matter of preference. Long before I discovered geocaching, I've often enjoyed doing walks which were suggested by others (e.g. in a book of circular walks). Other people may prefer to use just a map and plot their own course. Some people like package holidays (I've never been on one), others prefer to do their own arrangements.

 

Note it's not just about numbers for me... I've equally enjoyed several multi and puzzle caches which involved a circular walk and took several hours for a single smiley as I have a ring of 20 traditional caches which took a similar amount of time.

 

Having said that - I like the idea of a series attribute - so people can both look for them and exclude them. Just need to be clear on the definition of a series.

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