Its time sign post caches went the way of virtuals

[+Happy Humphrey]

Joke it may be to the Spokes, but the fact is that most of their recent finds appear to have been unsuited to them, and they made a point of being disagreeable when logging (which must not seem like a joke to the cache owners). Despite the fact that they could have easily anticipated not enjoying that type of cache. They also claim that there is a trend towards a certain type of cache.

 

Perhaps that's just bad luck, but in my opinion it confirms that they are lazy cachers who just pick whatever happens to be en route that day and then moan and whinge when it's not to their taste.

 

Ironically, I had my first full day out caching today in over two months and found some superb caches. Here are two of the three logs;

 

http://coord.info/GL7X461H

http://coord.info/GL7X46JR.

 

Although one is quite old (2007), the other is brand new. Both (IMHO) were excellent (the new cache is one of the best I've ever found), but I had to put the effort in to select them. Stop moaning and do your homework.

[+The Hornet]

Maybe the Spokes have a point!! (linky)

[+Mallah]

Maybe the Spokes have a point!! (linky)

So they are going to replace stiles that fat people can't get over with err Narrow Gaps instead

[+The Hornet]

Maybe the Spokes have a point!! (linky)

So they are going to replace stiles that fat people can't get over with err Narrow Gaps instead

Hehehe! And judging by some of the "outrage" expressed I'm almost surprised that no-one has complained about the term "fat". Given the PC flying around these days perhaps we should call these lumps "spatially challenged"

 

p.s. Do you see the smileys?! Yes its a joke, maybe in poor taste but most of the best jokes are.

[team tisri]

Maybe the Spokes have a point!! (linky)

So they are going to replace stiles that fat people can't get over with err Narrow Gaps instead

 

I hiked all over Dartmoor when I was the wrong side of 20 stone and stiles were the least of my worries. It's easier to see how people with limited mobility might struggle with them more than overweight people.

 

Narrow gaps really aren't much good. Even if you're pretty slim all it takes is a backpack and the narrow gap immediately becomes a too-narrow gap. It's far more of a pain having to remove a backpack than it is to climb over a couple of steps.

[I!]

It's far more of a pain having to remove a backpack than it is to climb over a couple of steps.

Exeter Rambling Club's spokesman said: "The vast majority of our members, who are mainly senior citizens, would welcome the move to phase them out." So perhaps they disagree with you, or are expecting gates rather than gaps.

[+trampyjoe]

It's far more of a pain having to remove a backpack than it is to climb over a couple of steps.

Exeter Rambling Club's spokesman said: "The vast majority of our members, who are mainly senior citizens, would welcome the move to phase them out." So perhaps they disagree with you, or are expecting gates rather than gaps.

 

Ramblers aren't known for wearing 70-90 litre rucksacks which are a pain to remove.

 

As for the stiles, I'm reliably informed that it's been common practice for years to use gates or gaps instead of stiles and to replace stiles with gates or gaps when possible.

[+mellers]

I've read most of this thread including the posts of those cachers who've felt like saying "I'm fat, but..."

 

However...

 

I suppose what I find saddening is the necessity we feel as a culture to have to try and convince people that those of us who ARE overweight, have to remind people who might not have got to know us, that we're not stupid/lazy/ignorant/insert pejorative term here...

 

Too readily being called fat is an insult and admitting to being it, something we have to try & justify ("it's not my diet", "I'm actually losing weight now"). Fat doesn't equal stupid or lazy. Full stop. It seemed almost automatic in the OP's post that someone who has no imagination must be fat. It was as if we as a culture accept that fat people are "lumps" without intelligence, personalities, feelings or self-control. And the only way to tell the OP how we feel is to insult them back by calling them fat (and no it doesn't make any difference when someone shields their dislike of fat people by using a so-called PC term).

 

I found both the OP and some of the replies upsetting, although it's a prejudice I've encountered most of my adult life, so I suppose I shouldn't be surprised. I don't know. Maybe this isn't the right place to start saying that (takes deep breath and waits for flaming - complete with quotes) But perhaps we might try not to be lulled in to the OP's trap of thinking fat automatically equals something that's worth less than thin and which has to be justified and is something which makes a good insult.

[Neath Worthies]

I'm fat. I'm fat because I eat too much of the wrong food, I drink too much beer and red wine and because I don't lead a healthy lifestyle. Most people who are fat lumps are like me. I don't have "big bones" or have a problem metabolism or a genetic predisposition to being overweight. I am a fat lump because of my lifestyle. Most other fat lumps are like me - we bring it upon ourselves.

 

It's a lifestyle choice so stop acting the victim and demanding sympathy. We are fat lumps because we choose to be. I'd love to be slim, fit and healthy but to achieve that I would have to give up things I personally value more so I live with the consequences.

 

I am what I am and I accept the consequences and so should all the whingers and apologists who seem to be in denial at our weak wills.

[+Simply Paul]

I believe the correct PC term is 'Person of Size' and larger people have, on average, smaller incomes. When asked to make assumptions for studies (rather than doing it in their own time) folks tend to associate bigger bodies with lower social standing, junk food, casual racism (I'm just guessing now) and being sweaty.

 

While I don't know if they're (and formerly, we're) thought of as stupid as such, given weight is a choice for most people (eat fewer calories than you burn and you'll get thinner. Eat more calories than you burn and you get fatter. This is true for the big boned, the slow-matabolists, the infirm and the immobile) then the larger folks in society are the new smokers; reckless with their health and therefor to be viewed with that in mind. It's never been a question of lazy or not active - it might be a question of 'not active enough' though.

 

Stiles are generally bad for access. Many dogs hate them, kids can struggle (short legs), oldsters may find them a challenge, they can get wobbly and wicked slippery in the rain and wheelchair users have to turn their 4x4 all-terrain chairs around and go back. A good self-closing/weighted gate is all you really need to keep livestock in and, for keeping bicycles out, a kissing gate with RADAR key bypass for 'chair users does the job. Stiles are cheap and last better than things with moving parts though, so I don't expect them to vanish from my local countryside any time soon. Gaps - even those gaps you can make wider as you pass them - aren't a great alternative if size is the issue for stiles.

Edited April 15, 2012 by Simply Paul

[team tisri]

It's far more of a pain having to remove a backpack than it is to climb over a couple of steps.

Exeter Rambling Club's spokesman said: "The vast majority of our members, who are mainly senior citizens, would welcome the move to phase them out." So perhaps they disagree with you, or are expecting gates rather than gaps.

 

Fair enough, although the (relatively few) times I've encountered senior citizens in places where fences and stiles were common they were more than agile enough to negotiate them.

 

Gates work too, although of course a lot depends on who and what the barrier is intended to block and let through (thinking in terms of walkers, horses, mountain bikes etc - if you make it easy for seniors to get through you also make it easy for mountain bikes; if you make it too hard for bikes you can also make it too hard for infirm or fat people, pushchairs etc). The thing I find most annoying is a stile that's so badly rotted I can't tell if it will support me at all, especially when they are near overhanging trees so I also have to stoop right down to get under branches. With a heavy backpack that really is a pain in the rear.

[I!]

The thing I find most annoying is a stile that's so badly rotted I can't tell if it will support me at all

Oooh, yes. Those ones with the rickety little uprights under the planks ... not much fun. I generally much prefer gates.

 

Hey, maybe that's a photo comp idea: a gates/gaps/stiles beauty contest.

[team tisri]

The thing I find most annoying is a stile that's so badly rotted I can't tell if it will support me at all

Oooh, yes. Those ones with the rickety little uprights under the planks ... not much fun. I generally much prefer gates.

 

Hey, maybe that's a photo comp idea: a gates/gaps/stiles beauty contest.

 

Gates are great as long as they are maintained. I've seen the odd gate which required a significant amount of force to open the latch. Not sure how older folk would manage with such a gate.

[+drsolly]

I rate stiles on a scale of one to five.

 

One is where you can just open a small gate and walk through, or a kissing gate with lots of room. Two is a kissing gate, but made a bit too small so that us circumferentially challenged folk have a bit of a squeeze, or the osrt of stile that you splead the uprights wide to get through.

 

Three is the standard wooden "climb up two planks and swing your leg over" stile.

 

Four is like three, but the planks are narrow, wobbly or partially missing and the stile is high. Or a gate that requires significant effort to unbolt it, including a good change of getting your fingers caught in its mechanism.

 

Five is a kissing gate that not only I couldn't get through, but pretty much everyone else has a problem. I went over the fence, it was actually easier.

 

Six (on a scale of one to five) was a kissing gate that was seven feet high, the fence it pierced was six feet high, and the gate was hung in such a way that it was difficult or impossible to go through. I actually had to go a mile or so out of my way to get around it.

 

Yes, I'm fat. And my knees aren't as springy as they were 50 years ago. And sometimes when I see a scale five stile, I say words that shouldn't be uttered in polite company.

[team tisri]

For good measure what can be really fun is when you see a path with signage that suggests it is a shared use path (i.e. cycling is permitted) and three miles along it you find a kissing gate six feet high with overgrown trees all around.

 

I've encountered a couple of those, and uttered a few words that might have had a bit in common with the good doctor's utterances.

[+castagnari]

This thread seems to have gone so far off topic as to be unrecocnisable,

Can we steer it back please ?

[I!]

We were just getting round to bemoaning the spread of caches under stiles. Be patient!

[+helennbrian]

But surely the signposts give the Spokes a convenient place to lean their bikes whilst looking for the cache.....

[+drdick&vick]

or, the signposts are handy for all of us 'Fatties' to lean against for a rest when we find the walking hard work

[+Jacaru & Wemnog]

I daren't lean on the signposts, hell with my weight they would fall over

[+littlegemsy]

I wonder if I could make a wooden signpost cache... Sliding back or such. Could be a way to hide a small/regular in plain sight.

 

Hey, it's a bit more on topic.

 

I have to say, while I know I've not done many caches, I have done cache and dash ones, including in fence posts, guard rails, a few magnetics etc, not seen one actually on a sign post yet.

[+Simply Paul]

...including in fence posts, guard rails, a few magnetics etc, not seen one actually on a sign post yet.

I have. A micro behind the circular 'this way' arrow for a footpath. It was a fake post with a big 'cave' in the wood behind the circular sign, but the sign only had one real nail holding it on; the two others were glued in place so it could pivot about the genuine one. Very neatly made

[+ivanidea]

What will happen to all the reasonable sized caches which are hidden under the stile steps if they are replaced with gaps or gates?

[+Pharisee]

What will happen to all the reasonable sized caches which are hidden under the stile steps if they are replaced with gaps or gates?

By 'reasonable sized' I assume your referring to 35mm film pots as opposed to magnetic nanos. If people can't find a better place to hide a cache that under a stile then the sooner they all go, the better!

[+ivanidea]

By reasonable size, I am referring to small click and lock boxes. I have seen some well hidden ones in stiles.

 

I have also seen some lousy damp 35mm film containers as well, but those won't be missed!

[+skids181]

I was getting to be a bit of a fat lump until I started geocaching. I have spent half of my life in the Army and now drive trucks for a living. I live in the truck all week and only get home at weekends. Geocaching has given me an incentive to get out of the truck and go on the hunt for caches which in turn gives me exercise and makes me less of a fat lump! Going back to me being a truck driver means that the caches stuck on road signs are quite handy as sometimes its all you can get to in a 44 tonne articulated truck.

[+thehoomer]

I was getting to be a bit of a fat lump until I started geocaching. I have spent half of my life in the Army and now drive trucks for a living. I live in the truck all week and only get home at weekends. Geocaching has given me an incentive to get out of the truck and go on the hunt for caches which in turn gives me exercise and makes me less of a fat lump! Going back to me being a truck driver means that the caches stuck on road signs are quite handy as sometimes its all you can get to in a 44 tonne articulated truck.

Excellent post. This highlights the fact that signpost caches have their place in the game, as do cachers of ALL shapes and sizes.

[+The Hill's]

Thought I would have a say on this thread, I don't like the way it started by making out certain people Up-North are either lazy, fat or not inventive when placing caches. Yes micros can be a bit boring when placed one after another but they have their place. They are the ideal type of cache for built up areas in cities that take you to places of interest or placed at the end of a multi that guides you around a strange place to show you some of the best bits of the town, they are also useful in circulars where a stretch of road has to be navigated and keeps up the interest whilst getting back in the wild. (searching busy roads for hidden containers is not ideal with kids)but a quick nano on a sign is ok. There are a great range of caches Up-North hidden by some great people. If your thinking of doing some caching up here there are lots of people who will point you in the right direction for the type of caching you want to do, from a walk in the park with the kids to hanging of a cliff without them

[+Palujia]

I remember a signpost cache in the High Street in Burford. We had only just started caching and were having trouble finding caches (even the ones with the large lit up signs saying "look here for the cache!!") The sign post in question was right outside the public toilets and it was quite difficult looking round without appearing to be some sort of Preeevert.It took a little while for the penny to drop and I was getting my story ready for when we were arrested !! Ah the joys of the new cacher - these days we look at the listings more carefully

[+Jacaru & Wemnog]

Seeing that this topic has reared it's head like a pheonix, Church Micro's come to mind. Often permission isn't given to place in the church grounds or on church property. Quite often the easiest place to place a cache is on a road sign. Should that be stopped? The cache is taking you to a piece of British history.

 

Quite interesting though, I just read some of the latest logs by the spokes. 12 months on they still seem to criticise the size of caches they find. There again a Needs Maintenance log on one of their caches, dated 12th June, 2012, nothing done about that to this day. Says it all really.

 

By the way, yes I am still fat

[ohrubberducky]

To everyone else who puts a magnet on a sign,and a cache by the roadside, remember what you sow, you reap.

For every cache you put out like this, there will be at least 10 who think this is what caching should really be like and duplicate you cache.

Do the maths, how long will it be before a GPS is not needed to find roadside caches.

You will get what you deserve, and deserve what you get.

 

Ah so you main ethic is leading by example then? What a shame you can't achieve that through manners? You say TFTC is the worst comment to receive, however I read your comment on the signpost micro in question of the ninjas, and frankly I was stunned, I would rather have a thousand TFTC's and than one disgustingly self satisfying log of verbal diarrhoea like you had left.

 

I'm new to using the forums, but it wasn't long until I came across just how you've offended people on here. (Your questionable lead by example moral stepping in here) If anything in geocaching is in question it's bad players such as yourself. I don't like coca cola, so I don't buy it, people don't like micros, so they don't find them, it's all about individual choice and taste. If it's not to your taste then you simply shouldn't be offending people about it, as there are plenty of people who do enjoy them. If you can't respect that, I can't respect you.

[+Amberel]

Seeing that this topic has reared it's head like a pheonix, Church Micro's come to mind. Often permission isn't given to place in the church grounds or on church property. Quite often the easiest place to place a cache is on a road sign. Should that be stopped? The cache is taking you to a piece of British history.

Sorry that this is going off at a slight tangent, but where permission hasn't been given to place the cache in the churchyard, it's quite likely the reason is that permission wasn't requested in the first place.

 

It sometimes takes a little persistence, and sometimes a rather long time, but on my CMs permission has been given in over 50% of cases, and sometimes they have been positively welcomed. I've found rather more than 1,000 CMs, so if my experience is typical I would have expected more than 600 of them to be in the churchyard. In practice I've found about half a dozen on church property, the majority of the other 1,000 being behind street signs or green telephone boxes. These do serve an essential purpose, however, building up the available favourite points for allocation to the smaller number of more interesting hides .

 

Rgds, Andy

Edited May 6, 2013 by Amberel

[BOBBLES WORLD TOUR]

This is my sort of thread.

Rude and abrasive.

By the way I passed hundreds of signs today, while in London.

You can imagine my disappointment.