Hello from Sunny Southend!

[braduk]

Hi all,

 

This is my first post here, after spending a few days looking around and reading the more recent threads.

 

I don't have a GPS as yet - in fact, I only recently started walking (as in trekking) as a hobby and was looking around for a GPSr so I don't get myself and the family lost when we do our planned summer expedition to The Middle of Nowhere )

 

I stumbled across Geocaching and thing it's a really good way to combine with walking (and it is a good way to justify spending £200 on a GPS unit! (ok, I could get an etrex - but have you seen some of the other models in the series? Drool!) ;o) Plus, the whole family can get much more involved as I am sure they would tire of plain old "walking" after a while - but this way, every single week could be a brand new Treasure Hunt! Great!! )

 

Anyway, the point of this posting was to ask if anyone is planning to put some caches in the East Essex region? Southend, Leigh, Westcliff, etc? I have dibs on Southend Pier though! Hands off! )

 

At the moment I thing my nearest caches are all at least 25 miles away or more, which is a bit of a grind.

 

I'll be getting my GPS round about the 17th of March (Birthdays are such lovely things!) and I'd really appreciate some advice on a) which GPS to go for and where to buy it as prices seem to vary. Best so far has been the GPS Warehouse online - but that means having to wait for delivery and I am eager to get out there and start finding caches asap!

 

Thanks in advance for your advice, and once again - hi! )

 

--

Brad

[+Chris n Maria]

As we are fairly new to you I will take the liberty of replying.

 

We have no intention of planting over your side of Essex so plant away. Just expect us to be there pretty soon after it appears

 

Welcome to the fold.

[Moss Trooper]

Welcome to the fold Braduk

 

I always decide on a budget and then get the best for that budget. But this is one of those areas where the 'wish I had' syndrome prevails.

 

Personally I have the Etrex Vista, after getting the summit and wishing I had mapping facility. You will need a cable to connect to your PC, these usually come with Etrex capable of mapping. This also allows you to upload and download waypoints as it tedious putting them in by hand. Geocaching web site has a free program that allows you to download from your PC to the GPS.

 

Then there is the in car power lead, usually the next thing you want to help save battery power.

 

GPSW is about as cheap as you can get over here in UK.

 

Hope you enjoy the new hobby

 

Moss de Boss... Sorta

[+Slytherin]

Hi Brad, and welcome.

 

Please be careful planting caches somewhere like Southend Pier. We recently had problems with caches at Paddington Station and Heathrow airport.

 

I can see having a plastic box strapped to the leg of the pier, receiving attention from the bomb squad or such. I'm not suggesting for a minute that you would do that, but just be aware that since Sept 11th people are much more security concious and we wouldn't want to do anything that will attract the wrong kind of attention.

 

Alex.

[braduk]

Alex, don't worry - I had read those posts already. I was thinking of maybe getting the landlord of the pub at the end of the pier on side and placing the cache in his pub, as it means people are more likely to buy a drink?

 

ChrisnMaria, where abouts are you? If you're fairly local, I daresay we will quite often be looking for each others' caches!

 

I'm trying to think of alternative ways of geocaching. I'm thinking along the lines of a multi-part cache, but not in the normal way...

 

For example, say I have 5 caches. Each of these is a cache in its own right, i.e. take something, leave something - but each also has a part of a larger puzzle, e.g. word 1 of 5. Get all 5 words to solve the BIGGER puzzle.

 

It gets interesting when you have say 25 caches all across the country. Each cache has a word belonging to one of the big puzzles, but you don't know WHICH big puzzle until you find the cache.

 

Does that make any sense?

 

Also, I'm planning on making THEMED caches, where the items themselves belong to a theme, such as Star Wars, Horses, Pets, etc. The list of possibilities is endless!

 

This may already have been done before, but if so, I haven't seen it!

 

What do others think?

[Scottworld]

Have a crack at

 

Sherlock...

Cludeo

Tombraider I and II

[+Chris n Maria]

quote:

---

Originally posted by braduk:

ChrisnMaria, where abouts are you? If you're fairly local, I daresay we will quite often be looking for each others' caches!

---

 

You will find us at:

N51:38:33 E0:03:48 (WGS84)

 

Looking forward to some interesting caches.

[braduk]

I don't mean a traditional multi-cache. In fact, it wouldn't be until you found the cache itself that you realised it IS a multi-cache, as well as a normal cache.

 

There'd be no clues as to the location of the other caches as they will all be advertised on the site as standalone caches. It's a bit like a collectable card game, I guess - you can either just stay with the cache itself but if you want to, you can take the BIGGER clue and keep it for later reference. It wouldn't be until you looked at ALL my caches that you would have all the answers for ALL the bigger clues.

 

I'll try and word this better at some point so that everyone gets the idea. At the moment, I'm confusing myself!!

[+Slytherin]

I've seen caches in the US, where each individual cache has, say, a piece of a jigsaw, so you can't solve the final one until you have all the jigsaw pieces. Is that the kind of thing you had in mind?

 

That's a bit like Sherlock, but with tangile bits of stuff to collect instead of solving clues to find the co-ordinates of the last cache.

 

Now I'm confused.

 

Alex

still a humble Geocacher.

[braduk]

I guess it's like the Jigsaw idea - but using words instead of physical items, so that everyone finding the cache can participate should they want to.

 

The main point though is that it is a cache in its own right. There is no onus on anyone to find any more.

 

However, if the person decides to find other caches by the same cacher, they will find (as well as other standalone caches) clues to a bigger puzzle, e.g. a 5 word phrase, or parts of a hidden website, etc.

 

The other main point is that there is no relation betwen one cache and another. You could find another puzzle peice from the same BIG puzzle in the next nearest cache, or it could be the other side of the country. The only way you could be sure of solving all the BIG puzzles would be to visit each of the cacher's caches - so in that way, it is like a collector's quest.

 

Does that make more sense?