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It's Not An Anorak It's A Travel Bug Race

Alibags

By Alibags
in United Kingdom and Ireland

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Alibags

+Alibags

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Posted (edited)

Following a not entirely sober discussion at an event before Christmas and a couple of months of 'reminding' from Bob Smith, we are ready to announce a travel bug race.

 

The rules are as follows :

 

:D All TBs to be collected up and they will be released in Australia and race back to the UK.

 

:D Each TB racer to nominate a Simply Paul target cache which their TB has to visit.

 

:D The TB to be SP themed (green and glowing!) or themed for the target cache (a chess piece perhaps).

 

:( After visiting it's nominated SP cache, each TB must end up in the final cache. SP has agreed to set one especially(TBA), which will be big enough for a TB or two! NB, some SP caches are quite small, so don't attach a full size Caterham 7 as it may not fit into the caches!!

 

To enter, all you have to do is let me know, and get a travel bug ready to race. Bob must have them by 12th April. Contact him (via his profile) and he will let you know where to send your TB.

 

We plan to get a proper race web site up and running where you can track your bug's progress. This will be after the race start.

 

The race is just a bit of fun so apart from the cost of a TB dog tag and whatever you spend (buying a pink thing for example), there is no cost to join and therefore, apart from the fame and glory, no fabulous prizes are up for grabs! So come on, how can you resist? get your thinking caps on and LET'S RACE! :D

 

ps. FYI, after a few off forum questions - this race is 50% sincere tribute to SP and 50% scurrilous p*ss take!!

Edited by Alibags
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Alibags

+Alibags

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SP = Simply Paul. Sorry, I thought that was obvious from context but I guess not everyone has the same warped and twisted mind as us lot! :) The drunken conversation was after we decided that as Paul was pretty unbiquitous, we could make him even more so. Perhaps you had to be there, but what the heck, we want a TB race and it may as well have a theme of some sort!

 

Make your birds luminous green or give them a light sabre and they're in!! Actually, as it's meant to be a bit of fun, you can pretty much make your TB as you please, but I have had one of your birds (the black one) and I know that they are quite big, so you may want to go for a smaller (pinker) one?

Edited by Alibags
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Alibags

+Alibags

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Oh, I forgot to say, make sure you put the information about your nominated cache etc on the TBs information page. Once you have chosen, please let me know, so I can keep a master list. I will cross check this with which ones Bob actually gets to release into the wild.

 

If you don't have any specific TB ideas, feel free to simply attach a picture of SP, nicked from your nominated cache page and laminated up to protect it from the perils of cache life.

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Alibags

+Alibags

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That's eggsactly my train of thought too, Si!

 

Bob is off to Aus on 12th April, so the TBs have to get to him before then. He has a range of caches in the area where he is going, that he has visited before, which he will divvy the bugs up into. When he wakes up and reads this thread, he will be able to comment, but to all intents and purposes, for us, the cut off date is when Bob flies out there.

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milvus-milvus

+milvus-milvus

Posted
Posted
Oh, I forgot to say, make sure you put the information about your nominated cache etc on the TBs information page. Once you have chosen, please let me know, so I can keep a master list.

Can we "bagsy" The Wicken Man? It's the first multi cache we did, and confirmed our addiction to this game. And a corn dolly (with a lick of lurid green paint) might make a suitable TB. :)

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Simply Paul

+Simply Paul

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You have 70 caches to choose from:

 

Chess Themed: (all have pix of me to use, if you wish/are mad enough)

No.1 - Black Rook (multi, small box)

No.2 - White Bishop (multi, mid box)

No.3 - Black Knight (multi, mid box)

No.4 - White Rook (multi, mid box)

No.5 - White Knight (multi, mid box)

No.6 - Black Bishop (multi, mid box)

No.7 - White King (multi, mid box)

No.8 - Black Queen (multi, mid box)

No.9 - White Queen (multi, mid box)

No.10 - Black King (puzzle. Very tricky. Mid box)

 

Puerile Photo Caches: (all easy offset multis)

No.1 - Rude Lady (tiny box)

No.2 - Splashing Out (tiny box)

No.3 - Getting Wood (small box)

No.4 - Bump & Grind (small box)

No.5 - The Box in the Bush (mid box)

 

Silverstone Circuit:

No.1 - Stowe Corner (trad, small box)

No.2 - Becketts (trad, small box)

No.3 - Copse (trad, small box)

 

Canalmania Series:

1 - Border Raid (trad, tiny)

2 - Lonely Church (trad, tiny, a b*gger to find!)

3 - Rothschild Bridge (trad, tiny)

4 - Swan Lake (trad, tiny)

5 - Ghost Train (trad, tiny)

 

Roming in the wood (trad, small box)

Thame (S)troll (trad, mid box) - Alibags

Claydon Conundram (puzzle, small box)

Art of the Phoneix Trail (trad, mid box) - Bekandian

Taking Liberty's (multi, mid box)

Hampden's Monument (trad, mid box, VERY EASY!) - 2202

Military Intelligence (trad, scary/eery) - globetrotter.uk & Mattwaggie

End of the Line (multi, tricky in summer, mid box)

Cathedral in the Fields (offset multi with long walk)

Nether Regions (multi, pretty location. small box)

The world's tallest building... (multi, small box)

The Wicken Man (multi, mid box?) - milvus-milvus

The Winslow Boy (multi, small box)

Visit the Big House (multi, small box)

The Other Muswell Hill (multi, mid box)

Monumental (multi, mid box)

Wotton under wood (multi, mid box)

Buckingham Bumble (multi, mid)

Wendover Wamble (multi, small)

Well Trained (multi, small)

Artwalk/jog/run (With Kitten* multi, urban micro)

Who's afraid of the Big Bad Wolfe? (With Kitten* multi, mid)

"I am not a number, I am a free man!" (with Ben Pid, wet puzzle, mid)

 

Missing Cacher (puzzle, tiny box- for now)

Rover (puzzle, small box) - Simply Paul as it's my 'home' cache.

Canal Knowledge (puzzle, mid)

Fantastic Mr. Dahl (puzzle, small)

Half Hidden (puzzle, small)

Simply Paul's Mighty Maze (puzzle, mid)

The Angel and Mr. O (puzzle, tiny)

 

Steaming Mires (trad, micro)

Cache in the attic (trad, micro)

What's that Smell? (trad, micro)

Tunnel of Love (trad, micro)

Mouth of hell (trad, micro)

The Meaning of Life (trad, micro)

Chequered History (trad, micro)

Moronic atomic mini-micro No.1 (trad, sub-micro)

Moronic atomic mini-micro No.2 (trad, sub-micro)

Moronic atomic mini-micro No.3 (trad, sub-micro)

Giants of Bekonscot (puzzle, micro)

The cache of which we do not speak (puzzle, micro)

 

Punters caches (only reached/located by boat)

No.1 - Bridge over troubled waters (with Dan Wilson - trad micro)

No.2 - River Fork (with Dan Wilson - trad micro)

No.3 - Hole in the wall (with Dan Wilson - trad micro)

Punters Prize: Fiddling the Brooks (with Dan Wilson - puzzle, mid)

 

Subterranean Sub-Aqua (VIRTUAL!)

 

I'll update this list as caches are picked. Links to the caches via my stats page or my web page.

 

SP :)

Edited by Simply Paul
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Alibags

+Alibags

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I am not limiting a cache to a single cacher. It would be more fun to spread our options out a bit, but I don't think we should insist on it. Also, if your target cache becomes unavailable (archived) you will be able to nominate a second choice (but not to change if your bug just happens to end up in a different SP cache!!)

 

I think I will arbitarily plump for Thame Troll... but I may have two TBs and have a chess themed one too... because I am greedy!!

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Alibags

+Alibags

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There is a link to Bob's profile further up the page, but I am waiting for him to come online, read the thread and make his own comments. He knows this is happening and has agreed to carry the Tbs round the world though, so it will not be a terrible shock for him.

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kbootb

+kbootb

Posted
Posted
so it will not be a terrible shock for him.

It might, if he finds he has 70-odd TBs in his hand luggage... :(:grin:

I wonder what that would look like on the x-ray. Probably think he was going to set up his own private army when they see 70 dog tags.

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Bob Smith

+Bob Smith

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I've not had a chance to add my two pennyworth until now.

 

I'm happy to take as many bugs as arrive in time to travel with me, but please only small items and remember I leave on the evening of the 12th. For those who havn't already done so contact me via my profile and I'll email you my snail mail address. Could be interesting when I'm asked at the airport if I'm carring anything for other people :grin:

 

Something Alibags forgot was that the bugs should visit at least one other country on their way back top the UK. They will be released at caches in North Queensland somewhere around Townsville, I've alread done two of those and since last year quite a few more have appeared.

 

In case you don't know where Townsville is it's about 5 hours by road south of Cairns.

 

Bob

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Alibags

+Alibags

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Oops, thanks Bob. Yes, in the plotting stage we did think, that to make it even more difficult, we would specify that the bugs had to visit an additional (ie not UK or Australia) country as well as their SP nominated cache, before ending up in the end cache. This should give Paul some time to set the final cache! :D

 

It was suggested to me that we have a standard form of words to put on the TB page for each of our participating TBs (as well as any other stuff you may personally want to add), so I will work on that later. We will need to include a link to the TB race page.

 

I am also going to stick a note on the Australian forum so that our antipodean chums recognise a racing TB when they see it.

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JollyJax

+JollyJax

Posted
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As I dont come here often I nearly missed this thread ... and as one of the original drunken sots and schemers I am definitely still up for it Alibags ...

 

Shopping list:

1 Picture of SP ..... wonder how devious I can get ... best find out :D

2 TB Tag .. allegedly on its way.

3 Select a cache .... Mouth of Hell .. half my Suit is still there somplace

4 Select a country to travel via ... USA would be too easy so lets try Italy.

 

:D Yep all in order ... :D

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Alibags

+Alibags

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You DONT have to nominate the additional country!! :D Any one will do. We wanted to make it hard, but not nigh on impossible.

 

As for a picture of SP, well, there is a one of him naked on one of his cache apges :D

 

Better have a standby plan for your tag, by the way, post from the USA is not exactly speedy! Oops, not that I know anything about your plans, of course! :D Perhaps some tag baron will lend you one until yours turn up?

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JollyJax

+JollyJax

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As for a picture of SP, well, there is a one of him naked on one of his cache apges :D

 

You better read my post again Alibags ... I distinctly said I was devious ... not a deviant ... who on earth would want a nekkid pic of SP ... no offence Paul ... :D

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Simply Paul

+Simply Paul

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3 Select a cache .... Mouth of Hell .. half my Suit is still there somplace

Sorry Bob, that one's a micro and not really suited to visits from 'bugs. Pick another?

 

As for a picture of SP, well, there is a one of him naked on one of his cache pages  :D

 

Only half naked. Well, that's what I told the judge... Lots of pictures to choose from, if that's what you want to do with your bug. I'm on all the Chess Themed pages, and lots of my caches feature interesting items - Half Hidden, for example, with its submerged phone box. I also try to photograph interesting stuff while setting caches so if there's something in thumbnail form on a cache page, just click it to see a bigger version.

 

I think the idea of a downloadable info panel for one side of your laminated tag makes a lot of sense. Folks could then customise the other side to their hearts content, safe in the knowledge that the bug's basic mission and a bit about it is outlined on the other side.

 

SP :D

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Alibags

+Alibags

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I think the idea of a downloadable info panel for one side of your laminated tag makes a lot of sense. Folks could then customise the other side to their hearts content, safe in the knowledge that the bug's basic mission and a bit about it is outlined on the other side.

I had already thought of that! I don't know, some people, it's not as if this TB race is anything to do with YOU Paul! :D

 

But seriously folks... I am hoping to get the race URL by the end of today and then I can create such a download and (if my techie people are co-operating) put it up there. Until I know the final URL, which should be on the tag, then I cannot create a final version.

 

Any similarity between this TB race and organisational efficiency are completely co-incidental and unintended!! :D

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Bekandian

+Bekandian

Posted
Posted
But seriously folks... I am hoping to get the race URL by the end of today and then I can create such a download and (if my techie people are co-operating) put it up there.  Until I know the final URL, which should be on the tag, then I cannot create a final version.

I'm working on it! :D

 

Give me till the end of the day, as there is this other thing called 'work' that keeps getting in the way :D

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Alibags

+Alibags

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The web site for the race is now up and running!! ;)

 

Click here

 

It looks a bit sparse as of yet because there is only on TB on it so far, from the ever efficient Globetrotter UK, but when all the rest of the bugs' pages are up, they can be added to the web page. Later, we will have progress of the race updates appearing.

 

There are links to :

 

The TB race rules

 

A PDF file which you may like to print out and attach to your TB (or feel free to use your own form of words if you prefer)

 

Some text which you may like to copy and modify to use as the basis for the TB description on the TB page.

 

So come on, lets see those TBs. Green and glowy seems to be the top idea at the moment. I am going to get my own one together this weekend. But remember, your TB could be relatively modest and still take part, so if you are not especially inspired, just get a pic of SP off one of his caches, laminate it with the TB text and attach a tag.

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Alibags

+Alibags

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Is there a maxiumum time after which you cannot edit you post?

 

Can I ask everybody, once they have created their bug, to contact me via my profile and let me know the bug details and the nominated cache. We will need to TB number so that we can track your bugs as they wing their way homwards, but also we want to put up all the links on the web page. Ta!

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Alibags

+Alibags

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Okay Birders, are you sitting comfortably? Then I'll begin...

 

You need to nominate an SP target cache. Your TB has to visit that cache AND THEN go to the end cache afterwards. At some point en route the TB must also visit another country (either before or after the nominated cache).

 

You don't have to nominate the end cache, because ALL the TBs must visit that.

 

The reason the end cache has not been set yet is that all Paul's caches are quite wee and he has promised to set a BIG ONE just so the TBs have somewhere to land. I am hoping he may do this soonish :tired:

 

I hope this is all a bit clearer?

AUSTRALIA - OTHER COUNTRY - NOMINATED CACHE - END CACHE

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Alibags

+Alibags

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Remember everyone, this is just for FUN.

 

It will only cost you the price of a TB tag and postage to Bob. After the race you can send your TB off on all sorts of other missions, so even the tag cost doesn't really count in the long term.

 

Create a bug, chose a SP cache and mail it off. No other effort required (apart from sticking needles in a voo doo doll of your opponents' TBs of course!).

 

oh, and can you all please visit the race web site and admire Bekkie's handiwork please? Ta! :tired:

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Alibags

+Alibags

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2202 has also asked for Hampdens Monument. There is not a prob with both of you nominating the same monument.

 

Green is quite an appropriate colour for a TB going there, considering the manner of Sir John Hampdens death. Yuk! :tired:

Edited by Alibags
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Simply Paul

+Simply Paul

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Viking Rider has asked for Roming in the Wood to be his/her/their target cache.

 

Why are everyone avoiding my Chess Series? They're lovely!! :-P

 

With Ali's encouragement I hope to be placing a big cache at an unmugglely spot this weekend (or early next week) so everyone knows which final cache to put on their laminated goal notes.

 

SP

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