Found on 2009-12-27 at 20:00:00
Placed by: Team Balders
Size: Regular (Difficulty: 2 / Terrain: 2)
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Geocaching.com: GC1HA7W
This cache marks the end of a months caching drought for us! I don't know what it is about Christmas but things just get busy and before you know it you're gorging yourself on roast dinner with turkey and Terry's chocolate oranges.
We did this on a drive back through Corley to my mums house in Bedworth. Good location for a quick Cn'D, also had 2 TBs but sadly due to the small size of the container they wouldn't fit in.
Dipping Rav4 TB.
Sunday, 27 December 2009
GC1HZX7: Astley micro
Found on 2009-12-27 at 20:00:00
Placed by: Barking Frog
Size: Micro (Difficulty: 1 / Terrain: 1.5)
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Geocaching.com: GC1HZX7
After the muddy adventure of the last cache (Seeswood Search GC2103E) I was just barely able to convince Mrs Fitz to stop for this last one to make it #200. As we parked on the grass opposite I asked her if she wanted to search with me and she replied rather sullenly only if I looked up the hint before we got out the car.
Well, it was quite an adventure making our way across the road in the dark I can tell you - we really had to concentrate on listening for cars as well as looking out for the tell-tale headlights. Took a while to search for this one in the dark as the coords were a bit fuzzy and seemed to point to the log that looks like a bench out front. I let the wife search the location whilst I was looking elsewhere but her normally sharp geosense had failed her on this occasion and I found it when she moved over and let me get in.
Thanks for the adventure! Dipping Rav4 TB.
Placed by: Barking Frog
Size: Micro (Difficulty: 1 / Terrain: 1.5)
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Geocaching.com: GC1HZX7
After the muddy adventure of the last cache (Seeswood Search GC2103E) I was just barely able to convince Mrs Fitz to stop for this last one to make it #200. As we parked on the grass opposite I asked her if she wanted to search with me and she replied rather sullenly only if I looked up the hint before we got out the car.
Well, it was quite an adventure making our way across the road in the dark I can tell you - we really had to concentrate on listening for cars as well as looking out for the tell-tale headlights. Took a while to search for this one in the dark as the coords were a bit fuzzy and seemed to point to the log that looks like a bench out front. I let the wife search the location whilst I was looking elsewhere but her normally sharp geosense had failed her on this occasion and I found it when she moved over and let me get in.
Thanks for the adventure! Dipping Rav4 TB.
GC2103E: Seeswood Search
Found on 2009-12-27 at 20:00:00
Placed by: Hillhappy1
Size: Regular (Difficulty: 1.5 / Terrain: 1.5)
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Geocaching.com: GC2103E
We were now headed back home to Watford after a few days with the family in Bedworth so this was the 3rd cache of the day but 2nd night cache after Bring on the Clowns (GC226RE).
We were driving via Arbury Road and looking at the GPSr I could see it was going to be 1/2 a km so maybe half an hour, so it wasn't much to convince the wife to stop and do this one. However, picking the middle of the night in the middle of winter is not the smartest time to do this cache.
Parked in the suggested location and worried a bit about leaving the car but it proved ok in the end. We headed down the logical footpath thinking this was probably going to be an easy trek, but then the footpath abruptly ends and leads you into a giant muddy field! It was my stupid idea to follow the stream around the edges of the field so we got out feat and jeans thoroughly muddy and soaked through. Not so much a problem for me wearing worn out boots, but for my wife who cried out "I'm not wearing the right shoes for this! These are my best boots!" Being the good sport she is, she was happy to carry on, it was a bit late now anyway since they were already caked with mud.
Then I finally had a lightbulb moment and decided to try the middle of the field which wasn't so bad, it was wet but the ground didn't suck you in with squelches as you moved over it - also we avoided the hazard of the electrified fence which my wife was kind enough to point out before I grabbed it for balance.
After crossing into the next field and going through one more muddy patch we finally made our way towards this nicely placed cache. It was a beautiful night at least, clear sky and the moon providing much of the light for us. We could see the outline of the trees on the horizon of the next field, unfortunately we don't have a good enough camera to capture the moment - but there's an idea for next Christmas!
Took the Florida Travel Bear TB, unfortunately, due to the small size of this cache I was unable to leave any of the TBs I had with me, but it was an enjoyable trek nonetheless! TFTC!
Placed by: Hillhappy1
Size: Regular (Difficulty: 1.5 / Terrain: 1.5)
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Geocaching.com: GC2103E
We were now headed back home to Watford after a few days with the family in Bedworth so this was the 3rd cache of the day but 2nd night cache after Bring on the Clowns (GC226RE).
We were driving via Arbury Road and looking at the GPSr I could see it was going to be 1/2 a km so maybe half an hour, so it wasn't much to convince the wife to stop and do this one. However, picking the middle of the night in the middle of winter is not the smartest time to do this cache.
Parked in the suggested location and worried a bit about leaving the car but it proved ok in the end. We headed down the logical footpath thinking this was probably going to be an easy trek, but then the footpath abruptly ends and leads you into a giant muddy field! It was my stupid idea to follow the stream around the edges of the field so we got out feat and jeans thoroughly muddy and soaked through. Not so much a problem for me wearing worn out boots, but for my wife who cried out "I'm not wearing the right shoes for this! These are my best boots!" Being the good sport she is, she was happy to carry on, it was a bit late now anyway since they were already caked with mud.
Then I finally had a lightbulb moment and decided to try the middle of the field which wasn't so bad, it was wet but the ground didn't suck you in with squelches as you moved over it - also we avoided the hazard of the electrified fence which my wife was kind enough to point out before I grabbed it for balance.
After crossing into the next field and going through one more muddy patch we finally made our way towards this nicely placed cache. It was a beautiful night at least, clear sky and the moon providing much of the light for us. We could see the outline of the trees on the horizon of the next field, unfortunately we don't have a good enough camera to capture the moment - but there's an idea for next Christmas!
Took the Florida Travel Bear TB, unfortunately, due to the small size of this cache I was unable to leave any of the TBs I had with me, but it was an enjoyable trek nonetheless! TFTC!
GC226RE: Bring on the Clowns
Found on 2009-12-27 at 20:00:00
Placed by: Hillhappy1
Size: Small (Difficulty: 2.5 / Terrain: 1.5)
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Geocaching.com: GC226RE
Arrived at my mums house on Christmas Day and in the evening I managed to steal some time to check out caches in the local area. Surprised to see this puzzle has appeared nearby so I knew I had to have a go at it - which didn't prove too difficult in the end, we even managed to guess a couple without Going Out Or Getting Lost If Not Good ANSWERS.
Anyway, did this one in the dark, parked at the beginning of the road which it outside a farm where I used to deliver a paper on my paper round. This used to be the hardest part of my paper round because I'd deliver all round Collycroft estate, then I'd have to cycle or walk all the way up Coventry / Nuneaton Rd to deliver one paper to this farm and one to a house across the road. I even remember when Bermuda was just a waste ground before they built the Cinema, Fitness club, pubs and restaurants. It was quite exciting for us Bedworth folk at the time, especially since I was still a teenager and still didn't have a car. Yeah so this cache brought back some memories oddly enough.
Anyway, you can tell the hider of this cache is real clown.... thanks for giving me and my wife a cache that made us laugh. [:o)]
Placed by: Hillhappy1
Size: Small (Difficulty: 2.5 / Terrain: 1.5)
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Geocaching.com: GC226RE
Arrived at my mums house on Christmas Day and in the evening I managed to steal some time to check out caches in the local area. Surprised to see this puzzle has appeared nearby so I knew I had to have a go at it - which didn't prove too difficult in the end, we even managed to guess a couple without Going Out Or Getting Lost If Not Good ANSWERS.
Anyway, did this one in the dark, parked at the beginning of the road which it outside a farm where I used to deliver a paper on my paper round. This used to be the hardest part of my paper round because I'd deliver all round Collycroft estate, then I'd have to cycle or walk all the way up Coventry / Nuneaton Rd to deliver one paper to this farm and one to a house across the road. I even remember when Bermuda was just a waste ground before they built the Cinema, Fitness club, pubs and restaurants. It was quite exciting for us Bedworth folk at the time, especially since I was still a teenager and still didn't have a car. Yeah so this cache brought back some memories oddly enough.
Anyway, you can tell the hider of this cache is real clown.... thanks for giving me and my wife a cache that made us laugh. [:o)]
Tuesday, 15 December 2009
Thursday, 10 December 2009
OpenStreetMap for Short Trips and Holidays with GPS
Last week I took my wife to Prague Where we enjoyed the Christmas markets and caught up with our Czech friends.
I had brought my Garmin along with Western Europe maps installed looking forward to trying out a few of the caches there. To my surprise, but more to my ignorance, The Western maps do not seem to extend as far as the Czech Republic, so there I was looking at a blank map background.
Thankfully, I did manage to pack the trusty netbook, and the hotel had a free wired Tubes connection so I fired it up and got looking for an OpenStreetMap image file.
A few minutes of googling and I was able to find this site, which provided a free routable gmapsupp.img file of the Czech Republic. Simply connected my Garmin, renamed the original gmapsupp.img and replaced it with this one and we were up and running with routable street names in no time!
the OSM wiki actually maintains a list of Garmin download sites around the world, which is perfect if you're ever planning a short/holiday trips and don't want to fork out for expensive proprietary maps.
I hadn't really got interested in the OSM project before now, but I must admit, it makes me feel like getting my GPSr out and contributing if I find some spare time.
View Larger Map
I had brought my Garmin along with Western Europe maps installed looking forward to trying out a few of the caches there. To my surprise, but more to my ignorance, The Western maps do not seem to extend as far as the Czech Republic, so there I was looking at a blank map background.
Thankfully, I did manage to pack the trusty netbook, and the hotel had a free wired Tubes connection so I fired it up and got looking for an OpenStreetMap image file.
A few minutes of googling and I was able to find this site, which provided a free routable gmapsupp.img file of the Czech Republic. Simply connected my Garmin, renamed the original gmapsupp.img and replaced it with this one and we were up and running with routable street names in no time!
the OSM wiki actually maintains a list of Garmin download sites around the world, which is perfect if you're ever planning a short/holiday trips and don't want to fork out for expensive proprietary maps.
I hadn't really got interested in the OSM project before now, but I must admit, it makes me feel like getting my GPSr out and contributing if I find some spare time.
View Larger Map
Saturday, 5 December 2009
GC18YJ0: Tancici Dum / Dancing House
Found on 2009-12-05 at 20:00:00
Placed by: Luckyn
Size: Small (Difficulty: 1.5 / Terrain: 1)
Location: Hlavni mesto Praha, Czech Republic
Geocaching.com: GC18YJ0
[font=Trebuchet Ms]Our friends Radek and Marcie were visiting from Eastern Czech Rep. for the day brought us to the Dancing House and I noticed there was a cache here!
Really like the architecture of the city and this is a such a unique and twisted building!
Great cache container too - not a micro, though was a bit concerned about the loose magnet and the cover which looked as though it would pop off at any moment (but it seems to hold).
I had a TB to leave but one of the old log books was too large and taking up room so I took this out and now have it my possession - will email the CO.
IN: Catamaran TB
OUT: Logbook
TFTC![font=Verdana]
Placed by: Luckyn
Size: Small (Difficulty: 1.5 / Terrain: 1)
Location: Hlavni mesto Praha, Czech Republic
Geocaching.com: GC18YJ0
[font=Trebuchet Ms]Our friends Radek and Marcie were visiting from Eastern Czech Rep. for the day brought us to the Dancing House and I noticed there was a cache here!
Really like the architecture of the city and this is a such a unique and twisted building!
Great cache container too - not a micro, though was a bit concerned about the loose magnet and the cover which looked as though it would pop off at any moment (but it seems to hold).
I had a TB to leave but one of the old log books was too large and taking up room so I took this out and now have it my possession - will email the CO.
IN: Catamaran TB
OUT: Logbook
TFTC![font=Verdana]
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