FTFs / Birthday / London

I got up for work this morning (I know, money grabbing so and so) and, as usual, I checked the inbox. There was a block of caches so I clicked on the first one and discovered that it was only 2.9km away. I had to bide my time as I'd promised to drop Sue off on my way out so it was 07:45 when I got my sweaty palms on the box. Would Stokesy have beaten me? With some trepedation, I opened the book and found that it was blank. I checked the other end (I've fallen for THAT one before) but it was still virginal. The Team Balders stamp was brought into action.
Chancing my luck, I went for "MotorwayMayhem M6 Toll - Toll View 2". Success again - two FTFs before breakfast. I also managed to pick up "Heavens Above - Holy Trinity" near Hatton on the way to work in Leamington Spa.

Some may have noticed that, I have submitted a listing for my 50th birthday in November (link). It will be at The Griffin, near Shustoke, where we held the successful "Almost Valentines Day Cache" back in February. I hope that eveyone doesn't go out and buy me a Garmin Oregon 400!

Talking of Cache meets, I'm expecting to see a new listing for the Brummie Meet 2, which should only ba about a month away. Who was it who said that they would do the next one?

I'm off to that there London on Thursday, taking advantage of another cheapo coach ticket. Looking at the Google cache map around Victoria, I think that I may venture to the east, mainly along the river. With a bit of luck I could break the 2,100 barrier! As of today (28/9/08) I'm on 2076.

A bucket of Fun / Free Maps

On our way back from work in Bedford, today, The Strangler and I stopped off in our lunch break to do a cache near Towcester (Where's Roger). I'd picked up a large TB and needed a large cache to put it in; this one fitted the bill.

However, on reaching the cache we found the large container full of water. This was a shame as the cache contained a lot of good stuff including a computer mouse, a CD-ROM drive, Video tapes etc. etc. all of which were ruined. Dave and I dried the bucket as best as we could but most of the stuff we had to CITO.

An interesting website, which I came across, tonight, is Open Street Map. To quote the project, "OpenStreetMap creates and provides free geographic data such as street maps to anyone who wants them. The project was started because most maps you think of as free actually have legal or technical restrictions on their use, holding back people from using them in creative, productive, or unexpected ways."

The project relies on Joe Public going out with a GPS and collecting data which can be uploaded to the site and used to edit the world-wide map. I downloaded the UK section and stuck it on my Oregon. Some areas that haven't yet been mapped are, obviously, blank but some areas are more detailed than the £150 Garmin topo-maps. Generally there is a lot more footpath detail and a lot of pubs! I'll need to look into this project and upload some local data (my street isn't on there - YET!)

On the Brummie Cut series, I need to get out before the weekend and replace YELLOW - possibly with a magnetic. I'm also planning on doing some of those busy busy caches on Sunday. I've also got another London excursion planned for October.

Oregon - in the mode

I'm still finding my way around the Oregon. I've been getting a bit frustrated especially when the compass needle refuses to point anywhere but straight up. I've tried changing all sorts of setings but still the same. Then in a flash of inspiration I went to the Profiles page and selected GEOCACHING. (I had previously just customised the recreation profile). The needle behaved properly - nice.

After my evening's caching around Sutton I selected home and asked the unit to plot a course. It calculated a route STRAIGHT home, totally ignoring the roads. I then switched to the AUTOMOTIVE profile and I got a proper road-based route on a 3D road map. I tried the compass and the old straight ahead pointer was back.

So, tonight, I've discovered what the profile page does and the unit is back on my good gear list.

Back home, I plugged the Garmin into the PC and went to GC.com. I chose Access My Field Notes and uploaded my list of found caches to GC.com. I was then able to select each in turn and was taken to the logging page with the notes taken on the trail automatically entered. It makes logging post-caching a lot easier than before my lovely wife bought my new toy.


We're off to Preston on Sunday so, hopefully, we'll grab a few caches en-route. I must get a lead for the Oregon to power it from the car which will keep the backlight on all the time instead of dimming after a few seconds.

Peak District - Aug / Sep 2008

Got back yesterday from our romantic interlude in the Peak District. It was our 25th wedding anniversary on Wednesday and we also reached 2000 caches.

After our celebrations on the 30th we drove up to Glossop on the Sunday, picking up a couple of caches or so on the way. We stayed at a lovely little cottage on the outskirts of Glossop within walking distance of the Snake Pass.

Most mornings, I let Sue have a lie in whilst I nipped out and bagged a few local caches before returning to our love nest for breakfast. We'd probably pick up a few more caches while out and about in the day. We didn't go cacheing mad but managed 58 finds during the week.

Sue, bless her, bought me an anniversary present - a Garmin Oregon 200. The geocaching features are very good so I've been having a little play with my new toy. Still early days but I've splashed out and got some topo maps for the unit which look very snazzy. The maps are better than Memory Map in one way and that is that the Oregon can navigate to any waymark, geocache or POI (of which there are thousands). It's not just a point on top of a graphic, like MM, but the unit "knows" what all the bits of the map are.


I'll post a blog about it when I've had a bit more time using it.

I spent an hour or so, last night, logging all the finds. I had logged around 20 caches before I realised that I'd got the wrong dates!!!

Finally, talking of technology, I've ditched Vista (it is crap, after all) and upgraded to XP Pro. Luckily the new laptop came with a driver disk and everything works - and SO MUCH faster.

Vista and GSAK

I splashed out on a new laptop yesterday. Once I'd got it unpacked and running, I set about getting it how I wanted it. Firstly, I removed all the trial software (works, office2007 etc.) Then I started installing some useful stuff. Anti-virus software was first and I opted for the excellent AVG Free. Next, Firefox. Anyone not aquainted with this browser is missing out. Apart from it's many other plusses, the most important for cachers is Greasemonkey. This add-in changes the way that a web page is displayed. Greasemonkey scripts that I use let me see O.S. Maps on the cache page instead of Google Maps; keep a runing total of cache finds so that I can enter the find number with a click of the mouse. Another script displays the gallery pictures much bigger (and better than standard. There are many scripts to help cachers and plenty for other, non-caching, web pages.

Memory Map was next to go on and then GSAK. This excellent program enables you to colate all the info about caches. It takes .gpx files from Geocaching.com and builds up a database which can then be filtered to show, for example, all the traditional caches which haven't been found by you (yet). The filtered results can then be exported in any number of formats, mainly, .gpx to my PDA and .csv to memory map (and then onto the PDA).

I downloaded and the installer suggested I install the files in C:\GSAK. I changed this to C:\Program Files\GSAK (that's where programs go, isn't it?). All went well and I copied my database files over from my old PC. When I came to re-start GSAK, a little later, I got messages about "Program Files" being a special area and that I'd have to run GSAK as administrator every time. This becomes a pain with Vista asking you if you really, really want to run this program. Now I know why thei installer had suggested C:\GSAK. I moved everything over and it runs properly now.
However, I then installed Lordelphs Icons. This is a series of icons for different kinds of caches. There is a little GSAK macro that adds these icons to Memory Map. I didn't work! Eventually, I discovered that the macro expects GSAK to be installed in C:\Program Files\GSAK so I had to change a few lines in the macro so that it would work. I also removed the bit that displays micros with their own icon; I prefer to see what sort of cache (traditional, multi) it is.

Now, after a few hours, and much cursing, I have my Geo-Laptop all honky-dory. I have loaded a load of caches for the Peak District, where Mr. and Mrs. Balders will be spending their second honeymoon, next week.

Update from Team Balders

Haven't had much time to write much lately. As you may know, most of Team Balders (extended) went off to Rhodes leaving yours truly home along for the week. I was hoping to do a load of caches but with home chores and work I didn't manage anywhere near as many as I'd have liked.

Day 2 of the holiday, Mrs. Balders called up to tell me that she'd had a nasty fall and had a week with her leg in plaster to look forward to. No swimming pool; no shower and it was around 45 degrees most days. I had another call on the Friday saying that she couldn't wait to get back home: poor Sue.

I'm done a few caches this week but most of the time I've been either at home or getting back home to look after the other half. She is on the mend but is still hobbling around with a stick.

We are renewing our wedding vows (after 25 years) this coming weekend before a second "honeymoon" up in the Peak District. We were hoping to do a bit of walking and, of course, a few caches, perhaps getting up to that magical 2000. However, I don't think that Sue will be up for much more than a few cache and grabs!

The Brummie Cut series is holding up well. I've had to archive "Lock Four" after going missing yet again but have placed another, new, cache just a little down the towpath. Bridge 106 has also gone walkies and I have replaced that one tonight. It's a shame that I didn't replace it earlier as two teams managed the other 25 caches in the series today and missed the final cache. I've noticed in London that where a cache keeps going missing there is often a bit in the caceh description which say something like..." if the cache is not there, please email me with the number on the adjacent lamp-post". A virtual by the back door! I'll keep this technique in mind but I'd rather have a "proper" cache.

By the way, I will be putting a caceh out to commemorate our (mostly) happy 25 years together.

Travel Bugs at Events

What a great night we had at the Brummie Meet held at The Old Joint Stock in Birmingham. Mumbo Jumbo had the foresight to reserve the upstairs area just for us. We had cachers from as far afield as Northampton, Ashby de-la-zouch and Nuneaton as well as those more local. Twenty two teams signed the logbook, equating to 28 bodies. The instigators, Purple Heather and Slappersire were present are have agreed to run the next one, which should be sometime in the first week of November.

Also in November, somewhere around the 28th, I'll be running another event at The Griffin, Shustoke, to celebrate my 50th birthday.

I've received an e-mail asking "Hi, Can you tell me what happens to the TBs that are left now that the event is over?"

Speaking of our event last night (but applies to most events) you will find that...

a) Some trackables (mainly The Allotment Gardener's in our case) are "dropped off" at the event (usually well before the event) but are kept by the owner. This allows cachers to view others collections and log them as "discovered".

b) General circulation trackables go into a collective "pot" where other cachers are free to select and move on any TBs or coins that take their fancies. Usually, the event organisers are left with a pile of TBs that they are obliged to move on themselves. Fortunately, there was only 1 geocoin left over last night and I'll soon move that to another cache.

A more general point about trackable items. How many times have you come across a TB or coin, picked it up, taken it home and looking it up on geocaching.com found that you've taken it in completely the wrong direction? With my trackables, I try to attach a small laminated tag with the item's mission so that hopefully it will only be picked up by someone who can help with that mission. Geocoins usually come in a plastic sleeve making it easy to add the mission statement. Another useful thing to put on the tag would be the tracking number - some of those coin numbers are very hard to read!

I'm hoping to be out and about on the canal either Friday evening or Saturday morning, walking the loop and maintaining any caches that need it. Lock 4 has been archived and I'm STILL waiting for it's replacement (Waterlinks) to be published.