What have the Romans ever done for us?

"Major Wonder" (Multicache)


"The Zodiac Series - Aquarius" (Regular cache)


Business took me to the north eastern corner of Wales this week. From my location in Chirk on the Wales / England border, I actually accessed two caches inside Shropshire (and did not find either of the two available caches in walking distance on the Welsh side). "Aquarius" was part of an extensive, complex series by Team Maddie. The cache is one of several located across severalareas of north east Wales, Shropshire and Cheshire. I found it just after walking across the spectacular Chirk Aqueduct. On the second evening, I took a slightly longer walk into the village of Weston Rhyn. There, a multicache (my first multi in ages) was found in the woodland, based on a stone circle folly by a guy (not unlike Maalie?) who fancied his own little version of Stonehenge.

Tortoiseshell's 150th Find Geocoin

Amidst all the activity of the last couple of weeks, my 150th cache find passed in a bit of a haze. As it happens, the 150th find was an Earthcache ("Ria View", based on Cleddau Bridge in Pembrokeshire). A bit of an anti-climax really as all that was required was to walk onto the bridge and take a photo. Nevertheless, as has now become custom, a geocoin was duly purchased to mark the event.

On this occasion, I have gone for a Liverpool City of Culture 2008 commemorative geocoin (icon shown above, left). I also got one for my bro, TCA, to mark the occasion of his 37th birthday. I was in a bit of a dilemma as to whether or not to release it into the wild. It's a nice shiny coin and I don't want it to go AWOL. In the end, I decided to put it in "Geocelc Mynydd Penbre" as a resident geocoin for others to log, but not take.

Geocelc Mynydd Penbre

Among all the geocaching activity of the last few weeks, I finally managed to hide my first cache in my new locality. On a crisp, late-winter evening, "Geocelc Mynydd Penbre" was placed by myself and Small Tortoiseshell on a public footpath just north of Burry Port. Small Tortoiseshell opted for her warmest "Doormouse" outdoor suit. She is pictured here holding the GPS and guarding the cache.

Small Tortie's First Hide...

The cache itself was stacked with a host of trackables from my travels in central Wales. It also included the White Jeep travelbug which I nabbed in Cardiff. The Jeep and my Liverpool 2008 geocoin are visible here amongst the diverse array of other travelbugs. Note also the cammo bag in the foreground - a sign that this cache is in it for the long haul after 3 short-lived attempts to place a cache in Cardiff.


The final two photos show the general location of the cache. On the way up, there are superb views over Burry Port, the Loughour Estuary and Gower. The cache is located on a footpath, just north of the stone in the photo. However, the footpath is one of a labyrinth of paths that cut across Mynydd Penbre. Surprisingly, this "easy" cache flummoxed one of Wales' most experienced cachers, Satellite Kid, who was First to Find on this cache.














The "geoswag"...His exploits underline the democratic nature of geocaching - a relative upstart like me can flumox a virtual pro like Satellite Kid. On this occasion, it was the multitude of possible approaches to the cache which undid him...

"Crickey moses!! What a to do!! Set out early as I had a busy non caching day planned and got to Mountain Road at 8.45am....found the cache at 11am and was surprised to find I was the first visitor which was a hard earned bonus!

Drove to the parking spot at Penymynydd only to find it locked so I drove up the road a bit to a bridle path and pulled onto the side. I was 1.1miles from the cache but it was such a beautiful clear and frosty morning I thought it would be a good walk. Walked down the bridle path for ages before the path turned and I was actually heading directly towards the cache. Lovely walk through the fields over the hill on the public footpaths. Eventually came out on to a road near Carmel Chapel to be confronted by a scarey Gravestone, see pic, and then took the wrong route up St Illtyds way.
Lovely views - but which way to the cache?

When I reached the top I realised there was no way over to the cache so had to retrace my steps back down the hill. Found another hill and headed up that. Then at the top of this hill I ran into a troup of cadets coming the other way. they were all a bit muddy and two of them were caked in mud up to their armpits. The guy in charge warned me that the path at the bottom was seriously muddy and two of their number had fallen in. How bad could it be, said thanks and headed off. They were right, some of the deepest, slimiest, sucking slime I've seen for some time and it stretched for yards. Forced my way through without falling thankfully and took a pic of my boots as proof. Then headed on up the hill. I ended up going away from the cache again and came back out on the Mountain Road. At this point I'd walked over 2 miles and had only got to within 0.3 miles of the cache. So I headed back to the car which was now nearly a mile away and decided to try the Burry Port approach.


Didn't fare much better here at first as I took the wrong road and ended up half way up the hill at a dead end, returned to the car back past the impressive chimney and found the correct road. Walked up the relatively short path and found the cache 'easily' at 11am....at long last!!!2hours and 15mins to find a cache that you can almost park next to! Great walk though on a lovely morning...enjoyed it immensely despite all my errors....knew I should have taked an OS map!!! :-) TNLN Cheers for the cache..."

White jeep!

"Tedman" White Jeep Travel Bug


Regular Travel bugs:

"Eagle Bluff 2 Carabiner Key Chain"


"Irish Maiden"


"Yorkshire Meet 2007"


In work at Cardiff, I spotted that a White Jeep had been placed in the Taff TB Hotel - a great haunt for trackables coming into Wales' capital city. Jeep Travelbugs are a limited edition promotion by the Jeep company in conjunction with Groundspeak (the organisation who organise geocaching). I had previously got my hands on a green Jeep, but never a white one from 2005. All that is left is to find a red 2007 version...

Spotted in Knighton

Due respect to this table soccer shop in Knighton, Powys. (Subbuteo used to be my first love).

A nice pair

Two of the nicer geocoins I've come across. The first is a "Micro film canister" geocoin. I retrieved it at a cache in Elan Valley, and dropped it into a cache in Pembrey, not far from my home.
















The second coin depicts the territorial regions of the Federal Republic of Germany. I found it in Dolerw cache in an unexpectedly green area of Newtown. I let go of it into my own cache, "Geocelc Mynydd Penbre".

So much to blog, so little time...

Traditional caches (x12)...


"Grumpy's Grotto" (Pembroke, Pembrokeshire)
"Afon Clettwr" (Tre'r Ddol, Ceredigion)
"Dylan Thomas - Quite Early one morning" (New Quay, Ceredigion)
"Seascape" (Borth, Ceredigion)
"Sarn Cynfelin" (Clarach, Ceredigion)
"Nia and Ffion's Elan cache" (Rhayader, Powys)
"Cycle up Tumble Down: Cynheidre Colliery" (Cynheidre, Carmarthenshire)
"Swansea Micro: Victorian Iron Bridge" (Swansea)
"Yr Eglwys Blwyf (Newtown Part 2)" (Newtown, Powys)
"The Wooden Couch (Newtown Part 3)" (Newtown, Powys)
"The Stones (Newtown Part 4)" (Newtown, Powys)
"Dolerw" (Newtown, Powys)

Earthcaches (x2)...


"Ria view of a flooded valley" (Cleddau Bridge, Pembrokeshire)
"Gwaith Cwmystwyth Mines" (Cwmystwyth, Ceredigion)

Travelbugs (x6)...


"Pink Tiger"
"Jack Skeleton"
"Barry #44"
"Puzzle Snake"
"Boris Badger"
"The Paisley Buddie"

Geocoins (x3)...


Prime Meridian Geocoin


Mini Film Canister Geocoin


Germany 2007 Series 1 Geocoin


..."Grumpy's Grotto": had my sights set on this for months, hidden in a front garden in Pembroke, did a 4-mile round trip on foot for this one, and encountered a rat on my way..."Ria View of a Flooded Valley": an "Earthcache" so all I had to do was walk on to the Cleddau Bridge and take a photo...

GPS @ Cleddau Bridge Toll

..."Afon Clettwr": a nice stroll which I used to do as a boy with Maalie 20 years ago..."Dylan Thomas- Quite Early one morning": my latest (4th) find in the series of 7 caches based on the Dylan Thomas Trail in New Quay..."Seascape"; "Sarn Cynfelin": two more caches part of my boyhood terrain, on the cliffs south of Borth (found Meridian geocoin in Seascape - this type of geocoin just eluded me in Cardiff last year)..."Gwaith Cwmystwyth Mines": another earthcache, just needed to answer some questions on information board...Nia and Ffion's Elan cache: an almighty scramble up a bank prior to a business meeting in Builth. retrieved cache (and film canister geocoin) at last minute, thank goodness...

GPS @ Cwmystwyth mines

Cynheidre Colliery: cached this rather haunting spot last thing before arriving home from Builth...Swansea Iron Bridge Micro: train timetable cock-up gave me 3 hours to do a second attempt on a devilish hide, possibly my best find ever. Only now I realise the history behind the site...4 x Newtown caches: an excellent series of micro caches hidden all round Newtown by "Uze", including a couple dedicated to the great social reformer, and Newtown's most famous son, Robert Owen. Found 3, didn't find 3 others. Found a seperate regular cache (with German geocoin) in Dol Erw Park.

PhOtOmOm Geocoin: new icon!

Update: PhOtOmOm geocoin


One of the delights of geocaching for me is aquiring different geocoins. Each geocoin comes with its own unique icon. When I discover a new tyoe of coin, a new icon is added to my personal profile on geocaching.com. It's a bit like virtual stamp collecting, I suppose.

Last year, I picked up a PhOtOmOm geocoin whilst on an epic round trip of Wales, which also included Cheshire and Staffordshire. The coin was carrying the "generic geocoin" icon. Basically, the "generic" icon is the "poor man's option" - it cost's more to commission a new icon, so many geocoins just have the cheaper, "generic" icon.

Generic geocoin icon


However, logging on tonight, I notice that there is a new "PhOtOmOm Geocoin" icon, in the shape of a blue camera, on my profile. PhOtOmOm must have splashed out a bit more for the icon. So - effectively a new geocoin find - I didn't have to get my feet wet for it!

Outing to the Vale of Glamorgan

Traditional caches:

Who was Here 2: Daleks in Penarth


Southern Compass


Travelbug:


"Tommy Atkins"


Geocoin:

"Highly Addictive" geocoin


A surprisingly good run of form since Christmas was continued by two caches in the Vale of Glamorgan. Despite its name, the county of the Vale of Glamorgan has very little to do with the famous "south Wales valleys", the former coalfield north of Cardiff.

Aside from the town of Barry, the Vale of Glamorgan is a mainly well-to-do, middle class area focused on the gentile market town of Cowbridge. It is one of the minority of seats in Wales where the Conservatives are obvious challengers. They came close to winning in the National Assembly Elections and the constituency will be a key target for David Cameron in the next UK election.

Part of "British Wales" in Dennis Balsom's seminal "3 Wales Model", it could even be argued that the Vale has more in common with the Cotswold area of England than with the Welsh valleys (a good Welsh politics exam question!). No doubt, The First Minister (Rhodri Morgan) and the Presiding Officer (Dafydd Elis-Thomas) - who both have their slubrious country residences in the Vale - would disagree!

My caching today was facilitated by a fortuitous early getaway from work. My first cache was a piece of unfinished business from August 2 last year, when I was working at the old regime. I had found a cache on Cardiff barrage, but failed to find the "Dr Who" themed cache by Pezzini. The cache was located in a fairly untidy playing field in Cogan - basically an adjunct of Cardiff.

The second cache was located at Rhoose Point, on the Glamorgan Coast Path. "Southern Compass" is also the most southerly cache on Wales' mainland. The cache contained both a travelbug and a geocoin, which I duly knabbed. The "Highly Addictive" geocoin was emblazoned with the motto: "Geocaching is highly addictive. Don't start". Quite!

"Highly Addictive" geocoin pictured in front of inscription marking Wales' most southerly point, at Rhoose.

Unfortunately, I failed to locate a second cache in the vicinity, which was probably located under any one of 1000s of rocks on the shoreline nearby. Weather was getting gloomy and I called it a day, taking my newly acquired geoswag back west.

HoW: Llangennech

HoW: Llangennech


Picked this one up on an early morning commute into Cardiff. It is one of a number of caches placed by "Eclectic Penguin" around the Loughour Estuary area. This cache forms part of a series he has done, based on the Heart of Wales railway line. Cache was found in an eerie marshy area near to the station.

Evening commute

Rock Point (traditional geocache)


"Monty the Christmas Moose"


The cache sounds as if it should be on some outcrop of Gower or Shetland. In fact, it was a surprisingly easy cache-and-dash just of the M4 at Bridgend. Located on the common above the village of Coity, I was done and dusted within about 15 mins.

I had been attracted to the cache by the presence of a geocoin, according to the website. Unfortunately, it seems that someone had taken the geocoin without logging it out on the web. tut tut. Nevertheless, glad to get my hand on a suitably seasonable travelbug - my first of 2008. It's mission is to visit Santa in Lapland.