Playing with skeletons in a graveyard over Hallowe'en

When cheesescones came to visit Hampshire to do some caching, we went to get some older caches to help her fill her Jasmer table. One of the caches we did was in a graveyard and was one I'd already done so whilst she was locating the cache, rummaging through the swag and signing the log book, I stood waiting nearby. I stepped back to hear a crunch and looked down to see I had stepped on a skull! Not a human skull, but what I believe was a rabbit's. The more I looked around me, the more bits I found. Some legs, the jaw, the spine. Cheesescones managed to convince me not to take any of it home with me...

 

Puffball in action!

Thank you cheesescones for telling me exactly why puffballs are so named. Fascinating!

This blog is now trackable... if you know where to look

Yeah, so I made it trackable, but sadly the tracking code is not contained anywhere on this site, so only read back through all past entries if you actually want to. The code can only be found on my brand-spanking new business cards from Vista Print. (LOVE THAT SITE!) Yes, it really is just shameless advertising. Coming soon to a cache near you. Feel free to keep a card if you find it; saves on geolitter, right?

London at night

I am a total sucker for skyscrapers, cityscapes and night life. Put these together, go to the O2 in Greenwich and get a photo like the one below. I don't have a fantastic camera and I'm not the world's best photographer (not even close!) but at least I will have very fond memories of looking across the Thames to Canary Wharf and the famous 1 Canada Square.

The countdown to Brown Belt

We're still a little way off, but I'm starting to think about earning my Brown Belt from BadgeGen now. Currently on Blue which had very few requirements by comparison. Where are purple and red, I wonder.

Well, here's the Brown requirements:

BROWN: This awarded if the following conditions are met:
- 2000 cache finds (any type) AND
- 50 cache hides AND
- 3 events (any type) attended AND
- at least one cache find in 8 distinct states AND
- hosted one event (any type) AND
- any 5 of the following conditions are met:
-- at least 50 FTFs
-- at least one find in 4 distinct countries
-- at least 72 out of the 81 D/T combinations completed (89%)
-- one 5/5 D/T rated cache
-- 30 consecutive days with a cache find
-- 50 caches found on a single day
-- Maximum distance in a day of 500km or more
-- 3 gold badges for container size
-- at least one cache found above 1000m elevation
-- 3 distinct types of caches hidden (any types incl. events)

• So first up I need 2000 finds. Amazingly, I am fast approaching this target, not that I have any plans to get another 100 in a day any time soon but 50 in a day would be nice so I actually earn the Silver Olympics award! Somehow I've earned Bronze and Gold but missed the Silver!

• 50 hides. This is also tricky for me. In the space of three years of caching, I've hidden under half that amount. I guess all I need really is to find a suitable place to do a loop and then put out a set, but I am not in the habit of doing that. I tend to hide caches when I come up with ideas. I'd want my series to have a theme, and I have no idea where I'd put one. We can think on, there.

• 3 events attended - CHECK

• At least one cache find in 8 distinct states - this means a sub-area of a country. In the USA, it means what it says, a State. In Canada, it means Provinces; in Australia, Territories. In other countries and the UK, it's an area of the country defined by Groundspeak. It's not done by county (they confuse even me now. I can't keep up with them and I go by the traditional counties as opposed to the town and cities which technically are also counties).

So here are the UK regions, as used by Groundspeak:

I have done eight of these (South West England, Southern England, South East England, South Wales, West Midlands, East Midlands, Northwest England, Yorkshire and Humberside). Soon I will add London to the list, and hopefully more next year on our planned road trip to Fife in Scotland.

Even so, I would qualify with fewer than eight UK regions; I've cached in other countries.

• Hosted one event - OK, not done this yet. Perhaps a flash mob would be an easy way for me to start hosting. Maybe I'll host one to celebrate my Brown belt? I'm sure an idea will come to me in due course.

And finally I have to meet any five of the other requirements:

• At least 50 FTFs - not going to happen any time soon unless a loop is published on my doorstep when I'm at home and online. I think I have a mere 13 FTFs from the last three years. Much easier to get in Swansea when I was unemployed. Now they get published too far away, after I've gone to bed or while I'm at work!

• At least one find in 4 distinct counties - CHECK: done 7.

• At least 72 out of 81 D/T combos - Ha! Again, severely unlikely for the near future. Not that I'm making my D/T grid a priority. I'm looking at all my other stats before considering whether it's a new D/T combo. There are some that I doubt I will ever find.

• One 5/5 D/T cache - CHECK: somehow got three and will have a fourth when I get the Gold Olympics one.

• 30 consecutive days with a find - not done, but doable if I put my mind to it. Perhaps going into the winter is not a good time to start aiming for this target.

• 50 caches found on a single day - CHECK: only thanks to last weekend!

• Maximum distance in a day of 500km or more - how on earth do I work this out? I guess GSAK can tell you. Even then I don't know how. Answers below please!

• Three gold badges for container size - I am actually one Regular off achieving this!

• At least one cache found above 1000m elevation - Since First in Wales on Blorenge is my highest cache find to date, this is not going to be one of my qualifiers unless I go somewhere higher.

• Three distinct types of cache hidden - CHECK: Traditional, Multi, Puzzle, and of course I will have to host an event anyway to qualify.

So yeah, I am simply one Regular off the five additional requirements. Then all I need to do is hide 26 caches, host an event, attend my event, and find 246 caches. Nearly there, right?

New red splodge!

I've just updated my Michael Fish map of the UK, and noticed that a red splodge has appeared in Dorset after doing a power trail of 100 caches. Well, I should do more of these if I want a totally red country!!

Unique logs for 100 caches

I know exactly why people post generic logs for power caching trails, and I have no criticism of people doing this, but I like to try and remember the individual caches I've found, and quite often interesting things have occurred or been seen whilst doing a day's worth of caching. So when I set my eyes on the Cranborne Chase Circular (starting here) I wondered just how feasible it would be for me to write 100 unique logs for some quite unremarkable caches... well I did it! But thanks to technology. In the past when I've done twenty or so in a day I've somehow been able to rely on my memory and the hints to help me remember the individual hides, but when you're talking triple figures, they all mush into one! So I took my iPhone caching with me. I don't use my smart phone as a phone; in fact I've removed the SIM card. I was finding it a rather irritating phone for a variety of reasons I won't go into now and the sheer size of all the smart phones on the market is not attractive to me. I happily reverted back to my 2006 "ancient" Motorola V235, and no I don't give a damn that it's not in fashion. I only want it for phone calls, texts and the occasional photo. But my iPhone come iPod Touch (since that is in effect what I use it for) came in very handy with this power trail. After each find I simply recorded a short message to myself reminding myself of how the cache was hidden, where I was at the time, what I could see and what I had encountered on my way to it. A lot of this information didn't end up on the logs, but it served its purpose of helping me jog my memory about individual hides. As a result, I will remember this series with even more fondness. I was quite surprised that the CO was actively encouraging copied and pasted logs but I can't bring myself to do it. Nor can I add photos to a cache that it doesn't apply to. Sorry. 

Record notes in the field on your phone or whatever - it really does make it easier to write up your logs later!

11 in 11 Souvenir

Well Groundspeak won't let the Geolympix team have this as an official souvenir under the souvenirs tab but I can display my 11 icons in 11 hours souvenir elsewhere. How about here?

Cryptic hint to my next cache hide

Well this morning was a bit like Christmas morning for me, tearing open three parcels and finding some great goodies inside! (See photo)

What on earth?! Are you able to work out why I have bought these things for my new cache hide? Hint: it'll be a challenge cache... Laterz

On your radar

Saw something I didn't know existed yesterday when I did Spy Stone cache near Chilbolton. According to the cache description, the huge radar seen across the field is the world's largest fully steerable meteorological radar. Known as the Observatory, it studies rain, cloud and ice and helps with research for improved weather forecasting for the effects on communication systems and understanding climate change.

Would have been cool to go have a closer look...

A strange experience in East Grimstead...

Now I used to live a few miles away from a town called East Grinstead in Sussex so when I was driving through Wiltshire yesterday, I was very surprised to see a small village called East Grimstead. What was even more bizarre was what greeted me as I drove through it.

First I noticed that there were two incredibly creepy mannequins outside someone's house. I took a photo but it scares the crap out of me so much that just looking at it again, let alone reposting it here would be nothing short of masochism. Slightly (and only slightly) less creepy was the straw-made effigies of Red Riding Hood and the wolf near a Silver Jubilee memorial.

A little further along was a giant snail on someone's hedge. I only caught a glimpse as I drove by, but when I came back I had to pull over for a better look.

It was only then that I realised the nearby phone box had no phone, but instead a selection of books, presumably for exchange. I had a look at the titles but nothing took my fancy.

A Year Lost to Geocaching - and I've loved it!

On 4th June 2012 I finally managed to colour in every single date on my caching calendar. Why did I do this? Well, apart from the completeness factor, I was aiming to pick up a nearby Challenge cache, A Year, Lost! by Mario McTavish, one who has cached for well over 1000 days straight now (nutter!). If I'd had the time, and the determination I would have wanted to get at least one cache a day for a year, but as it was I only sought to fill holes in my calendar not previously filled from previous years. I am glad I left this cache for a milestone, namely 1600, and I think I will continue to aim for a challenge cache at every 100 milestone unless something really special pops up (e.g. a Mega, a highly-favourited cache, a historic cache, etc.) So what will be my next milestone? Thinking either Caching Olympics Bronze (find 25 caches in a day - achieved), Elementary challenge (get GC codes with element symbols in them) or International cacher challenge (cache in six countries).

Reflections on the Geolympix

Alas, the Geolympix is over (but the Olympics are in full swing!) but wow, what an amazing event. A huge congratulations and thanks to all the planners who made this event such a success. I managed to achieve quite a few self-set targets including the 11 icons in 11 hours challenge! Woooooooooo-hoooooooooooooooo! Cheesescones and I only started to doubt we would do it when we thought our Wherigo-compatible device was going to fail on us, but no, with CarSim97 too, we did it! Also managed to colour in Northamptonshire on our counties map, get the oldest cache in England and buy a super-cool T-shirt and all 10 PuzTox (will write a separate entry on these). Over the weekend I attended a total of 5 events and if I'd been able to stick around longer, I'd have done more. Shame we couldn't do the "marathon" rings, but Coombe Hill was such an awesome target for Monday, I'm glad we had the weather for it too. To cap it all off, I even bagged a challenge cache on the way home. Thanks mellers! Wouldn't have known about it otherwise!

Here are some photo highlights of my Geolympix weekend:

The Flash-Mob event attendees bright and early at 8am on Sunday morning - most are probably here for the 11 in 11 challenge, getting both the event and webcam icons. The locals gave us some pretty odd looks!

This has to be the best Virtual I've ever done!

The hard-to-track down roaming Cuckoo Cache, logged at last!

I have long needed this T-shirt!

Last year I met Jeremy and this year I met Bryan. Just one founder left...

My oldest cache yet, beating First in Wales by a month: View From Coombe Hill in Buckinghamshire

Another challenge in the bag: AJ's Caching Challenge

Geocaching Trinkets

Geocaching started out simple - a container was hidden in a public area and contained a log book and perhaps some items to trade, nothing really of any value, just stuff to fill the container.

Now, however, you find a decent-sized cache and you may well find more than just a log book and McDonald's Happy Meal toys and Christmas cracker gifts. Consider below the different items which can be found in any geocaches big enough to hold them:

TOP RIGHT: Geocoin - not legal tender in any country, geocoins are designed by geocachers and then minted courtesy of certain websites which specialise in making them. They don't have to be round either - geocoins come in all shapes and sizes now but generally they are metal and engraved in some way. Every single geocoin has a unique six-digit trackable code so if you find one in a cache you can log it on the geocaching.com website. Geocoins are to be moved between caches and must not be kept by the finder unless they have the permission of the coin owner. Some people collect geocoins. I myself have a small collection, and eBay will show you various designs. Because they are often quite beautiful and creative, some people do not want to part with their coins and do not put them in caches, but often they are happy for other cachers to "discover" them in their collection.

TOP MIDDLE: Travel Bug or TB - Travel Bugs have a similar function to geocoins in that they each carry a unique six-digit trackable code which when entered into the geocaching.com website brings up details about the bug in question. These are not collectable in the same way that coins are though and tend to be attached to small items which have a mission, for example a TB may be attached to toy aeroplane which wants to visit caches near airports. As with geocoins, these are not to be kept by the finder but moved on to another cache. The TB's mission can normally be ascertained from the trackable's page, but sometimes it will have it written on it. Travel Bugs have now branched out so that they make almost anything trackable, for example T-shirts, car stickers and even tattoos.

TOP RIGHT: Trackable tags - Almost identical to Travel Bugs, these tend to be metal tags which have a picture on one side and a six-digit trackable code on the other. Not to be kept by the finder but moved on to another cache.

BOTTOM LEFT: PuzTox - A PuzTok is a fairly new creation so you might not have seen any in a cache yet. There are ten to collect in total and they were created for the 2012 Oxford Geolympix. Using the reverse of a PuzTok you can create and solve certain puzzle caches. They are not trackable.

BOTTOM MIDDLE: Pathtags - not a common find in caches in the UK, these have a much greater prominence in America. They are loggable like geocoins and TBs but not on the geocaching.com website. In fact their connection to geocaching is artificial; caches just make convenient places to trade them. Pathtags.com allows you to design and create your own tags, and to log others you have found. They can be bought but it is common practice to swap them much like you would trading cards.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Signature items - in this case a wooden token. A signature item can be anything which resembles a particular cacher. Mine have mushrooms on them and my caching name, "thebuttonmushroom" on the reverse. Some people leave calling cards, others have created their own unique signature items such as bottle caps. They are not trackable.

Training for the Olympix

Well, maybe not training so much as eagerly anticipating it! I don't know about you, but this will be my only Mega this year, even though the UK is playing host to not one, not two but THREE Megas this year. Very exciting time for loads of us cachers who love public gatherings on a grand scale. I've only been to one Mega before, last year's Mega Wales in my old home of Swansea, but practically I can only get to Oxford out of the three Megas this year, which is fine because that's the one that excites me the most. You may be aware that the committee behind the Geolympix is also hoping to turn this from a Mega Event into a new type altogether, a travelling competitive event which will be hosted by a different country each time, much like the real Olympics. Groundspeak lackeys will be at the Geolympix and will assess whether this idea is feasible. I'm very hopeful - imagine being part of the first ever Geolympix?

With so much going on at the Geolympix, there just won't be time to do everything, which is a real shame. I'd love the do the huge circuits that will be up, but I won't have the time or the energy on the day (maybe I'll come back to them in time) and something tells me the weather won't be in our favour. Who knows; maybe it'll have picked up by then but this summer has been a total washout so far. So depressing!

Anyway, I am going to attempt this 11 icons in 11 hours thing. I hope it works. If it does I'll have to go back to BadgeGen and update my profile with new Earthcache, Wherigo, Mega, CITO, Webcam and Event badges! I'm looking forward to attending my first ever Flash Mob event (why are these not a type of their own?) I also hope to discover literally hundreds more geocoins and TBs. Not sure how to record the codes yet. I've been in the habit of scribbling down the numbers on bits of paper but that is time-consuming and leads to errors. Photograph them maybe? I like it best when owners of vast numbers of geocoins print off their codes on little paper lists so that admirers can just keep a piece of paper. If you are going to Geolympix this year and are bringing your trackables collection, please do this: I want to log your coins and bugs! I think for the first time I will bring along my small collection of coins (about a dozen or so plus two pathtags who people who log them) and I might make some trackables to leave up there. I will be brining my Geocaching Licence and my personal trackable dog tags. Hope to be able to log that elusive Cuckoo Cache too! Aah, I can't wait! Oh, and I will be buying Bronze, Silver and Gold geocoins!

UK Cache Mag review

Before I start, let me make it clear that my views are mine alone, and as a blog entry, this is little more than a subjective review from one member of the intended audience. Your views may be different, and that's great. It just means you'll have to get a copy of UK Cache Mag to find out!

Well I was not expecting to see this brought out, to be totally honest, but I was delighted when I saw a new publication, devoted entirely to geocaching, in the newsletter of ukgeocachers.co.uk. To my knowledge this is the first proper published, tangible, geocaching magazine designed for the British reader. As you may know, I am a loyal fan to FTF Geocacher magazine which was quite possibly the first serious geocaching publication in the world. I don't miss issues of FTF Geocacher and whilst I always love reading it, it's a little too American at times. This isn't a criticism of the magazine; it's meant for an American audience so of course it's going to be American in style and content, but sometimes it's just nice to read something British.

So yes, I found this magazine pretty good, although sadly not exceptional. It relies heavily on cacher-submitted content, which is good. If one person were to write an entire magazine it would probably be a little dull, if not entirely biased towards whatever the publisher wanted to read. I don't care much for the GSAK Q&A section, having never really clicked with GSAK, but I can see that that would be a total delight to many geocachers, perhaps newbies who are just starting to discover their stats and how wide-ranging they are! GSAK is the perfect tool for organising all those stats, but it's a monster of a program to get used to.

So yes, before I lead off on a GSAK tangent... a few of the articles really grabbed my attention, particularly the one about how frustrating it is to go to great lengths to hide a cache only to have "TFTC" as a log. I wholly agree that all we cachers should be trying to think of interesting things to say in our logs, and we cache owners need to make sure that our hides are worthy of such logs! Good food for thought in that article.

Sadly what spoiled it totally for me, and this will probably not bother that many people (I am a little pedantic about this - ask my friends and colleagues!), is the atrocious spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes on almost every single page. For the record, you do not put apostrophes in straight forward plurals. You do not put an apostrophe in "its" unless it's short for "it is" or "it has". Other errors of a similar nature include the unnecessary over-use of hyphenation when words are at the end of a line, and the simple fact that there appears to have been no proof-reading prior to publication. The word "content" without a "c" (?) got in there and on more than one occasion the sentence never actually appeared to have an end, seemingly cut off at the bottom of the page.

These errors are pedantic, I know, but I feel that if you're going to publish something on a grand scale it needs to be thoroughly checked over before it hits the shops. Thankfully errors like this are so very easily corrected that future issues may be damn-near perfect! As for the content, I didn't find it gripping, but there was enough in there to sustain my interest from cover to cover. Seems like all the lengthy wordy articles were left for the back though, which is a shame and a few more photographs in the second half of the magazine wouldn't have gone amiss.

Have you read UK Cache Mag yet? What did you think of it? Post your comments below!

The City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia

The City of Arts and Sciences, or Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias in Spanish (and Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciencies in Valencian) is the collective name for a group of about six structures which were built and opened between 1996 and 2005. I have had the pleasure of visiting Valencia twice now and of experiencing most of the aspects of the "City". For anyone in the area, I strongly suggest you pay a visit. Even if you don't go in to any of the attractions, the architecture alone is worthy of some photographs!

Hemisferic

We explored this building for the first time this year. It's quite a bizarre looking one from the outside. Its reflection makes it look much like an eye with an eyelid (see here) but that round dome in the centre is a vast Imax cinema. We saw a fifty minute film on the Hubble telescope and it was phenomenal seeing space spread out all across the domed ceiling like that. They show many other Imax films here but it is also used as a planetarium and laserium.

Oceanografic

Oceanografic was the sealife attraction we explored fully on our last visit a year ago. It's an open air zoo, in effect, focusing almost entirely on marine life, although there are some birds there in a giant aviary too. The various buildings represent different climates, everything from tropical oceans to the Antarctic. There are over 500 species of animal here and it is well worth a visit! 

See Oceanografic at night here.

El Museu de les Ciencies Principe Felipe

The Science Museum is another attraction we visited last year. It features a lot of exhibitions but didn't have the same buzz that the Science Museum in London does. It is supposedly more of an entertaining exhibition of things like space, DNA, and interior design rather than being for educational purposes. I was rather surprised to find an exhibition entirely devoted to Marvel superheroes. Hardly scientific, but there you go. The exterior has been designed to look like a whale's skeleton apparently. I'd never really given it any thought, to be honest.

El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia

This building is not normally open to the public although it is perhaps the most eye-catching structure of the whole City. This is the opera house of the set and is devoted to music and scenic arts. See the Palau lit up at night here.

L'Agora

The Agora is another building which is not open normally unless there is an event going on. It's a covered plaza with the purpose of hosting sporting events (e.g. tennis) and concerts. Exhibitions, conventions and meetings are held there too.

See the Agora at night here.

L'Umbracle

This one isn't a building so much as floral walkway featuring plants which are native to Valencia. Next to it are many interesting and bizarre sculptures. When we visited this summer every few yards was another sweet with a flag of the world on it! See the Umbracle at night here.

Bridge Structure

This is not a building and serves no real purpose other than to add to the grand architecture of the City. It is most easily visible from greater distances from the city given its height.
See the bridge at night here.

See the official website for the City of Arts and Sciences here.

Neat hides!

I won't give away the names or locations of these caches, but here are some photos of caches I've found recently which really made me laugh or smile.

The very first of the extensive Church Micro series

I needed a milestone for my 1500th cache and I had a bit of a problem. I had planned for it to be A Year Lost, the challenge cache I have been working towards for the last twelve months, but when I completed the challenge I was nowhere near the cache in question and there were so many others in Crawley I really wanted to get before I went home so I looked for an alternative milestone and found that the original Church Micro was just a short train journey away so that's what I went after instead, and wow, what a magnificent church! Definitely worth the visit!

A Diamond Weekend

Well what with the Diamond Jubilee extended weekend, I have had four wonderful days off to see friends, see family, and of course get some caches. The fourth of June also happened to be my last day on my caching calendar to colour in so I have now officially cached on every single day of the year, including 29th February! As a result I have earned my first (of hopefully many) diamond badges from BadgeGen. Diamonds are a cacher's best friend!

Two Emerald badges in one week!

As you might know, I am quite addicted to my stats, always trying to earn a new BadgeGen badge or belt. Well this week I managed to get two new Emerald ones, the second highest to be earned after Diamond (which I will get one of next week, at this rate). Firstly, I have now somehow managed to find 25 Letterbox Hybrids, mainly thanks to a good loop of them in Wiltshire and plenty on the Isle of Wight. I'm a little disappointed that a lot of these caches don't have the fun factor of following instructions and bearings on how to get to GZ, although there are exceptions. I think the only requirement of a Letterbox Hybrid is that it has a stamper in it.

Secondly I managed to get day 365 checked off on my caching calendar today. This would normally be exciting but with day 366 coming up next week, I think I'll wait for that instead. Looking forward to getting my 1500th milestone shortly afterwards, and know just the cache for it!

Token mushrooms

American geocachers seem to be pretty big on token items that cachers leave behind in caches as a way of showing that they've been there, in addition to signing the log. I've not really seen this here in the UK, with the exception of business card style "We found it" notes which are pretty cool, but can quickly clutter up a cache and tend to go a bit manky when exposed to the elements.

I've never really given much thought to token items although I did wonder if it would be practical to leave a little carved mushroom or something in the caches I find. I couldn't work out how I would do that (cheaply!) so I stopped considering it.

Until ukgeocachers.co.uk advertised personalised engraved wooden tags. I drew a picture of a couple of 'shrooms and got them engraved. The service I received was top quality. Not only did I get a nice batch of tags sent to me, but they came straight away too! Now I've just got to start leaving them somewhere. I hope the happy mushrooms bring a smile to future cachers' faces!

CITO in the rain!

Sunday morning brought the much-anticipated Meon Shore CITO event!

Not the best time to decide to go do a clean-up operation, but we turned out in our masses despite the constant rain! I'd never done a CITO (Cache In Trash Out) event before but even though I got soaked through, I still had fun. I must admit I was not expecting to find anything bigger than the odd can, but wow, we got loads of stuff including a discarded lobster box next to a field, several metres of weed-entwined wire, and a hefty amount of loft insulation.

Will I attend a CITO event again? - Without a doubt! I think I might try to get into the habit of carrying a carrier bag with me when caching so I can practice CITO whilst looking for ordinary caches more easily. I want us geocachers to give off the right impression that we do genuinely care about the environment and that our little boxes in the woods are not rubbish (because they have a purpose) but that we don't like careless litter which is not only ugly but also detrimental to wildlife. Let's look after our surroundings!

Cachebusters Challenge

OK, so not long ago this challenge was brought to my attention: I Challenge You To Play ... CACHEBUSTERS! Well OK, I accept your challenge. I tend not to give too much thought to challenges in parts of the country where I am not likely to be caching, but you never know when you'll be near enough to pick it up, and of course, you normally have to actually do the challenge first. Plus, realistically this one is en route to Swansea so maybe I can make a detour when I next go.

Right, so this challenge is a little different from all the others I've seen because it's less empirical.

You have to complete a line from left to right in this Blockbusters-style grid:

So where to start - let's forget the path across for a moment and see which ones I do already somehow qualify for:

Stung by Nettles. OH YES. But how do I prove that? Just got to find a log where I've complained about it, I guess.

Go Caching at Night. Easy one - use the night cache, Dark Side.

Find a Cache Over 2000ft Above Sea Level. Not sure about this. My highest in altitude is First in Wales. Don't know the height of it though, which is a bummer.

Find a Cache Underground. Uh, don't think I've done that one. Found one in a cave before, but it wasn't underground. Will have to look into this.

Have an Encounter with the Long Arm of the Law. Amazingly enough, despite being pretty inconspicuous sometimes, and caching in foreign urban environments, no one in authority has challenged what I'm doing, and certainly no law enforcers.

Get Stuck in Mud. I've got pretty damn muddy at times, but never stuck.

Climb for a Cache. Yeah, can think of a couple of examples, and a photo of myself on a ladder.

Find a Trad, Multi and Mystery in 24 Hours. Done and dusted on more than one occasion. Most memorable being 6 types in one day at Big Pit.

Abseil to a Cache. Oh, I would if I had the equipment!

Go without Caching for more than 30 Days. You frickin' kidding me?! I'm not that crazy!

DNF the same Cache more than 3 Times. I certainly have done, but I don't know that I've ever logged my DNFs more than once. I am normally content to DNF for the first attempt and then keep schtum until I find it.

Chased by Cows. I had a pretty horrific experience with a cow whilst caching once, but I don't know whether chased is the right word when I was the other side of the fence.

Walk more than 5 Miles to find only One Cache. Oh, probably, can't think of an example though, or how I would prove it.

Swim to a Cache. I doubt I will do this, but never say never.

Go Caching in at Least 3 Different Countries. Check.

Forget to Bring a Pen to Sign the Log. Oh, yes, definitely. Perhaps a "here's a photo instead" log will suffice as proof?

Forget Your Coat and Get Caught in the Rain. Undoubtedly. Can't prove it though.

Get More than 10 FTFs. Done, and have the stats to prove it.

Go to Hospital with a Caching-Related Injury. Now this is something that will happen in time. Just so long as I don't die or permanently damage something (like my spine!) I would probably revel in this one.

Move on at Least 20 TBs. Easy!

Well I have done plenty of them, the only problem is I can't possibly complete this challenge until I have done one in column 4: i.e. I have found an underground cache (only know one and it's nowhere near - please post suggestions below); have abseiled to a cache (do you have the equipment? Let's do it!); have swum to a cache (I will if I have to, but I can't swim very well, so I'd rather not); or have been to hospital with a caching injury. This, as I've said above, will probably happen at some point but I am not going to tempt fate! Will be amusing telling the A&E staff that I "just had to get that little plastic box" though!

Challenge Caches!

I just have to post about challenge caches. Is it just my imagination or are they growing rapidly in popularity? I am still intensely frustrated that they do not have an icon of their own. Groundspeak still class them as Puzzle caches, which they are not, and it would make it so much easier to look for them if you could at least give them a unique attribute like night caches have now got.

Anyway, as I discover new puzzles all the time, some of which I already qualify for, I'm starting to consider saving them for milestones. Question is, will I be able to get A Year, Lost! as my 1500th?

#1400

It's been a very slow few weeks. I have not done much geocaching, even with my fairly vast free time. I have been keeping a careful eye on my caching calendar though so that I don't miss any must-cache days. Today was one of those days and also a day off from work so with only five caches to go before the milestone I thought I'd head down to Southsea to claim at long last the cache for 30 Days & 30 Nights. My first challenge cache! It felt like ages ago that I did the challenge (January) but it was worth the wait to get it today - a gloriously sunny day on the South coast. When I returned home I discovered that elsewhere in the UK there had been snow!

License to Geocache!

What a fabulous Geocoin from coinsandpins.com is this?! Engraved and all, this coin is the shape and size of a credit card and fits nicely into a wallet or purse. Flash this at curious law-enforcers, and you may not appear such a lunatic! That's not guaranteed, though. I have only just received this in the post from the States but already it's waiting to get out caching with me!

I have deliberately not obscured the tracking code. Feel free to log this as a discovery, although if you are likely to meet me in person at some point, you can see it in the... er... flesh (?) then, and maybe I can discover your license if you too go and order one! Too classy not to have, eh?