Successful trackables?!

When I began geocaching, I'd quite often find equal numbers of Travel Bugs and Geocoins in caches but over the years I've found fewer of both, but particularly Geocoins. After losing all the coins I've ever put out, I've lost faith in placing expensive and beautiful coins in boxes of Tupperware. The problem is you cannot guarantee that the coins will be transferred to "safe" caches. It only takes one muggling to lose a coin, young children taking them thinking they are ordinary swag items, or misguided or dishonest cachers keeping them as souvenirs. One of my coins even went missing from the first cache I hid it in which was gutting.

Geocoins are often very stunning now though, and barely resemble coins sometimes! The best place to discover coins is at events, where cachers often bring their coins with them for the sole purpose of showing them off and allowing them to be "discovered". I do this with the coins I have bought these last few years which I have never allowed myself to release out into the wild.

Travel Bugs are slightly different - they don't have to be very valuable at all and aren't really there for the sole purpose of discovering (although you can, again normally at events is your best bet!) Travel Bugs are there to travel. Find a small object you want to move around the country or the world and attach a TB to it to signify that it is not a swap item. These also go missing sometimes. They will be placed in caches that get muggled or archived, might get accidentally traded or just go totally AWOL. That said, they tend to have a better track record of surviving in the wild.

Missions for TBs vary and you shouldn't pick one up unless you know what it's aiming to do. I foolishly did this when I found a TB in Abu Dhabi in the Middle East. Its mission was to go to China but I brought it home with me unaware of its goal only to find it had come from the UK! Maybe it ended up in China quicker by catching the next plane out of Gatwick, but geographically speaking it didn't make much sense to bring it back to its starting country. Only discover TBs if you're not sure of what they want to achieve. A TB's mission can be anything the owner wants it to be. Common goals are "travel the world" or "attend events" but the mission can be more specific. A rubber duck might want to visit caches by ponds and lakes, for example, and some have a very specific destination country or cache in mind.

My TBs have had varying degrees of success. A lot of them have gone missing, unfortunately. Until recently my light up hooting owl keyring had successfully completed TWO missions but is now missing. Send the Dragon an Owl was a TB I created as a way of saying thank you to a friend who had released TBs in my honour. Its first mission was to reach the cacher in question, and to my amazement it did! He took photos to prove that it had successfully reached him! After that I set it the mission of getting back to me by coming to a cache near my home called "Owl's House". Again it succeeded. My good fortune ran out after that, however, when I decided to see if I could get it to fly up to an owl themed cache near Liverpool. It has not been seen since May 2012.

My other successful TBs have been two little plastic gingerbread men (well one man and one woman) I won out of a 2p machine in an arcade. I glued a TB to the back of each and placed them together in the same cache. The mission? To race each other! "You can't catch me; I'm the gingerbread man!" To my utter amazement they are both still going strong even though they were released in August 2012. Doesn't seem like a long time, but for TBs on a mission, that's quite an achievement!

The Gingerbread Man has travelled 5291.3 miles and after a quick holiday to Spain has been batted around Germany for many months. Germany is a very good country to have a TB - alongside America and Britain, geocaching is very popular there.

The Gingerbread Woman, by contrast, has done many more miles (8821.1) and yet has travelled less. The mileage comes from crossing the Atlantic and then visiting a number of States in the USA. She has only been to a quarter of the number of caches as her husband, but when she does travel, she travels far!

I really hope that both these little TBs continue to travel far and wide. The race might not be directly against one another and my little married biscuits might have been apart for over a year but they're both keeping themselves busy and meeting lots of really cool people. I think Mr Gingerbread might have picked up some German too!

Christmas is coming!

I've seen some pretty nice seasonal hides before, but I was not expecting one Christmas-themed cache I found to be attached to a full-size artificial tree just standing there innocently in a woodland! Would have been cool, if a little impractical, to have the cache as a gift-wrapped ammo can at the bottom!

"Have an Encounter with the Long Arm of the Law"

The heading of this entry is a reference to a potential requirement from a geocaching challenge cache called "I Challenge You To Play... CACHEBUSTERS!" which I have now at last qualified for by having an encounter with the police. I must reassure you that this is not required to claim the cache, but it is one possible route you can take across the "Blockbusters"-like board. Well, I needed to do that or go without caching for 30 days, and that's just unreasonable!

But any geocaching encounter with the police is going to be an interesting one, if not scary or bizarre. Recently I was looking for my latest cache-nemesis. We've all had them, right? The cache that you just keep DNFing. What adds insult to injury in this case is that it's not even difficult and everyone else seems to be posting "Easy find" type logs which makes me feel even more incompetent!

I went back for the umpeenth time to look for this little blighter and spent many minutes looking for a magnetic cache on top of a railway bridge where everything seems to be made of iron. The hint really isn't much to go on in this location. Frustrated with myself and getting impatient, I was surprised to look up and find a male and female police officer coming towards me; they'd parked their van on the kerb nearby.

I'm afraid to say that the first fleeting thought that ran through my head was "Ooh, I qualify for that challenge cache!" quickly followed by "Oh, no, they think I'm placing a bomb here!" I was behaving weirdly at a major railway bridge next to an international airport. I must look so dodgy! Still, I cleared thoughts of panic from my mind as I knew I was innocent - if incompetent - and waited to hear what they had to say.

"Are you OK? We stopped because you looked sad and were leaning over a railway bridge." A wave of relief washed over me. Oh, they think I'm suicidal! That makes sense. Well this cache is annoying, but it's not that annoying! I have never been one to make up an excuse when muggled, although I've heard my share of great ones (see below!) I'd much rather say I'm doing an online treasure hunt and let them walk away from me feeling relieved but disinterested. Police though generally know about geocaching from all the times it gets bad press (areas cleared when they think they've found a bomb, and actually it's just a badly placed cache).

I asked them if they'd heard of geocaching, and sure enough they had. They asked what the hint was and then made some suggestions, although they weren't all very good ones (try the statue down the road, for example). I know the coords might be out a bit, but they're not that bad! I kinda wished they'd stayed to help me look but they did actually have real work to be getting on with. Convinced that I was not about to end my life or anyone else's they bid me well and drove on. A good experience with the long arm of the law. Phew!

Some of the excuses I've heard cachers make for their questionable behaviour:

• I work for the slug-protection society
• I'm looking for a glove (the muggle then stopped to help look for it! Ha, busted!)
• I'm looking for my dog (whilst feeling up a metal bridge over a river!)

My excuse could be my interest in fungi, but telling the plain truth is normally the best way to go. You might even get another pair of eyes helping you look!

World War 2 Bunkers - history-laden thrill-seeking geocaching!

Most of the caches I've found have been on or near ground level, and the occasional one has been up a tree. But it's not often that I get to go underground to find a cache or two. I mean, GPS doesn't work down there! That said, there have been some slightly more unusual experiences in Wales with Bunkered? and DAVROS, both highly recommended!

 Entrances to Bunkered? and DAVROS respectively

Recently though I had the privilege of caching with DJ-DeKay and The Human Man to find two more underground hides. Thankfully I have always been able to cache with others for these subterranean hides, which serves the dual purpose of having better memories with more fun, and the practical aspect of physical help if needed (both with getting in/out of the bunker and in case anything were to go wrong).

I had found out about two underground Second World War bunkers which weren't very far from one another, and both of which had a cache in them. We set out for the first, Who Do You Think You Are Kidding, Mr Hitler? and spent more time looking for the opening than the cache itself! What stickoflage! The way in and out of the underground shelter involved a bit of a scramble over various articles under the entrance, all firmly in place, I might add! Not a lot to see when down there except a few mammal bones from poor rodents who couldn't get back out, and a nice big cache!

The second bunker at Subterranean Adventure was much better when it came to furnishing. It had a hatch and a very old rusty iron ladder down into the bunker. Against advice to have one person remain above ground, we all went down and had a sniff around, although not too literally because it stank of "old" down there. It was furnished with a cupboard, tables, a light switch I wouldn't trust, and a burnt out double mattress - no idea how that fitted down the small hole! There was also a bent spoon and a bit of a newspaper from 2008 - not exactly the 1940s, but still...

Sometimes it's good to get away from the norm in geocaching, to stop looking for Tupperware at the base of trees, and start digging down into some history. Favourite points were duly awarded for all the caches mentioned here, and a big thanks should go not only to all the cache owners but also to my great friends who cache with me in during such memorable escapades!

Groundspeak's 31 Days of Geocaching Challenge

Avid cachers will be aware that Groundspeak set geocachers the challenge of logging either a "Found It" or "Attended" log on at least one cache every single day of August 2013. I was having reservations about being able to do this challenge but as the month has progressed, it's been OK. A couple of hairy moments when holidaying in Ireland where I wondered whether I'd manage to get my daily cache, but wonderfully I've had an opportunity to cache every day so far. How are you faring, assuming you've been tempted by Groundspeak to take on this challenge yourself? Comment below! As if to persuade us, a total of 31 souvenirs can be earned to reward us for our craziness, and a lovely little calendar it makes up when completed:

This video made me laugh, as it sums up what goes through a lot of determined cachers' minds this month. This scene has had quite some going over by various people, adding their own captions for whatever storyline they're making, but for the 31 Days of Geocaching challenge, I think this is wunderbar! Geocaching is taken very seriously in Germany, after all!

Geocaching in Ireland

Woo, finally! Cached in Ireland! I've only been to Ireland once before and that was a day trip to Wexford, spending a couple of hours in the rain after a pretty rough crossing from Fishguard. Very pleased to be able to supersede this experience with a ferry crossing from Holyhead which was not nauseating, good weather and a few days travelling the country.

Two new caching souvenirs earned!

Sadly I was only there for a few days, but in that time I got to visit the lovely tourist-friendly town of Kilkenny and peaceful Cavan near the Northern Irish border. I also enjoyed Ireland's own Daniel O'Donnell in concert twice (not really my type of music, but great live). Caching-wise, Ireland is not nearly as bountiful in caches as the UK which made keeping up my August caching streak a challenge but there are some good ones out there up and down the country because they're placed with consideration rather than for the numbers. Would I come back? Yeah, definitely! Shame the ferry crossing from Swansea to Cork has stopped because that would have been ideal. 

To my delight I was able to cache in Staffordshire and Anglesey too on the way there and back (four new counties in total!) Nothing special about the motorway service station cache in Staffordshire but I am very pleased to at long last get the cache at the station in Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch, the longest place name in the UK. Not been here for years and years (since before the concept of geocaching was even conceived) but I was aware of the cache placed at the station and thankfully was able to nab this one before the ferry crossing to Ireland. Being able to pronounce this name has been my party trick for years, and it doesn't look like I'll have anything better to offer any time soon!

Oh, and a new Irish-themed multicache is going to be placed somewhere in Hampshire soon. Just working on the concept for it now! Watch this space!

Memories of the Midlands Mega

A big thanks to cheesescones for making the weekend of the West Midlands Mega 2013 (3rd August) a fantastic experience in every way, with loads of familiar faces met, merchandise bought, trackables discovered, Jasmer and D/T stats increased and of course superb caches found!

At "Glorious Gloucestershire" for my third oldest find to date.

This year's main event was at the Heritage Motor Museum in Gaydon, Warwickshire with a number of side events too. Almost unintentionally we ended up doing 11 icons in a day yet again (we'd aimed for this at the Geolympix in Oxford last year!) and it was nice to get another web cam and Wherigo, personally. A couple of CITOs were welcome too, although I have yet to do a CITO in a litter-laden area although I can suggest a few areas! I'm not much of a planner so if anyone wants to hold a CITO, contact me and I'll make some recommendations!

My most unusual find during my CITO milestone - a very waterlogged "30" wreath!

Cheesescones and I both hit a minor milestone whilst away, and both of us managed to make a CITO (one each) the milestone itself. Many miles were covered into various surrounding counties to pick up unusual D/T combos and very old caches. Exhausting, all in all, but fantastic. Hope to be at the Kent one next year. Think Scotland's a little out of my reasonable distance to travel!

A Mega log book!

King Alfred's Cakes

I love all mushrooms but these are something a little unusual, even for fungi. Legend has it that King Alfred the Great was left to watch over some cakes baking, but being preoccupied, forgot about them and they burnt. These tough 'shrooms resemble burnt cakes, hence their name. If we're being scientific about it, they're really called Daldinia concentrica as their insides have a concentric pattern.

Much like burnt cakes, they are largely regarded as inedible, although they're not dangerous to eat. They have been used to relieve cramps according to folk remedy and are sometimes known as Cramp Balls. You're most likely to see them attached to dead ash and beech trees, amongst other broadleaved trees and whilst they are in season during the summer to autumn, they can hang about for many years!

Caching by bike

I love long car journeys to interesting places. I love long walks in the woods or across fields in the sunshine. I love hacking across country on horseback when I get the opportunity... but cycling is a different kind of pleasure, and also something I don't get the chance to do very often, which is what makes it so exciting. My bike is still in Wales and despite the kind offer of one of my colleagues to have his spare bike, I had to decline simply because I have nowhere at all to keep one, not even a garden or communal space. A bike of my own will have to wait until we get a different place.

Meanwhile I have taken to hiring bikes in Brockenhurst in the New Forest where the bikes are good quality and the people are friendly. I can see myself remaining a loyal customer to Cyclexperience until the day I get a bike of my own (in England!). I decided it would be nice to combine cycling with my passion for geocaching like I used to years ago when I'd cycle up the Tawe in Swansea to Pontardawe and pick off caches en route.

I was provided with a map of the area I'd opted to venture, a route taking me west to Burley and then north and back towards Brockenhurst again, making a complete circuit. I lost the way a couple of times, but then I also had my GPSr telling me in not so many words "There's a cache over there; why not make a detour and pick it up?" Of the eight I stopped for, I thankfully found them all, and some were in pretty remote areas which made cycling to them even more appealing. Glad I had my detailed map of the New Forest with me as the route map I'd been provided with didn't show up all the paths I was taking, and the spare batteries came in useful for my GPSr. How reassuring to be able to pinpoint your location when you're in a place you've never been before. Don't know that I would have got back by 5pm without it!

Sadly on this occasion I also had something of a breakdown and I have no recollection of how it happened. It didn't seem to be a straight forward puncture, which I've had before. No, I stopped to try and help direct some other cyclists and when I started off again my bike felt heavy and hard to cycle. I wondered if I had lost the knack or knackered myself?! The odd squishing sound that accompanied my laboured pedalling told me something was wrong and sure enough my rear tyre was all squidgy, to use the technical term. I had the option of calling the hire centre for help or a replacement bike but by this time I was so close to Brockenhurst that I decided to persevere. Unfortunately it got a lot worse and soon my inner tube was caught up in the spokes. The bike's entrails were spilling out everywhere and in my inexperience at resolving bike problems, I only made the situation worse. Shamefully I pushed the bike on its front wheel through the town and gained some muscle in my arms just by supporting the rear wheel the whole way. Despite this, I still had an awesome day and will be going back for more! Next time, remember to take the repair kit, girl.

This was not supposed to happen!

Westbury White Horse

Decided to do something a little special for my minor milestone of 2100 and as I was in the area, White Horse View seemed a good one. Many times have I been through Westbury on the train to or from Wales and seen the massive horse out the window, but at last I have been able to get right up close to it, so close in fact that I sat on its ear. The are some good views from below but you can get right to the top and see across Westbury and beyond. The history of the horse is uncertain but it's thought to date back to the eighteenth century. Why it's there no one really knows either, although other white horses were made to celebrate victories. Originally the horse was purely the chalk in the hillside but it's been painted and preserved now so that it doesn't have to be scrubbed clean all the time!

The horse is one of several in the Wiltshire area, but probably the most anatomically accurate (which is saying something, really). Other chalk figures tend to be outlines like the Long Man of Wilmington or the Cerne Abbas Giant. I find them a little eerie, to be honest, but also fascinating, perhaps like my love/hate relationship with huge chimneys, cooling towers and other industrial superstructures.

Boris biking in the capital

If you're ever in London and looking to get around, you'll probably go down to the Tube or perhaps take a tour bus or even cruise along the Thames. What about cycling, though? Well, to be frank, I can't think of many things more daunting than cycling through the capital, but I was willing to give it a try what with the fairly recent incentive of Boris Johnson's to get hired bicycles dotted around the capital to encourage green commuting. We spent a while just getting the bikes out, then with much trepidation cycled away from London Bridge, trying to get to grips with these rather heavy and awkward bikes. The next half an hour was spent cycling round in circles through quiet streets and a nearby playground. 

I think cycling through central London is some way off for the likes of me. I'll stick to the New Forest, thanks! Hats off to those who do use eco-friendly transport in such a city though. If ever you're in London, it's worth giving the Boris bikes a go, just for a laugh!

First attempt at action filming

It's not something I see myself doing on a regular basis, but there have been a few occasions when I have thought "wouldn't it have been good to have filmed that?" but my hands were too busy grabbing handlebars, pulling me through a tunnel or gripping a dog sled so I was unable to hold my camera. Typical that the most exciting moments are also the times when my hands aren't free! I decided to invest in a cheap action camera to see if it's something worth pursuing. I'd say that I don't do enough interesting or thrill-seeking stuff to make it worth my while to buy a better one.

Today, biking in the New Forest, I thought I'd take it out for its first spin, with varying degrees of success!

Problems I've encountered include:

• Incredibly poor audio - part and parcel of buying a cheap model
• Inaccurate time - for some reason the time carries on from when it was last switched on!
• Wrong angle - There was only one place where I could attach it to my helmet but that meant that the angle was too high and so to see the road I had to look down the whole time which was a little impractical, if not dangerous
• Seasickness - partly my filming, partly the nature of trying to use it when juddering up and down on gravel. Perhaps the issue could have been resolved by attaching the camera to the handlebars, but I don't know it would have made a huge amount of difference (but at least it would probably be pointing  the right direction!)

In all honesty, I think this little gadget will live in a cupboard doing nothing most of the time. I might get it out for the odd interesting event where holding a camera is inappropriate and I certainly want to take it to Go Ape but I'm not expecting decent footage any more!

May the Fourth be with you!

Groundspeak decided to celebrate 4th May with its tenth World Wide Flash Mob, an event I've never previously attended for whatever reason. But today, being a free Saturday I committed to two out of three reasonably close 15-minute events to celebrate the occasion and earn yet another souvenir for my profile. 

A flash mob event is a quick sudden gathering of people for a common purpose who before the predetermined time act naturally. At the given moment though, there is suddenly a mass gathering of apparent strangers, much to the bemusement of those not in on it - in this case muggles. For several years now Groundspeak has proposed dates when the whole geocaching community should do this type of event and that's what makes it a world wide thing. We might not all be meeting at precisely the same moment (not really fair given the time zones) but we all come together on that calendar date.

So the May the Fourth bit made the theme of a Star Wars nature although having still never watched the films, I am merely drawing upon what little I know to see me through all the references. All the films are on my bucket list but I would rather borrow than buy them just in case I don't enjoy them. 

Thanks Bernie for hosting the first this morning at 9am (not early for me! I had a nice hour's lie-in this morning!) with the blustery wind and a nice view out across the Solent. Plenty turned up - a fair number of trackables to log, new faces (as ever!) to see, as well as old ones. And a queue for the log book. Much the same later on at 1:15pm for Mellers' second WWFM event of the day, this one with a rather delicious cake theme! It was also good to spend time doing normal geocaching with FfiLli after the first event. Always makes a welcome change to cache in the company of others, although there are pros and cons to caching alone.

Next significant event... the West Midlands Mega!

CITO in the sunshine!

Today I was able to adorn my profile with a new BadgeGen badge (Silver CITO) and souvenir (CITO 2013):

But more importantly than that I got to take part in a great event where I had the opportunity to contribute to the upkeep of our local environment by litter-picking with dozens of other cachers on Meon Shore in what is turning out to be an annual event. Much better than last year which was a total wash-out, the sun was out the whole time!

Another highlight of the day was spending time with other people of like mind, particularly Cat a Tonic and Mellers. Many thanks for your company!

I look forward to the next CITO event, whenever that may be. They tend to come only in annual waves and at Megas so maybe I'll take part in one in the Midlands in August. Always feels so satisfying at the end though; wish these were more common event types. 

Reviving my inner orienteer!

It's been far too long since I took up a detailed O map and compass to locate controls at a run. Very glad I got in contact with Southampton Orienteering Club and turned up to the event this morning. I think perhaps the orange course was a little too basic for me, but I thought it would be best not to overestimate it! I was looking forward to going to the next events, but I am otherwise committed for the next few weeks. Oh well, in time!

Cache #2000 in South Wales

I hadn't intended to get my 2000 cache milestone whilst enjoying a four-night stay back with my parents in Wales but as cheesescones, cloudspotter and I went and mopped up loads of caches in Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and West Glamorgan I thought that I would be within touching distance of this large milestone. Time to seriously consider what cache it should be before I overshoot it and find I've landed myself with a dull cache 'n' dash for the big one!

Bunkered? was a cache I'd been eyeing up for some time, ever since it was published in fact! But living so far away I never really got the chance to seriously consider it! Now was my opportunity though so when I was on cache number 1993 cheesescones and I made our way to Pembrey Country Park via some caches en route (Sluice Gate being another excellent hide). I have been to Pembrey a few times and done some great orienteering there but I love it so much - to me it's like a small taste of heaven right here, right now. There's just something for all the family there. So being able to get my milestone in one of my favourite places on earth (Rhossili Bay and Toronto being the main others) was a real pleasure.

Did the cache disappoint? Hell no! I won't give away all the details just in case you're ever in the area and want to have a go yourself, but basically it involves a bit of crawling through an old disused bunker. When I saw what I had to do, I had doubts for a second then threw myself in (literally) and enjoyed the different caching experience. Cache found, number 2000 achieved, favourite point duly awarded!

When I got home later, I read up more on the history of the area and found that Pembrey has actually got a rather sinister history and the neighbouring forest is supposedly haunted. Make of that what you will, but it was a little creepy seeing the very bunker I'd been in filmed briefly for an episode of Most Haunted! (See below)

Caches that make you laugh

I won't give away the name or location of this, but let's just say that when I found it I couldn't resist a smile!

Caching and nature spotting in Stanley Park

Stanley Park is a lovely large park in Vancouver full of wildlife and plenty of geocaches and whilst finding caches was really cool, as ever, stumbling upon the final of a multi by accident was a welcome addition to my  caching total! Even better than the geocaches (!) were the creatures I don't see in the wild back home in the UK...

Herons (not unheard of in the UK, but not a common sight):

Black squirrels (and very tame at that):

Raccoons (watching one and being snuck up on by another!):

Flight in a sea plane

One of the excursions we got to do was have a flight in a sea plane over Victoria which was fantastic and another thing I would definitely recommend. For once in your life you do hope that your aircraft touches down on water!

Canyoneering at night

Another first for me - going in a canyon. At night. During the winter. With lots of ice. And no idea how to get back. Sounds fun! And yes, it was. During the summer it is flowing thick and fast but it freezes in the winter and we can walk on the frozen river up canyon and admire waterfalls which have frozen solid into some beautiful formations. Although it would have been easier to appreciate in daylight, there was a certain thrill about being down there at night in the quiet and stillness that accompanies it.

DOG SLEDDING!!!

Ever since Solid Snake said in Metal Gear Solid "I ride dog sleds, I'm a musher" I have really wanted to have a go at it. Bear in mind I first heard Snake say this in 1999. But I've never been in a part of the world where it's done and Snake, fictional character though he may be, lives in Alaska which is still very much on my to-visit list.

Sledding was one of the bookable excursions on this Canadian holiday though and was done through Cold Fire Creek Dog Sledding (Sundog Tours), who were excellent. Six sleds went out, each with six or ten Alaskan huskies pulling and we switched over so that we got a chance to mush and chill out (literally) in the sled. Funnily enough the toes got colder quickly when you were under all the blankets in the sled rather than when you were scooting through the snow because they were inactive in the sled and just became painfully cold. We did a 10km track and the dogs just could not wait to get going, all barking and jumping over each other with impatience.

Have a look at their promotional video:

Walking on a frozen lake

Behind me is the frozen solid Lake Pyramid just north-west of Jasper in Alberta. Can't say I've ever ventured out onto a lake before but then the entire coach-load of us went and had a real play like we were all kids again! Forty-something women making snow angels, grown men throwing powdery snowballs and general frivolity that we British don't normally show in public.

Was the ice going to crack any time soon? No, hardly likely - there were several inches of snow on top of all the ice, too.

Cross-country train journey

A big part of the holiday was going across Canada on a sleeper train, which we spent three nights on. Originally the plan had been to get the train all the way from Toronto to Vancouver but I'm glad we changed plans and only went as far as Jasper then got a coach the rest of the way. It meant more time to enjoy ourselves in the Rockies and better views of the scenery to Vancouver. Still, travelling by long-distance train is great and doesn't compare to the trains you'd just use to commute to work or take a day-trip on. There was a very nice dining carriage with exquisite food, a fair amount of entertainment and a few stops en route. The worst part was having to stop often to let very long freighters (152 wagons, I counted on one) go past. The best part was sleeping in an upper bunk, being rocked to sleep by the train thundering along at high speed overnight.

Here's the amazing promotional video for the trip we did:

Niagara Falls in the winter

Before visiting the Falls, I didn't know much about them except that they are half in the USA and half in Canada. What I didn't realise is that the Americans can't really see either of them properly. The American Falls are best viewed across the river in Canada and the Canadian Horseshoe Falls can't be seen in America unless you walk out onto a platform which is often mistaken for being the remainder of the Honeymoon Bridge which fell down. In fact, the bridge was replaced in the same place by the Rainbow Bridge which is one of four major crossing places in the area to get from one country to the other.

American Falls on the left and Canadian Horseshoe Falls on the right.

They are partly frozen in the winter but even so they are very loud and create vast amounts of spray!

There is the option to walk behind the Horseshoe Falls through a tunnel with lookouts but the water here is completely frozen!

What did surprise me is how much the Horseshoe Falls have cut away the rock in what in geological terms is a very short space of time. See the diagram below of how they used to fall off a near-enough straight edge.

The other thing that surprised me is how built up the area is. I don't know why this is such a shock. It makes a lot of sense to use the Falls as a way of making money and having tourist attractions nearby but I was not expecting a Blackpoolesque street of arcades and amusements.

You'd never believe it was the same place!

What was pleasant though was the quaint but attractive little town of Niagara-on-the-Lake a few miles away. We visited a Christmas shop, which, for January was surprisingly busy! We also trudged through a quiet residential area thick with snow to see the perfectly calm and peaceful Lake Ontario.