500 finds on the Horizon

Was able to grab a couple of caches today including a Lizard power. This takes me to 492 finds so only 8 more and 500 is done. This isn't bad as back at the beginning of October 08 I had 140 finds and set myself a target of 200 before December 18th which would have been 12 months of caching for me. Well, I got set to make this target and then Grandad John had the Middlewood Way Circular Published and this helped me to smash the target and I have just kept going. I found 74 caches in October, 92 in November, 45 in December and 82 last Month. Following new shifts at work i plan to get out a lot more this year and you never know, maybe 1000 before the end of 09.

Back to UK Diving

 

Today was the first time for a dive in the UK for four months. Work, Illness and other commitments have kept me out of the water. It was off to Stoney Cove Inland Dive Site for a dive or two. Setting of at 6:45am, picking my buddy Mark up on the way and then heading down the M6/A50/M1 and M69 at a steady pace. Arrived at the dive site for around 10:15am. It was just a matter of getting dressed for the occasion as the dive kit was put together the night before and slung in the car. 

Twin set on the back and stage (7lt ali) ready it was down to the bus stop entry point for the the jump in. Hood, Mask and fins on all that was left before the big splash was the gloves. Stage cylinder left on the floor and in I went. Cold is not the word to describe it. The water temperature was 4ºc. I had to swim back to the bus stop to collect my stage. This is because its easier to put on once I'm in the water. Once Mark had got in and we had taken a rest it was time to commence the dive. With a quick OK and Down signal we dropped to the first depth of 6 meters and then down the slope to 20 meters before finding the road and heading into the gloom of the pit and 35 meters. Reaching the bottom at around 12 minutes it was time to make  the return trip. Passing the bottom of the quarry road we came upon the deep hydro box. After a bit of a quick ascent and back down it was up the road passing the tower and BOP. At 13 meters it was time to switch to the stage cylinder that had 68% O2 in it. By this time the hands were numb with the cold and 5 meters was reached for the 3 minute safety stop before getting out and defrosting. 

After an hour and half of surface interval it was time to go again. The plan for this dive was to get in the water and follow the chain along the bottom of the quarry to the wreck. This was done to the letter but at arriving at the wreck it was a quick turn round and back due to the coldness. The pain in my fingers was getting unbearable and was not able to bend them. The dive was cut short and was only 19 minutes long.  Well I did it, back to the cold dark water that is the UK inland site also known as puddle diving. Will get some more in before the trip in May to Eyemouth.

Stoney Cove Dive Site

High Bullough Reservoir

 The last time I visited the place I left empty handed. So today (12th Febuary) I decided to head back there I wasn't leaving until I had completed the two caches that beat me last time. These being Jacob's Ladder by Pop Up Pirate and Jacob's Other Ladder by Foinavon. Here are the logs from the cache page.

Jacob's Ladder - GC13Z2B - This was a bit of Deja vou for me. I had been here to pass the time away before heading for Januarys NWCMM. While walking around the reservoir I got side tracked onto The Other Jacob's Ladder Cache but without success. I walked back along a path and down some steps to get back to the car. These steps were Jacob's Ladder.

I headed to the ladder after finding 123, how mays resers can you see? and tried counting the steps on the way up and managed to get to 60 something. This is the point were I went wrong, left and right, how do you get them mixed up. After about ten minutes of searching and changed my direction and found the step down that I was looking for, how did I miss it in the first place, I had walked past it the last time I was here. Having a look around a I spotted the likely hide and there it was. The cache was half full with water so after cleaning the marbles inside I emptied the water out. Tried signing the log but struggled even with a pencil. Thanks for the cache.

Jacob's Other Ladder - GC16D4X - Short Log - TFTC SL TNLN

Long Log - I know how much the cache owner loves those one line logs. I made my way to the cache along the upper path from PUP's Jacob's Ladder Cache and soon arrived above GZ. I had tried this before on a day when I must have left my brain at home. On that occasion I had scrambled up the hill from the lower path and by the time I got to the top I was too knackered to look for a cache. So called it and went back to the car.
I carried on along the path until I could see and easy way down and then back tracked to where my GPSr was taking me. I was going back a forth between two of the items in the hint. After about ten minutes of getting caught up in trees with my bag I had had enough. Dropped the bag on the floor, put the GPSr next to it and took a good look around with the hint in mind. Would you believe it, I was only stood right in front of the cache. It took me just one step up to reach it. Signed the log and then placed the cache back. Now for the trip down the hill to the lower path to continue around to Dotties Delight. Thankfully I had a trekking pole to keep me upright. Thanks for another exhilarating cache.

All I can say is that this area is full of great cache and I haven't even scratched the surface. Can't wait for the long days to come round when I will be able to get up here before the birds wake up.

Cache Placement

After some time of collecting and buying different types of containers for cache placement it was time to hide some. Up till this point I have only had 4 caches, 3 Traditional and 1 Multi. I have noticed a gap along the Rochdale Canal that would be a perfect spot for some so set off with a number of different caches in a plastic bag and no idea of where I was going to put them. After about 40 mins of walking along the canal the job was done and it was time to head home and write the cache pages up and submit them for publishing. 

I have just started to use html coding in my cache listings and this was where it went a bit wrong. I decided to write the main information on one page and then copy and paste it into the other but ended up with many line breaks in the text. This took some time for me to delete all the unwanted line breaks but I got there in the end. The caches were published about an hour after submitting them and then found twice in just over an hour of that.

They are :- Rochdale Canal,

M60 Tunnel

Boat and Horses

Chadderton B

No Fishing

Flying Road

Lock 64

An eventful few days

 Decided it was time to attend a geocaching event and have now done 3 in as many days. First two were a Saturday. The first was GC1J1M1 - The Service. I parked at the Ridgeway in Blackrod, this is the venue of the second event, and walked along the A6 with the Linedancers and then took the path down to the Service Sation area. On the way down we were able to get the following caches. GC1KFF4 - Bocca Della Verita, GC1KFF4 - Unlucky Seven, GC1KFEQ - Motorway Gridlock, GC1KFDY - Close encounters of the M61 Motorway Kind. After this it was inside for a brew and a sight that this service station will most likely not see again. There was close to 50 people in the resturant and the staff looked amuzed to where everyone had come from. After leaving the service i walked back to the Ridgeway Arms and the second event of the day, GC1JVJ2 - After The Gold Rush. On the way to here i took the oppertunity to pick up GC10RR5 - Cemetery Gates and GC19970 - Side Tracked Blackrod. It was then into the pub for a drink, food and a chat. After spending about 2 hours here i decided to head upto Windy Hill and drop three Northwest Caching Race Bugs off into GC3A42 - Windy Hill. But before leaving the Horwich area i decided to find GC1JNMB - Lest We Forget - Horwich and GC163PE - Station to Station Park. 

The final event was GC1GPKE - Clare's Birthday Bash Cache. The night started off with 11 caches to be found and then a meal in the pub, this being the Smithy Inn, Much Hoole. The birthday cake was in the form of a ammo can complete with swaps and TB's. So after never being to an event before it was three in 3 days.

Back to Rivvy - Part 2

 Now it was time to head over to George's Lane to tackle Pop up pirates Cats and Dogs Multi. I set off in the direction i thought it was to the first stage but had to back track to the car park and onto the road. Here is my log from the cache page - Having spent the first part of the day caching over near Coal Pit Road I was now ready to tackle a multi. Parked in the car park as suggested and set off along George's Lane to round up the missing animals. 1, 2 and 3 quickly done. Took some time with number 4 due to leaf fall covering it up but it was soon discovered. Continued on and located 5, 6 and 7. On arriving at no' 8 I was looking too low down but had to hold off my search to put some grit on the road to help a van up the hill. Once the van had passed with one happy driver it was back to the search for pet number 8 and it was soon found. I then worked out the final co-ords and to my surprise they worked. Got to GZ and with the help of the hint found the cache. Signed the log and left a whistle key finder that I took from Boggarts Behind You yesterday and had on my car key but it was starting to annoy me. It was now onto Douglas & George, In the Shadow of the Pike and Round the Ruins No 9, Prospect Farm plus a maintenance job at Two Tower View on behalf of Team_ShadowWalker. I also made it upto the Pike for the first time, smaller than it looks for a distance but a fantastic view from up there. Thanks for the cache, great fun doing it, took just over an hour. 

Its was then onto Douglas & George, In the Shadow of the Pike and Round the ruinsNo 9, Prospect Farm before dropping a new log off at Two Towers View. It was then time to head up the hill to the pike before returning to the car and home to get warm.

Back to Rivvy - Part 1

With the New Year here it was time for a trip back to the Rivington Area. I set of just after 8am for a 30 min drive to Horrocks Fold Car Park on Scout Road. From here i got everything together and set of along Scout road and then up Coal Pit Road before taking the path where the Mass trepass took place on Sunday 6th September 1896. From here it was a short walk to Ground Zero for cache GC10R9v - Will Yo' Come O' Sunday Morning by Lollybob. This was last found in May 08 and had to Did Not Find's since then with the last being in November. I was up against it since leaving home as during the night it had snowed and the ground was frozen. I spent around five minutes looking before it was time to call it and more on. The fact the by now my hands were freezing searching in the snow was also another factor.

It was now onto GC10RAA - Power to the people by Lollybob. This was a quick find once I had finished taking pictures of the area covered in snow. I soon signed the log and placed the cache back in its hide before continuing up the hill to GC169TC - Hole in the wall by Lollybob. On arriving at GZ it became clear how the hint was going to work and after a quick walk around i started my search and soon had the cache in my hand. I signed the log which had seen better days and then return the cache to its hole and headed back along the path which i came along before heading uphill just pass Power to the people and on my way to GC115GT - A Bonnie Lass by Lollybob.

This was going to be another hard serch in the snow covered heather and i was just about to give up when my foot kicked something and on looking down it was the cache. With my numb fingers from the cold i opened the cache, took the log out and signed it before placing the cache back where i had found it and movong on.

Next was GC1AQ6F - April Showers by Lollybob. This i will do a seperate blog for.