Salford Quays HDR Day

Spent the day around Salford Quays taking pictures and then editing them into HDR images. I have to take 3 pictures at -2, 0 and +2 exposure. then I just run these through a program called Photomatix Pro to generate the HDR image and then tonemap them.

Just some of the shots that I got. I wonder where I will get to next.

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Its been a while

Well it was back in March when I last posted a blog and that was for the Beer Festival in Wigan. Now after getting a macbook and find a nice program for writing blogs offline i'm hoping to pick it back up and update more often.

So what have I done that I could of blogged about but didn't get around to -

Geocaching camping event in Rivington, Dalesbridge, Derbyshire and Snowdonia. Walked up Mount Snowdon and been diving in Scapa Flow and Swanage.

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Wigan Beer Festival 2010

Went to the 23rd Wigan Beer Festival on the 5th March at Robin Park Sports Centre. This was combined with a geocaching flash mob event but the beer was the main reason for being there. During the evening I sampled six different beers.

Banks Top Sweeneys - 3.8%

A amber beer brewed with a highly rated German hop. Bold crisp flavor with a delicate spicy aroma.

Little Valley Organic Ginger Pale Ale - 4%

Light and fresh with a hint of ginger and citrus.

Lytham Blonde - 3.8%

Pale golden beer with a subtle hop aroma and a smooth dry finish

George Wright Mocne Piwo - 5.1%

Name is Polish for 'strong ale'. Light amber in colour with a morrish hop aftertaste.

Saltaire Blackberry Cascade - 4.8%

American style pale ale hopped with cascade and centennial hops, infused with a hint of blackberries.

The place was rammed with the loud music of the live band and plenty of beer flowing.

Solstice With The Stones

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Originally uploaded by scubaclogger

Saturday 23rd Jan - Arriving at The Last Drop Village for 05:30 there were was a number of other cachers already parked up and ready for the walk. The walk was to take us across Turton Golf Course and up to the Trig point on Cheetham Close to watch the sunrise. The sight of the trail of headlights behind snaking down the hill is a sight to be remembered. Once on top of the hill I made my way to the trig point with Wicker and then waited as the rest joined us. As the sun came up the mist started to clear to reveal low laying cloud below us. The sight of Winter Hill Transmitter to the West and Scout Moor Windfarm to the Southeast with clouds rolling past below was amazing. As the sun peered over the top of the cloud the whole sky turned orange and the chill in the air seemed to disappear. While the main group headed of along the paths to find some tupperware I headed down hill with Ferretter38 and Bargee before heading back towards the car. Total time of walk was 5 hours and just 10km.

Post Christmas Chocolate Cracker

Early in the week it was decided to postpone the three events in Bolton that I was going to due to the weather that would effect the first. These being Solice with the the Stones, Appalling and Camouflage. So having noticed this event on the groundspeak weekly newsletter I decided to head to North Wales.

I arranged to meet Don (The Syllogiser), Francies (FFloss) and Steve (1/4 of Team SLuG) in Shevington for a 7:30 departure. With all gear loaded into the car and all passengers on board it was a matter of getting of the ice rink side roads of Shevington and onto the M6. We arrived at Abergele Railways Station just before 9am for the start of the day. Cachers turned up at a steady pace and then it was time to get the train to Llandudno. The train was early for once so we had some spare time to grab a couple of caches that weren't on the route for the day.

After some running around town finding a stage of a multi it was to the band stand for the start of the walk. The route was along the coast taking in the Little Orme, Rhos-on-sea, Colwyn Bay, Llanddulas and finaly Abergele. The full route has been uploaded to Wikiloc here.

On arriving at the Little Orme a splinter group headed to the trig point go get some numbers for a multi cache. The views from up their over the bay of Llandudno were just amazing. The wind was biting but the sun was shining. So after a great walk of around 15 miles, there was 26 caches found and 2 events attended.

One Thousand and Two

Yep, 1002 is the number of caches that I have done in 2009. Not bad for my second full year of caching. I started mid December in 2007 and got 14 and in 2008 357 caches in 38 caching days. So last year saw me cache for 114 days. My best month was in March with 195 finds which is when I was doing the LEGEND series a lot. It also saw me get 17 first to finds that month, all on one day with a new series not far from home.

I have also got addicted to one cachers caches. The Sparrowboys have a number of cache around the Partington, Carrington and Durham Massey area. There 2 and 3 stage multi's are some of the the best cache I have done and I believe it will take a lot to beat them. I also got my one and only 5/5 rated cache thanks to Muttoneer and his Werewolf cache. Which I combined with finding Whitespace at the same time. January saw me attend my first geocaching event and I now have a total of 16 under my belt and hope to beat that number this year but I don't think it will be by too many more.

So here is to 2010 and many more caches.

Wait Until Dark 2

Well the day (Thursday 19th) didn't start out has planned. Had arranged to do the Wacky Races Series with The Syllogiser in the afternoon but on arriving in Shevington I could find my wallet in the car and after a couple of phone calls home it was looking that I might of lost it. So had to drive home only to locate it in a place that I never leave it. Back to Wigan and the time had passed so plan B was put into plan for a quick cache. We headed upto, well that would be telling as its a puzzle cache we went for. GC1VB4J - NYZN SVRYQ GC 0825. After following the instructions on the cache page the tub was found and the log signed. I was able to grab another micro in the area before we had to return ready for the main cache of the night. So leaving Shevington with Mrs Syllogiser driving we picked up Steve of Team SLuG in Standish and continued onto Brinscall via Chorley to pick up Ferreter38. Once at Brinscall we meet up with GamesRmeLife, ChannelFadge and JHewitt15. It was then the start of GCMW16 - Wait Until Dark 2. Heading up the lane to the start of the path and then onto the first firefly. It was then into the woods in the darkness of a November night. After about 3 fireflies the woods disappeared and so did the fireflies due to logging in the middle of it all. This was the hardest part of the terrain, making sure you stayed upright. On the other side when the trees started again there was no signs of any fireflies so it was upto the GPSr to find the way to the cache. The cache was homed in on and the final location was found by the final fireflies being spotted. Unfortunately the cache had been taken and the contents left buried under the rocks. It was now time to head back to the car via GC19MWT - Top o' th' wodds Stables and then onto Brindle for the Monthly Meet of the North West Cachers.