Tortoiseshell

itsnotaboutthenumbers.com is dead, long live GSAK!

2010-07-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

It was with shock and dismay that I recently discovered that itsnotaboutthenumbers.com had perished. This had the galvanising effect of getting to grips (after an impromptu e-mail tutorial from Von-Horst) with GSAK, the geocaching statistical package. And, lo and behold, it is possible to produce a UK county map with a colour scheme resembling that of itsnotaboutthenumbers. Life goes on! Oh yes, Dyfed has at last turned red! (100 caches).

Grey V-Dub spotted @ Manorbier

2010-07-20T09:13:00.000-07:00

Wish I'd started blogging on V-dubs at the start of this blog. Oh well, better late than never. Nice one to start with!

@ the old stomping ground (2)

2010-07-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

@ the old stomping ground (1)

2010-07-20T09:11:00.000-07:00

Glamorgan v Somerset 20/20 (logging as football even though it's cricket)

@ a loose end in Tenby

2010-07-10T09:08:00.000-07:00

Tenby Seaviews Stroll multicache

Hard work for a multi cache, but just about worth it for a glorious vista from an angle I hadn't appreciated before.

Ammo box at Carreg Cennen

2010-07-08T09:06:00.000-07:00

Bonus! Haven't grappled with one of these in ages.

Carreg Cennen

2010-07-08T09:05:00.000-07:00

I'm starting to get really attached to this place.

Soggy in Brynaman

2010-07-08T09:04:00.000-07:00

Classic country caching.

Class 66 at Gwaun Cae Gurwen

2010-07-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

Wasn't expecting to see any trains on my circular tour round the Black Mountain today.

Nuclear bunker at Gwaun Cae Gurwen

2010-07-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

...could only be an Eclectic Penguin cache site!

New Abercachers Travelbug race

2010-06-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

Have entred this cutie into the Abercachers 2010 Travelbug race

Tortie and white!

2010-06-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

Classic David Brown tractor

2010-06-04T08:49:00.000-07:00

Haven't seen one like this since going to Tillington in 2006.

Caching on Caldey

2010-06-04T08:45:00.000-07:00

Preseli ridge

2010-05-26T08:42:00.000-07:00

View from geocache on Cardigan-Tenby road

County Map Update

2010-05-17T17:32:00.000-07:00

Latest developments

London - 50 caches

East Sussex, Buckinghamshire, Essex - first caches found

Wiltshire - up from 1 cache, to 2-9 caches

Round-up

So, a frenetic last few weeks of March has led to a series of territorial gains in south east England. However, now back to the normality of life in Wales again, and I have eased the foot off the gas a bit in the last few weeks, both in caching and blogging terms, as real life has bitten back with a vengeance!

Tortoiseshell has been through various ebbs and flows since 2006. The latest hiatus is not a blogging crisis by any means, but I do feel another "State of the blog" update coming on...

Tortie & white spotted in Llambed!

2010-04-29T17:27:00.000-07:00

Back to life, back to reality

2010-04-22T17:21:00.000-07:00

After 15 months of high-life caching and other nonsense in London, back to basics in Ammanford with 2 quick cache and dashes from the Eclectic Penguin stables.

AFC Wimbledon 2-2 Wrexham

2010-03-30T17:19:00.000-07:00

Wombles salvage a draw from the jaws of defeat with this injury time penalty - a remarkable last few minutes as I have ever seen in a football match.

Anarchists Alley

2010-03-30T17:17:00.000-07:00

Found a geocache near this place on Whitechapel Road

Lydford Locators earthcache @ Leigh Delamere

2010-03-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

Leigh Delamere Quarry (Earthcache)

Easy earthcache early on last trip to London...

Looking west along Sussex Coast

2010-03-27T17:11:00.000-07:00

Nice brooding shot!

Cache on Brighton Pier!

2010-03-27T17:08:00.000-07:00

Found 3 caches on this trip to Brighton, after some speculation it turned out all 3 caches were in the East Sussex part of my geocaching map.

Windmill near Lorenzo's older daughter's house

2010-03-26T17:05:00.000-07:00

Gilberts

2010-03-25T16:53:00.000-07:00

Excellent retro garage bric-a-brac spotted at Gilbert's cafe, Pendine.

Funny old game

2010-03-17T16:50:00.000-07:00

Just a few days after the sojourn to the eastern end of Essex, I found myself back in rural Carmarthenshire for my next cache. Such are the twists and turns of the game.

Southend

2010-03-17T16:49:00.000-07:00

Horrible evening in Southend after a pleasant enough stroll in Shoeburyness.

Shoeburyness 2

2010-03-17T16:48:00.000-07:00

Cache hidden under this old shipping remnant

Shoeburyness 1

2010-03-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

Penultimate trek down to London - went out to Shoeburynesss and Southend, did 4 caches altogether.

Margam cache and dash

2010-03-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

M48 J38

Cache located behind milestone near Margam Park.

Maen Ceti (Arthur Stone)

2010-03-07T18:34:00.000-08:00

Maen Ceti (Arthur's Stone) Earthcache

Second earthcache in a few weeks. Took Small Tortoiseshell and Lorenzo the Llama (pictured) up to Cefn Bryn on Gower - another bitterly cold wind for caching.

"Tortoiseshell's Springclean"

2010-03-01T19:33:00.000-08:00

View of Llansteffan from a geocache I have placed on a footpath above Ferryside.

Swansea City v Peterborough

2010-02-27T18:21:00.000-08:00

Southernmost point of Cardiff

2010-02-24T18:28:00.000-08:00

Southernmost point of Cardiff

Down in Cardiff Bay for a work errand, I braved an icy wind to "find" the Southernmost cache in Cardiff. Bit of controversy - I didn;t actually find the 'live' cache but did spot the previous nano container that had held the cache, but was by now placed out of bounds. Was nonetheless awarded the find on the discretion of DHJ&P - diolch yn fawr.

Carreg Cennen

2010-02-20T03:43:00.000-08:00

No caching today but nice pic anyway.

Cardiff v Peterborough

2010-02-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

The Battle of Cable Street

2010-02-03T16:28:00.001-08:00

The Battle of Cable Street (trad cache)

Interesting political mural at this cache location in the east end of London which commemorates the Battle of Cable Street, an important site for anti-fascism in Britain.

Nice coins spotted @ London event

2010-02-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

Event cache @ A Swiss Cottage!

2010-02-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

Event cache: "London event @ A Swiss Cottage"

Another trip to London and another event cache! Had been angling for lots of caches this week but not to be. Still I would have settled for this week's haul of an earthcache and an event cache (and a trad in the east end). Mustn't grumble.

Brentford v Southampton - and an earthcache!!!

2010-02-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

Hanwell Sarsen Stone Earthcache

Freezing cold night tonight. After visiting a much loved friend who has fallen on difficult times, I made my way down to Griffin Park, Brentford by cab and watched quite an entertaining 1-1 draw.

After the game, I walked about a mile and a half up the Boston Manor Road to tick off a cache that had been on my hitlist for several months - the Hanwell Sarsen Stone.

The game

The earthcache

Swansea City v Leicester City

2010-02-03T16:08:00.000-08:00

Old stomping ground

2010-02-03T16:07:00.000-08:00

Coryton railway

2010-02-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

Did a cache in a little pocket of Cardiff I hadn't known about before, I needed to walk down the former Coryton-Tongwynlais railway line to get it.

Blwyddyn newydd dda

2010-02-03T16:03:00.000-08:00

New Year's Day @ Nant yr Arian, Ceredigion. Wonder what geocaching delights 2010 will bring...?

Suitably apt photo

2009-12-31T23:59:00.000-08:00

The sun sets on another caching year (Bae Clarach)

Happy Christmas from Tortoiseshell to TCA

2009-12-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

Bicycle Geocoin

Christmas is a time of "Peace and goodwill to all men", including people who have gone off geocaching (Bah Humbug).

Therefore, on Christmas Day 2009, Tortoiseshell has presented the Titchfield Cycling Association with a "Bicycle Geocoin" as a gesture of goodwill between our two (highly divergent) cultures.

This is no ordinary geocoin, because it has MOVING PARTS (the two wheels). A geocoin with moving components is possibly the highest form of gift that a geocacher could ever give to a muggle, and we trust that the gift will be appreciated as such.

Ho ho ho!

Nice clue!

2009-12-07T20:25:00.000-08:00

Cardiff West services - there was a cache hidden behind this!!!

Hurrah for itsnotaboutthenumbers.com!

2009-12-03T18:15:00.000-08:00

Hurrah! My itsnotaboutthenumbers.com stats loaded up correctly for the first time in weeks!

Main highlights:

Lancashire (1 cache, in Carnforth station) now showing up in glorious sky blue technicolour.

Cumbria: my recent 'long weekend' has rendered the county a solid royal blue.

London:now dark blue, and hopefully turning purple next week, if I can find 10 caches to take the big city past the 50+ cache mark.

Emcachers

2009-12-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

Interesting travelbug picked up in Trawscoed. This has led me to discover two geocaching blogs: The Emcache Race, of which this TB is a part, and Karon and John's Walks. Interested that this Emcachers lark has its roots in Leicestershire, all of which makes me feel homesick for my Old Stomping Ground, (one of), where I lived from 1975-84.

East Anglia

2009-12-03T18:03:00.000-08:00

Nice geocoin picked up recently, the coin was designed by East Anglian Cachers. Interesting that the map extends as far west as Herts and Beds, which I would never have thought of as East Anglia.

So, Watford (which is on the tube map) is part of East Anglia, but the fenlands around Spalding, Lincolnshire, are not - according to this definition.

The Pylon Appreciation Society

2009-12-03T17:57:00.000-08:00

Geocache near Trawscoed, which reminded me of an interesting website I have been meaning to flag up for a while.

Cluck cluck cluck cluck chicken, lay a little egg for me

2009-12-03T17:55:00.000-08:00

Picture of Birchgrove Free-Range Eggs, Ceredigion, taken from former railway line

The Beeching Axe: Trawscoed

2009-12-03T17:52:00.000-08:00

Geocaching on the former Aberystwyth - Carmarthen line.

Map frustrations

2009-11-22T17:50:00.000-08:00

Having trouble loading up my stats at itsnotaboutthenumbers.com, which means that my usual county map is not updating.

In desperation, I've turned to "UK Geocachers" for the time being. Their county map is interesting in some respects, not least for its acknowledgement of Rutland as a county (and it also breaks up Dyfed, where I have amassed my largest amount of caches).

However, the colours on the new map do not relate to a specific number of cache finds - they change apparently of their own free will to reflect a rough proportion of finds for each county, with no indication of the thresholds one must pass to change the colours of the counties. I.E. there is no Key to the map - pretty much a hanging offence as far as I'm concerned.

One last gripe, this new map barely highlights the counties where I have found 1 cache. On the old map, it was sky blue. It was a light colour, but at least it was distinct enough to register on the eye. This new map barely shows my new gains in Lancashire, Derbyshire and Cornwall at all. Bah. I think the problem with itsnotaboutthenumbers something to do with zip files and virus checkers on my own computer. Humph.

Carnforth: the Brief Encounter clock

2009-11-22T17:34:00.000-08:00

The clock made famous in the Brief Encounter movie.

Carnforth: the Beeching axe

2009-11-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

The mainline to Glasgow passes through the haunting, disused platforms at Carnforth (although the station is still open for the branch line to Barrow)

Carnforth station approach

2009-11-22T17:31:00.001-08:00

Maalierama #6: Maalie Court name plate

2009-11-22T17:30:00.001-08:00

Maalierama #5: The Compass Table

2009-11-22T17:29:00.001-08:00

Maalierama #4: Front view of Maalie Court

2009-11-22T17:28:00.001-08:00

Maalierama #3: the Shrine of Life

2009-11-22T17:27:00.000-08:00

Maalierama #2: Shetland McEwen's Export mosaic

2009-11-22T17:25:00.000-08:00

Maalierama #1: Last Resort Bar

2009-11-22T17:24:00.000-08:00

Sunset, south of Askam in Furness

2009-11-22T17:21:00.000-08:00

View of cliff where a geocache was located, on the coast about a mile south of Askam. I have now done all 5 caches in the immediate vicinity of Askam in Furness, a nice heartland from which to work out of...

I beg your pardon?

2009-11-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

Location of the "Rose Garden" geocache, Ulverston

Laurel and Hardy statue, Ulverston

2009-11-22T17:19:00.000-08:00

Barrow v AFC Wimbledon

2009-11-22T17:18:00.000-08:00

A view of Holker Street

Spotted near Ulverston

2009-11-22T17:17:00.000-08:00

Old Slaggy

2009-11-22T17:15:00.000-08:00

View of Barrow from "Old Slaggy", a landscaped slag tip in Barrow, where 4 caches are placed.

Geocache @ Julian Feary Sculpture, Victoria, London

2009-11-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

"This Big Painting Sculpture is by painter Patrick Heron, architect Julian Feary and structural engineers Ove Arup and Partners and was installed in 1998.

It is made of aluminium yacht masts with stainless steel rigging support coloured plastic, glass-reinforced flat disks, illuminated at night by neon tubes. It was intended to break up the wind tunnel effect of the surrounding buildings, The idea was that you could walk though it but this is discouraged by compromised by the addition of unsympathetic paving possibly to stop people doing naughty things to the sculpture such as placing caches on it! However you can walk though it,enjoy the design and find the cache."

Geocache at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden!

2009-11-22T17:12:00.000-08:00

My favourite London view?

2009-11-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

Taken from "Wobbly Bridge" near Tate Modern.

Colby

2009-10-31T17:16:00.000-07:00

The seaside at Amroth, combined with the woodlands at Colby, has just become one of my favourite places..

Amroth

2009-10-31T17:15:00.000-07:00

Freedom of the city

2009-10-22T17:05:00.000-07:00

After an animated meeting with TCA at a pub in Waterloo, I cached my back to the hotel down the banks of the Thames, with mixed success. Despite a few DNF (and an increasingly troubling ear infection) I was very pleased with this photo of "From a Swan to the Canary: Custom House".

Event cache!

2009-10-22T16:57:00.000-07:00

London Event @ the Royal Oak, Borough

Only my 3rd geocaching event, this was a small one organisaed by "Goldpot", a prolific London cacher (pictured) who was celebrating 1,000 days of geocaching. A very diverse and friendly crowd

Arrrgh! A mouse!

2009-10-21T17:02:00.000-07:00

Spotted on the Northern Line @ Borough.

Tottenham Cake

2009-10-21T16:53:00.000-07:00

My regular east London treat: a slice of Tottenham Cake from Percy Ingle in Watney Street Market, Shadwell.

QPR 4-1 Reading

2009-10-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

As the night drew in, I cut my losses having found 9 caches, and caught the tube from Hangar Lane Gyratory to watch QPR thrash Reading in an entertaining game.

300th Cache!

2009-10-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

Found at Alperton, after struggling with a few DNFs.

Canal turn

2009-10-20T16:46:00.000-07:00

This barge on the Great Union Canal put me in mind of other canal-based caches in times gone by.

WTF series

2009-10-20T16:38:00.000-07:00

Took the tube to Greenford in order to tackle some of the "WTF" (Water to follow) series in northwest London, which takes in the canal network. I worked my way eastwards from Greenford towards Alperton. This was the first cache I found on this late autumn afternoon. The cache actually sticks into the top of the "Public Footpath" sign in the background.

Spotted in Cardiff

2009-10-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

County line

2009-10-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Taken after sunset from "Sugar Loaf" near Cynghordy, on the A483 on the Powys / Carmarthenshire boundary, where I have quite a popular cache hide.

Llandrindod

2009-10-13T15:40:00.000-07:00

'Dexter's View'

I always enjoy a cache trip to Powys. There aren't many caches around, so there's no point going crazy - you just have to pick one or two and enjoy the walk. This one was set on farmland just above the village of Llanyre, overlooking Llandrindod.

During the day I managed to hide a new multicache as well, in Llandrindod itself.

Cardiff Central from above

2009-10-13T15:37:00.000-07:00

Had a meeting in an office block overlooking Cardiff Central. In a funny way I think it's probably one of my best ever pics.

Acers

2009-10-13T15:34:00.001-07:00

Another October, another stroll round Bute Park.

Island House

2009-10-13T15:25:00.000-07:00

A picture for posterity, as this pub is unlikely to survive future development in Llanelli, despite this petition.

Gotcha!

2009-10-01T19:58:00.000-07:00

Cardiff's Bouncy Bridge

This one was on my current list of DNF irritants, having made an attempt earlier in the year. Found it after a sudden flash of 'where would I have hidden it' logic.

Early autumn multi

2009-10-01T19:42:00.000-07:00

Cardiff Rivers (Taff): Millennium Stadium

Nice to grab a rare multi cache today whilst on business in Cardiff. The co-ords came from clues based on the mosaics of different nations, which are found on the public walkway next to the stadium (see the Namibia mosaic, below). The cache was a well-disguised container at a pleasant location. It's really difficult to do a good urban cache, this is probably the best I've seen in Cardiff.

Llyn Llech Owain

2009-09-28T16:18:00.001-07:00

Llyn Llech Owain

Have put a nice run of caches together in the last couple of weeks, including an unexpected root around at Llyn Llech Owain, photo looking towards Carmel transmitter. Tortoiseshell seems to be gathering momentum again after the GPS blackout earlier this year, and neglect of the blog. 3 years on - who would have thought.

2009-09-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

Scout Hut Search

After finding a terrible cache hide in carmarthen (completely visible to muggles, suspiscions of drug-dealing at the site, etc), it was nice to find a decent pasty shop, selling Crantock Pasties. Mine was a bangers and mash pasty.

Back in (one of) the Heartlands

2009-09-28T16:06:00.000-07:00

Cardiff Rivers #4 Taff-Ely-Rhymney - City Hall

Great to grab another cache in the old stomping ground last week, near Cardiff City Hall. I went for the Post Office Tower shot - Cache in the foreground, Capitol Tower in the background.

National Benzole

2009-09-28T16:02:00.000-07:00

Have seen this truck from afar whilst driving from Cynwil Elfed to Carmarthen. I find it a bit of an eerie truck, it looks like the sort of thing that would explode on an episode of Casualty. Managed to get up close and personal whilst at the Day Out With Thomas recently at the Cwm Gwili Railway. Also did a web search for National Benzole. Mmm...fascinating.

County map update

2009-09-14T14:29:00.000-07:00

Several factors have taken theor toll on geocaching recently, most of which come under the heading "real life". Another factor was my Garmin Geko deciding to crash for good a few months ago, and a long interregnum, while I decided whether to pack it all in.

Nevertheless, 2009 has been an interesting caching year, if not a very good one in terms of numbers. In January I captured the unlikely county of Hertfordshire on my map. During the summer I have added Derbyshire (at last!) and Cornwall to the map.

Being me, I have a bit of a fetish for conjoining all the counties on the map, so the 'outposts' of Cumbria and Cornwall in the last year have created new gaps to keep that itch going strong! Part of the mystery is knowing when, and under what circumstances, I will get to cache in each county.

Oh yes - that record haul in one day in August this year means that Gwynedd has turned a healthily dark shade of blue - but unlikely to turn purple (50 caches - like Dyfed) in anywhere near the near future.

Worm's Head!

2009-09-07T15:14:00.000-07:00

No cache here, but probably my hardest earned waymark on my GPS. Here the GPS is perched on the end of Worms Head. I didn't realise it would take me the best part of an hour from Rhosilli to the very westward tip.

Looking back along the ridge towards Gower...

Burry Holm cache!

2009-09-07T14:22:00.000-07:00

At last - after 2 years on my hitlist, finally had a chance to do the Burry Holm cache (Burryd Treasure) which is on Burry Holm, the north west tip of Gower. This is a picture of the westerly tip of Burry Holm. I then had the opportunity to make it to Worms Head, a 3-mile run away (and then some).

Most Southerly Cache!

2009-09-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

"Wireless Communication"

The cache - my most southerly, thereby beating the Portland Bill cache from 2007, was found in a different place and on a different day to this photo. The cache was a relatively easy micro near Poldhu Cove.

This photo (mine - honest!) is of Asparagus Island, off Kynance. Apparently there is a s*it-hot cache on the island which I hope to come back for, in another life.

First in Derbyshire!!!!

2009-08-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

"Wash your woolies"

I've noted on occasion that this blog, and the 'Tortoiseshell' persona was conceived in a pub in Derbyshire back in 2006. Odd then that I had never found a chache in that county until now. Hidden on the outskirts of Bakewell, this odd-shaped cache was found whilst taking a breather on the way home from my brother's stag do in the Peak District.

Dyffryn Clwyd o Foel Mamau

2009-08-11T15:06:00.000-07:00

Bear's Eye View

Mushroom Path 6

Moel Famau on the Flintshire / Denbighshire border. Unfortunately logging and a couple of DNFs restricted my haul to 2 on this occasion.