CacheWalker

Caching => General Caching => Topic started by: Griff Grof on May 01, 2013, 06:57:37 pm

Title: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 01, 2013, 06:57:37 pm
GCW #1 (http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?wp=GC4AWN3&Submit6=Go) - 130 caches, 37km, 3 loops

Hmmm  :-\

Those FTFs for you walk tall?  :D

Who's going to do them?  ;D I might eventually get round to them, but not in one go  :o
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 01, 2013, 07:00:06 pm
Not perfect for you 100 in a day? :D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 01, 2013, 07:00:40 pm
Maybe  ;D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 01, 2013, 07:03:44 pm
We could have a 100 in a day this bank holiday weekend  ;D ;D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 01, 2013, 09:18:04 pm
Now back after my Parish Council meeting :( I would have gone if it wasn't for that for a few FTF's.

Wonder if there will be any left in the morning ???
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 01, 2013, 11:16:43 pm


Wonder if there will be any left in the morning ???
[/quote]


Ten users watching the first cache.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 02, 2013, 12:24:33 am
when is sunrise ::)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Pir8sOld&New on May 02, 2013, 12:31:59 am
Yep, and all PMO's.. :(
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 02, 2013, 08:13:44 am
Yep, and all PMO's.. :(

 :'( - nearly every new cache is in this area these days - all of mine are anyway :o
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Pir8sOld&New on May 02, 2013, 08:20:41 am
I found out my folks might buy me PM for my birthday which is in October, and by that point be caching for over a year, but I've tried not spending any more money than travelling on caching because I wanted to see how well I could do without opening the wallet.

I am jealous though, because this series is close to one of my friends, and I started showing her family caching and they haven't gone PM too. Another time it will be.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 02, 2013, 09:17:10 am
I watched the sunrise this more :)

Update: what happen there!? It was supposed to have said "morning"  :D :D :D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 02, 2013, 01:37:58 pm
I obviously stood still watching it rise quite a bit longer than you :D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 02, 2013, 02:30:56 pm
Griff - I was very happy with the route I did today starting from Ablington heading to Coln Roger and back. There are a couple of caches I wondered how long they will last :o Only had to use hint once, as tree cover with lots of places to hide was just to much on one cache ::)

Hopefully I'll upload some pictures I took as wasn't in too much of a hurry - just got up very early - the good old days - remember those wrighty  ;) :D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 02, 2013, 03:59:14 pm
That's good - and oh no, not a duplicate of the RK series  :o :o

I think that if you wanted to do it in a day you'd have to start at 5  :-\ Wonder who'll be first to take up the challenge?
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 02, 2013, 04:10:06 pm
I did start at 5! And stopped about 10mins later  ;D

I am up for it, but don't have a whole day to spare for a while. I think though, going by just the 3 I did this morning, that if you did want to do all in one go and not get a disappointments of caches missing, then the series would need tackling very soon.

All 3 I did were 35mm type. One was affixed in place very well, one was so so, and one I think could just get blown away or otherwise lost quite easily. The walk as a whole I think would be very nice though, as I have been on parts of it for non-caching reasons previously.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 02, 2013, 04:11:07 pm
The FTF of no1 has just been taken.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 02, 2013, 07:43:22 pm
Yes I would agree, if you want to do the series, better sooner rather than later, as I commented on two of the 35mm caches, wondering on their longevity :o

I did do few bigger than micro, as three of them I took a trackable :)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 02, 2013, 07:49:43 pm
Well hopefully this long weekend counts as sooner  ;D though we don't do them all!  :D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 03, 2013, 08:06:18 pm
Bagged a few more with Archie today in the lovely sun. It was the section that runs south from Winson to Barnsley Park and then north east to Ablington. A more open view route and caches spaced out a bit more than the rest but still a lot of 35mm's.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: tarmacjohn on May 03, 2013, 09:29:45 pm
I think I am going to save this for a few weeks and then maybe do a longest day special and do the lot in one go.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 03, 2013, 11:03:12 pm
I think I am going to save this for a few weeks and then maybe do a longest day special and do the lot in one go.

I was wondering about doing that but decided it would be easier to do this away from home and couldn't resist a few FTF's. The remaining ones I might have a go at in one hit, giving me 94 to find.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 04, 2013, 12:02:38 pm
It seems it took 14 hours for someone to do the whole thing  :-\
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 04, 2013, 01:41:11 pm
That looks quite a leisurely pace to me. Unless any of the hides are tricky, which I don't think any of them are intended to be, then I would think I could shave a good hour off that time, maybe more.

I wait to see if Dr Solly comes this way and does the series on his electric bike, he'll be down to about 3 hours then I guess ;D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 04, 2013, 05:36:53 pm
Haha  :D

Ok, I am finally (maybe) going to try and start to use PQ's today  ;D

Either tomorrow or Monday I hope to do a stretch of the series, but would like to have all caches on anyway - I normally, as some of you know, view the map and put them on one by one, which is probably a waste of time. So my question is, if I view the GCW book mark list and select "Create Pocket Query" -> (certain elements of PQ form load up)  "Run once and then delete" -> then in GPX format and compress into .zip -> "Submit information"...

Will that download ALL the caches in the bookmark list (the whole series) into a single GPX file?  ???

If so, I now love Pocket Queries  ;D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: tarmacjohn on May 04, 2013, 05:47:09 pm
Don't forget to tick the day you want it to run (Take note of server time). And yes that is all there is to it. (Shout if you need more help)

When you get braver if you go on the map page and drag in the menu from the left hand side there is an option at the bottom which says 'save as pocket query' it will run the same thing (but a bit more in depth) on all the caches you can see on the map (up to 1000)

The only down side that I can think of is that you only get 5 previous logs on the caches rather than the usual 10.

Best of luck
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 04, 2013, 09:36:25 pm
I think I am going to save this for a few weeks and then maybe do a longest day special and do the lot in one go.

Then write a interesting and different log for each one. ::)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Bear and Ragged on May 04, 2013, 10:41:57 pm
Griff.
Be careful of the "Run once and delete" option.

Depending on how you use the PQ some apps cant read the PQ if "run once and delete" is selected...
(Think it's mainly a phone app issue)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: tarmacjohn on May 05, 2013, 12:02:55 am
Then write a interesting and different log for each one. ::)

I nearly always do. Well, maybe not the interesting bit but I always try to put a different one.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 05, 2013, 08:44:43 am
I nearly always do. Well, maybe not the interesting bit but I always try to put a different one.

I always have too  ;D

Was going to do the series today; but there's always tomorrow!  ;D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: tarmacjohn on May 05, 2013, 07:13:54 pm
Griff.

Did you do a PQ yet
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 05, 2013, 07:17:33 pm
I was about to but now decided to do the Pinswell Loop tomorrow instead, after your recommendation  :)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 06, 2013, 09:12:07 am
Walk tall, now you've done all the series - overall final thoughts and comments? Is 37km an underestimate?  :o Likely to be doing it next weekend, if not I'll have to wait until June as dad is away for three weeks  :-\

On another note, about to do a PQ for the Pinswell series... Will keep you posted TJ  ;) :D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 06, 2013, 09:31:56 am
Yep.

We've decided that should we decide to do the GCW next weekend, it will be on Saturday (to recover on Sunday!  :D) - If we do, does anyone else want to join us?
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 06, 2013, 10:07:30 am
Don't you think the talk on PQ's should be some where else ???

This is why I stopped using GC's forums, as topics went off subject too often :(
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 06, 2013, 10:14:31 am
Well, the talk was originally referring to the GCW series  :D I can move the posts if you want?

Walk tall, now you've done all the series - overall final thoughts and comments? Is 37km an underestimate?  :o Likely to be doing it next weekend, if not I'll have to wait until June as dad is away for three weeks  :-\

...  :)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: tarmacjohn on May 06, 2013, 10:15:14 am
Quite correct, I have split the posts into 2 separate subjects.

My humble apologies ;D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: tarmacjohn on May 06, 2013, 10:16:38 am
I can move the posts if you want?

Already done it
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 06, 2013, 10:23:26 am
Thanks  ;D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 06, 2013, 10:40:32 am
Walk tall, now you've done all the series - overall final thoughts and comments? Is 37km an underestimate?  :o Likely to be doing it next weekend, if not I'll have to wait until June as dad is away for three weeks  :-\

I think 37km is an under estimate even if you did it in one hit. It is certainly further if you split them. My stats were: 5.1 miles, 4.6 miles and 17.8 miles.

Which one did I enjoy the most? The first loop (and not because of the FTF's) as this had varied terrain and more consistent good views and certainly would be a good one to do as a taster. It's what I would call a lolly pop walk, along the stick, round a circular route, back down the stick: Ablington - Coln Rogers - Winson - Ablington. You could easily combine it with the loop south to Barnsley Park and back.

Overall, I don't think some of the caches will last long, yesterday several were out in the open which I put back but also some where intentionally visible. There are a few that are overlooked, so again, will they last.

I know they used a lot of 35mm's but why coin bags, they are not water tight and fiddly. With that amount of caches, I'm sure it was expense that was behind why they used what they did.

The route from Bibury to Quenington along the river was muggle central yesterday. I nearly had to give up on one cache, it think it was #83.

I think it is great that they have published these loops and I'm sure they will be enjoyed but I wouldn't like to look after so many.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 06, 2013, 07:11:10 pm
Quite good then  :) thanks for pointing all that out  ;D

Did you split the series as the CO suggests, or elsehow?
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 06, 2013, 08:08:09 pm
Quite good then  :) thanks for pointing all that out  ;D

Did you split the series as the CO suggests, or elsehow?

In the end of the day, the routes are good some parts are brilliant.

I split the series as how I wanted, so not sure if I did the same as CO suggested.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 07, 2013, 06:43:38 am
I have just seen the main log by TheTwoMotts who I met near the start going the other way. They were doing the whole lot. Measured it as 25 miles in total, so yes affirms walk tall's thoughts that 37km is a bit short an estimate for the whole thing.

Only completed the lower loop myself so far, but that one is a very pleasant easygoing walk. Had to go through two herds of cows, but they were mostly dozy and left me alone.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 07, 2013, 06:46:03 pm
Always thought the area should have more caches but did not expect so many.

Anyway out with the History Lady today and after parking in Ablington we did number 70 down to 36.

7.5 miles,34 finds and one dnf.

A cracking walk in lovely and peaceful countryside and only saw two other walkers on the way round.

Think its best to do the series in sections/loops as you please and its not to far away to return to.

Yes lots of micros today but no nanos ;D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 08, 2013, 09:56:44 pm
You know I joked about Dr Solly using his bike... it has actually happened  ;D

He hasn't done them all though.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 09, 2013, 07:54:13 am
Yes   :D

Then I clicked to see his account of the day - three sentences  :o :D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 09, 2013, 11:10:03 pm
Now should I log cache #9 and #59 of the series, as the CO has said because there was an issue with these caches before anyone found them, they are allowing me to log them?
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on May 10, 2013, 08:02:59 am
I got offered similar by another CO on a cache we DNFed. I decided not to, purely as we didn't sign the log, or pick up the cache and dismiss it directly  :-\
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: tarmacjohn on May 10, 2013, 08:19:34 am
Did you sign a log book?

Ultimately only you will know if you are happy to claim them as a find.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 10, 2013, 08:45:17 am
If it was me I would not claim the finds. But it doesn't bother me in the slightest if others want to log without signing.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 10, 2013, 11:42:21 am
That is my line as well, if I didn't find it then it's a DNF, even if it went missing before it was even found.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 10, 2013, 06:10:24 pm
I too was offered the chance to log number 59 but declined,just cant see how you can log a find if you did not find it ???

Glad you thought the same walktall ;)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 10, 2013, 06:21:11 pm
Just had a look and see the TwoMotts and esscafe have logged it as a find even though they did not find it :o.

So thats how to get lots of finds :P
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 10, 2013, 07:53:14 pm
Their 'find' on #9 is a bit dubious as well :o
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 10, 2013, 08:43:49 pm
They did not find it did they >:(
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 10, 2013, 09:38:54 pm
Nope :(

As long as the weather isn't too wild, I am going to have a go at the middle loop on the 22nd.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 12, 2013, 08:48:21 pm
Amazed how quiet this series has been so far considering the numbers that can be gained.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 16, 2013, 05:08:31 pm
Done some more of the series today with Mrs Wrighty.

Parked at Fairford and walked to Quenington via 115 to 130 and back via 104 to 114.

6.5 miles,26 finds and 1 dnf.

Some road walking but still a very enjoyable walk. ;D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 18, 2013, 09:03:24 pm
I've now completed all 132 caches. Found my 3 DNF's today: #59, #29 and #9, also bagged a FTF as well in Chedworth :)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 18, 2013, 09:09:17 pm
Well done. I saw the one in Chedworth pop up, that's the next one in the three clumps series that I grabbed the FTF of the first one a short time ago.

Were the GCWs ones you found today also 35mms? Just wondered how they're holding up now we've had quite a bit of rain. Hoping to do another chunk of them on Tuesday.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: walktall on May 18, 2013, 10:18:44 pm
Two of the GCW were 35mm and they were OK, the third #29 was a very small container with a bit of damp in it.

Still think that the longevity of some is questionable but the walk is good :)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 21, 2013, 04:57:41 pm
Out doing a few of these at the moment. Looks like I am following Wrighty :)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 21, 2013, 06:54:06 pm
Or are we following you.

Did some more with the History Lady today.

Was going to the Pinswell series but it was a bit dull this morn so left it for a nicer day and maybe the 4,000 this weekend.

Parked again in Ablington and did 71 to 82 before heading into Bibury and up to 22 where we saw Gackt in the log book.Picked of 21,20, and 19 before heading back to Ablington via 23 to 35.

Met flones and janeydob near 32.

Just over 7 miles walked,26 finds,one dnf and walked past 2 due to muggles nearby.

Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 21, 2013, 06:56:25 pm
Forgot to mention no Cuckoo heard ???
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 21, 2013, 07:51:35 pm
Well done. It was a bit grey today now and then, but otherwise the weather was just right for me.

I mostly cached around the middle loop plus did a few others here and there. Think it was 60 finds, 2. DNFs, and 1 walk on by because of muggles painting their house very close by.

I enjoyed the walk. Pretty flat and easy going, mostly. Just need to log them now :D Tomorrow's job I think.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 21, 2013, 08:19:40 pm
Well done to you too 8)

We walked  past 75 due to muggles working on the house and 29 as the farmer spraying the field was right by us when we got there.

Dnf number 31.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on May 24, 2013, 01:47:16 pm
Yep, #75 was the one I walked on by, #31 was one of the ones I had a DNF on too. I have been offered by the CO that I can log as a find if I want because the cache was missing and they have now replaced, but I will not be taking up the offer. It looks one cacher has though.

#84 was my other DNF. That one's not missing as it's been found since I went around, just hidden too well for me :-[
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Wrighty on May 24, 2013, 09:35:54 pm
Also had the offer to log 31 but wont be,how would i sleep at night ???
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on December 29, 2013, 04:22:15 pm
Sorry to waken an old thread  :o

Which of the three rings of the series is the best? Might embark on finally doing one soon  :)
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: tarmacjohn on December 29, 2013, 04:29:31 pm
Be brave, do it all. 😃
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on December 29, 2013, 04:34:18 pm
Be brave, do it all. 😃

I would, I want to, in fact,  but daylight is the issue at this time of year  :(
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Gackt on December 29, 2013, 10:18:55 pm
The middle loop was a nice sized walk. The lower loop can be done very quickly, and has a nice section along the river.

I haven't done all the top loop yet, so can't really comment on that one. I did find 7 of the top loop out at about 5am a couple of days ago, without the use of a GPSr too :D They are so evenly spaced that all I needed was the clues and a torch. Darkness isn't an issue, you've got experience now ;) but admittedly I would prefer to walk the area out in the nice sunshine.
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: bambam897 on December 30, 2013, 03:09:20 pm
I am planning this one for a long dry day next year, I reckon it will take me 20 hours to complete it - that's 12 hours walking 8 hours searching. Should be quite a challenge but I am used to walking 15 miles or so in mountainous / moorland terrain so 23-24 miles of slightly flatter terrain should even it out. Even so I will probably be footsore at the finish - also I would probably do it in reverse and then there is no going back on the northern loops with the - there's the car I have had enough thing....
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: Griff Grof on December 30, 2013, 03:21:43 pm
This one took tarmacjohn and omis49 12 hours. I was going to tackle it this holiday, but we have just decided to also save this until the summer to be able to get 100 in one day  ;D
Title: Re: The great Cotswold walk
Post by: bambam897 on December 30, 2013, 03:29:23 pm
I am hoping to get another long distance geocacher / walker along to help cut the search time a bit. Ideally I would want to spend less than 5mins per cache.