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Dartmoor DaveKeymaster
I think I prefer pork to pony 👿
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterWe received a survey last week all about whether or not we could serve them on our menu. We gave a big “no” to all the questions, but it is certainly being considered.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterThis is a very complicated subject. Are you referring to the pure bred Dartmoor ponies or to the mixed breed ponies which do roam the moor. I doubt if the pure bred ponies roam free any more as they would cross-breed with the mixed breed stallions. Last week it was mentioned that the ponies were being shot with contraceptive darts to stop them breeding as there is no value in the ponies and nobody can afford to keep them on the moor.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterJaughan, do you realise that this is no longer a puzzle cache and that the final coordinates are available in the waypoint?
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterUnbelievable that this has gone. I’ve only ever seen it once although I knew about it prior to the cache being placed 🙁
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI have taken lots of photos with TBs and am currently trying to take a photo of as many Dartmoor Tors as possible with a TB. However, I have to admit to having taken far more photos than I have bothered to upload 🙁 I always use a digital camera for photos and find the process of uploading them to the web site rather tedious. If you use a phone is there an app to do this more easily?
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterWell, there’s clearly some who like to place and find them and you can always ignore them. The same could also be said of Whereigo caches, but it is interesting to note that Garmin no longer support this feature on their latest GPSs, so you are forced down the phone route if you wish to find them.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterGH – That would be the end of your poems 😥 !
One of the main problems with the phantoms is that other cachers may search for a long time for a missing cache if they think it was found recently – that happened on the Fox Tor hybrid. It also screws up Challenge caches like H&M’s Re-Awakening.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterYes, and some of those are probably known to you as respected cachers 😥 !
In the UK it’s called armchair logging and in the US couch logging. It seems to be growing universally and although GS recognise the problem – “If you digitally log a geocache without meeting these requirements (also known as couch logging), your log can be deleted by either the geocache owner or Geocaching HQ without notice. ” they actually are just not interested 👿 !
So, will you be deleting the online logs for those missing names?
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterThat is only part of the story. I was FTF on this cache so I have always known exactly where it should be. When I found it the Foxglove letterbox was under the same rock, but on the other side – it hadn’t been found since 1991 and was in a dreadful state, but may have caused some confusion. It did, however, have a proper stamp.
I re-visited in 2012 and took the 2 photos shown in my log. The Foxglove box was still there and still had its stamp. The cache was in pristine condition. After this, the hybrid cache then obviously got soaking wet and the stamp disappeared.
I re-visited again in 2013 and removed the saturated logbook and replaced it with a new logbook in a new clip lock box inside the ammo can. It appears that this didn’t last very long and disappeared again. Apparantly another cache has now been added. Another confusion was the familiar tftc log from Tallisman which resulted in Moor to Sea looking for the cache for another hour 👿 !
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI think the problem with TBs is that you very rarely know that there should be one there. It’s probably only when you return home to log the find that you notice it. And then you think maybe I missed it. If I know a TB should be there I look to see when it was dropped. If it is months ago I normally write in my log that the CO should mark it as missing. However, not many do this as I very rarely receive a log telling me that there is a missing TB in my caches. The only exception is my TB Hotel and then I get complaints that they are missing.
Dartmoor DaveKeymaster🙂 🙂 Wonderful GH, no fear of a copy & paste log from you! 🙂 🙂
It’s amazing how many experienced cachers go caching without a pen or pencil 😥 ! Not a problem for my caches, even the micros and bisons have pencils these days, although even they seem to go missing 👿 !
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI agree, but it means that we need to go and check all the caches, take copies of all the logs and then compare them to the online logs. That really isn’t feasible and the cheats know it. However, I’ve had so many complaints of late, photos of logbooks sent to me – and you would be surprised at some of those who are involved – its so very, very sad 🙁 🙁 🙁
Dartmoor DaveKeymaster🙁 🙁 🙁 You are right – it is only a game, but surely there have to be some rules. Not logging a DNF is one thing, but logging a find on a cache you have been nowhere near – how can that possibly be ok. IMHO it is destroying our hobby/pastime/game whatever you want to call it.
Why should I, or any other CO, spend many hours placing caching for others to log them without leaving their computer or mobile phone. Once again it is the lust for numbers that is causing this problem 🙁 🙁 🙁
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI’m not certain that I understand this comment “After spending ages hunting for a particular cache, after seeing a log of “Easy Find” dated 2 -3 days before , to then find there is nothing in the cache log . What’s that all about.”
Could you provide an example maybe?However, it may be another example of some very blatant cheating that seems to be growing. It appears that some finds are being posted when the cacher has not been anywhere near the cache, but just sat at his/her computer 🙁
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterWe always love receiving an LB log, so many thanks and keep them coming.
We are not looking for grammatical correctness, just some acknowledgement of the effort made to place any cache and some encouragement to place more. I’m perfectly happy with any constructive criticism and dartymoor said that some of the Skir Hill series were not to his taste, which is perfectly fine and understandable, but the crass copy and paste comments are really not acceptable.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI agree that numbered caches in a series are much better than named caches and I have always done this, but I much prefer my numbers at the end so that the series is kept together.
On my Skir Hill Trail I wanted to encourage cachers to do it in either direction so please do either ascending odd numbers or ascending even numbers, but not 1, 2, 3, 4, etc 👿 !
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI don’t think I accept that explanation Jaughan, as it applies to a very small percentage of challenge caches and there are so many caches already beginning with 0 to 9 without needing any more. Interesting to see that this type of challenge cache does NOT accept caches beginning with “.
Maybe we should ask dartymoor, as all his series have had the numbers before the names?
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI agree totally with what you are saying. I have many caches entered in spreadsheets and when you sort them you expect all the caches in one series to come together. If the numbers come first they all get mixed up together and sorting them out is impossible. Nobody used to number caches in a series like this and I can’t understand why it is happening now.
Another frustration is the habit of entering cache names in quotes. Why do this? Again when they are sorted it brings all these caches together and they can no longer be sorted alphabetically.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterdartymoor, geocachetrails only gives you the first cache in the series and not all of them.
I don’t like the map anyway as it only give you the really large series unless you zoom in on the map. To start with nothing is shown on Dartmoor unless you zoom in.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI’ve created this Bookmark List for my Walk on the Wild Side series:
http://www.geocaching.com/bookmarks/view.aspx?guid=78472cf3-6f2f-4721-a22f-8c5b504774dbIf all the COs could create a bookmark list for their series I could publish them on this web site 😛
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterThanks Dave 😛 This cache http://coord.info/GC5FFC has been logged as found 8 times since it was archived.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterIt took 4 of us quite a few minutes to find a throwdown on one of my caches yesterday. We knew it was there somewhere as several had logged a find on it, but it was many yards from where it should have been.
Maybe I could log a find on it 😛 !
However, it shows how easy it is to end up with duplicate caches as soon as one gets thrown down.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterThank you TC for your kind comments – I really do appreciate them.
The really annoying thing is that I gave this series continual praise in all my logs, awarded very many favourite points and didn’t make any criticisms at all. The CO wrote in a log above “Congratulations to Dartmoor Dave for being the first to complete the series and in such a short period of time. The way that series was set out has meant that Dave has had to cover many more miles than I did when placing the series. My thanks also to Dave for the detailed and often humorous found logs which I have really enjoyed reading.”
So how did I get rewarded 👿 !
However, I still maintain that this was an excellent series and I thoroughly enjoyed completing it 😛 ! A real shame that others have been denied that privilege!
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI have now been asked to restore the posts I had deleted earlier and I have now done this, so there is once again a full record of the exchanges which occurred.
So, TC, no censorship here!
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI thought I had better own up to this log: “I normally disapprove of Write Note logs when they should be DNFs, but I feel we were justified today. We had just found Heathfield Walkies and we thought we would search for this also. However, as soon as I turned into the road I saw that somebody was sat on the bench, so we drove right past. The only trouble with placing caches near or under benches is that people tend to sit on them and it’s a bit rude to ask them to move 😳 !”
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterThat would be good 😛 !
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI left your post there for two reasons, one you raised the question of the series being put up for adoption. I would think that would be an ideal solution to retain this series which I have always praised and described as excellent.
The second, is that you gave a brilliant defence of my £3 p&p charge on eBay. However, nobody needs to buy the coins on eBay, I have always offered them on this web site for £12. What you didn’t mention was the 10% eBay selling charge, the listing charge and PayPal’s cut as well, when you get paid. The total is about £2 per coin, which is the extra I charge on eBay. Not that I ever had any intention of selling them there, but I was surprised at how much geocaching stuff is available on eBay, often at much lower charges than in the on-line shops.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterNot of my choice I can assure you. As you are all aware I have always actively encouraged robust discussion on this web site and will continue to do so and I have no problem at all with people disagreeing with me. But that requires goodwill on all sides. When that it lost and logical discussion is no longer possible then there seems no point in continuing. I was instructed to remove certain posts and have done so. Hopefully normal service will be resumed as soon as possible, but please do continue to air your views whatever they are.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI wasn’t offended until I saw this very personal attack on me. How did I deserve that? I have written nothing but praise for the Remote series. I awarded it many favourites and constantly wrote glowing reports in my logs, but there is clearly no pleasing some folk 😥 !
As for watching my eBay account, it appears I have a stalker 😕 !
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI don’t know how many others received over 100 emails today re this series, but I know I did!
I can understand the CO wishing to regenerate some interest in this series but I think his announcement that he will archive it in 2015 is counter-productive. Major series such as this need a huge amount of time to complete. I walked 134 miles and drove nearly 600 miles to complete this series – and I live on Dartmoor!
The Alphabet Challenge series has been in place for nearly 7 years and has been completed 30 times, The Heart of Dartmoor series has been in place for nearly 5 years and has been completed only 7 times, and the Dartmoor Forest series has also been completed 7 times in just over 2 years. For most cachers these series have to be a long term project taking several years to complete. After all, many live a long way away and can only visit Dartmoor 2 or 3 times a year.
If a cacher thinks he can take as long as it needs to complete a series, he will gradually chip away at it. If he thinks he is on a time limit, he may well not bother to attempt it at all. Surely 200 cachers taking an interest and finding several of the caches is better than a hand full of cachers finding them all?
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterDo you need a phone signal to do these, or is everything downloaded before you start?
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI have to admit I’ve no idea what a wherigo cache is as I’ve only ever used my old PDA for geocaching. Perhaps who ever answers this topic could kindly add a brief description of what it is for the likes of me 😳 !
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterTo be honest I have been too busy to chase it up recently. Every time I tried to find out something I just hit a brick wall as did everybody else. Interesting that we have not been asked to remove our caches from Willsworthy and they have not been archived.
I will see what I can find out in the near future.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterIf your feet move around in them you may have problems.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterJust another thought and another option.
I used to have a pair of walking shoes which are much lighter than boots and ideal for the summer. Also waterproof, as there is always wet grass and unexpected stuff you come across. Unfortunately they disappeared – we think I left them in the boot of my car the day I sold it 😥 !
So last year I tried to replace these also. I couldn’t find any synthetic ones which would fit – I have one foot about half a size bigger than the other, so boots and shoes are always a bit of a compromise. Eventually I was offered a pair of Brashers. These are leather with a Gore-Tex lining, much lighter than leather boots and very comfortable. I really like them, but only for summer use really.
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterJust to let you all know, I have invited Kountry Kit to post on here if they so wish, so please don’t be surprised if they do. They describe themselves as “Old fashioned service, advice and customer care in a relaxed atmosphere with the best equipment you can find under one roof.” – and I think that sums them up very well. 🙄
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI just got a very timely email from Go Outdoors: http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/north-ridge-caldera-event-men-p210715 😥
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterI’ve been caught once with nearly losing one and Judy had to come and rescue me 😳 ! It was one of dartmoor strider’s caches and I did wander too far into a bog. However, that was just my stupidity and a little more care would have prevented it. At least wearing wellingtons you can probably easily get out of a bog even if it means losing one and going back later to retrieve it, with normal boots you could get completely stuck as there is nothing that will come off 😕 !
Dartmoor DaveKeymasterIt’s very interesting that many walkers expect to get wet feet when walking on Dartmoor. I’ve read it time and time again in the logs and so many of our guests here come back with sodden footwear and wet feet and dartymoor admits to the same 😥 !
I have to say that I always expect to complete a walk on Dartmoor and come back with dry feet. That is why I buy waterproof boots – if they are not waterproof I don’t want them! However, you have to continually proof even Gor-Tex boots and Judy is always waxing her leather ones.
The only reason we have both turned to Neoprene wellies is because it gives you so much more flexibility. You can wade through bogs and streams, etc and you don’t need to concentrate too much on where you are walking. The main downside is that they can get very hot, so avoid in warm weather. Today we went back to our normal boots for the excellent walk around Cotehele which we would thoroughly recommend 🙂
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