This is my first post in months, sorry about that! I haven't been caching very much as I've been busy studying. However, I've still been on some fantastic walks and found some great caches this year. I've written several articles for the GAGB's Seeker Magazine about a few of them but sadly never got round to writing anything here.
This is my annual 'in review' blog post in which I recount the highlights of 2016's caching and assess the degree to which I've met the goals I set myself at the start of the year.
These were my goals:
- Reach 3,000 finds
- Find more than 576 caches (my current record)
- Find more quality caches
- Complete more of my D/T grid
- Place my next series
At time of writing, I've found 2,535 caches - so I am still not near to 3,000. I've found 258 caches this year. Whilst not my best count, it's still more than I found in 2013 and 2014. I filled in only one more space in my D/T grid with GC5X3MZ. However, it's not all doom and gloom! Far from it!
I have found some excellent, quality caches this year - and that's what matters most. I have just updated my Cache of the Year bookmark list highlighting my favourite finds. This year's winner is Mont Tendre: le sommet 1679m (GC59HC1). It's placed at the summit of Mont Tendre, which is the highest point of the Jura Mountains in Switzerland. The walk up was fantastic; the sun was out and our surroundings were simply beautiful. It was a unique experience to see so many friendly cows up there and hear their bells ringing, from both near and afar. The views were gobsmacking from the summit. We could see across Lac Leman to France and Mont Blanc, which is the highest mountain in the Alps. The sense of achievement was great and finding a nice cache container in good condition was the icing on the cake. We had a great walk back down the other side of the mountain too. You can read my article about this trip in a recent issue of the GAGB's Seeker Magazine.
The competition for my Cache of the Year has never been closer, with Amour Series Bonus (GC6D641) as the runner up. This was an immense ammo container that served as the finale of a super series of Multi caches. Each Multi had an ingenious first stage, each of which put a smile on my face. The caches themselves were all ammo cans. Other notable caches include Pi In The Sky (GC446E2), Magic Eye View (GCTV41) and Reloader's Cache#20 - Romainmôtier & le Nozon (GCQ8YJ).
I also thoroughly enjoyed various events. The Geolympix Mega was excellent and so was the GPS Maze, which was in the UK for the first time. I also had a great time at the CacheWalker Twixmas Bash yesterday. We were very lucky with the sunny weather for the pre-event group walk! Next year is CacheWalker's 10th anniversary so I'm excited to see how we'll celebrate it - I'm sure I'll have a lot to report in next year's 'in review' post!
In addition to meeting my goal to find quality caches, I managed to achieve my final one - to place a new series. It's called Brailes Bonanza and consists of 20 caches on a hilly route of 6 miles. I first walked the route back in May 2015, so I already had an idea of where I was going to place the caches. I really love the route - it's my favourite of all the series' I have placed! The views are fantastic and the area is so quiet. I chose the final route and designed the cache placements to reflect what I perceive to be the perfect formula for a series. Obviously this is subjective! I'm happy that several of the caches have quite a few favourite points now. I'm really looking forward to walking the route again and maintaining the caches in 2017.
Once again, I can conclude that finding quality caches is far more rewarding than seeking numbers and improving stats. The fact that I've managed to write a reasonably blog post having not found many caches or improved any stats is a testament to this.
Happy New Year and all the best to all for 2017.
Griff Grof
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