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Elli's ramblings (26 unread)

March 19, 2011
15:19
Pyramids and Coral Reefs, the need for an underwater camera
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Pyramids and Coral Reefs – Egypt before the demonstrations. Part two: The Coral Reefs and the need for an underwater camera Now Hurghada mightn’t have many caches, but what’s there in abundance are coral reefs. One small (and sadly dead one) was right at the beach of our resort. Just paddle some 30m out and [...]
10:28
Pyramids and Coral Reefs, Cairo before the troubles
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Pyramids and Coral Reefs – Egypt before the demonstrations. Part one: The Pyramids It is tricky to find a nice destination for a holiday, when several needs in the family have to be met. My son wanted action, my daughter no caching, my friend water and diving and I some sun and warmth and a [...]
December 06, 2010
17:46
Visiting a Restricted Area.
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Visiting a Restricted Area And also crossing the border into Denmark Not a lot of people may visit those wonderful brick buildings of the Naval Academy at Mürwik in Flensburg, the most northern city of Germany. Through coincidence, I got the chance and thoroughly enjoyed the walk through these hallowed halls, steeped in history. It [...]
November 28, 2010
13:29
Lake Constance and four countries in one day
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It’s not about the numbers, Part 4: Lake Constance and four countries in one day. Was the first part of our holiday dedicated to my children, and visiting areas they wanted to go, the last weekend was for me. After visiting Legoland and crossing the Alps over to Italy, I wanted to visit Lake Constance [...]
October 09, 2010
16:20
Poland – and very little caches…
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Poland – and very little caches…. During our holiday I had my car damaged, a T5 VW Transporter lovingly called Dolly, while cutting a bend slightly short and hitting a post. It wasn’t severe, but bad enough for a car spending all day outside without a roof above. I could already see the rost flowering, [...]
August 06, 2010
7:43
Bella Italia – high mountains, caves and great lakes…
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It’s not about the numbers, it’s about the places you see. Part 3: Bella Italia – high mountains, caves and great lakes… In Italy it was tricky to find a place to park for the night. I was so tired, so eventually we stayed at the entrance into a vineyard. At six the next morning [...]
August 05, 2010
0:05
Gorgeous Gorges and other great places
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It’s not about the numbers, but about the places…. Part 2 Gorgeous Gorges and other great places Back from Legoland we went to search for some caches. What else? I never knew there are oilfields in Bavaria, this was really a surprise for me: A horseheadpump at work. No, this is not some major oilfield [...]
August 04, 2010
0:12
Visiting all major German cities in one day.
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It’s not about the numbers, it’s about the places. Part 1 Visiting all major German cities in one day. What do you do, when you have one short week, several European countries missing in your statistics and a full tank of Diesel? Sure, off we go to find some caches in the South. But first [...]
April 21, 2010
9:18
Work and Pleasure mixed together
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Work and Pleasure mixed together or Back to Hamburg for the weekend Just a fortnight ago I spent a few hours in Hamburg. For some this was way to little and they seemed to be seriously insulted, that I would actually prefer to visit Bremen instead… So last weekend saw me back on the motorway [...]
April 16, 2010
22:49
Northward bound? No, homeward bound!
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Northward bound Part 5: Ships and a long trip home. The last day of our Easter break was considerably shorter, as we had to drive home. But before that we had a look at many, many ships. Our place for the night was somewhere in the bog. Even though no houses were around some early [...]
April 13, 2010
21:45
Hunting for Caches, not Eggs
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Northward bound Part 4: Easter and the Hunt for Caches, not Eggs. Eastersunday dawned grey but dry. Lucky for us, ’cause we had great plans to spend the day searching for caches. The easteregg hunt is boring in comparison… What better way to get to know an area, than finding local caches? To find them [...]
April 10, 2010
21:24
Waymarks and Emigration
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Northward bound Part 3: Waymarks and Emigration The best times to get a nice parking space in a city are the early morning hours. So shortly before nine, I found a place quite close to the inner city of Bremen. There are quite a lot Waymarks here and as those are sadly not very common [...]
April 09, 2010
23:08
Testing my spontaneity…
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Northward bound Part 2 Bogs, the Universe, and a short visit in Hamburg At the Dönerstag Event I got an offer to park close to Moorteufels house in the Teufelsmoor, the devils bog. Such a nice place to camp for the night! The walk with the dog got me stargazing, there was no light pollution. [...]
April 08, 2010
0:25
Goals, Grieve and Surprises
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Northward bound Part 1: Goals, Grieve and Surprises For a long time now, one of my caching goals was to find caches in all 16 German States. In January I had made plans to visit Bremen, the last state missing to fullfill this goal. Also to meet grisu1702, who I wasn’t able to meet at [...]
January 24, 2010
15:21
Ever tried waymarking?
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Ever tried waymarking? So far I had ignored this variation of the hunt. The Geoclub.de and the German blogosphere is abuzz with controverse discussion. Why? Because some hiking association, the name totally unknown by most cachers so far, together with Garmin put out a papervision to the press about nature friendly geocaching. Nothing new in [...]
9:07
Unexpected snow!
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Mallorca Part 6 Who would have thought we’d see snow? If someone had told me, I’d see snow on an island in the Mediterranean, I’d told them: Yeah, sure…. During the night a storm hit, I actually was afraid the french windows out to the balcony would cave in and bury us underneath… Can’t say [...]
January 23, 2010
0:22
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain
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Mallorca Part5 Rainy days, so we looked for fish “The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”, as much as I love this when Eliza sings it, it’s not that nice, when you have plans to explore other parts of the island. Of course we had not the full rain gear with us. I [...]
January 22, 2010
11:28
Sunshine and Sea, perfect!
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Mallorca Part 4 Sunshine and sea, what more could one ask from a holiday? Even though my son would have loved to visit the huge Aquarium near our hotel, I’d rather spent the time outdoors to enjoy the lovely sunshine near the coast. We took a drive to the rocky south east coast and found [...]
January 20, 2010
18:31
Off into the mountains
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Mallorca Part 3 A drive through the mountains After spending our first two days in the more level part of the island, we went into the mountains. It’s amazing, how steep those mountains are, even if the altitude isn’t that high, it seems much higher. The little Polo I had as a hired car had only a small engine. [...]
January 16, 2010
1:43
Relaxing in Palma de Mallorca
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Mallorca Part 2 A relaxed day in Palma After such an adventurous day with cave explorations, we decided to have a relaxed day and take a look at Palma, the capital. The downside of having a hired car is the search for a parking space, but I found an underground car park close to the impressive cathedral. Cathedral La [...]
January 12, 2010
3:06
South – towards the sun and into the caves
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Mallorca Part 1 First impressions and an amazing cave caching trip During my holiday in Spanish sunshine (well for the first part anyway…) I managed to set several records. First holiday with an event, longest distance between caches in one day (1444km), holiday with the least finds. That was mainly due to the weather, though. We started out in [...]
December 29, 2009
6:53
Requiem of sorts…
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Good Bye, Flava The story of my dog. Flava, with her dog tag literally . . . Did I mention, I used to live in Ireland. The first one and a half years in Tramore, Co.Waterford, close to the beach. In summer 1998 we moved into a derelict farmhouse in Kilmacow, Co. Kilkenny. Well, they kept telling me, it has potential. Translation: It’s a [...]
November 06, 2009
20:25
Hotel or Jail, that’s the question!
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TB Hotel or Travellers Jail? That’s the question! What is a Hotel? Well, in most cases it’s a place with several rooms to let, where I can spend the night (or several). Now, what is a TB Hotel? For me, that’s a cache big enough to put large(ish) TBs and Coins inside. Preferably well camouflaged and hidden [...]
October 22, 2009
23:51
Cologne: The missing wallet and other mishaps
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A fortnight ago, I went hiking in the Alsace region. That overnight hike showed clearly, that I need a bigger backpack. One, where I can take my proper sleeping bag along, not the summer down version. So what better excuse do I need for a trip to my favourite supplier of outdoor equipment? Globetrotter. Usually I buy in [...]
October 07, 2009
21:53
Ever slept in a castle ruin?
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Burgentour Part 2 The accomodation for the night, Froensbourg, was something really special! An old ruin of a fortification. Built onto one of the many sandstone outcrops, the area is littered with. We chose the best floor for the night, penthouse so to speak: Niveau superieur. Our accomodation for the night. Unfortunately two long flights of steps lead up [...]
October 06, 2009
18:04
Seven Castle Ruins or even more?
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Burgentour Part 1 Pretty much exactly two weeks ago I met with jmsanta and his wife Zwergbaum at our Wiesenevent. They mentioned plans to walk the 7 Burgentour in the borderland of Germany and France. That’s a two day hike with an overnight stay in an old castle ruin. Now how much more romantic can one get? As I’ve [...]
September 20, 2009
23:48
Wiesenevent – We’re meeting on the meadow
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We’re meeting at the meadow. In our Green Forum, the geoclub.de, we have an off topic area, which is called the “Cafe zur Wiese” Café at the meadow. As anyone knows, the off topic area is the part where the most fun can be had. On Saturday, 19.09.2009, I went with a loaded car to this quiet village, [...]
August 27, 2009
17:50
Heading Southeast, homeward bound
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Out catching a glimpse of Nessie – Part 5 Heading Southeast, homeward bound What is it with Capitals, that O’Ryan doesn’t like them? Is it a sign, that I shouldn’t drive there? Not that I’m overly fond of big cities, but with a good GPSr and a routable map, so O’Ryan can lead me, I wasn’t worried at [...]
August 25, 2009
20:30
Circumnavigating Loch Ness
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Out catching a glimpse of Nessie – Part 4 Circumnavigating Loch Ness After we added some ‘Skin so soft’ from AVON to our first aid kit in Fort Williams, the Monster was calling us! On the way there we stopped at an amazing gorge. This earthcache wasn’t that old yet. Published End of July. But quite obviously already the [...]
0:49
Powercaching the Scotish Way
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Out catching a glimpse of Nessie – Part 3 Powercaching the Scottish Way The weather gave us a dose of Scottish sunshine, very wet, as we awoke down by the River Forth. At least that kept the midgets at bay, something I couldn’t appreciate yet. But I learned my lesson, tranquil nights at the camp are greatly [...]
August 23, 2009
23:10
Segedunum, Angels and no reception in Edinburgh
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Out catching a glimpse of Nessie – Part 2 Segedunum, Angels and no reception in Edinburgh. After a full breakfast with scrambled eggs, sausages, rashers, baked beans, hash browns and tomatoes, I was ready to start driving on the left. Our first stop was at an old Roman fort, Segedunum. The cache there we were unable to find, but [...]
0:52
Out catching a glimpse of Nessi!
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Out catching a glimpse of Nessie – Part 1 On the road again! We’re on the road again! Kassel to Amsterdam/IJmuiden What does one do, when there’s only little time, but the dreams lead far away? Well, one tries to push as much into one week as possible. So we packed Dolly, as my VW T5 is [...]
July 28, 2009
0:23
Where I go, my first!
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Since June I have my new O’Ryan, (ah, Orion, also known as Oregon), and I must say, this was definetely a good investment. The difference to my trusty little Gecko (Geko 201) is huge! Most noticeable: I have a topo map now! Gosh, do I get spoilt and lazy! It’s especially nice to let O’Ryan tell [...]
June 22, 2009
0:55
Convoy to Oregon
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After over two years of caching, I got myself a new GPSr. An Oregon. But I wanted to break it in at a special occassion. So what better, than start using it at my 1k milestone. Up till now, I wrote all the necessary information into a small notebook and fed the coordinates into the Gecko by [...]
June 03, 2009
1:20
Kairo in Bavaria
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While others went gaga to get a Mega Icon in Bremen, I had the pleasure to be working. But still in all that busy time, I got the chance to find a few caches. As much as I love driving, making 1125 km within 32 hours isn’t that much fun. I don’t know how truckers manage… But [...]
May 23, 2009
0:11
Really already six years?
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A lovely coin, (no, two coins actually), arrived in my mailbox today. Not totally unexpected, but very special and rare for now. Cause this is a coin not yet for sale. Our Green Forum, the Geoclub.de, will celebrate its 6th anniversary this year. Last year a coin came out which had the shape of our old [...]
May 13, 2009
21:01
Throw a stick, or is it a ball?
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There is something new going on in the blogosphere in Germany. Lots of so called sticks are whizzing through the air or should I say through cyberspace? It’s all about curiousity, which was YOUR First to Find. Well, not FTF, but First Geocache ever. Some questions are send out, and then the stick is send on it’s [...]
April 22, 2009
1:25
Spiders, snakes and more…
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As I arrived at the Castle Man Event, someone greeted me, as if he knew me. Well, it turned out he did. It was Schnueffler, who I meet regularly at the Mumble Talk. Mumble Talk is a wonderful invention, everyone can join, if they have a headset with speakers and microphone for their computer. Every night [...]
April 20, 2009
22:47
Meeting Castle Man
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Karlsruhe, Friday 17.4.09: For admitting coin addicts a well known name is Castle Man. Now he’s traveling through Germany, England, Scotland and Sweden. I got to know of his plans through the Pathtags Forum, as he had run a design contest for a pathtag to spread at his trip. Now, how to get hold of one of [...]
April 10, 2009
17:18
Berlin Part3: Detours and famous places
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Berlin Part 3: Detours and famous places One of my caching goals is to find caches in all 16 states of Germany. Living in the centre with three other states within a short distance, it hasn’t been to hard fo fill parts of the map. But sadly the northeast had been undiscovered by me, yet. Before: After: My [...]
11:12
Berlin Part 2: GC77 and podcast
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Berlin Part 2: GC77 The next morning, Saturday, we had Germany’s oldest cache on our list. We had made arrangements to meet moenk and Kai977 for making a podcast about GC77. Bikenpreusse also came along. 10 o’clock on a Saturday is a good time, but as I didn’t know the area, I headed out there early. I [...]
April 09, 2009
1:22
Berlin, definitely worth a visit! Part 1
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Berlin Part 1: Sometimes it is time to stop dreaming of visiting someplace and just get going. So if your dream is not too far away but only a few hours drive, why not use a weekend and head off? My dream had been Berlin. I’ve never been there before. But I dreamed of sitting on the [...]
March 29, 2009
23:13
Ever wondered where they come from?
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Did you ever wonder where those coins and pathtags come from? In September 2008 Jellyfish, an American based cacher, visited a coin and pathtag manufacturer in China. He wrote about his experience in the pathtagsforum. As I find his recount very interesting, I asked him to share it with you: Jellyfish, September 08: I had a great time [...]
March 28, 2009
11:02
Follow the Path.
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Since I got introduced to caching by first handling a coin, those pieces of metal never lost their appeal. In August 08 I found out about pathtags, and I must say these fascinate me even more than coins. Now, what are pathtags? Pathtags are about the size of a one €uro coin. They are signature items or trade [...]
March 25, 2009
22:41
Blog Parade: Your caching essentials
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Today neirolf started a new blog carnival or blog parade about which essentials one takes along on a cache tour. I have a bag to take along for all my essentials. Most important of course is the GPSr. In my case that’s a Geko 201. This got a nice black case, so the screen won’t scratch. Also [...]
March 08, 2009
17:24
Ireland 08/09 Part 6: Homeward bound
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From Kassel to Ireland and back- Part 6: Homeward bound Even the nicest journey has to get to an end, and I must admid, after so many visits to well known places and new locations, I got travel-weary and looked forward to getting home again. But before we boarded the ferry on the following day, we went for [...]
March 07, 2009
1:16
Ireland 08/09 Part 5: In the Waterford Area
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From Kassel to Ireland and back- Part 5: Waterford Area During our stay in the Waterford area we managed to find caches at some really nice locations. The Sugar Loaf for one comes to mind. A rock halfway between Waterford and Tramore, with really nice views, when the weather is playing along. We had some hazy conditions but still [...]
March 02, 2009
0:03
Coin addicts paradise
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The second Ruhr area Coin Convention took place on Sunday, 1st March. I had planned attending, and even as the will attend logs disapointed me, as only a few had logged, I still sorted through all my traders and got them ready to take along. On the way, I visited a TB Hotel at the motorway. Unfortunately [...]
February 27, 2009
16:05
Ireland 08/09 Part 4: Europe’s First
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From Kassel to Ireland and back- Part 4: Europe’s First For the weekend I had planned to visit Bray, south of Dublin and look for Europe’s First. The Bay of Bray I had seen the video of JeePSer’s 1000th find and decided, I want to go for this historic cache as well! My friend has a hunting cabin in the [...]
February 26, 2009
20:19
Ireland 08/09 Part 3: The South East
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From Kassel to Ireland and back- Part 3: The South East After a quiet night at the cove we went looking for the cache at St.Helens, but had no success. The coordinates lead us to a solitary headstone, but no cache was to be seen or felt. After finding Irelands most southeasterly cache at Carnsore Point, we [...]
February 24, 2009
16:42
Ireland 08/09 Part 2: Dover-Rosslare
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From Kassel to Ireland and back- Part 2: Dover-Pembroke I’m always looking forward to the ferrycrossing, I just love being aboard a ship. Unfortunately my kids tend to get seasick, I never had any troubles there. But as they say, there is only one cure against sea-sickness: Sit under a tree. The White Cliffs of Dover are always a [...]
February 23, 2009
16:29
Ireland 08/09, Part 1: Kassel-Calais
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From Kassel to Ireland and back- Part 1: Kassel-Calais Start in Kassel, obviously. Out of one of my caches I had a travel bug, which wanted to go to Cologne, so I tried to find a suitably sized cache. But all caches along the motorwa“Fort IV (Köln-Bocklemünd)”y were micros so we had to veer off the motorway… Found a [...]
February 22, 2009
14:22
What have I done, now?
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One shouldn’t do anything after 11pm. Haven’t I learned from my experience with my bedside lamp? What an easy thing to do, to connect the two lamps, so I can switch them with one button. But rule number one: When working in the house. Don’t do something late in the evening, thinking it will only take a [...]