Well the WSI series has been live for just under a fortnight and we have the first completer of the series. Well done gilfam for all your hard work and I hope you had some fun, enjoyment and nice weather doing the series. Don't forget to claim your 'prize' - details on the main series entry page.
So far there have been over 30 visits to the series caches with 10 geocachers joining in the fun. Now that the weather has taken a turn for the better (hopefully) why don't you get out there amongst it all! If you head to Buckden on the 18th June take time out from your geocaching to have some fun at the Village Gala.
Friday, 10 June 2011
Thursday, 2 June 2011
They're live...
The Where Spheres Intersect series went live last Saturday and several caches have already been found.
Follow this link to the main series entry to start your search.
Thanks to DalesmanX for all his help getting the caches listed.
Follow this link to the main series entry to start your search.
Thanks to DalesmanX for all his help getting the caches listed.
Friday, 27 May 2011
Going Live Soon...
The caches have all been listed and will go live from about 4pm tomorrow the 28th May.
Keep an eye on the Upper Wharfedale area on geocaching.com to start your search.
Good luck!
Keep an eye on the Upper Wharfedale area on geocaching.com to start your search.
Good luck!
Tuesday, 24 May 2011
Nearly There
With a few days to go before the official launch I will be tying up a few loose ends with a trip to Upper Wharfedale tomorrow and Thursday.
The caches are all sorted out and made quite an impression all stacked up.
The physical caches don't contain a lot but there is a lot of research behind their placement and in the artist's book that goes with the project.
The artists books won't be ready straight away so any very eager and/or successful geocachers will have to wait a little while to receive their 'prizes'. The reason for this is that I hope to use some of the experiences of the geocachers visiting my series to add another thread of content to the artist's books. As geocachers uncover the WSI series one of the few things I ask in return is to report their experiences in words and images. These experiences will start to appear here as soon as the successful start to report them.
Backing up the caches themselves and the artsist books will be a commentary about each site which I will add to this blog on a separate page. I will announce when these are added. In the meantime keep an eye on geocaching.com and the geoartcache site for the launch of the project this coming Saturday.
The caches are all sorted out and made quite an impression all stacked up.
The physical caches don't contain a lot but there is a lot of research behind their placement and in the artist's book that goes with the project.The artists books won't be ready straight away so any very eager and/or successful geocachers will have to wait a little while to receive their 'prizes'. The reason for this is that I hope to use some of the experiences of the geocachers visiting my series to add another thread of content to the artist's books. As geocachers uncover the WSI series one of the few things I ask in return is to report their experiences in words and images. These experiences will start to appear here as soon as the successful start to report them.
Backing up the caches themselves and the artsist books will be a commentary about each site which I will add to this blog on a separate page. I will announce when these are added. In the meantime keep an eye on geocaching.com and the geoartcache site for the launch of the project this coming Saturday.
Monday, 9 May 2011
Project Development II
Wow! Nearly a month since my last post. With all the holidays around Easter time has flown by but my locations for caches have mostly been passed. Now it is on to the detailing of the caches and the admin involved with getting them live on geocaching.com in time for the project launch on the 28th May.
I've still got to buy the containers for the caches and add their contents before I visit Upper Wharfedale at the end of the month to hide them. Lakeland looks like a good bet with their lockable food storage containers.
Now I know the locations of the caches I can get on with designing and producing the artist's book 'prizes' for successful discovery of the series. The edition for the artist's book will be relatively modest at about 50 to 75 as a survey of the National Park geocache series in Upper Wharfedale shows a maximum visitor number of 43 to a single cache in any one year.
The geocache that I hid at the Parkinson Building in Leeds seems to have disappeared into a void and needs replacing. Hopefully it will be back in the next few days.
I've still got to buy the containers for the caches and add their contents before I visit Upper Wharfedale at the end of the month to hide them. Lakeland looks like a good bet with their lockable food storage containers.
Now I know the locations of the caches I can get on with designing and producing the artist's book 'prizes' for successful discovery of the series. The edition for the artist's book will be relatively modest at about 50 to 75 as a survey of the National Park geocache series in Upper Wharfedale shows a maximum visitor number of 43 to a single cache in any one year.
The geocache that I hid at the Parkinson Building in Leeds seems to have disappeared into a void and needs replacing. Hopefully it will be back in the next few days.
Monday, 11 April 2011
Survey Trip - Reflections
Back in the studio now and looking back at last week's trip to Upper Wharfedale. Well it was successful in the number of geocaches found and most were of the 'waterproof' lunchbox type and a similar size to the containers proposed for GeoArtCache. Identifying locations for my caches was another matter.
I was surprised by how difficult it was to find suitable locations and this is made more difficult by the fact that I'm trying to let my research dictate the location rather than the other way about. I think though that I will have to be a little more creative with the locating and combine some of my facts and themes into less caches.
The caches have to be hidden thoughtfully and must not damage any structures or involve burying the boxes. There are a lot of stone walls around Buckden and they are tempting sites for caches but they are off limits - the farmers have a difficult enough time keeping these structures in good order without geocachers pulling them apart looking for a Tupperware box.
Staying on the subject of walls, it always amazes me the lengths landowners went to to identify the limits of their domains across rough ground. Massive walls were built or heavy-posted wire fences strung across some of our most inaccessible landscapes - the walls on Birk's Fell ridge for instance. I tried to imagine the army of workers that must have been employed to build and maintain them. Massive feats but dwarfed by the larger scale of the fells and skies.
These land divisions would have been laid down in the nineteenth century I assume but how much of what we see there today is original? Stone is being replaced by the more flexible medium of wire and wood post but there is still much to maintain and I imagine that if you have a wall in fairly good repair you don't want to spend money on new fences if you can get away with occasional rebuilding of gaps. On Birk's Fell there were certainly marks indicating that stretches of fallen wall may be rebuilt soon. A quick look around the Internet will show that there are plenty of people interested in the craft of walling (e.g. the Yorkshire Drystone Walling Guild offers courses and advice). They are also convenient features on which to explore the secret world of lichens and mosses so treat them with respect. To find out more the National Park also has a detailed introductory page.
Back to the geocaching. I did find enough sites to consider but I will now have to get these organised and find out if there are any landownership issues before I can fully commit to them. The locations will help to inform the artwork for the 'prizes' but I will make a start on developing this. So, lots to do but still seven weeks left before the official launch of GeoArtCache. Must get on...
I was surprised by how difficult it was to find suitable locations and this is made more difficult by the fact that I'm trying to let my research dictate the location rather than the other way about. I think though that I will have to be a little more creative with the locating and combine some of my facts and themes into less caches.
The caches have to be hidden thoughtfully and must not damage any structures or involve burying the boxes. There are a lot of stone walls around Buckden and they are tempting sites for caches but they are off limits - the farmers have a difficult enough time keeping these structures in good order without geocachers pulling them apart looking for a Tupperware box.
Staying on the subject of walls, it always amazes me the lengths landowners went to to identify the limits of their domains across rough ground. Massive walls were built or heavy-posted wire fences strung across some of our most inaccessible landscapes - the walls on Birk's Fell ridge for instance. I tried to imagine the army of workers that must have been employed to build and maintain them. Massive feats but dwarfed by the larger scale of the fells and skies.
These land divisions would have been laid down in the nineteenth century I assume but how much of what we see there today is original? Stone is being replaced by the more flexible medium of wire and wood post but there is still much to maintain and I imagine that if you have a wall in fairly good repair you don't want to spend money on new fences if you can get away with occasional rebuilding of gaps. On Birk's Fell there were certainly marks indicating that stretches of fallen wall may be rebuilt soon. A quick look around the Internet will show that there are plenty of people interested in the craft of walling (e.g. the Yorkshire Drystone Walling Guild offers courses and advice). They are also convenient features on which to explore the secret world of lichens and mosses so treat them with respect. To find out more the National Park also has a detailed introductory page.
Back to the geocaching. I did find enough sites to consider but I will now have to get these organised and find out if there are any landownership issues before I can fully commit to them. The locations will help to inform the artwork for the 'prizes' but I will make a start on developing this. So, lots to do but still seven weeks left before the official launch of GeoArtCache. Must get on...
Thursday, 7 April 2011
Survey Trip Stats.
Getting to know my GPS I found the trip computer facility which I feel lends a suitably cold, technological foil to the physical walking experience:
Day One
Overall distance: 12.3 miles
Moving time: 3h 28m
Moving average: 3.5mph
Stopped time: 1h 3m
Overall average: 2.7mph
Total ascent: 1588m
3 geocaches found
Day Two
Overall distance: 16.9 miles
Moving time: 4h 41m
Moving average: 3.6mph
Stopped time: 1h 37m
Overall average: 2.7mph
Total ascent: 1168m
6 geocaches found
If there was a calorie counter on there too I'm sure I would be about evens after all the cake, ale and casserole consumed!
Day One
Overall distance: 12.3 miles
Moving time: 3h 28m
Moving average: 3.5mph
Stopped time: 1h 3m
Overall average: 2.7mph
Total ascent: 1588m
3 geocaches found
Day Two
Overall distance: 16.9 miles
Moving time: 4h 41m
Moving average: 3.6mph
Stopped time: 1h 37m
Overall average: 2.7mph
Total ascent: 1168m
6 geocaches found
If there was a calorie counter on there too I'm sure I would be about evens after all the cake, ale and casserole consumed!
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