My Signature Items : homecrafted, paracord zipperpulls

Way before i started geocaching I was making these paracord zipperpulls, lanyards, dogcollars, keychainfobs and what not. Works as a relaxing, meditating mantra.
So I had loads of em and with geocaching these have found a purpose.
Here are some examples of how to use them. The double ringed keyfob are good for motorbikes as there is nothing to scratch the plate since you can let the "other" keys hang off.

During our cache trip to Luxemburg I spent the evenings making these zipperpulls for the next day. In those few days we have dropped 10-12 pairs of these in orange/woodland camo. The zipperpulls are usually dropped as matching pairs.

Luxembourg 29AUG-02SEP2008

	9/2/2008	Guinness70 couldn't find Teufelsschlucht (Multi-cache)	Rheinland-Pfalz	[visit log]
	9/2/2008	Guinness70 found GeoWolf 5: Wolf's Canyon (Traditional Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	9/2/2008	Guinness70 found Erdzeitschnecke (Earthcache)	Rheinland-Pfalz	[visit log]
	9/2/2008	Guinness70 couldn't find In the garden (Traditional Cache)	Germany	[visit log]
	9/1/2008	Guinness70 found McR's#1 - Marc's Favourite Place (Multi-cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	9/1/2008	Guinness70 found Between Rocks (Traditional Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	9/1/2008	Guinness70 found Under Rocks (Traditional Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	9/1/2008	Guinness70 found McR's#3 - Tëscht de Steebrech (Traditional Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	8/31/2008	Guinness70 couldn't find Räuberhöhle (Traditional Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	8/31/2008	Guinness70 found Rock Labyrinths (Traditional Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	8/31/2008	Guinness70 found LCE (Traditional Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	8/30/2008	Guinness70 found Moai (Virtual Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	8/30/2008	Guinness70 found Verluerekascht (Virtual Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	8/30/2008	Guinness70 found HOUGERIICHT (Traditional Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	8/30/2008	Guinness70 found Imdelseas Flehen (Traditional Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	8/29/2008	Guinness70 found Ourtal 1 - Mikro (Traditional Cache)	Germany	[visit log]
	8/29/2008	Guinness70 found Ourtal 2 - Mikro (Traditional Cache)	Germany	[visit log]
	8/29/2008	Guinness70 found Ourtal 3 - Cache (Unknown Cache)	Germany	[visit log]
	8/29/2008	Guinness70 couldn't find GeoWolf 8: A Visit to Vianden (Traditional Cache)	Luxembourg	[visit log]
	8/29/2008	Guinness70 found " Plätscherstein " (Traditional Cache)	Germany	[visit log]

Tick count upto 18

while in Luxembourg for 6 days 12 ticks were removed, we are back since wednesday and in the meanwhile another 6 ticks have been discovered. So that totals 18 ticks of which 16 were removed from the dogs and 2 from my leg. Those two ticks were disturbingly way up high on my leg and I dont wear hotpants while hiking, I'm just not that kinda person :P

The dogs were both sprayed with Frontline in June, its has to be reapplied every 3 months, but apparently thats assuming they dont get washed, rinced, rained upon, dont roll in dust/mud, walking thru puddles or wet grass.
Next time we go into possible tick areas, the dogs will get sprayed again as a precaution.


The way I remove them is with a special pair of tweezers, the type that when squeezed it opens rather then closes so that when you grab the tick only minimal pressure is applied as not to make the tick panic and inject its deseased salivar. If its big enough you can use thumb and indexfinger but DO NOT SQUEEZE HARD or you'll make the tick panic and it will inject its deseased salivar into the wound.
Then while gently twisting the tweezer counterclockwise I retract the tick, put it on a clear sheat of paper or white tissue to examine it to make sure all the bits of the mouth have been removed from the host.
Next I apply an antibiotic/antibacterial balm on the wound I, ask your doctor or pharmacist.
Next I fold the tissue over 2 times and squash the tick. These suckers are tuff, they require a strong hit, you'll see blood spatters in the tissue.
If its a big, mature grey one which has been feeding for a while I also burn the tissue and the tick, just to be on the safe side.
NEVER EVER squash the tick if it is not contained in a tissue or plastic, the blood is deseased and I'm told the mature ones with the big grey backside contain eggs, so I have been told.

Also have a look at http://www.dogsandticks.com/

If a tick does get to go thru the entire cycle and you have a nasty, infecting bite, get to a doctor, tell him when you noticed the bite and you will get a heavy dose of antibiotics. On one occassion the doc prescribed me 1gram (1000mg) of peniciline twice a day for 4 days.

Tick Removal

If a tick is detected that is attached, never attempt to place any chemical such as methylated spirits onto the tick, nor should it be touched or disturbed, as the tick will inject saliva into the skin, which could make the situation worse. Rather the tick should be sprayed with an aerosol insect repellent preferably containing pyrethrin or a pyrethroid (if a repellent cannot be found which contains a pyrethroid, then Lyclear, a scabies cream containing permethrin will work fine). The combination of hydrocarbons and the pyrethrin acts as a narcotic and a toxicant, and prevents the tick from injecting its saliva. The tick should be sprayed again one minute later (or dabbed with the Lyclear) and left. After 24 hours it should drop off naturally or be gently removed with fine-tipped forceps. It is normal for a tick bite to remain slightly itchy for several weeks, however if other symptoms develop, then a doctor should be consulted immediately.

source http://medent.usyd.edu.au/fact/ticks.htm

Luxembourg : mushrooms

This is not about a cache, but the variety of mushrooms we encountered on this caching trip. I know very little about them but for some reason mushrooms interest me. Here at home I have gathered and consumed several mushrooms of different types, but only those that are confirmed "edible".

The top one wasnt particulary impressive but it looked like it had it own little cave, like a small rock chapel.
The second one from the top was a colony growing on seperate tree trunks, one was the size of a rugby ball.
Third one down topped them all... bright colors and a big colony forming one large fungus. That is a 2L bottle next to it for comparison.
And then the omnipresent orange slugs some 20cm long. What do they feed these things? Carrots? One more shade up and these would be fluorescent.

Also spotted a red squirrel and lots and lots of hyper active swallows whos acrobatics where a joy to watch.

I love Letzeberg

Luxembourg : GeoWolf 5: Wolf's Canyon

GeoWolf 5: Wolf's Canyon was the last of the day and last of the holiday. Went solo one more time. TomTom (I use that one on the road) guided me to the "camping officiel" where I parked the car and started walking. Asked a dutch couple wether there was a trail starting somewhere in the back of the campsite. Turns out they only just arrived and this was their first time but they knew of a "fitness trail" at the back of the camping, good enuff for me, found that trail near the "piscine" and GPSr pointed in that general direction.

Great walk up the hill, sometimes I went "as the crow flies" but always ended up back on the trail so followed that upto the canyon. WOW !! impressive!! even more impressive when 3 french folk descended from the other side, that put the whole canyon into perspective! HUGE and VERY STEAP ! Sad story tho about killing all the wolves. The picture is not from the canyon but from the rubble you'll have to climb over.

Finding the cache was harder. Not sure which info post you meant since one of em was destroyed. While i was searching thru the rubble a young, flemmish couple walked up from the camping and when they returned i was still rummaging thru the rubble.
They glanced a bit oddly so I explained what was going on and immediately the guy started helping, but we didnt find it. I gave him a card with the geocaching.com website and off they went.
I wasnt going to finish this day and this holiday with a second DNF so I remembered the guy's last words "its about 8m from that post to here, so it must be up more"

So climb higher and higher until I recognized the picture! hu? no cache? it was VERY well hidden only 60-70cm to the right, under a very simular rectangular slaband hidden from sight by more rocks.

Great walk and a nice climb for a not so easy hide ;-)

021800SEP2008

Luxembourg : Teufelsschlucht

Teufelsschlucht ... damn ... if you are out of shape you are not going to like this. But we LOVED it. One dramatic scene after the other, waterfalls, babbling brooks, idyllic bridge, huge forest, majestic rocks, dramatic drops, marvelous views and to top it all off a restaurant/museum/shop (Haus der Jagd N45.50.835 E6.26.102) in the middle of the woods in the middle of the trail.
Frikadelle mit Kartoffelsalad never tasted so good! Hunger is the best sauce.

The actual Teufelsschlucht is intimidating, like walking into an abyss, cold, dark and damp, narrow and steap, very ominous. GREAT EXPERIENCE. See the guy in the picture... he is halfway up. oh yes.
We greeted him with "Güten tag". He replied "Güten Tag. Und dahr unter konnt Ihr sagen Güte Nacht". So down we went.

Point 5, 6 and 7 are bit unclear. We got to 6 but never spotted 7. Would probably have helped if we had the picture, but we never spotted the 4 digit number so continued back to the car and wrote it up as a DNF.

But a marvelous experience we'ld advice to every cacher who likes a challenging walk thru magnificient scenery.

Luxembourg : McR's#1 - Marc's Favourite Place

Another must do : McR's#1 - Marc's Favourite Place . This time a shortish walk thru great forest to arrive at a stone fortress in the woods. WOW!WOW!WOW!

Roads were closed due to the lumberjacks and TomTom was going mad on roads he didnt recognize. So parked the car about 1km down the road at N49°51.735 E6°17.380 , where i had an extra walk thru hollow roads and ferns and a marvelous view to boost!
Walked up along some cornfields and ended up at the trailhead.

Straightforward, easy to choose trail thru different woods and then the grande finale! majestic rocks rising up thru the woods. Magnificient location with excellent reception so the cache was quickly spotted.

Since i didnt get much climbing I explored the rocks some more and that is a thru fortress! That would be easy to defend, i can see cavemen picking this spot as their "safehouse".

With the extra distance this gave me a great nearly 4km walk back and forth.

While leaving I got to see a lumberjack at work in a special, articulated 4x4 vehicle. Jeez that thing would be THE ultimate cache mobile, this thing can move a tank, drive up piles of treetrunk, 1.5m high tires... impressive. Enjoyed that little show :-)

011730SEP08

Luxembourg : Under Rocks

Under Rocks took 2 tries. First as we returned from "Steinbrüchen" and "Between Rocks" we got very close using the coordinates but the approach was wrong and my compagnons were tired by now, mostly tired of going back and forth because i didnt have any maps.

We returned to the camping in Dillingen. After the late lunch I headed back out again, this time following the coordinates after parking a bit higher up the road from where you walk off the road into the wood.
We wouldnt have guessed such a great trail laid so nearby! I kept thinking "this is scenery from the Lord of the Rings", it all looked so ancient and idyllic.

Came up to GZ... and i remember thinking, i hope he didnt put it low and wet. So i started searching high and dry. Not going to say where i found it tho :-)
Was that location specially build to put in the cache, looks like it!

Plus so nearby where we have spent several weeks on previous holidays but it took geocaching to discover it!

011540SEP08

If you are in for a long walk start with Under Rocks then continue to McR's#3 and onto Between Rocks

Luxembourg : Between Rocks

After loggin "McR's#3 - Tëscht de Steebrech " we headed for "Between Rocks" as the crow flies and came across some remnants of a truck, in the middle of the woods?
Then we hit the trail and followed that one and had a very enjoyable walk to the site.
Brilliant, so love these rock formations in the woods, so surprising. Searched high and low then let the GPS settle to get a good signal, zoned in on the spot and voilà. Marvelous site, wide clearing with big bolders.
Have a good look at the large picture and notice Edith on the trail to the bottom left of the image and thats not even half of it.

That evening I removed 6 ticks from the dogs and 2 from my leg.

If you are in for a long walk start with Under Rocks then continue to McR's#3 and onto Between Rocks

011220SEP08

Luxembourg : McR's#3 - Tëscht de Steebrech

McR's#3 - Tëscht de Steebrech was the first of the day, finding the location was easy as we followed the proposed waypoints, Great walk with yet again remarkable rockformations in the woods. Walked passed the old stone quarry, had a peek :)

We were doing this paperless with the Colorado300 and i remembered the quote under the picture : this is not a spoiler.
So I mistakenly linked that to the actual spoiler I had with me. We ended up searching all around the crevace instead of in it! DOH DOH DOH
Would it be in this crevace after all? I really hope its not at the entrance coz that is now filled with branches.

Then the "last" sweep before giving up... bingo ! found it. Both of us had looked there before!!! EXCELLENT hide, first time we get this evil camo.

If you are in for a long walk start with Under Rocks then continue to McR's#3 and onto Between Rocks

Luxembourg : Rock Labyrinths

Rock Labyrinths is a must if you are in Luxembourg. The scenery is just amazing. We found the cache within 20minutes after getting out of the car (mainly due to the hint and the neat little gate of wooden sticks "hiding" the cache) but ended up walking around for another 2 hours with WOWs at every turn.
Marvelous! Majestic! Must see!

logged 30AUG2008

Luxembourg : Moai

Moai would be our first virtual cache and our first cache in Luxembourg. I noticed this one during preperations and just had to be done! If you are wondering why : the original Moai, are larger statues and can be found on Easter Island , those were carved from solid rock. These in Luxemburg are smaller and from concrete. But make for awesome photo opportunity.

Those statues arent the only noticables in that park, other items are a mini Stonehenge, a witches circle, great bridge, lots and lots of interesting constructions.
Looks like a scouting site.

Luxembourg : Imdelseas Flehen

Went for GC17HCY Imdelseas Flehen on the way back to the caravan in Dillingen. Edith parked the car and decided to stay in the car for a nap while I got out. "Only 1.5km, I'll be back soon." ... yeah right. Took me over an hour.

Went straight as the crow flies thru the forest, jumped over the creek and ended up 2 clearings higher up (bad signal). Walking like a duck thru dense pinewood, scratching my arms and face. When the GPSr sent me back into that wood i decided to climb the fence to get a good signal standing in the clearing and do a projection. Totally different direction... GOOD :-)
So went back downhill and BAMN!! WOW !! Never seen something like this before! WOW! A well preserved, centuries old structure in the middle of the woods along the path I crossed about 80m up the road.

Then it took me a while to find the cache itself as i didnt understand "enceinte" nor "bering". So applied the hint on anything... nada.
Then read the story again : "Regarde-moi, mais ne t'approches pas!" which translates to : "Look at me, but dont approach me!" the coin dropped and ... FOUND IT!

logged:301800AUG08
forgot the camera and my cellphone takes lousy pictures.

my geocaching GPS : Garmin Colorado300

Had been considering buying a walking GPS for a while and had been lurking on the Geocaching forums reading up about what to get and what not to get, trust me, all questions you might think of have been asked and answered on those forums.
Since we planned a trip to Andorra and it being tax free... I delayed the purchase for a few months.
Long story short : bought this one in Andorra La Vella, a few days before returning home (buy early on the holiday, they will try flog you a dodgy unit). Paid €350.00 which was €100.00 cheaper then in Belgium. The seller "generously" offered me batteries when I returned and told him complaining there were no batteries included. The batteries where some cheap brand 1700mAh non rechargeables. Totally useless for this GPSr which also turned out to be faulty so returned the next day and got another unit.

The Garmin Colorado 300 suits me fine. You can cache paperless (not 100% since you cant "write" on it) but it does require some preperations. Reception is good, down to 3m off (the lesser the better) in open air, up to 30m off in dense forests with tall trees.
You do have to buy maps because the OEM maps that the machine comes with are useless. I'm waiting for the new TOPO maps of Belgium-Luxembourg to be published because by now I have learned the hard way that without maps you will be doing lots of extra kilometers.

So again : buy early on the holiday and test it extensively !

The first hide

Verboden te storten ("No loitering") was my first hide, a regular size traditional cache.
This being my first it had to be "all good" : good location, good cache.

This location used to be the city dump but 20 years ago they stopped the exploitation and after sanitysing the site and planting trees Mother Nature took over and now its a beautyfull green pearl not far from my home. I doubt many locals now of this place apart from the farmers, hunters and now cachers.

So purchased a cool looking plastic container (the local army surplus was out of ammo boxes) that also looked sturdy, practical, waterproof and spacious.
It being waterproof with a rubber ring in the screw on lid topped it all off and made the €15.00 worth it.

This cache received good comments and a Cache Reward Coin for "Great Container". I was well chuffed :)

one good advice I received and would like to pass on :
get an experienced cacher to testrun your first caches!

my other hides

And what next

It seemed that Tsjaske was the most active hider in the area so i went and did most of his caches, discovering new hiding techniques at every cache, not difficult since I just started.
They were all so remarkable and enjoyable they put a smile on my face at each find. Even if it meant some required me returning several times to find. Romeinse Omwalling I took me 5 visits to find.

So after a few finds I decided to hide one myself in an area I like taking the dogs to. They love it there, lots of sniffing to do.

In the beginning

In the beginning we did alot of walking and we got bored with the "usual" spots and thats mainly why we started geocaching : to be lead to interesting areas.

I started hunting locally to get the hang of the GPS unit and the information on the cache pages.
The very first find was Het Kerkje van Berg on July 30th 2008, twice a day I walk the dogs not far from that church. Then started the hunt on all the caches in and around Tongeren and we carried on expanding to other areas.