Geocaching for beginners!

It's one thing knowing where north is by looking at trees, but these days many serious and sophisticated walkers use a GPS device to guide the way.* Although neither serious nor sophisticated, I'd been considering getting myself one of these for a while, ever since I'd heard about geocaching.

Basically geocaching is a treasure hunting game which involves the internet and a GPS device (though as we proved, having a GPS isn't actually needed). A geocache is normally a waterproof container of some description, hidden somewhere in the countryside. Information on its location will be posted on the internet and can be downloaded onto a GPS device so that others can then search for it whilst out for a walk.

The basic geocaching etiquette is that once found, the finder records their details on the log and returns it in the same place for the next person to find. Some geocaches contain 'treasure' too, in which case it's expected that the finder will take one away but also put something in its place.

So, armed with a fairly basic second-hand GPS device I'd acquired through Amazon, we set off on a familiar and flat walk around Catterall and Churchtown. The idea was that I'd get to grips with the GPS and on the way we'd find our first geocache, just along the A6 near the River Wyre. Working out how to use a GPS is more complicated than you'd think (or is it just that I'm getting older?), but with the help of a clue from the website (which we read but then inadvertently left behind), we nevertheless quickly found the geocache, hidden low down in a gap in the wall. Although there was a log inside, unfortunately water had got inside and it was a little too wet to write on (which didn't matter anyway as we'd forgotten to bring a pen too - amnesia is another sign of getting older!).

Looking at the geocaching website, it's amazing just how many geocaches there are out there, but without checking out the website you'd never know. Despite this abundance, there was only the one geocache on our route today, but now I've a little more knowledge about how to use the GPS, I'm sure we'll be finding others soon!

* Don't rely on a GPS device in place of a map and compass - it doesn't tell you what the terrain is like and when the batteries run out, it's useless.

Navigating by Nature

Which way's north? It's a simple question but isn't always easy to answer, yet if lost in an unfamiliar landscape your life could depend on knowing.

The basic rule of thumb of course in such situations is to always carry a map and compass, and to know how to use them properly, but nature can be surprisingly helpful too if you know what to look for.










There are many ways to work out directions using the sun to help, such as knowing that the sun is due south at midday (1pm in summer), but when it's cloudy this is no good. Instead it's worth looking at trees for clues. Many trees, especially conifers, will bush out more towards the south, as this side gets more light and warmth during the day. Another clue is to look for moss, which tends to grow on the north side of the tree trunk, which is damper, creating better conditions for moss to grow.

Whilst walking in Sale the other day, we saw plenty of evidence of this with the trees along the paths all leaning towards the south, and plenty of moss on the northern side of the trees. Kevan was intrigued by this and was caught having a closer look!

From snow to water and mud

Weather, jobs, people to visit, illness or simple laziness has meant we've not got out for a walk for several weeks now, so we decided we needed to put this right today and get out into the fresh air.

We'd committed to this big effort by enlisting Carole's Mum and Dad for some extra encouragement, so even though we woke up to a blanket of snow, we couldn't let them down.


Our destination was Sale Water Park, where a network of paths wind their way around a large lake and through surrounding woods, returning along the banks of a young and fast flowing River Mersey. The leaflet suggested there's plenty of wildlife around here, but on a cold February afternoon there was little evidence to be seen, even though the snow had by now gone.

The paths here are well trodden - a number are marked as the Trans-Pennine Trail, but this means that at this time of year they are muddy - very muddy! Fortunately we had our boots on but there were plenty of others out for a stroll who didn't have suitable footwear for the conditions.

On the way back to the visitor centre, we passed this colourful murel illustrating how pleasant the park will be in summertime. Perhaps we'll come back then for another look.

Making an exhibition of myself...

The monthly competition at Camera Club comes round very quickly, and as the club is also preparing for their annual exhibition at Darwen Library, there's an extra dimension to the competition this time. The club are trialling a change in rules for their competitions at the moment, with a maximum of three entries accepted on either digital or print format, but as the forthcoming exhibition is for prints only (and so are all the other competitions open to me through the club), then I needed to give the printed format a try for the first time

Running off some prints is easy enough, what was more difficult was cutting the mounts to the right size and then finding a way to stick the photos down without the glue soaking through and spoiling the prints. Eventually it all thankfully seemed to work after several mistakes and the final result was worth the effort:

I've hopefully four pictures in the exhibition (depends on the numbers submitted by the others and the available space we have), and although there's no themes or styles to work to I've tried to show some variety by submitting one people shot, one landscape, one nature shot and one monochrome.

The flower photo was also entered in the monthly competition and got plenty of positive comments but fell short in the judging because the petals in the foreground are out of focus (deliberately). Looking at several pro pictures in this month's photo magazines, then I'm not convinced my choice is wrong, but it just shows that photography is subjective and everyone has their own opinion. Hopefully my flower will be more popular in the exhibition.

The exhibition starts on Saturday March 6th in Darwen Library - please come along to see all the pictures and din't forget to leave your vote for your favourite (one of mine!).

Painting is easy

A weekend painting, Carole said. Sounds nice - get the watercolours out, find a nice scene to paint and away we go. But unfortunately no, it's not that sort of painting. This time it's the kitchen: ceiling on Saturday, and on Sunday, the walls.

I don't mind painting, but it's the other stuff I'm not keen on - emptying the room, preparing, filling, dust sheets, sanding, opening the tin (why are they so fiddly?), stirring (spilling), pouring (more spilling - and now there's paint on my shoe too), roller, ladders, balancing, wobbling and finally: I can start.

Then move ladders, stretch, can't quite reach, more wobbles (nearly fell that time), how do I reach that bit?, climbing, made it (now, how do I get down?), have I enough paint?

A bit later and next door's cat, who sneaked in earlier, comes to inspect and of course gets paint on her tail. When I've almost finished, the paint finally runs out. So off to B&Q for some more. At least white emulsion will get used again, but that means there will be a next time!


Painting the kitchen also means that the thing that keeps me going, tea or coffee, is in itself a challenge as the kettle's hiding in a corner somewhere, the teabags are buried somewhere else and who knows where the mugs are?

Throughout all this Carole had better plans and as I fought bravely against the DIY monster she was at the beauty salon followed by hairdressers and then the shops, only coming back once I'd finished! To be fair, she did her fair share on Sunday as we finished the walls, fixed up the new lights (that's another story!), and gradually put everything back in its place. Relief - well, until it's time to do the next room!

Discovering Peterloo

Carole's recent interest in card making led to her wanting to visit a large crafting event being held today at Manchester Central: the 'Stitch & Creative Craft Show'. So while she explored the various stalls and demonstrations, I took the opportunity, armed with camera, to do some exploring of my own.

In the nineteenth century, Manchester of course looked very different to the modern looking city of today. The Manchester Central site hosting the crafting event was for many years the city's third railway terminus, where in the 1890s, trains to Liverpool made the journey more quickly than their modern-day counterparts do now over at Piccadilly. This was the Midland Railway's flagship Manchester station, and they made sure their presence was visible in the city by building the opulent Midland Hotel just opposite not long after the station opened.

But go back earlier than this and right next door to the present Manchester Central site, just off to the right in my photo, was common ground known as St Peter's field. In the early 1800s this large open space was often used for public gatherings and demonstrations, where speakers called for social reform.

In 1819, an economic slump caused by the Napoleonic Wars and the first Corn Law (keeping the price of bread artificially high) meant many poor people were starving. The rapidly expanding towns and cities in the North were also virtually unrepresented in parliament, Manchester having no MPs at all and the whole of Lancashire represented by just two. Less than 2% of adults could vote at all (and even if you did have the vote in Lancashire, you had to do so in person at Lancaster on polling day!). At the same time numerous so-called 'rotten boroughs' existed which elected their own MP despite having next to no voters at all (the most extreme elected an MP from an electorate of just 7 voters).

By August 1819, a rally calling for parliamentary reform was planned at St Peter's field where the well known reformist orator, Henry Hunt, was to speak. Marches to the demonstration were meticulously planned from over twenty nearby towns, the instruction being for peaceful demonstration with whole families walking the routes into the city, sober and clean and dressed in their Sunday best. Estimates put the total attending at around 60-70,000.

The town's magistrates, keen to stop the demonstration, kept a close eye on the gathering crowd from a house on Mount St (now on the site of the Midland). As the number of people swelled, despite their good nature, the magistrates panicked and tried to disperse them by reading the Riot Act. They then had a reason to move in forceably, and when Hunt rose to speak, the magistrates called in the local yeomen to arrest him. These amateur militia force were comprised of local shopkeepers and tradesmen, and charged the crowd on horseback with swords and sabres raised. In the resulting melee, at least 15 people were killed and over 600 injured.

But go around the area today and the only commemoration is a small red plaque on the wall of the sleek Raddison Hotel on Peter Street. At least this is an improvement over the previous plaque, which didn't even acknowledge that people had died here. But surely the city should do more to acknowledge such an important event in its history? The immediate aftermath of Peterloo (the name given to the events in 1819 - an ironic comparison to the cavalry charges at Waterloo four years earlier) was that civil liberties became worse not better, with six acts of parliament being introduced to prevent demonstrations and free speech. But by 1832 the mood had changed and the Great Reform Act of that year began the slow process towards modern-day democracy we now take for granted.

A campaign group is pushing for a suitable memorial to Peterloo with ideas such as a large memorial close to the Manchester Central complex on the site where the speakers stood. Another idea is for hoofprints to be embossed in the pavements all around the site to convey the scale of the gathering and the force used to quell the demonstration - click this Peterloo link for more information.

Pre-wedding nerves!

Gail and Barry were our hosts again last night for good food, wine and chat, and with their wedding starting to edge a little closer, there was plenty for us to catch up on.

The big questions for me were the date (23 October) and venue (registry office followed by Last Drop Hotel in Bolton). Why? - well, because I've been asked to take the 'official' photos on their big day and I'm feeling the pressure a little already!

As the wedding is much later in the year there's plenty time to practice and prepare, but I'd brought the bigger camera and flash gun with me anyway in the hope of capturing a couple of decent portrait shots of the two of them together. Unfortunately, after the usual shot of us at the table, the food and wine proved too much of a distraction and it just didn't happen!


I did manage a couple of individual snaps which came out quite well, but I'll not get away without snapping them together in October!

It's not the winning... yeah right

Tonight was results night in the monthly competition at the camera club, but I've not taken many pictures recently so I'd raided the archives for a couple of entries. Unfortunately none fared all that well, though they did get some positive as well as critical comments.


My 'footprints in the snow' didn't impress, scoring 5.5 out of 10, but my light bulb and Darwen tower did a little better with scores of 7.5 and 7. There were 30 images in the digital section and a further 30 or so in prints, and to be fair the winning shots were extremely good.

The standard was very high tonight so the challenge for next month is to try to improve some more - it's certainly getting me to think about my photography, which is exactly what I want. Of course Wibs (who's won several times recently in his local club) will be smiling smugly, but there's always next month!

An unlucky break

Well, the temperature's crept up a few degrees and the ice has quite quickly disappeared. But for many people not after leaving a legacy of bruises and, in some cases, broken bones behind. Louise, our colleague and friend from work, was one who was unlucky last week when out enjoying the snow with her daughter. Some kids came careering down the hill on a plastic sheet and knocked her legs from under her, leaving her with what turned out to be a broken arm.

Despite the pain and discomfort she's keeping her spirits up, and on Saturday Carole and I decided to pay her a visit with a few flowers and a couple of 'Cards by Carole' originals - a get well card and also a card for her birthday tomorrow.

Although I had the little camera in my jacket pocket, we'd got back home before I realised I'd not taken her picture for the blog (not that she'll complain!!), so I'll have to make do with Carole's picture of her get well card instead. Louise's daughter explains what happened here on Louise's blog.

As well as a good friend, Louise is a great photographer and inspiration, so we hope she's soon on the mend, back at work (because it's really busy without her!), and back out taking great pictures.

Ending a difficult week with great friends

It's been quite an exhausting week with the snow and ice making travelling difficult - the normal journey to work has required a good deal more concentration over the last few days, especially at both ends of the journey where the roads are still covered in ice. And with temperatures towards the end of the week becoming so cold (the lowest I've seen on our thermometer outside was -11C), even getting ready to go out needs more thought with plenty of layers on and a blanket and shovel to go in the car.

Some time ago we'd made plans weeks ago to visit Paul and Bev in Sandbach this weekend, but the weather had put then put doubts in our minds. But on hearing the forecast for the weekend would be OK, we made the effort to drive down to spend the weekend having a relaxing time with them.

We had a great night with fantastic food and plenty of wine, lots of photos to check out and even a viewing of their wedding video to bring back loads of happy memories. Whenever Paul and I drifted into techie talk about photography (it's time your pictures were online, Paul), Bev and Carole had lots of girly stuff to catch up on and the time flew by.

The ice was starting to melt a little by the time we needed to head for home, so much so that I could even get the car up the hill and onto the drive for the first time since Tuesday, and with no serious snow forecast for the next few days, perhaps things are at last starting to get back to normal.

Thanks guys for an excellent weekend!