Monday 20 February 2012

One In / One Out in Germany

Cooper troopers' the noble traveller TB has added 76.85 miles to it's distance travelled in The Great Travel Bug Knockout, thanks to being placed into this German cache.

Meanwhile, 247 miles away, Team Blid435's BraveHeart Travel Bug was picked up from the cache that it was resting by newbie cacher Reinhold71. Being retrieved by a recent convert to the hobby is not always a good thing!

Scroll to the bottom of this page for updated Knockout standings.

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Cock-A-Doodle-Doo!!

Wow, I had dream that I hadn't updated The Great Travel Bug Knockout blog for three months and then I woke up and IT WAS TRUE!

Anyway, I'm back now, so with only 6 weeks to go, it time to say goodbye to Hazards of Geocaching 1 - Karon's Knockout Racer, Smart Car 10 Knockout Racer and Knockout Ferrari, and in true Bullseye fashion, let's have a look at what they could've won;

Not quite as exciting as a speedboat, but easier to find space on your mantlepiece for!

Only 3 survivors now;
the noble traveller, in the hands of German cacher muskosa,
Love and Peace (Maan), in the hands of Canadian cachers StoGirls and possibly on it's way from Quebec to Florida,
and runaway leader BraveHeart, currently in this German cache, and, thanks to a lengthy sojourn in The Antipodes followed by a recent return trip to Europe has racked up an impressive 24315.11 official Knockout miles! I can imagine Team Blid435 rubbing their hands together in anticipation!

Scroll to the bottom of this page for updated official Knockout positions

Sunday 6 November 2011

Geocaching is now 50% less hazardous!

Yes, The Sheep has gone, although I may possibly have spotted the woolly character indulging in R&R when I visited Cornwall recently...



                                     Sheepabunga Dude!

Meanwhile, the top 2 entries in The Great Travel Bug Knockout continue to make moves (albeit tiny ones), as Australia cacher Fullboar2010 has added 1.82 miles to Team Blid435's BraveHeart TB by placing it into this cache, and Hediya's Love and Peace (Maan) Travel Bug has been retrieved from the cache that it was resting in by Canadian cacher woodleg.as.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings.

Sunday 30 October 2011

It's getting closer to shearing time...

5...4...3...2...1...

Still no sign of any movement for mat smith's Hazards of Geocaching 2 (The Sheep) Travel Bug, but good news for both of the leading contenders in The Great Travel Bug Knockout;

Team Blid435's  BraveHeart continues it's Antipodean adventure, having been retrieved by local Queensland cacher Fullboar2010 from the TB Motel that was checked into, although Love and Peace (Maan) (owned by Hediya) may have caught a crab in Canada, after cacher geric1 dropped it into this puzzle cache, 61.06 miles from where he picked it up 3 days ago.

Scroll to bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings.

Friday 28 October 2011

Is geocaching about to become less hazardous?

5...4...3...2...1...

With four days until the next elimination, things are not looking good for mat smith's Hazards of Geocaching 2 (The Sheep) John's Knockout Racer Travel Bug, which is currently almost 200 miles behind it's nearest competitor and is in the hands of an occassional cacher who hasn't cached since picking up the woolly TB.

In fact, the only entry in The Great Travel Bug Knockout which has moved this week is Hediya's Love and Peace (Maan) TB, which Quebecois cacher new8812 placed into this new cache (after visiting 12 more in the area!), where it was quickly retrieved by fellow Canadian Musicien. He, in turn placed it into another newly-placed cache, adding 1.31 miles to LaP(Maan)'s total milage covered, from where it was picked-up a couple of days later by geric1 who still has possession of the trackable.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page for current official Knockout positions.

Sunday 23 October 2011

Whatever happened to...

On my way to Cornwall last weekend for a family holiday I stopped at a random cache in Gloucestershire (okay, not so random as I'd planned to stop there as it is just off of the M5 and I was passing, but you know what I mean) and I found this fellow...


Yes, somewhat battered (and blinded!) but still going, it's my own long-eliminated entry, The Exterminator!

What was especially surprising about this is that the little DALEK was logged into a cache in North-West Scotland! Since being the second elimination from The Great Travel Bug Knockout, with only 3.78 miles on the clock, the evil pepperpot has visited The Balearics, Germany, Austria, and toured much of Scotland.

Not all of the now-eliminated entries have been so lucky, Rag Zombie and My Little Eye made some modest moves before disappearing, while Scary Halloween Monster, Quatchi, Billy Bear Racer, Voodoo Whodo What You Don't Dare Do People and Happy Hoppy all vanished without trace before being eliminated from The Knockout.

What will happen to the next elimination?

the noble traveller cleans up

German cacher Flixsi retrieved cooper troopers' the noble traveller Travel Bug from the Whovian multicache that it was residing in. A few days later it was grabbed by fellow German Orphik at this CITO Event 156.62 miles away. Interestingly, Flixsi has not logged an attended at this event, but did attend an earlier event, but Orphik didn't. This means that the noble traveller possibly spent time in the hands of another cacher in between. If the missing link (not that one!) is found, then I'll add any extra distance covered.

Also on the move has been Hediya's Love and Peace (Maan) TB, which has been picked up by Canadian cacher new8812, who has dipped LaP(Maan) into this cache, adding 24.03 miles to it's total distance covered, before going on to dip the Love-spreading trackable into 1, 2, 3, 4 further caches. No milage was added to Love and Peace's official total due to the rule stating that only the first cache visited by each cacher holding the TB counts. New8812 have retained possession.

Finally, mat smith's Hazards of Geocaching 2 (The Sheep) Travel Bug has been retrieved from the Dutch multicache that it was grazing in by occassional cacher Drifter_NL.

Scroll down to bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings.

Monday 17 October 2011

Quick update

I've heard back from U.S. cachers VWjunkies. They were a couple who cached together but have split, their Geocaching.com account being retained by the female half, Knockout Ferrari being taken by her former partner and passed onto an unknown Florida-based cacher, which is where the trail goes cold; therefore I've marked KF as "whereabouts unknown".

Smart451's Smart Car 10 Knockout Racer TB was retrieved yesterday by German cachers Ilmaran, who promptly placed it into this puzzle-cache dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the fall of The Berlin Wall, adding 8.58 miles to it's distance travelled.

Also adding a little distance to it's total milage travelled (although still the most vulnerable to elimination from the Knockout) is Mat Smith's Hazards of Geocaching 2 (The Sheep) John's Knockout Racer TB, which was dropped into this typically-Dutch multicache, 18.1 miles from the last cache that it visited.

Scroll to bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings

Sunday 16 October 2011

New Top 3! New Top 3! New Top 3!

Okay, it's only one spot (3rd) in the Top 3 that has changed, but as it happens only rarely, I'm making a big deal about it (and, of course, it occurs just after posting my first update for two weeks!).  Yes, cooper troopers' the noble traveller has been placed into this popular and appropriate German multicache, adding 37.83 miles to it's distance travelled, sufficient to move it ahead of maybe-missing-maybe-not Knockout Ferrari.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings.

Leaders check into Motels, 3rd place checks out?

Just as it looked like nothing would be happening this month, all of the top 3 entries in The Great Travel Bug Knockout make moves;

Current leader Team Blid435's BraveHeart TB has been dropped into this Australian TB Motel, near to Cairns in Queensland, adding a respectable 2331.61 miles to it's distance travelled. Hopefully the shiny little trackable will be safe there, as a couple of recent finders have reported syringes and drug parafernalia in the immediate area.

Not to be left behind, Hediya's Love and Peace (Maan) Travel Bug has taken up residence in this recently-placed TB Motel east of Montreal in the Canadian province of Quebec, adding 2309.72 miles to it's total milage.

Meanwhile, cacher Jacaru has passed ownership of his 3rd-placed entry, Knockout Ferrari, on to newbie cacher j33pster, who has marked KF as missing. I've attempted to contact Californian cachers VWjunkies who were holding the little spotscar, but they haven't replied and are apparently no longer actively caching. This doesn't neccessarily mean that Knockout Ferrari is out of the competition, as TBs do seem to have the abilty to turn up anywhere at any time!

I'm off for an internet-free week in Cornwall, so probably there'll be lots of movements in the next 7 days! I'll catch up next week and, hopefully, finally get those pictures of the winner's trophy posted.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings

Monday 3 October 2011

No News is Bad News for Half Hearted

It's (a slightly delayed) Elimination Day at The Great Travel Bug Knockout, and unfortunately for Oceanblue07970's Half Hearted Travel Bug it's a case of No News is Bad News as the shiny little TB has been left stranded in a Belgian cache. I wonder what will become of it...



We may have bidden bye-bye to ½H, but it's still business as usual for the remaining 7 entries, with cooper troopers' the noble traveller closing to within 30 miles of the top 3 after TeamSanSeba dipped it into this Turkish cache, adding 1592.33 miles to it's distance travelled. TeamSanSeba then took tnt all the way back to Germany and placed the silver TARDIS into this popular German TB Hotel. No milage was added on the return journey due to it being the second cache visited by the same cacher. However, Good News for cooper troopers as their trackable was promptly retrieved by local cachers TeamRR207.

Scroll down to the bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings.

Tuesday 27 September 2011

It's a bit of a ding-dong

5...4...3...2...1...

As the bell is about to ring time on oceanblue07970's Half Hearted Travel Bug, a cowbell is ringing in panic as smart451's Smart Car 10 Knockout Racer TB retakes 5th place overall in The Great Travel Bug Knockout from lgxkls' Hazards of Geocaching 1 trackable. SC10KR is now 50 miles ahead of HoG1 after German cacher Der-Steiger placed the tiny 2-seater into this rural German traditional, adding a respectable 87.77 miles to it's distance travelled.

Relief for mat smith, owner of HoG1's cross-species sibling Hazards of Geocaching 2 (The Sheep) which has been retrieved from the Dutch cache that it was penned in, before the bicycle ferry was moored up for the winter, by local Dutch cacher citylady.

Finally, Hediya's Love and Peace (Maan) shows us that it's not always which cacher retrieves a traveller that can make a difference, but rather which cacher doesn't retrieve! LaP(Maan) has been picked up by Quebecois cacher navy30000 who is planning to take the love-inspiring little TB back to Canada's east coast with him, which should add a considerable distance to it's distance travelled. However, only four days before being picked up, Hediya's entry was ignored by cacher spuchtfink, on holiday in the area from Bremen, Germany!

Scroll down to bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings!

Friday 23 September 2011

...and the cow jumped over the car!

lgxkls' Hazards of Geocaching 1 - Karon's Knockout Racer Travel Bug has been playing leapfrog, passing over smart451's entry in The Great Travel Bug Knockout into 5th place overall after cachers JohnPower & Mopxi placed the little bovine into this popular German cache, adding 104.09 miles to it's distance travelled. It was retrieved the very same day by fellow German cacher henerc.

Also making a move this time is oceanblue07970's Half Hearted TB which has been placed into this Belgian multicache, adding 6.37 miles to it's distance travelled. It'll have to do better than that in the next week or so, as the shiny little TB is 1000 miles behind it's nearest competitor at the moment and looking most likely to be Eliminated from the Knockout on October 1st.

Scroll down to bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings!

Sunday 18 September 2011

Don't look now, but there's a cow creeping up behind you...

Yes, despite Smart451's Smart Car 10 Knockout Racer TB being retrieved by enthusiast German newbie cacher Der-Steiger, lgxkls' Hazards Of Geocaching 1 - Karon's Knockout Racer Travel Bug has gained on the little two-tone car by the distance of 7.99 miles after cacher Helle22 dropped it into this recently-placed German cache. It was picked up the very next day by JohnPower & Mopxi.

Biggest move of this update goes to Hediya's Love and Peace (Maan) TB, which added 159.53 miles to it's total travelled after cachers Bull&Tink placed it into this fascinating cache, one of a series placed on an artificial spit built above a waste pipe discharging more than two miles into the recently named Salish Sea close to Vancouver International Airport.

This may be for naught though, as New Zealand cachers sww have revealed that they picked up current Knockout leader, Team Blid435's BraveHeart, last month and are planning to take it to Australia shortly...

Scroll to the bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings

Friday 16 September 2011

tnt blows past 4000 mile mark

Whilst the top 3 entries in The Great Travel Bug Knockout have been treading water recently, cooper troopers' the noble traveller Travel Bug has been quietly and steadily racking up the milage and has now passed the 4000 miles travelled mark, thanks to Dutch cachers UPQuest adding 88.33 miles to the silver TARDIS' accumulated distance by placing it into this German cache. It was picked up the very same day by German cachers TeamSanSeba, who are aiming to add about 3000 kms of additional distance soon. That'll put the Whovian TB within striking distance of 3rd place (and early pacesetter) Knockout Ferrari, owned by fellow TB Race organiser Jacaru.

In other Knockout news, lgxkls' Hazards Of Geocaching 1 - Karon's Knockout Racer TB has been retrieved from the cache that it was resting in by local German cacher Helle22.

Scroll to the bottom of this page for current official Knockout placings