Barontoo's Blogspot

Sunday February 5, 2012

2012-02-05T22:00:00.000+01:00

Geocaching without GPS

From February 2 till February 7 I was in Miami Beach or a medical congress. On a free day I hired a decobike and did a tour in the city. Suddenly I arrived on a spot were a geocache was hidden. I had read this at home. I did not have my GPS but I started to look for it. After a while I found the magnetic "Cache for Veterans" (GC2HZXB). I logged and left a small geocoin.

Sunday October 16, 2011

2011-10-17T12:20:00.002+02:00

I found a geocache today!

Today while making a walk with the family (I.e. my 2 sisters and their partners) between Wenduine and Blankenberge I found a geocache!

No, is not that special, but I am not often geocaching this year. It's rather exceptional that I find one. Most of the time I am out in the nature to take pictures, most of these pictures of birds. And almost every weekend I am "logging" some picture on Flickr.

Interested? You can find my work by clicking here. Enjoy it!

Friday 21 January 2011

2011-01-21T09:45:00.003+01:00

Brussels Meet & Greet #3 - Woluwe Poseidon

This evening at 5PM geocachers will meet each other in the bar of the sporthall Poseidon at Woluwé-Saint-Lambert in Brussels. Already 29 left a "Will attend" log. I will also be there. Hope to greet there some friends and to meet some new members. There are already a lot of TB's and I will take a part of my geocoins collection so that they all can log these.
Looking out to meet and greet you all!

Friday 26 November 2010

2010-11-26T09:11:00.002+01:00

Geocaching or Photography?

It's grey outside ... Winter is coming. First snow yesterday in Brussels.
It's not clear enough to go out to take pictures of birds (my speciality). Geocaching? No, I can not go: I do have a birthday party this noon! Who gives a party at noon? DO I have to eat before going to the party or shall I get something to eat there? I do not know ;;; perhaps I will take a light meal at home before going to the party ...
Anyway I go! Lovely Julie is leaving our company and that's really a pity ...

2010-11-01T19:09:00.002+01:00

Monday November1, 2010

Sorry, I am terribly sorry. I did not used this blogspot for a long time. But now that it was visited by a friendly geocacher who reminded me this website, I will do my very best to write from time to time a new note.
Once again sorry

Saturday 8 november 2008

2008-11-21T18:55:00.002+01:00

WWFM IV event (Bredene) "Enzo's party"

Today I organised a WWFM IV event in Bredene. You can find it here.

At 7PM from everywhere in the park geocachers were coming to my car to give Enzo a small present and to sign the logbook. 22 geocachers and a total of 36 persons were present.

Afterwards, that is at 7.15PM (!) most of them went together to the "Hypodroom" were we had a good time, having a beer (or more), talking about geocaching (what else?) and swapping geocoins. It was a great evening.

The WWFM events are organised around the world. it is an idea of Podcacher, a famous geocacher. Visit his website for more information.

Friday September 12, 2008

2008-09-14T09:29:00.002+02:00

Schnuffel is going home!

As Schnuffel was going home today I promised her to bring her to the Brussels National aeroport. But we still had to finish the series of caches we started on Wednesday (see hereunder).

There was still one cache we had to find before starting the final one. The first was rather easy to find and we were surprised to find also the last one rather quickly.

So we had some time left and could find some more caches on our way to the aeroport. You will find these in our logs.

Herzlichen Dank Scnuffel for visiting Brussels and going geocaching with me. It is great to have you as a geocaching friend!

Wednesday September 10, 2008

2008-09-14T09:20:00.002+02:00

An Austrian geocacher in Belgium

Today I met Schnuffel from Austria in the center of Brussels. We started our geocaching tour with "Vierling of beter De Gelukte Overval" of Lord Cunning, a famous geocacher who started on June 16, 2001 with geocaching!

After having found 4 of the 5 caches of this series it was to dark to continue our search so we went for a nice Italian restaurant.

It was great Schnuffel caching with you. When will we continue our search?

Saturday June 21, 2008

2008-08-15T07:35:00.002+02:00

Geocaching without pants!

For the first time in my geocachinglife (that started end 2001) I had to take my pants (and shoes and socks)out to find a WP! I do not tell anything more but if you are at the Belgian coastside you should try to find the cache "On the beach" of Bredene!

Sunday, May 25 2008

2008-08-15T07:21:00.004+02:00

From Mission to Madness

Early this morning I came home at 4 o'clock! With my geocachingbuddies (mnous, Teofiel, Datts, Merel, Speerpunt, JeePeeS and Testom) we started yesterday evening to look for the cache "From Mission to Madness" of Carte Blanche. We had to look for LED's (instead of tags) in the dark woods of the Ardennes. We found the stash after a walk of 11,1 km in something more than 3 houres.

You have to do this cache if you like to do some nightcaching! It is a superb cache.

Afterwards we found a local dancing where we had some beers with the whole team! Here we found the "Madness"!

Sunday April 30, 2008

2008-04-16T09:17:00.002+02:00

Peter Pan

Do you know the story of Peter Pan? Of course ... But do you know the story of the statue of Peter Pan? Well, from now on you can (as geocacher) learn everything about that statue (and it's copies) if you start searching where this statue stays in Brussels, or in London, or Liverpool, or St.John's (Newfoundland)or in Toronto, or in Camden (New Jersey) or even in Perth in Autralia! Read the description carefully and start making geo-friends all over the world. Good luck!

Fro those who want to start in Brussels, just click here.

Thursday February 14, 2008

2008-02-14T08:42:00.005+01:00

Valentine's Day

"We will drink a glass of water for our Valentine" so said my wife! You have to know that we are both at home with a serious flu! I could not go to work on Tuesday and since then I can not see any food, only a coffee or a Coke light and a lot of water I can drink. And I sleep most of the time. I did not know that I can sleep that much.
And when I am awake, I am not motivate to do something. I even do not answer my e-mails! Looking out of the window, I saw that the building in front of our home is almost finished. I published here already some pictures (the first on February 19, 2006 and then on March 13 and September 3, 2006) of this construction site. Now, almost 2 years later it is almost ready to receive the first new neighbours.

In the meantime my cache "Stop building in Woluwe" has been found by 226 geocachers and is thus one of the most visited caches in Belgium.

Sunday January 27, 2008

2008-01-27T22:48:00.000+01:00

1,500 found it's

This morning I left home to geoaching with mnous, Speerpunt and Yelista, 3 very dedicated geocaching buds.
We decided to drive to Antwerp where a lot of caches were waiting for us. Our first cache we found on the way to Antwerp, just outside Brussels, at 8:30 AM. The last one we did today was lying on the left bank of the river Scheldt in Antwerp. It was the 20st cache we found today at 4:55 PM. And we had also 2 DNF (Did not find).
The 4th one we found was my 1,500st cache! So I had to offer my friends a beer. Therefor we went to "Café Beveren", at the Vlasmarkt 1 in Antwerp. There still a full automatic Decap organ is playing some old songs.

Saturday 19 january 2008

2008-01-20T08:33:00.000+01:00

Taking pictures in the futur

Yesterday I bought a second hands Canon EOS 350 D, together with a 18-55mm 1:3,5 - 5,7 II lens. The first pictures were dedicated to my wife and our little dog, of course ...

Monday December 31, 2007

2007-12-31T08:31:00.000+01:00

HAPPY 2008

Monday December 24, 2007

2007-12-24T06:24:00.000+01:00

35,000 geese

Since last Friday we are in our small house at the Belgian coast side. We are taking some days off and will return on the first day of the new year to Brussels.
As all geocaches are found here, I had to look for something else to do. And as I like to make long hiking trips, I often went walking in the polder.
And that is now just the right time to do so! More than 35,000 geese are staying in the neighborhood for their "hollidays"!
The Greylag goose, the white-fronted goose, the Barnacle goose are all geese that stay for the winter in the fields between Knokke, Ostend and Bruges. It is here their "Benidorm". So every day I go out "hunting" with my small camera to find those great birds. I try to find these geese that wear a neckband with a number on it. The geese breed in Svalbard (esp. Spitzbergen) and migrate via staging areas in Norway to wintering grounds in Denmark, The Netherlands and Belgium. By resighting these numbers their migration patterns, site use and population dynamics can be analysed. More information can be found on: http://pinkfoot.dmu.dk

Monday October 1, 2007

2007-10-02T18:16:00.000+02:00

Geocaching in Second Life

Ever heard of Second Life (SL)? Of course you have. And for those who don't, well click here!
And download the program here and start a new life in a 3-D virtual world.

After a few steps you will see what possibilties you have in SL. Much more that in RL (=Real Life)! And believe it or not: one can do geocaching in SL! You can find traditionals, multi's and .. specials. To find a cache you will need a description and the start co-ordinates.

You can find these on http://www.slgeocaching.com/! Give it a try and go out in SL to find your first geocache. Start with an easy one, just as in RL. Good hunting!

Wednesday 1 August, 2007

2007-08-04T06:19:00.000+02:00

Quality Caching
Today I became a member of Quality Caching.
A few Dutch members of geocaching.com started a new website where only high quality caches are accepted. A small traditional along a highway will never be accepted on this site. All caches must be long walks or bike tours where the landscape, the places one passes, ... are worth seeing. So caches leads you to the most beautiful places in the Netherlands, in Belgium and in Luxembourg (Benelux).
Most of the site is written in Dutch but there are already some caches published in English. The description gives always a lot of information in a perfect language and also the logs are written without any abbreviations!

Sunday 1 July 2007

2007-07-18T22:00:00.000+02:00

The FKK-Event
Yesterday and today more than 150 geocachers came to the Belgian Coast for the FKK Event organised by Lucky Kesj, Geowitch and Barontoo. They were all very glad with a perfect organisation, as we could read afterwards in their logs.
It all started on Saturday morning around 9AM were we welcomed the cachers and their families with a nice cup of coffee. They all received the description of 16 new caches! But we expected them all back at 7PM for a tasteful BBQ. At 10PM they received the description ofr the night cache. Just when it started the rain began to fall. But a geocacher is not a geocacher if the rain stops him! So they all went for it and the first group arrived at 11.55PM at the cache. The last group found it at 1.40AM on Sunday morning.
The second day the rain stopped in the morning and off they went again. Looking for caches in the sand, in the dunes, in the surrounding villages ... and even the sun appeared during the day.
Just have a look at their logs and you will see that if you were not there, you have missed something!

Sunday 17 June 2007

2007-07-18T21:50:00.000+02:00

Revive

Today I bought a bike! Not just a ordinary bike but a Giant Revive!

I will use it most during our stays at the Belgian coast side. The same day I left home for a tour of 15 km and I was surprised how easy it is to use this bike.

It fits easily in my car and so I can take it where ever in the country to search for geocaches by bike. I am sure I will have a lot of fun on my Revive!

Friday 8 Juin 2007

2007-06-08T06:46:00.000+02:00

Preparing the FKK Event
On Saturday Juin 30 and Sunday July 1, 2006 Lucky kesj, Geowitch and I, Barontoo are organizing a geocaching event at the Belgian coast. We are placing 15 new caches along the coast side from Oostduinkerke to Zeebruges. All WP's are already placed, we only have to hide the stashes. All caches are approved and waiting to be published.

It all starts at 9AM when the description of the caches will be given to the geocachers . In the evening arround 7PM we will all come together for a barbeque in the Camping "Ter Hoeve". Afterwards starts the night cache. It is a walk starting in Bredene, through the dunes and over the nudist beach.

Let's hope that the weather will be good.

Wednesday May 2, 2007

2007-05-13T07:26:00.000+02:00

Caching in Frankfurt (Germany)
I had some frequent flyer miles to spend, so I decided to fly to Frankfurt and to look there for some caches. I arrived around 8.30 AM on the Frankfurter Airport and tried to find my way to the nearby TB Hotel. It was impossible to leave the airport by feet: one should have a car there! I did not, so I took the train to the city center.
Arriving in the railway station of Frankfurt I could find my first cache. This was the start of a day of caching: I searched 13 caches and could find 10. I found the final coords of the 3 caches I did not log, but it was impossible to search for these traditionals. To many muggles were arround the stash place.
Anyway, I was glad with my 10 found and ... I visited a beautiful city thanks to geocaching!

Monday January 1, 2007

2007-01-01T06:53:00.000+01:00

Friday December 8, 2006

2006-12-08T15:16:00.000+01:00

The Orient Express Quest

Today I finally arrived in this quest. Last year in the Coin Quest I ended as 3rd Belgian geocacher on the 215th place. This year I was the first Belgian cacher who ended on the 301st place!

The 16 requirements were this time not so easy to find but in 19 days I could open the cryptex after finding 16 different caches.

I enjoyed very much this worldwide game and hope that the second Belgian player Merel will soon finish his quest. I wish him a lot of luck.

Friday December 1, 2006

2006-12-02T23:33:00.000+01:00

Working ... or geocaching in Spain

On thursday 30 November and Friday 1 December I was in Figueres in Spain (the city of Dali) for my work. I did some house hunting as a team of our company will soon have to move to this city as the civil construction works of the high-speed line between Spain and France are nearly done and then we are in charge of the equipment of the line.
On Friday I had an hour to spend, so I took the car and went to find ""Los Olivos" by peperos. I enjoyed very much the good weather and the approach of the cache between the olive trees was just beautiful.
I found the cache rather easily and logged at 11.45 AM.

Monday November 6, 2006

2006-11-06T23:24:00.000+01:00

The forum of Geocaching.be

Today in a treat on the forum of geocaching.be, a cacher was asking for URL's of blogs of geocachers. This blog was mentioned in one of the answers. So I suppose that it will be visited more often now and as my blog is a Waymark, some of the Belgian cachers will log this blog at waymarking.com.

One can find it here. Only 5 visitors logged it till today.

Sunday October 29, 2006

2006-11-06T23:12:00.000+01:00

Halloween-event in the Netherlands

Together with Geowitch and Lucky kesj, I went to Roosendaal in the Netherlands to be part of the Halloween-event, organised by Team KarNie.
We were surprised that, after receiving the descriptions of the caches, these were all temporary caches and thus not loggable on the .com site! I must admit that we were not motivated to search for these caches. We were lucky that Geowitch had also taken the descriptions of other caches in the neigborhood and went for these ones. Before starting with the night cache of that event, we had already found 7 "real" caches. Together with the night cache and an attend for the event (even without a logbook) we could later that night log 9 caches.

Saturday October 14, 2006

2006-11-06T22:59:00.000+01:00

1,000 FOUND IT's

Today I went to search a cache of Yohan, "De Oude Spoorwegberm - Waarloos", together with my wife and 2 friends of us, geomuggles. We enjoyed very much this multi-cache, a walk on an old railway line. I discovered rather quickly the stash, but let the muggles search for it. They were surprised to see how the box was hidden just where a lot of muggles enter a beautiful nature reserve without seeing it.

After I wrote my log I was proud to announce them that this was for me the 1,000th cache I found!

A few days later the geo-muggles phoned me and asked me if I could lend them a GPS. They want to give geocaching a try!

Saturday September 30, 2006

2006-11-06T22:46:00.000+01:00

Geocaching in Roma, Firenze and Venezia

From the 19th till the 29th of September I was in Italy for a holliday together with our American cousins, Pat and Mike. We visited first Rome, hired then a car and drove through Tuscany to Firenze and after a visit of 3 days we continued to Venezia where we also stayed for 3 days.

During this trip I was able to do some Italian caches. I will always remember a cache hidden in a hole in the wall of the Vatican City. I could just touch it and not take it out of its hidding place. I had to log a DNF. But I could find 2 caches in Rome, 2 in Firenze and 5 in Venezia.

Sunday September 3, 2006

2006-09-03T21:44:00.000+02:00

Cloudy, rain and a lot of wind

This was the forecast for today. So what can one do: try to solve some puzzle caches as these ones and surf on the Internet.

Ever heard of Podcacher? Must be nice to do it that way. But there are not yet any such caches in Belgium. I listened to the first PodCache in Australia. Using Google Earth, I could locate the starting co-ordinates. But there, my walk ended ...

And found also The Caching Pump. Listen before you go out caching.

B.t.w. The construction in front of our home is growing slowly. See my blog of Februari 19.

Sunday August 27, 2005

2006-09-03T21:38:00.000+02:00

Geocaching Belgian Mega Event

On Saturday September 26 and Sunday 27, I was present together with other members of our team Enjoy, at this Mega event organised by the board of Geocaching Belgium. The Saturday morning started with 12 caches. And on every starting point one could find the answers to log a special one. The 13 cache of that day.
In the evening almost 100 cachers were ready for the nightcache. It was a difficult one, not only to find your way through the woods and the answers on evenry WP but it was also a very long walk. We did it in 4.5 hours. But we did a good job. We ended second with 5 mistakes, only one more than the winner.
After a short night we continued to search for some new caches in this beautiful region. At the end of the weekend I could log 23 caches!

Sunday August 6, 2006

2006-09-03T18:42:00.004+02:00

Geocaching in Perwez

Today I was present at an event organised by 2 Belgian geocachers in a small village in the south of Brabant Walloon. It was a very good organised event. The written press, a local radiostation and even a camera-man with interviewer were present together with a lot of geocachers and "géomoldus" (=muggles). These last ones were very intersted in our sport and I hope that they will soon become new geocachers. I enjoyed searching all those beautiful caches in and around Perwez.

Wednesday July 26, 2006

2006-09-03T18:39:00.000+02:00

Djerba or Bredene?

Today Nicole, my wife, and Severine, my sister's daughter, left for a one week holliday on Djerba (Tunisia). So I am free the next weekend. Good to do some caches at the Belgian coast :-)

Sunday July 16, 2006

2006-08-02T17:07:00.000+02:00

This blogspot is one year old!

A year ago I started with this blogspot. Soon after the first blogs I listed it as a WAYMARK. In this year "Barontoo's Blogspot" has 31 records. Waymarking is in my opinion not so successfull as the locationless caches. But the more waymarks are created the more visitors will come on the waymarking website and perhaps on this blogspot. What do you think about it? Post your comments here and do not forget to log your visit. Greetings from Brussels, Belgium!

Saturday July 8, 2006

2006-07-11T11:15:00.000+02:00

Sadness and happyness

This day started rather sad. My uncle Maurice, the man of my mother's sister, died a few days before and today we went to his funeral. After the funeral repast we left the family for our cottage in Bredene. We were invited by Merel, to join other geocachers for a superb barbecue party in his house in Blankenberge. We were happy to meet of course Merel and En_ik, hh1 and Topaz I, Speerpunt and Yelista, Datts, Inkesa from the Neteherlands, both last with their partners, and last but not least the Black_Jack_Team from Germany. It was a very nice evening full of geocaching stories and a lot of beautiful geocoins!

Tuesday July 4, 2006

2006-07-11T10:57:00.000+02:00

Geocaching at work?

On Saturday July 1, 2006 three colleagues form the Czech Republik arrived in Brussels. My company asked me to show them around, especially to show them the new high-speed railway line we are building between Liège and the German Border.
During the 4 days stay I was their guide and we stayed in a rather good hotel in Ovifat, nearby the German border. I was happy that I could find just before dinner 3 caches of the Vennbahn. Still 40 to go ...

Thursday June 29, 2006

2006-07-11T10:44:00.000+02:00

A cottage in Bredene

Today we became the owners of a small cottage in a holiday park in Bredene at the Belgian coast. From now we will come almost every weekend to our cottage and I will have the possibility to search some caches along the coast and in the region of Bruges.

Saturday June 24, 2006

2006-07-11T10:31:00.000+02:00

The first Belgian Geocoin Event

Today NEMEC, a well known Belgian geocacher, organised an event and at that occasion we distributed our first geocoin. A lot of Belgian geocachers came to pick up their pre-ordered coins. All reactions were very positive: the first Belgian geocoin is a beauty!

Monday June 19, 2006

2006-07-11T10:14:00.001+02:00

Visitors from Switzerland

Today Hanne together with her daughter Manuela arrived by Thalys in Brussels. They will stay till Thursday in our home. Shall I find some time to search a cache or will I have to play for local guide during their stay ...?

Tuesday June 6, 2006

2006-06-09T09:07:00.000+02:00

International Geocaching

I found my last 24 caches in 3 different countries!
On May 23 and 24, I was for my job in Madrid (Spain). During the night I could find one cache (see hereunder). On May 26, I left Brussels together with my friend geocacher Calocybe, for an event in the South of Paris (France). On our way to the event we found 3 caches. The day after vnc organised the "78 Tour" event. During this splendid day we found 7 caches. There was of course also a night cache we found. And on our way back to Brussels, on Sunday May 28 we could log 3 caches.
On Monday May 29 I left home for a one week holiday with my wife in the Black Forest (Germany). During our stay there I could search for 11 caches. I logged 9 Found it's and 2 DNF! And I was very glad to meet VidasKasko, a local geocacher.

Wednesday May 24, 2006

2006-05-25T07:43:00.000+02:00

A cache in Madrid

Today I had a meeting in the office of SENER, a engineering office, that is working togeter with "my" company TUC RAIL at the new high-speed line between Perpignan (Fr) and Figueras (Es).
So I arrived yesterday evening together with a manager in the center of Madrid. We found a nice and not so expensive hotel in the center of Madrid, near to the Puerta del Sol. After eating some tapaz and having a good "Muga Reserva"-wine we went back to the hotel and I left it again a few minutes later to find "Raton Pérez S.A.". After counting the coins in the front of a building next to our hotel, it was only a small walk to arrive at the place nearby the royal palace, where I could locate the stash rather ealisly. I logged a found-it at 00.30h and walk back to the hotel ...

Friday May 12, 2006

2006-05-25T07:26:00.000+02:00

3 FTF's in one day!

This morning I saw that some new caches were on-line. Two caches were located in the region of the "Dijleland", a beautiful region in the South of Leuven not so far away from my home. I started with "Dijleland 11: Neerijse". It was a small walk of 3 km where we had to find a chapel that disappeared. It is still on the maps but in reality does not stand any longer at that place. I could easily locate it and a logged a FTF at 09.55h.
Then I went to find the "Dijleland 10: Leefdaal". This was a walk of 5 km in a beautiful region. I had to find at 10 different place a picture of a detail of that place and so calculate the postion of the stash. I discovered it at 12.00 h and logged my second FTF of that day.
Late in the afternoon I found once again a new cache: "La Source du Thorembais". After a walk of 7 km I found the 3th cache of that day and I could log my third FTF! I returned home with a happy smile on my face.

Sunday April 30, 2006

2006-05-09T09:58:00.000+02:00

Caching near Saint-Tropez

Together with Calocybe and our wifes we spend a great weekend at the Mediterrean Sea. On Friday April 28 we took at 9.25AM a TGV in the Brussels South station and we arrived in the afternoon at 3.39PM in Toulon. There we hired a car to drive to Le Lavandou, where Calocybe is the owner of a small holiday house.
On Saturday we walked around in Le Lavandou and enjoyed the good weather. Some people were already swimming in the sea!
On Sunday we went all together to do some geocaching. We started with "Le Chateau Grimaud". We found the stash rather quickly and we enjoyed the view on the bay of Saint-Tropez and the mill of Grimaud.

Next cache we did was "Sur le chemin au St Tropez" (GCGTQ8). We did not find the film cannister as it disappeared already a long time ago. But there was also a possibility to log this one after sending some words we found at the cache place to the owner. This stash is situated in the port of Grimaud, where we even had the possibilty to take the boat!
And the last cache of today was situated in St Tropez. The port of this little town was crowded but to find the "Millionaire's View" we had to climb up to the citadel, a fort located on a hill. The view was superb and the cache quickly located but ... not so easy to access.

Afterwards we had a beer nearby the magnificent boats in the port.
It was a nice weekend!

Sunday, April 23 2006

2006-05-09T09:44:00.000+02:00

The Brussels TB Hiltonneke (GCVH91)

A new cache on a Sunday morning! This one I have to find even before our breakfast. As I know where the Hilton hotel is located it was easy to find a parking place in front of it and enter the small park. I located very quikly the stash, thanks to the hint. Afterwards I made a small walk in this lovely park and took some pictures of the statues.

Saturday April 8, 2006

2006-04-09T22:25:00.000+02:00

Central Park 1 (GCV7XC)

This morning I went to find this new cache in the center of Brussels. I wanted to be the first one to log.
At WP1 - just at 9 o'clock - I met the owner: zekats. He came to controle if WP2 was accesible. We agreed to meet each other at the stash and I went to find WP1. All WP's were easy to find after a walk in the park. I could log a FTF at 09:50.

Afterwards I did the maintenance of the SABENA cache. Some geocachers were complaining about the bad state of this cache.

Saturday April 1, 2006

2006-04-02T12:21:00.000+02:00

No-nonsens event (GCRA10)

Together with 5 other geocachers we formed a team to find the 6 caches of this event. In the morning the rain was falling down over the woods of the "Kluisbos" but we managed to find 2 caches.
In the afternoon the weather was better and we even had some son. At 6 PM we had found 4 caches. But when we left that beautiful region for our home co-ordinates we had found all caches of this superb event with more than 80 geocachers.
We received this souvenir from the organiser Lucky Kesj.

Saturday March 18, 2006

2006-03-18T07:38:00.000+01:00

42 new caches along a railway line!

From 1885 until 2003, "Die Vennbahn" served as an ever changing military, civil or touristical/historical railway. The most recent use has been as a touristical line with historical locomotives. At the end of 2003, the line has been closed down, due to a political decision, not to provide the money for necessary maintenance. This still hurts ...
As a result of the Treaty of Versailles, the part from Raeren to Kalterherberg was defined as Belgian territory, although it runs nearly completely through Germany.
Now, a German geocaching team (Stormy, Motoracer and Eagle Theo) placed 42 new caches along this line.
Yesterday I had an hour to spend during a seminaire in a hotel in that region. So I tried to find the cache "Vennbahn, Bahnhof Sourbrot", but as I did not find it I had to log a DNF. I did not know what I was looking for and there was almost a meter of snow at the cacheplace!

Only 2 km away was laying a second one: "Vennbahn, Bahnhof Robertville". And this one I found: it was a film cannister with only a logbook. So I suppose that all 42 caches are of the same shape. One day ... I will find these all!

Sunday March 13, 2006

2006-03-13T18:36:00.000+01:00

After "The Night of The Bat"

Yesterday I attended an event in the Antwerp region: "The Night of The Bat". 10 new caches were waiting to be found by more than 70 geocachers. With our team we could find 7 caches and then we decided to stop and go back home. It was already 2.30 in the morning.
I was in bed at 4 o'clock. I must admit that I did not do a lot today. Of course I logged al the caches we found and many, many Travel Bugs I had seen, together with some new coins. My list of icons in my stats is growing!
I took once again a picture of the contruction works in front of our house. Last Wednesday we were invited by the architects of this building at the official opening of the sales ...

Sunday February 19, 2006

2006-02-19T09:10:00.000+01:00

Stop building in Woluwe

This is the name of a cache I placed on 30 may 2003 (see here). A lot of geocachers saw already that it did not help. At this moment a lot of construction works are going on in our town.
And look what is happening now! Right in front of our home works started to build 50 flats and 60 parking places.

Friday February 17, 2006

2006-02-17T07:22:00.000+01:00

An evening event in Belgium

I want to inform you all that in a few days - Saturday March 4 - a lot of Belgian geocachers will be present at an evening event:

Derde Woudlopers Wulfke Avond Event

Also some cachers coming from the Netherlands will attend this event. So do not hesitate and join us. You are most welcome!

Friday Februar 3, 2006

2006-02-04T07:50:00.000+01:00

Caching with GPSlug from Canada

Today I met in Brussels GPSlug, an American cacher living in Calgary, Canada. I picked him up at his hotel and off we went for 2 caches.
In the northern part of Brussels we started with "De (FC) Brug(ge) Cache". First we thought that we could find our way to the stash by using a way leading to a farm. The farmer we met told us that it was impossible that way and he showed us a path further on. He was very friendly and we took some pictures of his cow.

GPSlug spotted the cache immediately.
It was a micro, a filmcannister with a logbook, with a second box near it with some goodies. Was this box a penismeter??
Then we went to the SE of Brussels to find the cache of "St Reinelda". In the middle of the fields of a small village we found the holy source of St Reinelda. Rather special that source. We had never seen someting like that.
Then we drove 3 km further to find WP2. From there it was a nice walk along a polluted river and 3 other WP's that were all easily spotted. We found the cache between the roots of 4 trees. I was glad that GPSlug putted a Calgary Cachers Geocoin in it. So I could take it out ...
Thanks GPSlug for this nice day. I enjoyed it very much. Hope one day I can do some geocaching in your region.

Thursday January 26, 2006

2006-01-30T11:29:00.000+01:00

A new approver in Belgium

Today we saw that for the first time a new cache was listed bij Nash1950. After some research we found out that Nash1950 the nickname is of the new Belgian approver.

Welcome to Nash1950. We hope that you will have a lot of free time to spend, as we see the numbers of new cache that are published every day. Enjoy your job as we are enjoying geocaching. And if nescessairy we will help you there where it is needed.

Wednesday January 4, 2006

2006-01-04T20:45:00.000+01:00

EVENTS in 2006

A lot of events in Belgium are already listed on the geocaching.com site.An overview:

Wodanza's Newyears Bash on January 27;

an event organised by the "Woudlopers" on March 4 (not yet announced);

Night of the Bat on March 11;

No-Nonsens Event on April 1;

an event organised by the team "Sloeberkes" on April 29 (not yet announced);

The Great Robbery - Mega-Event 2/9/2006.

All geocacher are of course welcome. Questions about these events are welcome!

Sunday, January 1, 2006

2006-01-01T22:39:00.000+01:00

Happy New Year to all geocachers worldwide!

Saturday December 24, 2005

2005-12-24T08:39:00.000+01:00

Merry X-mas

To all cachers worldwide and all their beloved ones: a Merry Christmas!

Wednesday December 21, 2005

2005-12-24T08:23:00.000+01:00

The great Robbery, a new event in Belgum!

On September 2 and 3, 2006 a mega-event is organised in Belgium. Starting today and till the event 3 caches will appear which, once you have found these, will help you to find the final cache of the event.
Today the first of these 3 caches was published on geocaching.com. It is called "The Robber" (GCRNQB).
To view the description you will have to install the Cortona viewer. Do it, even if you are not coming to Belgium to find this cache. It is worth seeing how hints are hidden in this superb film. And if you do not find your way in the museum, do not hesitate to ask me a hint. You have to find 6 hints to be able to read the whole description of this cache. All WP's are laying in the center of Brussels.

Monday December 19, 2005

2005-12-24T08:19:00.000+01:00

A new coin in my collection

This morning I received the coin #215 I won in the Coin Quest (see hereunder).
I am posting a scan of these superb coin.

Friday December 9, 2005

2005-12-09T09:00:00.000+01:00

The Coin Quest

On November 12 the Coin Quest started. This worldwide geocaching game interested me: winners would win a unique geocoin!
I started to look for caches with the requirements the quest needed. On December 7 I could log the 16th cache and I received the last part of the puzzle map. I did know already the final answer as all 3 Belgian cachers taking part in this quest worked together to find it.
So Merel won the 111st coin, Geowitch the 187th and I the 215th. We were proud to find our names between the many American cachers, some of Germany, the Netherlands and one from the UK. You will find the list of the winners here.

Monday November 7, 2005

2005-11-13T23:32:00.000+01:00

Europe in Brussels, my new cache

For some days now I was preparing a new cache in the Leopold Park of Brussels. This morning I was able to end the discription and our Belgian approver listed it. You can find it here.
Hope a lot of international cacher will find it.

Saturday November 5, 2005

2005-11-13T23:16:00.000+01:00

Geocaching with Yelista

Today I had a rendez-vous with Yelista to do some caches in the Brussels region. But early in the morning I noticed that there was a new cache liste: N-O-H. So I left home at 9 AM in the hope to be the first to find that cache. I arrived nearby the cache at the moment that JeePeeS came from the other side. Together we looked for the filmcannister and it was I who could log a FTF. With many thanks to JP!
After writing the log I left him to join Yelista and ... 4 children. Together we found:
- Enfer ou Paradis
- Neerpede and
- La Vallée des Artistes - Wijnbrondal.
In the afternoon we had 2 visitors at home: Tessa and Yorn. Later the 4 of us went out for a walk: we searched XL Discovery and were happy to log just 5 minutes before the park where the stash was situated, was closed.

Thursday November 3, 2005

2005-11-13T23:01:00.000+01:00

After the event

I did not mention yet that on Saturday October 29, I attended an event in the Rupelstreek. NEMEC organised "Nibla Cemen hangt het varken uit".
Today I returned to that region for finding 2 more cache of the Rupel-series:
- RUPEL - Graag traag en
- RUPEL - Rond de put draaien.
After finding this 2 caches I can only recommeded these to every cacher. It is NEMEC on his best side!

Tuesday November 1, 2005

2005-11-13T22:55:00.000+01:00

Another new cache in Brussels

A filmcannister, a magnet and a logbook, that's all one needs to have a new cache. Today I found a great spot nearby the Royal Film Museum of Brussels. So it is a micro cache hidden there and it's called KBF - CRB. Go and get it!

Monday October 31, 2005

2005-11-13T22:41:00.000+01:00

At home ... for 2 weeks

Yes, my first day at home and I have to work again on Monday October 14! Two full weeks at home. Hopefully I will find some time to do some caches. Every day some new caches appear on the .com site. I will follow it and perhaps I would be able to log some FTF!
But I started by placing a new cache in Brussels! Nearby an elevator in the neighbourhood of the Law Courts I putted a microcache away and called it "The Lift". Hope a lot of cachers will find it.

Sunday, October 23 2005

2005-10-24T13:27:00.000+02:00

A weekend at the Belgian coast

It was raining when we left Brussels for Koksijde at the Belgian West coast. But once we were there the weather changed and so we could make a beautiful walk in the village of Koksijde and find a cache with that name. On our way to our hotel we managed to make a little detour to find 2 other caches.
On Sunday we were able to find 5 caches. We walked through the dunes of De Panne and Adinkerke under a bright sun. The weather was just good for geocaching and we (my wife, Enzo our hound and I) really enjoyed it. Next time we shall search for a hotel in Nieuwpoort. There too, there are some caches waiting to be found by Barontoo!

Monday October 17, 2005

2005-10-18T14:36:00.000+02:00

Geocaching in London

On October 17 I was on business trip in the center of London. The day before I did a search on geocaching.com to find the caches in the neighbourhood of Trafalgar Square and I found a lot of caches waiting for my visit. Quickly I noticed the co-ordinates in my GPS and printed some descriptions.
As I was going by train, the Eurostar between Brussels and London I had a long day (from 8.30 AM till 6.30 PM) and so I could do some caches before and after the meeting with my English collegues from the CTRL.

The weather was fine and sunny and it was great to walk from one cache to another. I visited a lot of interesting places I've never seen before! Some caches I did not find and other were very easy to locate. In total I found 11 stashs! I will log these this evening. And also write some DNFs.
I was pleased to find so many caches in the centre of London. I shall think it over to place some (micro)caches in the centre of Brussels. Also here a lot of visitors are arriving every day but the geocachers among them will not find as much caches as I did in London. That can be mended!

Sunday October 9, 2005

2005-10-11T20:24:00.000+02:00

Visitors from Switzerland

This weekend we had guests: Manuela and Sandra, 2 lovely and friendly girls from Switzerland. They arrived from Paris by Thalys, the international high-speed train between Paris and Brussels riding at 300 km/h! They arrived at 10.40 AM on Saturday morning. First of all we visited the part of Brussels arround the royal palace and the "Grand Sablon". At 1 PM we went together with Nicole for a light lunch in a local Italian restaurant. Afterwards the girls went shopping in the Woluwe Shopping Center. In the evening we visited a Swiss restaurant in Brussels! We all enjoyed it very much.

On Sunday morning the 2 girls woke up late in the morning, they were so glad that they could sleep in a great bed. We had our breakfast at 10.30 AM. Then we left home to visit the center of Brussels. We looked at the most important buildings, we saw Jeanneke Pis and of course Mannenke Pis and ended in a typical Brussels café on the market place, after admiring the old townhal and surrounding houses. We eat afterwards in the Opera House and then it was time to go to the Brussels Midi Station where we arrived just in time to put our visitors on the Thalys.
Both of us, my wife and I were very happy with their company during this 2 days. We all had together a good time. Auf Wiedersehen, Maunela und Sandra (hoffentlich in der Schweiz!)

Friday October 7, 2005

2005-10-07T07:20:00.000+02:00

A nationale strike paralyses Belguim

Yesterday evening at 10 PM the greatest union started a national strike. This morning there is no public transport and a lot of companies are closed. Most people have to stay at home as they can not go to their work. Perhaps a unaspected free day to go caching! But the weather is very bad this morning, it is very misty. I am wondering if we will see the sun today. If so ... I will go geocaching ....

Friday September 16, 2005

2005-09-16T07:45:00.000+02:00

No cars in Brussels on Sunday!

Sunday September 18, 2005 all cars are banished here in Brussels (and in many other cities all over the country)! It is the 10th time the European Mobility Week is organized with a car-free day on Sunday. The roads will be kept (almost) free from 8AM till 7PM.
At the same time the Train, Tram and Bus day is organized. For a nominal fee (€8.50) Belgians can buy a ticket entitling them to travel anywhere in the country using the public transport.
So why not go out geocaching by public transport! Come to Brussels, there are a lot of caches waiting for you!

Tuesday September 13, 2005

2005-09-13T21:45:00.000+02:00

Fading Ads (GC7F94)

Today I found a rather special fading ad. It is an ad painted on the side wall of a house in Schaerbeek (Belgium) for an insurance company RCT that was making publicity for a product named "risk cover for war" (=risques de guerre). People could see it in those days (before 1940) from the train. But, as soon as World War II started the company stopped its activity! I logged it as a locationless cache.

Saturday September 10, 2005

2005-09-11T08:28:00.000+02:00

Caching with Skree

Today I went caching with an American geocacher. His ID is Skree, he is a member of GEOCKY, a group of geocachers in Kentucky (USA) but nowadays he is living in Leuven, Belgium.
We did the "Quinque Altaria" cache, a walk of 8 km with 16 WP's. Although we did not find WP12, we could continue our way to the stash that was easily found. Skree brought a Jeep 4x4 Travel Bug from the States. I was glad to grabb it. It will soon be placed in another Belgian cache.

Friday September 9, 2005

2005-09-09T08:34:00.000+02:00

WAAS/EGNOS enable

I received this morning a message telling me that in Europe EGNOS was operational. So I took my GPS (I have a GPSmap 60C from Garmin) and changed the settings in "WAAS/EGNOS enabled". The result was surprising: I became my home co-ordinates with an accuracy of 1 meter!

So you all know what to do: put on the EGNOS signal and ... go geocaching!

Thursday September 8, 2005

2005-09-08T16:29:00.000+02:00

Once again a FTF!

A new cache online: Tervuren by Bike! And not so far away from home. Could I be the first to find it? Let's give it a try.

It is a bycicle ride of 11 km. Not bad. But during the preparation at home I found already a lot of data I needed to find the final coordinates. So I only had to visit a few waypoints to find the stash. I started at WP9 and could easily find WP11, 10 and 12 in that order. Then I had to find WP4 and there I had to recognize a picture. That was easy, and as I was nearby I found also (although it was not necessary) the WP5, 6 and 7. With these data I could locate the stash and after a short ride I was searching in the wood the box. I discover it at 12.45h and ... logged a FTF!
Once again it was proven: a good preparation at home is sometimes very helpfull!

Wednesday September 7, 2005

2005-09-07T16:43:00.000+02:00

2 long walks

This morning I did 2 caches.
"Broekelei" (GCQAXK) was the first. A walk of almost 6 km through a quiet nature along 10 waypoints. The answers to the questions were easy to find and so was the stash. I logged after a bit more of one hour at 10.00h.
The second one, "De Samenvloeiing", made me discover something I had not seen before: a anti-tank canal. With the data I found there I could decrypt 3 WP's and after visiting these, I could easily locate the stash. Here I logged at 12.25h.
After these 2 long walks I decided to return home, although I had more cache descriptions with me. But the weather was just to warm to continue ...

Sunday September 4, 2005

2005-09-04T18:26:00.000+02:00

Back home

Yep, our holidays in Germany are over. But we were very lucky, the weather was just great. We enjoyed the hotel, the wellness, the beautiful region.

Although geocaching was not the first priority, I tried to find some caches. The best I did was "Der Schatz der alten Männer", searching WP's with a map and without a GPS ... but I had to log a DNF because I found only the East co-ordinates of the stash!

The caches I found were:
- Hochblauen, a multi ending on top of a point of view;
- Nix für schwache Augen, starting with a stereogram and ending in a castle;
- Schwarzwaldhaus 1902, a long walk passing at that old house once used for reality program of the German television.

This morning I found a new cache "nearby" my home co-ordinates. So I left home, made a beautiful walk in a wood an could log a FTF at 10.45 AM. It is great to be back home ...

Friday August 26, 2005

2005-08-26T22:58:00.000+02:00

What a week!

I am glad this week is over! I had to work very hard - even more than usually - only because tomorrow we are taking some holidays. In the morning we are leaving home for a week "dolce far niente" in a superb hotel in Badenweiler, the Aquae Villae in the South-East corner of Germany, nearby the French and Swish border. It is only 550 km away so we will go by car and take our hound with us! We will be back on Sunday September 4, 2005.
I hope to find there a WiFi-Hotspot so that I can continue to feed this blog.
In the meantime enjoy yourself and if you go out geocaching, I wish you all a lot of "Found it's".

Sunday August 21, 2005

2005-08-21T17:53:00.000+02:00

The caches of Arkhan

Today I walked more than 10 km to find 2 caches of Arkhan. It took me from 10 AM till 3PM. I enjoyed both caches and I can only recommend these to all geocachers. The region of the 2 rivers, Scheldt and Durme, Arkhan is showing us, is worth a visit and these 2 caches are just the best way to discover it.

Saturday August 20, 2005

2005-08-21T17:43:00.000+02:00

Where will I place my new cache

In the afternoon I went out to look for a place to hide a new cache. It will probably be a multicache. I can not hide a cache here:

But a WP on the top of it will do fine. But where to hide a ammobox here?

Thursday August 18, 2005

2005-08-18T17:12:00.000+02:00

Google Earth
Today I downloaded and installed Google Earth on my PC. You should do so! Amazing this program. I am sure you will enjoy using the different possibilities. So go for it and post you comments here ...

Wednesday August 17, 2005

2005-08-17T22:22:00.000+02:00

Geocaching in Belgium is great!

All geocachers worldwide are welcome in Belgium. Nowadays there are 1,161 caches waiting for them. Most of these are hidden in the northen part of the country but also in Brussels and in the soutern part there are some beautiful caches hidden.

Anyway, if you plan to come to Belgium, do not hesitate to contact me. I made it easy for you all: under de directory "People" of the Waymarks I listed a "Geocaching Tour Guide" with the name "Geocaching in Belgium is great". I will be glad to guide you to the caches you want to search for: traditionals or multi's, webcam caches or puzzle caches. And do not be afraid to ask for a translation as most caches are only writen in Dutch and/or French.

And of course, I can also help you in your search for hotels, restaurants, bars, etc. We have plenty of these (perhaps one day these will also be listed as waymarks)!

Tuesday August 16, 2005

2005-08-16T21:22:00.000+02:00

Barontoo's Blogspot listed as a Waymark
This evening I listed my blogspot to the "Waymark Directory" under the category "People". A few moments later the first visitors left already a comment. Thanks to all!

I welcome all geocachers from all over the world on this pages. Only yesterday my blogspot was seen by a few Belgian geocachers. Thanks to Waymark I now receive comments from a lot of international geocachers. No need to tell you that I am a thankfull to Waymark to give us this opportunity to have contact with the international community of geocaching.

Please notice you visit in the comments and do not forget to log tour visit!

Monday August 15, 2005

2005-08-16T20:44:00.000+02:00

First blog in English
Today I discovered somenthing new on the .com site! Waymarking is a new tool to catalog, mark and visit unique and interesting locations around the world. As I will list my weblog in the category "People" of the "Waymark Directory" I will from now on write my blogs in English.

This morning I found two caches. I started with "Lizzys Adventure Part Two". By using the clue pictures I could find the starting point of this walk. And once I found there the plexi glass with all those words it was easy to count the number of letters and make a small calculation to find the co-ordinates of the stash. It was only a few hunderd meters away.
Afterwards I went to find "Mercator I". The solution was laying for some months on my desk but as I was in the neighboorhood I thought that it would be a pick-up. But I had to search for a long time and could only find the ammobox after giving a call to the owner.

Zaterdag 13 augustus 2005

2005-08-13T23:52:00.000+02:00

Samuël terug naar huis
Samu went back home

Deze voormiddag samen met Samuël nog 2 caches gelopen: Speeltuin Nachtegalenpark en daarna The Dog of Flanders. Kort voor de middag waren we terug thuis. Even voor de noen kwam zijn familie hem afhalen. Na het middagmaal zijn we allen samen naar de Brusselse kermis geweest. Dan zijn we samen gaan eten bij Atanas, onze Griek aan de Zuid. Rond 23.00 u is de ganse familie huiswaarts gereden en is de rust terug gekeerd in ons appartement. Oef ...

Woensdag 10 augustus 2005

2005-08-12T06:53:00.000+02:00

Cachen met Samuël - Caching with Samu

Vandaag zijn Samuël en ik op cachetocht geweest. We hebben er negen gelopen. We zijn thuis vertrokken zo rond 8.30 u en om 20.00 u waren we terug thuis. Het lag in onze bedoeling van samen de afvaart van de Kleine Nete te doen, maar dat ging zo maar niet. De boot moet op voorhand gereserveerd worden en je moet voor vervoer zorgen van het eindpunt terug naar het beginpunt. Aangezien we dit niet hadden zijn we maar andere caches gaan zoeken.

Today, Samu and I found 9 caches!

Zondag 7 augustus 2005

2005-08-07T19:59:00.000+02:00

Met Samuël op stap - First day with Samu

Deze morgen toch iets langer geslapen en zo rond 10.00 u vertrokken met Samuël om de Rode Ridder te helpen. Het is een mooi uitgewerkte cache: een stripverhaal omgewerkt tot een cache-opgave. De stach werd gevonden door Samuël.
Om 15.00 u waren we terug thuis. Wat eten, een beetje rusten en dan loggen, foto's bewerken, enz ...

Zaterdag 6 augustus 2005

2005-08-07T19:48:00.000+02:00

Drukke en lange dag ...

In de voormiddag ben ik een cachke gaan lopen: De Romeinen van Marc B. Gestart om 8.30 u en de stach gevonden om 13.00 u. Niet mis hé!
Dan vlug wat eten en naar Oudenaarde voor Luka, de zoon van T. en C. te bezoeken. Mooi kindje hoor.

Daarna, samen met M., M en L gaan afhalen voor naar de startplaats van de ballonvaart te rijden. Zij samen met M.P. en J. in de ballon en wij met de wagen volgen. Ze hebben geluk gehad: een vaart van Zevergem naar Kerksken (Haaltert).

Na een glaasje champagne ter plekke, terug naar Zevergem gereden om allen samen (met 10) te gaan eten in "China Garden" aan 't Peerdeke in Huise-Zingem. Dan met Samuël - die een week bij ons blijft - naar Brussel. 't Was 2.00 u 's nachts toen we terug thuis waren.

Vrijdag 5 augustus 2005

2005-08-05T14:54:00.000+02:00

Een TV en een zoon

Gisteren een halve dag verlof genomen om samen met N. een nieuwe TV te gaan kopen. Hebben we dan ook gedaan. Het werd geen B&O maar wel een Hitachi 42PD7200, met een groot plasmascherm. De configuratie wordt dinsdag geleverd.

Zopas een telefoontje gekregen van N. met de melding dat T. heeft een zoontje! Na 2 meisjes is hij nu oppergelukkig met zijn L. van 3,8 kg. Ferme brokke! We zullen er waarschijnlijk morgen naar toe gaan.

Maandag 1 augustus 2005

2005-08-01T19:42:00.000+02:00

De eerste werkdag van de week

s' Morgens vastgesteld dat dienst SE nog niets gedaan had om mij de nodige documenten voor ons project in Roemenië te bezorgen. Alles met DCO besproken: morgen zou ik al de eerste documenten hebben. 't Is te hopen ...
's Namiddags bij Eurostation voor een vergadering omtrent een nieuw project in Nederland: de Zuidas-Dok. Ook H.V. van Iv-Infra was aanwezig. De 3 partijen waren akkord om er nog een nachtje over te slapen vooraleer te beslissen mee te dingen. Ik sta er negatief tegenover ...

Zondag 31 juli 2005

2005-07-31T23:01:00.000+02:00

Vier ontmaagdingen op één zondag!
4 FTF on one Sunday!

Naar gewoonte was ik vroeg wakker. Er lagen vier nieuwe caches in de ruime omgeving rond Leuven. Alle opgaven uitgeprint, de gegevens in mijn GPS gestoken en op weg.
De eerste cache, "Te land te Water?" werd een oppikker zodra men aan de goede kant van het water staat. Het werd een FTF om 8.45 u.
Dan naar 't kasteel van de Rode Ridder in Horst om er zijn schat te zoeken. Een mooie wandeling in 8-vorm van een drietal kilometer zonder problemen en mijn tweede FTF van de dag!
De volgende was een fiestcache (die lag klaar in de koffer): "Fietstocht door Kessel-Lo". Via een backtrack de route afgelegd tot het begon te gieten ter hoogte van waypoint D. Eerst was geschuild en dan recht naar de cache toe die ik kon loggen om 12.15u. Mijn derde FTF op rij!
Na lekker gegeten te hebben had ik geen zin om een siesta te houden. Er lag immers nog een cache te wachten op mij, deze maal zonder de GPS te gebruiken : "Help ik ben ge-cache-napped!". Het werd een mooie wandeling zonder regen. Om 16.15 u kon ik mijn vierde FTF van de dag loggen.
Daarna alle caches van het voorbij weekend gelogd en de vele sites bijgewerkt.
En ... morgen is 't terug werken!!

Zaterdag 30 juli 2005

2005-07-31T22:51:00.000+02:00

Knokke - Oudenaarde - Brussel

Vandaag zouden we "onze" villa verlaten. N. moest dus wat kuisen. Een ideale gelegenheid voor mij om nog de drie overgebleven caches van Hammond te lopen.
Eerst naar Heist gereden om er "Het huis van Maja" te vinden. Na het vermenigvuldigen van de bijen met de kippen kon ik de stash vlug bovenhalen.
Dan naar Westkapelle waar er 2 caches dicht bij elkaar lagen. De eerste, "Het Vuil Nummer" werd een oppikker. Voo de andere, nl. "Ommeweg" moest ik eerst de paaltjes tellen ('t zijn er 99) en dan via een grote ommetoer op zoek gaan naar een toegangsweg tot de stash. Ik logde om 12.10u, juist gepast voor te gaan eten.
Ik stopte nog in een nieuwe GB waar ik zelf de aankopen (een fles champagne en wat viennoiserie) mocht scannen.
Na 't middagmaal terug een dutje gedaan en dan wat gelezen tot B. en S. met hun hond Medoc toekwamen. Onze Enzo was direct bevriend met Medoc.
Rons 17.30 u vertrokken met bestemming Oudenaarde. N.'s ma was immers juist één jaar overleden en de zusjes zijn samen nog eens naar 't graf gaan kijken. A. en J. hadden voor een lekkere broodjesmaaltijd gezorgd. Rond 23.00 u vertrokken naar Brussel.

Vrijdag 29 juli 2005

2005-07-31T22:37:00.000+02:00

Een vrije dag te Knokke

Gisterenavond zijn we nog gaan eten in Damme. Zoals steeds kozen we "De S...misse" niet alleen omdat er daar een parking bij is maar ook voor de lekkere salades.
Deze morgen zijn we samen eerst en vooral het "Duinenpark" gaan zoeken. Die werd vlug gevonden.
Dan zijn we de Lippenslaan opgelopen tot aan de dijk. Terwijl N. een rokje kocht ontmoette ik er Guido A. Na wat bijgekletst te hebben werder gewandeld tot op de dijk. Daar hebben we OVO en vrouw ontmoet. Op onze terugweg - langs de andere zijde van de straat - nog een jas en twee broeken gekocht.
In "'t Kapiteintje" hebben we lekker gegeten - ik voor 't eerst dit seizoen mosselen - en dan met onze aankopen naar huis voor de siesta. D'as ook vakantie. Om 19.00 u hadden we een afspraak met I. en J. Vooraf nog een cachke gedaan: "De Leeuwin van Generaal Willems". Het werd de eerste cachetocht van Enzo. Hij poseerde dan ook (maar niet gewillig) ...

Bij het verlaten van het park hebben we nog Hammond ontmoet. Het werd een aangename babbel.
Daarna naar de camping voor een glaasje zelf gemaakte sangria. En daarna samen gaan eten. Deze keer nam ik slibtongetjes.
Na het avondmaal nog een wandeling gedaan op de dijk. Het was windstil. De dorst gelest met een Rodenbach ... of twee en dan onze vrienden teruggevoerd naar hun camping. Het was iets voor 2 u als we er in zaten.

Donderdag 28 juli 2005

2005-07-28T11:52:00.000+02:00

Laatste dag van de werkweek!
Ik heb goede moed vandaag! 't Is de laatste werkdag, morgen ben ik in verlof. Wij vertrekken nog deze avond naar Knokke. Hopelijk zien we tussen de onweersbuien ook nog eens de zon. En wie weet kan ik morgen een cache lopen. Er liggen verschillende Hammond's in de omgeving ...

Dinsdag 26 juli 2005

2005-07-26T22:52:00.000+02:00

Bespreking Zuiderzeelijn in Utrecht

Vandaag met GOH naar Nederland gereden. Eerst hebben we de HST-werken tussen Antwerpen en de Nederlandse grens bezocht, het nieuwe station Noorderkempen in het bijzonder. Daarna doorgereden naar Maarsen waar we in een gezellig restaurant gemiddagmaald hebben. Dan naar Strukton voor een bespreking omtrent de Zuiderzeelijn met daarna een tweede vergadering over PPS. Best interessant. Bij mij thuiskomst 440 km afgelegd.

Maandag 25 juli 2005

2005-07-25T11:14:00.000+02:00

I hate Mondays!

Na zo'n lang weekend zal het vandaag niet zo gemakkelijk zijn het werkritme terug op te nemen. Ik moet toch de vergadering van morgen in Utrecht (Nl.) voorbereiden. En de vele e-mails (zo'n 140!) van het voorbije weekend zien te verwerken (door 95% te deleten). 't Zal wel lukken ...

Zondag 24 juli 2005

2005-07-24T08:50:00.000+02:00

Cache rustdag

Aangezien we op drie dagen tijd de 1000ste Belgische cache kunnen vinden hebben - we hadden er vier voor uitgetrokken -, heb ik vandaag een rustdag.
Op de middag zijn we naar Oudenaarde gereden en hebben we M. meegenomen voor een lekker middagmaal in de "Oase" in Nederename.Daarna zijn we doorgereden naar "onze" villa in Knokke.

's Avonds zijn we I., J. en E. gaan afhalen op hun camping in Heist en samen zijn we nog een kleinigheid (nou ja) gaan eten. 't Was best gezellig en we hebben al terug een afspraak voor volgende vrijdag!

Zaterdag 23 juli 2005

2005-07-24T08:38:00.000+02:00

Gaan we de 1000ste cache ontmaagden?

Om 9.00 u Vertrok ik thuis om de 1000ste Belgische cache te gaan zoeken. We moesten daarvoor in de streek van Yvoir zijn. Onderweg pikte ik Teofiel op en ter plaatse was ook hh1 op de afspraak. We beslisten één wagen in Bauche te zetten. Om 12.00 u konden we starten aan het beginpunt. Het werd een lange wandeling langsheen het riviertje "Le Bocq" op een oude spoorweglijn. Rond 14.00 u waren we aan het station van Bauche. 't Bleek een restaurant te zijn. Op het terras konden we rustig zitten rekenen genietend van een lokale "Brune".

Vandaar deden we de WP's aan per wagen. In een tunnel vonden we de volgende coördinaten. Later bleek het WP's te zijn van een andere cache: zonder het te beseffen waren we bezig aan een andere cache te lopen.

Gelukkig werden we terug op het juiste spoor gezet door de organisatoren en konden we om 19.00 u "Nr 1000: Last Station" ontmaagden.
Na een lekker avondmaal in een stationnetje aan het eindpunt reden we terug naar Brussel. Ik was thuis om 23.00 u en kon honderd uit vertellen aan N.

Vrijdag 22 juli 2005

2005-07-24T08:24:00.000+02:00

We treinen verder

Het was 1.15 u toen we de cache "Second Station" konden vinden. Daarna voerde Teofiel me vlug naar huis: ik zat in bed om 3.00u.
's Voormiddags hielp ik N. met het samen steken van het proefschrift van JVZ. We raakten tijdig klaar zodat ik 's namiddags kon aanzetten om de volgende cache van de 1000ste te gaan zoeken.
Deze keer moest we naar de Vlaamse Ardennen. We reden deze cache met de fiets. In het begin was het parcours zeer lastig: voor de heuveltjes moest ik regelmatig recht op de trappers. Het tweede deel was vlak en na korte tijd konden we de stash localiseren. Aan het eindpunt werden we opgewacht door de organisatoren en samen konden we klikken op ons succes."Third Station" was gevonden, er restte ons nog één cache te lopen.

Donderdag 21 juli 2005

2005-07-24T08:13:00.000+02:00

De grote treinreis begint

Om 8.00 stipt werd de start gegeven voor de grote treinreis. Via "Ticket", "First Station", "Second Station", "Third Station" konden we de 1000ste geocache in België vinden: "Nr. 1000: Last Station".
Via skype had ik contact met Teofiel en hh1 van ons Team Enjoy en we vonden het gezochte woord zeer vlug. Er werd afgesproken om onmiddellijk naar de Ardennen te rijden om deze cache te gaan zoeken. We waren niet alleen!
Na het vinden ervan gingen we voor de "First Station". Eerst te voet maar gezien het relief al vlug met de auto zochten we de WP's. Toen we niet verder konden met de wagen gebruikten we de fiets. We kwamen 2 meter te kort om de cache te ontmaagden!
Onmiddellijk werd er beslist om ook de volgende cache, een nacht-fiets cache te gaan zoeken. We reden eerst naar Antwerpen waar we samen met Topaz I eerst wat gingen eten.
Toen het begon te donkeren begonnen we aan de "Second Station". In het licht van onze hoofd- en zaklampen vonden we deze cache. Het was al na middernacht ...

Woensdag 20 juli 2005

2005-07-20T08:19:00.000+02:00

De dag voor de nationale feestdag

Dat is het enige wat goed is aan vandaag: morgen is het feestdag en overmorgen maken we de brug. Dus vier dagen vrij, vier dagen om het raadsel van de 1000ste cache te ontrafelen en deze met ons team ENJOY te ontmaagden. We zijn er klaar voor. In teamverband hebben we ons goed voorbereid en we hebben zo al enkele vermoedens ... of deze bevestigd worden zullen in de komende 4 dagen wel ontdekken.

Dinsdag 19 juli 2005

2005-07-19T09:48:00.000+02:00

De temperatuur is gevoelig gezakt

Friskes deze morgen en bewolkt. Vannacht heeft het lelijk huisgehouden in de streek van Gavere: hagelstenen zo groot als knikkers hebben veel schade toegebracht. Ook nu nog worden buien verwacht. Geef niet ... 'k zit toch binnen.

Maandag 18 juli 2005

2005-07-18T08:45:00.000+02:00

1ste werkdag van een korte week

Mijn parcours naar de omgeving van het Brusselse Zuidstation ligt er zeer rustig bij. De Wetstraat kunnen doorrijden zonder één rood licht! Hoe dichter ik bij TUC RAIL kom, hoe grijzer het wordt. Zijn die Franse buien hier al? Och, we zien wel, ik moet toch werken ...

Het heeft enkel maar lichtjes gedruppeld. Deze namiddag naar de Sky Hall op de luchthaven gaan kijken om er ons personeelsfeest te organiseren. Best leuke locatie. Dit moet wel te doen zijn. Nu nog zorgen voor de verplaatsing van onze genodigden naar daar en voor wat animatie voor de kinderen.