To archive or offer for adoption?

[The Phillimore Clan]

I posted the following on the other place a few days ago but forgot to post it here too

As many of you know we are moving to Bristol in spring/summer this year, and as it will not be practical/possible for us to maintain our many caches in the area we have decided to archive the majority of them. Since posting notes on the caches we intend to archive we have had a number of offers to adopt some of them, which to date we have not taken up. So the purpose of this thread is to get the views and opinions of you lot out there to see what you would do.

My opinion is that by archiving the caches it will open up the area for fresh caches. In the short term this will leave Oxfords stock of caches dramatically depleted with the loss of around 120 caches hmy: , but as many of these are now quite old and don't get visited that often I think that the short term pain should benefit caching in and around Oxford.


And for those that want to get out and find them before they are gone, please don't panic as I will give at least 2 weeks notice by disabling the caches prior to collecting the containers and archiving them. If there are any in particular that you want to find but can't get out straight away just let me know and I'll try and hold off. If any require maintenance prior to archiving it is likely that I shall just archive it prematurely as I'm afraid house hunting and the move must take priority.

As a rough guide to my program the following is what I have in mind:

• I shall be archiving some of my older less frequently visited multis 1st, some very soon.
• Chester's Oxford Parks Quest will probably go around the end of Feb with the Bone'us staying until end of March (these will be definitely archived).
• The Oxford Canal series (excluding Banbury) will probably be archived in early spring.
• The Banbury area caches will be archived after our camping meet in June.
• I will be keeping our earthcache, webcam, Poohsticks, Cuckoo Pen and Mother Dunche's Buttocks.
• I will announced my plans as notes on the specific caches when I have made them so if you are interested in finding them put them on your watch list.

[nobbynobbs]

It's a bit extreme to move house just to be nearer the mega event isn't it?

The trouble is that unless there are cache placers desperate to place new caches you'll find that you get nowhere near 120 caches to replace them. The vast majority seek not place.

If they are good caches and people want to adopt them I'd say let them.

Unless you know someone who will re-populate the area.

[keehotee]

All of which reminds me - I offered a load of mine up for adoption when I moved up to Brizzle.
Anybody still interested????

[Maple Leaf]

Anyone else moving to Bristol ??

[Icenians]

Anyone else moving to Bristol ??

Not likely. Got away from tht area years ago.

[Mrs Blorenge]

...The trouble is that unless there are cache placers desperate to place new caches you'll find that you get nowhere near 120 caches to replace them. The vast majority seek not place.

I'm not sure that that's true... At least, not from what I see happening around here and also from the comments I hear regularly from a certain reviewer who is local to me. I think the vast majority of cachers start by seeking but then the vast majority of them soon want to place their own cache! Sometimes after making only 5 finds! (No comments, please )

I doubt it will take very long for 120 new caches to seep back into the area around Oxford - whether they will be of the same quality as those archived by a very experienced caching team is another matter, but all the new folks deserve the chance to show what they can do. We hope that they will make good use of the new 'spaces' that will become available.

[The Phillimore Clan]

Many thanks for your input, it would appear that the majority of you would tend to agree with me on this matter . So with this increased confidence I shall continue along the same route.

This does not mean that we shall be archiving everything, as we shall be keeping the few mentioned in the OP. It looks probable that LQ:Oxon, and Darrington Deliveries will be adopted, and I am open to requests for adoption if anyone has a special interest in a cache.

One series that I am starting to come around to on the adoption is our Sturdy Walk which still gets plenty of visits and seems to be enjoyed by most. it is also in an area that I think might get neglected if they are archived. So if you are interested in adopting these (or if you would like them archived to make room for some of your new caches planed), please contact me through my profile.

On a final note, for those panicking about getting around to find our caches before they are gone, there is no need. It is very unlikely that we will do any more archiving this month (too busy with house hunting), and I doubt if many/any will be archived next month. I will give at least 2 weeks notice of archiving by disabling the cache and will extend this if practical following a specific request, and will leave the cache container for at least 24 hours once archived. As I shall be in this area until at least the end of May the program of archiving will be spread out throughout this period (and beyond for Banbury area).

[JGG24]

As stated in a PM to 'the clan' I'm definitely interested in adopting some of them. However I understand the reasons for archiving.

(And I might use one or two of the hiding spots... :P)

Good luck in Bristol.