TV
Themed Geocaching |
A
number of BBC series have been made in South Wales and it is
possible to combine visiting film locations with geocaching.
The series involved include Dr Who, Merlin, Torchwood and Gavin
and Stacey. These will be joined by Casualty and Holby City
where production has recently moved to new studios in Cardiff
Bay (look out for the studios when you do the Bay Perambulation).
The links below provide details of possible TV film location
themed geocaching.
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| Ever
since Doctor Who returned to our TV screens in 2005, it has been
produced by BBC Wales, and filmed in and around Cardiff and Swansea.
If you are a Doctor Who fan (and if you aren't - why not?), you
might be interested in seeing some of the locations used. Local
cachers have placed a series of caches entitled "Who Was
Here......" |
| Who
Was Here 1: New New Cache. |
| Who
Was Here 2: Daleks in Penarth. Temporarily Unavailable. |
| Who
Was Here 3: The Runaway Nan-O What a Liberty. |
| Who
Was Here 4: Love and Cachers. |
| Who
Was Here 5: Delta and the Cachermen. |
| Who
Was Here 6: Voyage of the Cache. |
| Who
Was Here 7: Silence in the Cache. (Very close to
the Mega!) |
| Who
Was Here 8: Tooth and Cache. |
| Who
Was Here 9: Bad Wolf Bay. |
| Who
Was Here 10: The Doctor Meets Gutto. |
| Who
Was Here 11: "I've Gone Too Far". |
| Who
Was Here 12: The Doctor's Cache. |
| Who
Was Here 13: The Unquiet Cache. |
| Who
Was Here 14: End of Cache. |
| Who
Was Here 15: The Cache Below. |
| Who
Was Here 16: Delta and the Bannermen. |
| Who
Was Here 17: "Prisoner Zero". |
| For
a map showing the locations of these caches (and other cache series),
please click HERE. |
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| Gavin
& Stacey is a British romantic comedy television series. Basically
the show follows the long-distance relationship of Gavin Shipman
from Billericay in Essex, England, and Stacey West from Barry
in Wales.
The show was produced for BBC Wales. It ran for a total of
twenty episodes, broadcast between 13 May 2007 to 1 January
2010, comprising three series and a Christmas special. Initially,
the series was shown on digital-only channel BBC Three, but
a growing following meant that it was subsequently moved to
BBC Two, and finally BBC One.
All the location filming was done in South Wales, even those
scenes which purported to be the Shipman's home in Billericay.
The show's catch-phrases greeting "What's Occurrin'?",
became so well-known that it was even heard in several episodes
of the Doctor Who spin-off program: Torchwood, which was also
filmed around South Wales.
These caches will take you to some of the locations where the
series was filmed:
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| On
Location with Gavin and Stacey – 'Surprise'. |
| On
Location with Gavin and Stacey – ‘Cheers’ |
| On
Location with Gavin and Stacey – ‘Omelette?’ |
| On
Location with Gavin and Stacey – ‘Sandwich’ |
| On
Location with Gavin and Stacey – ‘Three Steaks’ |
| On
Location with Gavin and Stacey – ‘Tidy’ |
| What's
Occurrin'? |
|
| Merlin,
loosely based on the King Arthur legends, was filmed by Shine
South West within a forty mile arc of their studios in Cardiff.
The series has been shown in over 180 countries. The filming of
series 4 will be taking place from March 2011, so who knows what
you might find. There are caches close to the filming locations,
though they are not necessarily specifically Merlin themed.
Imagine standing on the river bank where Prince Arthur told
Merlin of his love for Gwen or being in Merlin's home village.
You could visit the castle where Merlin duelled magic with Nimeuh
or stand (tides willing) on the ledge where Merlin offered to
drink from the poisoned goblet.
We are grateful to Searchalot and Le Truc for researching these
locations. If anyone wants to know more, they can be contacted
through their geocaching profile.
|
| Place |
Featured
in |
Scene/action |
Nearest
cache(s) |
| Dunraven
Beach (facing sea go right a little way to ledge filmed
on) |
The
Labryinth of Gedref |
Arthur
and Merlin discuss which of two goblets (one poisoned) to
drink from |
GC1YJD9
GC1X4M1
GCKXRN |
| St
Donats Bay (with back to the sea at graben - see Earthcache
- caves are short distance to left) |
The
Castle of Fyrien |
Arthur,
Merlin, Gwen and Morgana look for underground tunnel into
Castle |
GC1Y497
GC2MBMT |
| Cosmeston
Medieval Villlage |
The
Moment of Truth |
Became
Ealdor, where Merlin lived and Arthur rid it of Cenred's
men |
GCXMCF |
| Castell
Coch |
The
Changeling |
Castle
where Princess Elena lived |
GC1A710
GC2MGJ9
GCZZ70 |
| Fforest
Fawr near Castell Coch (from forest car park take forest
drive to wired fenced off area on right: caves within this
area) |
Lancelot
and Guineviere |
Three
Bears Cave where Arthur and Merlin take route through Tunnels
of Andor that are infested with Willderen |
GC1A710
GCZZ70
GC2MGJ9 |
| River
Ely, Miskin (at end of The Chestnuts, go left to river) |
Lancelot
and Guineviere and The Changeling |
Where
Morgana and Guineviere fight bandits and where Arthur gives
Princess Elena a pink rose |
GC2YPH4 |
| Caerphilly
Castle |
Lancelot
and Guineviere |
Great
Hall is where Lancelot fights Hengist's champion, and Hengist
releases Willderen |
GC21WQK
GCP9A7 |
| Porth
yr Ogof, near Ystradfellte |
The
Last DragonLord |
Cave
entrance used as Balinor's cave |
GC19GM6 |
| Puzzlewood,
near Coleford, Forest of Dean |
The
Labrynith of Gedref, The Eye of the Phoenix and The Coming
of Arthur |
Scenes
with unicorn, bridge courage, strength and magic walked
over and cave Arthur, Merlin and Gwaine ran into |
GC13A3R |
| Clearwell
Caves, near Coleford, Forest of Dean |
Lancelot
and Guineviere and The Curse of Cornelius Sigan |
Tunnels
of Andor, where Arthur and Merlin hide from Willderen |
GC11DC0
GC1ECM5
GC13A3R |
| Cannop
Ponds, Forest of Dean (from bridge/dam walk downstream:
left bank = Castle of Fyrien: right bank = Queen of Hearts) |
The
Queen of Hearts and The Castle of Fyrien |
Picnic
scene and where Arthur, Gwen, Merlin and Morgana camp |
GCFA3B
GC2PQ9R |
| Speech
House Lake, Forest of Dean |
The
Gates of Avalon, Excalibur, Lady of The Lake, The Changeling
and The Coming of Arthur - part 2 |
Where
Aulfric summons the Sidhe, Sophia tries to drown Arthur,
Merlin throws Excalibur into the water, Merlin takes dying
Freya to the lake, etc |
GCQ3KA |
| Amazing
Hedge Puzzle |
The
Labryinth of Gedref |
Arthur
has to pass through the maze and it is where Merlin meets
Anhora |
GCWCDP(!!!!) |
| Goodrich
Castle |
The
Sins of the Father |
Morgause's
castle: Solar was where Morgause was going to behead Arthur |
GCZ2BK |
| Raglan
Castle |
Le
Morte d'Arthur and The Fires of Idirsholas |
Merlin
journeyed on moat to The Isle of The Blessed and met Nimueh
in Fountain Court: ruined castle (Idirsholas) that Arthur
enters with knights |
GC2PF3Z |
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