Geocoins, London Calling 2023

This… was London Calling

London Calling 2023 has come and gone, and we had a lot of fun. The side events have now been auto-archived, and the main event will auto-archive shortly. We’re still getting a trickle of attended logs coming through, but it’s decreased to a couple a week at this point so we thought it was worthwhile posting some further updates.

Firstly, we had a write-up on the Geocaching.com official blog. A massive thank you to Matt, who was the first Groundspeak Lackey to be able to attend a London Calling Mega. The write-up was totally unexpected, and we were over the moon to get even a mention let alone an article. If you’ve not seen it, check it out here: https://www.geocaching.com/blog/2023/05/london-calling-2023-recap/

We recently posted an announcement on the Mega listing about some stats, but it’s worth re-iterating them here.

  • LC23: The Game is Afoot (image above) launched our event on Friday evening. Some 330 caching accounts have posted attended logs, making it a very respectable 22nd most-attended regular event ever to be held in the UK.
  • London Calling 2023 was held during the day on Saturday and was our main Mega event itself. At the time of writing, this has had 992 attended logs from caching accounts. That means that London Calling 2023 was the fourth most well-attended Mega in the UK ever. It is remarkable when you remember that the biggest Megas in the UK are generally the roving Official UK Megas – and until LC23, the biggest numbers pulled by a different Mega was The Halloween Mega 2014 with 689 attended logs. It also meant that LC23 was the biggest event in the UK for five years, although obviously, that is over the pandemic era so take that as you will.
  • LC23: The Marylebone Mystery was our Saturday evening event. This had a remarkable number of attendees, way more than we could have anticipated and we were so glad we held it at the Mega venue itself. This was the most well-attended regular mega event ever to be held in the UK, with some 644 caching accounts posting attended logs. To give it some context, this would have qualified as a Mega based on numbers alone, and had more attendees than London Calling 2021.
  • LC23: Wombling Free was our Sunday morning CiTO. Again, remarkable numbers and the position of this one may yet change as we currently have 223 attended logs which puts us in third place overall in the list of biggest CiTOs ever in the UK. However, second place is Gaydon Garbage Grab! (a side event of the 2018 West Midlands Mega) which has 225 attended logs. So we may yet sneak past that if we get three more late logs.

All supporter packs (except one which we were asked to hold for a couple of weeks) have been sent out to those who couldn’t make it or forgot to grab them on the day. We will be relaunching our online store in a couple of weeks with a very special new item. In conjunction with this year’s Official UK Mega in Milton Keynes, we have our very own special variant of their cow coin – called London Mooing.

That’ll be added to the store upon relaunch, although we will be giving a countdown here and on socials before that happens as we suspect some collectors may be waiting on them. There are only 25 to be had, so if you want one be fast when it happens. The coin itself comes in the colours of our logo – red, white and blue. The blue itself is transparent enamel, so you get some detail coming through especially when you hold it to the light, and the white part of it is glow in the dark.

At the same time, we will also be adding two auctions to the site. The first is for one of our limited-edition volunteer coins. These were handed out to all of those wearing the grey t-shirts on the day with our logo. The second will be our ultra-limited edition Sheerluck coins. These were only available if you won a trackable through our Sheerluck adventure lab at London Calling 2023 but we have a couple left, so we’re making it available here as fundraising for London Calling 2025.

The volunteer edition (above) comes in a black nickel finish, with a filled transparent map logo in the centre of the magnifying glass. The London Calling logo itself is in glitter enamel. This was a limited edition of 80 and has never been on sale before.

The Sheerluck edition (below) comes in an antique bronze finish, with a matching bronze map logo fill and the London Calling logo is in black and white monochrome. This was a limited edition of just 15, our shortest run of any coin ever. Again, these have never been on sale before.

So look out for those towards the end of the month. Further notices will go out ahead of the listings going live so no one should miss out on these and our cow coin.

London Calling 2023

Closing Statement from our Chair

A huge thank you to everyone who attended London Calling 2023 and the side events over the weekend. It was fantastic to be outside on the way to venues and pass people in London Calling merchandise in the wild! I never fail to get a kick out of seeing one of our t-shirts being worn by someone at another event.

I few thank yous first. I would like to thank the wonderful staff at St Mary’s – what a fabulous venue. A special thanks to the committee: -Krop- for once again doing amazing things with lab caches. I used to dabble with electronics, but you are on another level. Hedgepiglet for organising our very own army of volunteers seamlessly and keeping on top of issues as they came up on the day. Minion&Myles for running merchandise flawlessly, staying positive and being far more organised than I’ll ever be. Goldpot, who was our greeter-in-chief, putting everyone in a good mood as they arrived and keeping everyone entertained in the queue. bunny-summers, without who we would have no coverage of the event and for generally being a voice of sanity. And last but not least TurnyT for his great ideas, not least the logbooks for this year’s event which everyone absolutely adored.

I mentioned the “army” – I have to give thanks to our wonderful volunteers. No doubt you were probably all pleased not to have the bright yellow shirts this year, but that didn’t dampen your visibility and enthusiasm. Without our wonderful volunteers giving up their time to support this event, many of whom volunteered for a second Mega in a row, it would not be possible to run London Calling at all.

A massive thanks to our fellow vendors, the GAGB and the Mega Committees for Milton Keynes 2023, South East 2024 and Severn 2025. Be sure that we’ll be attending as many of those events as possible for our future event endeavours. Further special thanks go to Pinpoint Magazine who produced this year’s wonderful event brochure. A final special thanks goes to Matt Quint who travelled over from Groundspeak in Seattle especially to attend this event and support us.

Consider the message on the back of this year’s event brochure to be the announcement, but just to repeat it here: See you at London Calling 2025!

London Calling 2023

One Day To Go!

At the time of posting, it’s less than four hours until the first side event for London Calling 2023 begins. Signal the Frog is in town. The outside adventure lab caches have gone live, and the additional Wherigo and Mystery caches already had their FTFs.

We’ll probably go quiet on the website over the weekend as we’ll be busy dealing with people in person. We have got plans to keep the Facebook page updated with news/announcements and general goings on. So if you’ve not followed us there, then please do: https://www.facebook.com/LondonCallingMega/

Looking forward to seeing you all, starting in a few short hours.

– The London Calling Mega Committee

London Calling 2023

Launching our Adventure Labs

I’m sure anyone who attended London Calling 2021 can remember our adventure labs. We’ve had some amazing compliments on our clever temporary indoor adventure labs which included the use of magic wands, gold pots, QR cubes, magic glasses and of course Big Ben. Of course, we also cannot forget the outdoor lab cache trail which takes in many of the highlights of London as it snakes its way from Westminster to Tower Bridge and back.

We are once again putting out a series of outdoor adventure labs, which will be able to remain out, as well as temporary adventure labs within the Mega venue itself which will only be available for completion on 29th April.

Some attendees will want to create .gpx files to enable them to find the adventure labs. As such, we are launching our outdoor lab caches slightly ahead of the Mega on the morning of Friday 28th April. All of these sets will be staying out. These will include the following:

  • Four sets of 10 adventure labs around the Marylebone area
  • Six sets of 5 adventure labs around the Wimbledon Common area
  • One set of 5 adventure labs in the City of London

The set of 10 adventure labs which will be available during London Calling 2023 will be going live that morning prior to Platinum Pack entry at 10:30 am. The set of 10 adventure labs going out during LC23: The Marylebone Mystery will be going live just prior to readmission to the venue at 6 pm. Both of these sets are temporary, and so will only be available until Saturday 6th May for logging purposes, at which point they will be shut down and will no longer be visible on the Adventure Labs app.

London Calling 2023

A Guide to a London Calling Icon Run

You may or may not be familiar with a concept of a geocaching “icon run”. This is where you attempt to find as many different types of caches in a single day. While this was probably always popular, the addition of Project-GC’s “Diverse Cacher” badge in the badgegen section of the profiles there has certainly increased awareness.

In order to get the highest ranked “Diverse Cacher” badge, you need to find 11 different icons in a day. You can of course get more than that, and for the last couple of years, it was easier with Community Celebration events being around. But what’s better than trying to do that at a Mega – somewhere where you’ll immediately get an unusual icon from attending the Mega itself. So here’s our guide to 11 icons in a day in order to get you that Diamond badge on Project-GC, plus a couple extra at the end.

  1. Mega – London Calling 2023 (GC9MAXX).
  2. Event – LC23: The Marylebone Mystery (GCA2DMX) – Held after the Mega at the same venue from 6 pm to 9 pm.
  3. Adventure Lab – There are so many of these around in London that you can’t miss them. Let alone the 10 labs that will be available during London Calling 2023 and a further 10 available during The Marylebone Mystery.
  4. Traditional – Trafalgar Square (GC5A7DW) – nearly 3000 favourite points, and wasn’t available during the last Mega due to some works in the area.
  5. Mystery/Puzzle – There will be a new jigidi-based mystery cache going live just prior to the Mega near the venue.
  6. Multi – There will be a new Multi going live just prior to the Mega near the venue.
  7. Earthcache – Nelson’s Column (GC4X7V2) – if you’re going to find Trafalgar Square then you might as well do this and GC285PA while you’re there. However, in case you found them during London Calling 2021, this is the closest Earthcache published after the previous Mega: Sea Urchin… Westminster (GC9QBFN).
  8. Letterbox Hybrid – Space Invader (NOT 24/7. TB Hotel. High FP%!) (GC7QEJJ) – A favourite, and the final is very much a caching experience and is worth the detour. Just note the opening times on the cache page.
  9. Wherigo – There will be a new Wherigo going live just prior to the Mega near the venue.
  10. Virtual – The name is Sherlock Holmes and the address is … (GC891DN) – How could we recommend any other virtual given the theme? However, this one has been out since 2019, so in case you already did it, try Paddington Bear & Mr Bean (Leicester Square) (GC9P505) – as that’s only been out since February this year.
  11. Webcam – London – Beatles Abbey Road (GC6F12) – Of course.
  12. Locationless – Discovered while geocaching – Locationless Cache (GC9FAVE) – the only locationless cache currently available.
  13. Cache in Trash Out – Beach Clean Up (GCA3N4A) – This one for the serious icon runners, as you’ll need to start your day on the south cost in Brighton before heading back to London for the Mega. It’s between 8 am and 9 am.

Of course, this is only a selection of what London has to offer. If you’ve never been to London before and you want to do an icon run then concentrating on the area around the Abbey Road Webcam, the Mega venue and Trafalgar Square will net you the most icons in the least amount of time. Abbey Road is a short journey away for a couple of stops on the Jubilee line from Baker Street station to St John’s Wood station, and Trafalgar Square can be easily reached (again from Baker Street station) via the Bakerloo line to Charing Cross station.

If you fancy that Brighton trip, return off-peak tickets are from £14.50 as long as you buy in advance. Trains depart from London Bridge and Victoria Station. When coming back, we recommend coming via London Bridge as you’ll be able to change for the Jubilee line on the Underground and go straight to Baker Street direct.

Let us know in the comments how many you’re aiming to get, and how many you achieved!

London Calling 2023

So Many Side Events!

During the run-up to the main event, we’re going to post a few helpful articles on our website to run you through what else you might want to consider doing during your time in London. Whether it’s our recommendations for an icon run, some caches not to be missed, or in the case of this article, the other events you might want to consider attending. Because there are so many side events! Of course, you can see all the upcoming events in London using our event calendar here.

Of course, you’ve got our four events taking place over the weekend:

  • LC23: The Game is Afoot – (GCA2DM7) – Our starting event is on Friday 28th April from 5 pm to 7 pm in Festival Gardens, next to St Paul’s Cathedral. This is a low-key meet-and-greet event and is outdoors so dogs are welcome. We don’t have any specific activities planned, just a nice opportunity to say hello to everyone in town for the Mega.
  • London Calling 2023 – (GC9MAXX) – Hopefully this needs no introduction at this point.
  • LC23: The Marylebone Mystery – (GCA2DMX) – Being held on the evening after the Mega at the Mega venue between 6 pm and 9 pm, so come back to us after a day’s caching and become the detective yourself to solve the crimes.
  • LC23: Wombling Free – (GCA3J1J) – We return once again to Wimbledon Common to help out the Wimbledon Rangers and the local Wombles between 11 am and 1 pm on Sunday 30th April.

But for the week before and after the Mega, you also have a series of side events being hosted independently of the Mega team by those in the city during this time. (UPDATED: 17/4/23)

  • Monday 24th April
    • London’s Hidden Gems #2 – Camley Street Park – (GCA6TFV) – 12 pm to 1 pm, just north of Kings Cross
  • Tuesday 25th April
    • Pixies Marathon Adventure – The Elfin Oak – (GCA6KM0) – 12:45 pm to 1:15 pm, Hyde Park
    • A Pint Amongst Friends – a new (but old) venue – (GCA6CDR) – 6:30 pm to 8 pm, Croydon
  • Wednesday 26th April
    • London Event @ The Araucaria araucana X – (GCA66DM) – 5 pm to 8 pm, Paddington/Marylebone borders
  • Thursday 27th April
    • Central London CITO – (GCA4NBR) – 5 pm to 6 pm, CiTO in Lincoln Inn’s Fields
    • Meet&Greet in London – (GCA45P5) – 7 pm to 7:30 pm, Hyde Park
  • Friday 28th April
    • Bavarians at the Busstop – (GCA69T7) – 8 am to 8:30 am, just east of St Katherine’s Docks
    • London Calling Friday Morning Starter – (GCA5V4N) – 10:30 am to 11 am, Kings Cross Station
  • Sunday 30th April
    • The Chens on Tour 2023 – Crystal Palace – (GCA565F) – 3:30 pm to 4 pm, Crystal Palace Park
  • Monday 1st May
    • MayDay Slippery Slope – (GCA6VRW) – 10 am to 10:30 am, Putney
    • Blue Switch Day 2023 – London – (GCA723C) – 5:30 pm to 6 pm, Hyde Park
  • Tuesday 2nd May
    • Nath’s leaving – Come and say goodbye 😉 – (GCA71VD) – 4 pm to 4:30 pm, King’s Cross Station
    • Limehouse River Rapids ???? – (GCA6VJG) – Limehouse/Poplar borders
  • Wednesday 3rd May
    • They Think It’s All Over… – (GCA4R05) – 5:30 pm to 6:30 pm, Pinner
  • Thursday 4th May
    • MAY THE FOURTH BE WITH YOU – (GCA723X) – 6:30 pm to 7 pm, Battersea Park
  • Friday 5th May
    • PVG: Pick Everything But The Roses! – (GCA7DKN) – 6 pm to 7 pm, Pinner
  • Saturday 6th May
    • An event fit for a king ???? – (GCA73V0) – 6:30 pm to 7pm, St James’ Square Garden

There are also a few cachers who have placed early meetups for those heading to London Calling 2023 on Saturday 29th April. Here are the events published so far:

  • Brummie Brekkie 18 – (GCA5FFH) – 7 am to 9 am, Birmingham
  • Woking Early Risers – Flash Mob – Mark 2 – (GCA4BEP) – 7:45 am to 8:15 am, Woking
  • Beach Clean Up – (GCA3N4A) – 8 am to 9 am, CiTO in Brighton
  • When in Brighton – (GCA65XH) – 9:15 am to 9:45 am, Brighton

Let us know in the comments below if we’ve missed any!

London Calling 2023

Less Than a Month to Go!

There’s now just less than a month to go until London Calling 2023. The organisation is being finalised, and volunteers have been contacted. So without further ado we have a few things to announce as these seem to be our frequently asked questions at the moment:

  • Tickets will remain on sale for £5 for adults on our online store here until 19th April. At that point the entire store will be closed until after the Mega so we can sort out the preorders. They will be on sale on the day as well for £10 for adults. So buy your ticket early and get it for half the price.
  • Children’s tickets (under the age of 15) will remain free throughout.
  • We have ordered some additional hoodies and t-shirts, so if you didn’t manage to pre-order one in advance, then they will be on sale on the day.
  • We will also have some new merchandise going on sale on Mega Day – new patches and keyrings.
  • For those that don’t want to come into the vendor hall, see Signal, do the gadget labs etc – there will be an outdoor logbook at the reception desk. For those coming in, there’s a larger logbook inside but you can sign both if you really want.
  • We have several geocaches going out just prior to the Mega. Not huge numbers as there are loads already in London, but hopefully the ones going out should make it easier for the icon hunters.
  • We also have quite a lot of outdoor adventure labs going out. These will be permanent features of the geocaching game board in London. There will be a new set going out to coincide with our Friday evening event near St Pauls, and several new sets to coincide with the CiTO event on Wimbledon Common. Thanks to the cachers who kindly donated their spare sets of adventure lab credits to make this happen.
  • There will of course be a further 30 adventure labs being placed outdoors from the Mega account.
  • On the day, don’t forget we have two floors – if you can’t find something on the ground floor, then you’re too high! Go downstairs!
  • There is wheelchair access to both floors.
  • Remember last time around we had our volunteers in those bright yellow t-shirts? This time around they’re in grey – although they do have “Volunteer” in yellow letters across the front of them. Although we did try for neon orange. Maybe next time.
  • We’ve not got any internal catering this time – but we are just off Crawford Street, which has a range of independent cafes and restaurants. Boxcar Cafe and Deli is right outside and has seating on the square if it doesn’t rain. There’s also the Duke of Wellington pub just opposite the square in front of the church, as well as the Royal Oak on the corner of York Street and Enford Street. You’ll find loads of chain coffee shops and restaurants if you walk east to Baker Street or west to Edgware Road.
London Calling 2023

Interested in Volunteering?

Spot our volunteers in their yellow t-shirts!

Do you remember all those yellow t-shirts at London Calling 2021? That was our superb volunteer team, and we’re looking at adding new members for this year’s Mega event. So if you’re able to donate a couple of hours of your time to our event (and don’t mind a bright yellow t-shirt) then hit the button below and complete the form.


London Calling 2023

Announcing Our CiTO!

We’re pleased to announce that our Cache in Trash Out (CiTO) event has gone live on geocaching.com, and you can now post your Will Attends. It will be on Sunday 30th April (the day after London Calling 2023) between 11 am and 1 pm. We return once again to Wimbledon Common, the home of the Wombles – probably the best-known practitioners of CiTO in the whole country.

Post your Will Attends here: https://coord.info/GCA3J1J

Public transport options to the CiTO are as follows:

Bus 93 from Putney Bridge to Cheam, passing right alongside Parkside and through Wimbledon Village. 

The nearest train/tube stations are Wimbledon Mainline Station or Wimbledon District Line Underground Station.

Geocoins, London Calling 2023

Revealing the Prototype Geocoins!

We’re very pleased to say that we’ve now moved to the stage in the geocoin production for our magnifying glasses for London Calling 2023 to show off the prototype images. The type of coin featured is our Supporter’s Edition (available for pre-order here: LC23 Magnifying Glass Geocoin: Supporter’s Edition).

The prototype of the supporters’ edition of the LC23 Magnifying Glass Geocoins

These are our largest coins to date, and our first suncatcher coins – this means that the “lens” of the magnifying glass coin itself is made of transparent enamel. We have several different editions of this coin being made, with both the bronze and silver versions available inside and outside of supporters’ packs.

The Platinum edition is only available in the Platinum supporters pack (that pack also comes with the bronze and silver versions). While the supporter’s edition is only available outside of the packs.

As you’ll also be able to see from the third image, the supporters’ edition of the coin does not only glow in the dark – but it’s full-colour glow in the dark – another first for us. See our online store for these and other merchandise here: Store.