Anyone else do this?

http://www.geocaching.com/

Just started a few weeks ago.

Basically it's a worldwide treasure hunt using gps. It was priceless during the school holidays when the kids want to do everything that costs an arm and a leg. Free entertainment, good exercise and there's always a geocache near you!

Just found our 8th cache today!

Yea its good fun, my brother in law does it. I went out with him and the kids 2 weekends back on Saturday, we found 11 caches. Great fun, and as you say, free and the kids enjoy it.

He's up to 33 at the moment I think.

yeah we do it now and again, the girlfriend loves it!

I found my first geocache at the weekend. I don't think I'm going to get into this hobby very much however because it is difficult without a GPS.

We do it. But it's very hard if you don't have a GPS.

We got hooked on it last year, but haven't done so much this year.

Thought it would be practically impossible without GPS.

I have come across two while walking the dogs.

Some strange items inside the boxes.

I had become a very lazy walker until I started geocaching!

It's amazing how adding a gadget seems to make getting out and about so much less of an effort.
The best thing about it for me other than actually making me exercise, is that it takes you to places you would never normally go and see things you would never otherwise see - often right on your doorstep.

I have found 79 caches so far.
My favourites are the ones where you have to solve a number of clues to get coordinates - one or two have been really hard to work out, others have 'introduced me' to the town I've lived in most of my life!!

I also have four of my own Travel Bugs out and about. One has travelled 161 miles in the last two years whilst another has clocked up over 16,500


I use a Garmin Oregon 300 GPS, which now I've got used to it is so easy to use, and accurate to within six feet even under cover of trees etc.


My next step is to create a cache of my own somewhere close to home!

Travel Bugs?

So how do I geocache?

Watch out for the ones covered in piss.

Like dog tags and have a unique identifying number on them - you register them at geocaching.com and leaving them in a cache some place. People then find them and move them on to another cache.
Each one can have a goal (travel to the North Pole eg.), and people will try to help it along it's way!
The online log is updated every time it is found and moved. People leave pictures and comments as well!
My most travelled TB started off five miles from home in Norfolk, spent several months in The States and is now in Germany (Here!)
Overlooking this:

Go to geocaching.com
Hide and seek a Geocache
There will be coordinates and a description (or a cryptic puzzle to solve etc)
Bang the coords into a GPS device and off you go!
Some are easy to find and some are more difficult - they range in size from nanos (often magnetic and the size of you little finger nail) to ammo boxes. Old 35mm film cannisters are often used as are plastic lunch box type containers.


One of the first ones I did:

Marham Fen 1

N 52° 40.082 E 000° 32.508

This cache is located by the side of a public footpath, which will take you on a circular walk around Marham Fen. The footpath is approximately two miles in length, and comprises a good, hard, level surface.


Marham Fen is predominately a dry fen with a few damp areas and pingos. It is a wildlife site with healthy populations of muntjak, birds and moths. Anglia Water, have a small number of water extraction plants dotted around the fen and a much larger unit situated on the river Nar, close by. Smugglers used the Nar, to bring contraband from ships anchored off King’s Lynn, and hide in underground caches in Marham Fen. The whole area of the fen is open to the public, should you wish to explore it.
This cache is one of eight caches forming a ‘Power Trail’, hidden along the circular path and spur, around the perimeter of Marham Fen, all of which are made from film canisters. Each canister has been well disguised and hidden, and is intended to show some possible variations for this often under utilised container. Inside each canister lid, and also on the log sheet you will find letters and numbers that will enable you to determine the coordinate for the
‘Marham Fen Smugglers Bonus’ cache.
This cache contains only a log sheet; bring your own pen/pencil, and please do not place any other items into the cache canister.
As this cache is located close to the public footpath, keep an eye open for walkers who may suddenly appear. This cache needs careful replacement, or it will be muggled, so give yourself plenty of time in which to do this.

Note the reference taken from the HP films regarding people who don't know about geocaching...!

Cheers Jester

I found coordinates for a cache about a 2 minute walk from my house and a quick look on google maps shows it to be inside the grounds of the American embassy.
I could pop out now and have a quick look but they may not like people trampling in the garden after dark.

Might take some finding too - looks like a hard one!!

It is a 5 star one so I guess that is difficult. Maybe I have to get past security and armed guards.

Someone in Essex has found over 2000 without using a GPS.

I just clocked up number 80 without my electronic friend!


The GPS only gets you to the site - you then have to find the cache yourself (it doesn't emit bleeps or have a flashing light! ) Certainly gets easier after you've done a few and know the kind of thing to look for, although this one today was ingenious and a new concept to me!

you can get e cheap garmin etrex gps for 50 quid on amazon.
lots of caches hidden in snowdonia nat park peoples.