Half Term Holiday fun – Its Geocaching time!

So, with the school holidays and a 4 day weekend – it was time to keep the kids amused! Luckily the weather was on my side and with only a couple of short showers we managed to get out geocaching for most of Saturday and Sunday

For those who haven’t heard of Geocaching, it’s basically the world’s largest treasure hunt / scavenger hunt accessed via an app on your smart phone or mobile device – you look for ‘caches’ other people have hidden using gps technology, its the perfect activity for the entire family!

Some are easier than others, some have interesting contents others just hold a small paper log for you to sign to show you found it.

Our friend even found one of the larger caches that was located at the top of a hill with a small kite in so you could fly the kite before returning it for the next geocacher to find – amazing! Just make sure you replace all your finds ready for the next person to locate.

You can view all the caches that are closest to your location and they appear on the map as a little green circle with the box image inside (see below)

You’ll also see orange ones – these are ‘multi-caches’ meaning you will have to solve the navigational clues to at least 2 locations to find the cache.

You will also see the smiley faces – these are the ones we have logged as found – You can see where we walked along the river on the hunt for hidden treasures.

When you click into the cache, you will be able to see the difficultly level, when it was last found, or not as can often be the case – you will see above someone has logged a DNF or Did Not Find – it doesn’t mean it isn’t there just that they couldn’t find it on that occasion.

We’ve often logged DNF’s and gone back on a second occasion and found them. Unfortunately sometimes the owner has checked after a DNF has been logged and found its been moved or sometimes it’s been taken completely which is a shame so please do replace them back where you find them.

You’ll be surprised how many are hidden at places you often visit, you’ve probably walked right past people searching for them at your local park (you will see non geocachers referred to as muggles) and not even noticed. It is also not only in the UK they are hidden worldwide, we found one in Portugal when we were on holiday

It is free but you can pay to upgrade on the geocaching app to open up more Caches and other functions on the app – It is definitely worth the upgrade if you are going to do it on a regular basis!

There are some really good puzzles series caches that are a collection of clues before eventually find the treasure on the final one. You can also get puzzle coordinate ones where you have to solve the clues to find the coordinates – there is a good one in Worcester (Rushwick) we tried and failed to complete it so we do need to revisit when we can

Finding this weekends caches included crossing the locks over the canal, traipsing through muddy puddles and avoiding golfers on the golf course but the girls loved it and I managed to do over 15000 steps in the process!

It is a really great way to get the whole family out and about, it’s a great opportunity to spend some quality family time together while having fun! In the Summer months we love using it as a good excuse to explore the great outdoors as its a fun activity for all family members, you’ll be surprised how quickly the older children get into it, especially when they uncover their first cache!

You can find more information or join here : https://www.geocaching.com and as always if you have any questions just ask

ChrissyJ xxx