Everyone loves a mystery

The mystery in question this time is.... how did I not know!

Geocaching makes you look at the familiar differently, is that really a sign? Are those real logs/bricks/stones?

We have started looking at things in the G-dimension, we wonder almost endlessly about hiding caching, finding caches or just planning the next outing. 

One thing that we are loving though is how caching is taking us to familiar places, giving us visual treats for areas we took for granted, yesterday saw us doing just that.  A morning to cache in meant we were off to the cliffs! We have been before, a stroll in the summer, sitting in the car enjoying the view over a busy port.  This time though we had a mission. 

A short walk down the cliffs to the edge revealed a path, with steps to nowhere! Down we plunged gripping tightly to the rail, still amazed this path was even here! All the way to the bottom, just a few feet above the waves hitting the chalk cliffs.  A small wooden bridge the last few steps and a tunnel is revealed! A remnant of this coasts defensive history no doubt. 

Into the tunnel and with brave hearts (dramatic I know) we forged onwards to the prize. 

Cache in hand, a few photos of the view and we were back up the cliff to the cafe! Have to say up was so much harder than down, puffing is standard on this journey!

Another cache that exposed a common place to us with a fantastic twist!

Wearing thin!

After the initial rush for caches and our excitement there should be a lull.  Not just yet though, we are still going strong. 

Determined to keep it up and having started a healthy eating plan too we are still on the hunt. 

An observation is that as we get more into caching the more we need "stuff" to cache with.  Luckily we already have sturdy walking boots and dogs, both items are important for walking.  We have a rucksack, gloves, hats, poo bags (for the dogs) and water bottles! All these things are desired for some caching but there are so many more things we can add to our needs. 

Thermals have been a bonus, unable to find a use in the past for the thermals we have in the drawer now we are shopping for more! Waterproof gloves for rooting around, regular gloves no longer cut it! The waterproof trousers before only used for golf or the 2 days of snow a year we usually get, now they are the choice of all good cachers (us). 

Then there is the "stuff" we now need (want), the things that would make the days even better! New walking boots, shoes and sandals (yes serious summer walking sandals). Micro fleece is a must, sweat repelling is oh so important when walking.  A stick, the walking variety, needed for hills and holding back the undergrowth. And so many more things we spot all the time. 

So the caching isn't slowing down, even in the current cold snap, we are brave hearty souls!

I have to say despite the cold and wet we still love getting out, the dogs need to walk regardless and they don't complain when we saddle them up for a days caching.  We are now planning our weekend getaways once we have settled our house sale and sorted out the boxes we are neglecting. The fun goes on and on, even though we are now having to make our caching circle wider every week!

The Dash

We have discovered another type of cache, the multi or series cache.  Works like this, you tear around when you should be doing something constructive looking for tiny caches!

Luckily for us there was a series of 11 caches close by for us to find.  All close to the road and discoverable easily with a cachers eye.  We left the geomutts (dogs, after a short time you put Geo before most ordinary words) and hopped into the car to up our tally.

Magnetic strip caches, magnetic nano caches, small film boxes and plastic vials, oh and a fake snail!  All of which were hidden in trees, on lamp posts and signs, fences and hoardings in a 5 miles or so circle!

A good way to spend a spare afternoon and so much better than returning library books or ironing.  We are moving soon and suddenly our priorities now include a good area to geocache. And the coins, oh how the coins are tempting us and the travel bugs but that's another story.....

We admit this is addictive…

After our first week we had to admit we were hooked, we both knew it.

We both had apps on our phones and were scouring the area for caches to hunt, it became our main topic of conversation! Our weekends became a merry go round of dog walking while caching, shopping while caching even visiting family because they lived close to a cache! 

We were also learning about the different types of cache to expect, false rocks, posts with holes in, hollow bolts and magnetic stickers were all to be found within a couple of miles.  But next on our list was a mystery cache! We sat on a Saturday evening not glued to the TV with a Takeaway but working out coordinates for an abbey we didn't know existed. 

Sunday came and according to our workings this would be a drive through the countryside to an area we had passed many times, there couldn't be an abbey there really could there? How do you miss an abbey in the countryside?  We did though, for 2 hours we searched for this goodly abbey, until dusk was apon us. 

Oh my word, it does exist and we're here!  We may have found the abbey but the prize was alluding us, torch light wasn't our friend this time.  A car stopped to ask what we were doing rummaging, quick think of something, a lost key was all I could come up with.  After a huff and another steely gaze the car moved on.

We had been defeated by our quarry and we were failures! The dark and the dying phone batteries were our final obstacles.  These we couldn't over come, we were tasting defeat and the drive home was full of remorse and regret.  The cache would have to wait for another day, we would return with better armour next time.

 

Whose stupid idea was this.... FFS

So with a happy heart we set off again on a local cache hunt, to a place we know well!

There were 2 to find in a local park, the place I walk our dogs almost daily.  The 2 mile round trip is ideal for me and the geomutts (as we now refer to them).

Read instructions get our bearings and here we go, round and round in circles!   The Toll house was easy enough, we argued only slightly but this was teething problems.  However Channel View turned into our nemesis and almost ended our caching before we begun.  In total we returned to this spot 6 times, in the end in the dark with torches!  We crawled, climbed and scrambled to find this cache, we practically gave up.  The main thing that kept us going was the humiliation of others finding the prize and taunting us with their caching prowess! Oh the joy and satisfaction when we finally unearthed this cache was amazing, I almost cried tears of joy.  I didn't find it but as we cache as a team I still felt pride in our success!

We had snatched victory from the cache of defeat and we were now invincible, bring it on! 

This year we will get out more...

Famous last words many of us utter at the end of the old year.  For us though we actually meant it, well we mean it now!

Last year I stumbled across Geocaching, I was tempted.  By tempted I mean curious and spent some time looking at how to geocache.  Not one to be perturbed I tried to convince my slightly bemused other half that we could do this in our spare time.  Then we forgot about it and went on with our lives.  Spare time was sparse and mainly spent having coffee and chatting.

Each morning I get up and walk the dogs, usually a couple of miles along the beach.  I love to walk and the dogs love it too so wandering we are used to. 

So Christmas 2011 we chatted about the coming year as you do and suddenly decided we would give this geocaching a go, if there was any around that is.  Smart phones with GPS meant we could give it a go without any expense, see if we liked it.  So we both downloaded the app and off we went, well off I went with the dogs on the first day. 

Half a mile from our house was the first in the Martello trail caches and I was hunting! No1 found no problem, I am obviously a natural.  No2 was obviously stolen as I couldn't find it and after a real search No3 was mine! No2 was a baffler but hey ho that's how it goes.  On the walk home I read through the logs for each cache I had searched out and one of the No2 comments had me scrabbling back to take a closer look! Bloody hell it's there! I am a caching genius, did I mention I'm a determined bugger too.

So step one and I'm hooked, I was in search of my next caching fix.

This blog is our little caching journey and the fun and arguments we have along the way!