ZX81

After two previous successes we went out with some confidence today to look for the third cache in this series. After parking in the suggested spot we had a nice walk down a cobbled lane past the interesting looking Light Oaks Hall.

Under the railway bridge and across some boggy terrain to the cache location on the edge of the enchantingly named Windy Wood. We spent a good half hour looking around the spot suggested by the GPSr and went up to 20 paces in all directions around it - no luck!

After this we decided the cache had either been muggled or bad weather had displaced it and it was no longer in its orginal place. With some reluctance gave up the search and returned home. Perhaps this geocaching thing isn't so easy after all!

At home I logged the visit as a DNF (did not find) and e-mailed the owner for some information. He very kindly said he would do a maintenance visit and verify if the cache was still there. If it is or it's replaced, we'll go back in the near future.

Check out this cache here: Nostalgia Trip - ZX81 at geocaching.com.

Coal Not Dole

I had done a reccy in the car one night last week to get an approximate idea where we would be going for this one. We set off walking from home along the same route as we used last week. If you remember, we had intended to do two caches on the same day last week, and this is the one we had to abandon due to the rain.

After crossing the East Lancs Road we headed on towards the Red Rose Mining Museum at Astley Colliery. Here is the last remaining pit head lifting gear in the whole of Lancashire, or so I am told. There is an earth cache here and we intended to do this one on the way back. Onwards down Higher Green Lane and over the Bridgewater Canal, stopping briefly to take in the view and some pictures on the top of the bridge. Then down towards the public footpath which marks the start of the trail where the cache is hidden.

After a few minutes walking down the footpath the GPS indicated that we needed to leave the path and venture into the woods. After five minutes of seraching all the likely suspects mentioned in the clue we found it. It was a small plastic container, larger than the first one we had found and hidden in a cammoflage bag - what a good idea!

We couldn't sign the log book as there was nothing to write with and being geocaching newbies we hadn't brought anything ourselves - that will be rectified next time as we'll be packing a geocaching bag filled with useful items to take on all future expeditions. We'll go back and do it sometime soon. Satisified with our success we decided to take the pretty route back across the meadow to the disused colliery, where we began the second cache hunt today.

Check out this cache here: The Nostalgia Series - Coal Not Dole at geocaching.com.

Astley Green Colliery

This was to be our first EarthCache and it took us a while to work out what this meant. Instead of finding the usual hidden cache box brimmed full of goodies, this cache is an educational trip whereby the point of the visit is to learn something.

The cache owner wanted us to answer some geology questions about coal mining and to e-mail the answers to him before we could log the cache as 'found'. We also had to take a picture of ourselves in front of the pit head lifting gear with our GPS unit.

Unfortunately, in spite of the grounds being open, the actual museum part which holds the required information was closed, and so we will have to revisit this one before we can log it as found. We did take the photograph however.

An interesting concept these EarthCaches.

Check out this cache here: Astley Green Colliery at geocaching.com

A Nice Cup of Tea - My First Cache

Today we found our first cache. It was just about the nearest one to my home in Tyldesley, Manchester. My wife Sarah and I set off on foot just as it started to rain. We had planned to do two caches but I'm afraid rain stopped play.

It took a while to get used to the GPSr unit - I've got a Garmin eTrex HCx with the Great Britain TopoMap and City Navigator Europe maps installed. So many menu pages and buttons, but we knew approximately where the cache was from the description at geocaching.com.

So off we headed to the grounds of what was formerly Astley Hospital. On the way we came across a real surprise - a house with a moat around it! I've lived here for 25 years but never walked or ridden along these footpaths before. This really made me think about what this newfound activity was going to do in terms of take me places on my doorstep that I don't even know exist.

After getting to the right area we had a look round for likely places to hide something. There was a main road, a wall around the grounds and lots of trees. The description had mentioned a wall, so we used the GPSr to find a location close to it. No luck! At this point we didn't know how accurate the GPSr would be and it took a while of walking around until we could get the N and W bearings moving in the right direction.

Eventually we got to the exact location - it was in the middle of some trees with a tall wall at the back of them. We had another look around - still no luck. We decided to use the clue, so Sarah decyphered it whilst I continued to look around. This gave us a better idea of where to look, and shortly we succeeded! It was a really good feeling to find our first cache.

Check out this cache here: Nostalgia Trip - A Nice Cup of Tea at geocaching.com

Getting Started

1. Get yourself a GPSr unit - look here for ones which are currently available
2. Create a free account at http://www.geocaching.com/ - I'm called GeekTeacher there
3. Use the search tool to type in your home postcode and see if any geocaches are nearby
4. Choose a geocache and enter it's coordinates into your GPS.
5. Use the GPSr or a map to plan a route to the cache
6. Go find the cache!

Tomorrow I'm going out on my first geocaching expedition - whoopee!

Welcome

Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of Geekteacher's geocaching exploits. Here you can follow my progress as I visit (and hopefully find) many of the geocaches hidden around the UK. This all started for me when my wife bought me a GPSr unit for my birthday. But what is a 'GPSr' and what is 'geocaching' I hear you ask - well here's my own brief explanation:

Geocaching is a global treasure hunt in which anyone can take part. All you need is a free account with www.geocaching.com and a handheld GPSr (Global Positioning System receiver) unit (or a large scale map of an area). A GPS or GPRS is an electronic gadget that reads data transmitted by a range of satellites which can then identify your position almost anywhere on the planet down to an accuracy of a few feet. These units are used in vehicle satellite naviagtion (SatNav) systems to help plan your route or tell you where you are.

You use the GPSr to accurately locate the boxes of 'treasure' know as geocaches or just caches, after getting some details of where they are hidden from the geocaching.com website. Once you have found a cache, you log it in your account at geocaching.com, and so over time a record of your finds is built up.

Geocaches range in size from small to large: small ones are usually 35mm film cannisters or tablet containers, and the larger ones are plastic 'tupperware' style sealable boxes. The 'treasure' can be almost anything that will fit inside, but there is always some kind of logbook or logsheet to record your visit.

You are allowed to take anything you find in a geocache, but you should always replace it with something of your own if possible. Common items include keyrings, badges, small toys and stationary items. None of these items have any real value.

There are two special items that you will sometimes find in a geocache: Travel Bugs (TB's) and Geocoins (GC's). A TB is a metal dog tag which is attached to a small item and GC is a specially minted coin with some kind of emblem on it. Both of these are known as 'trackable items' because they each also contain a unique reference number which is logged in a database at the geocaching.com website. The idea is that if you find a cache with a TB or GC in it, you take it and move it on to another cache. You log where you have found it and where you deposited it and,i n this way, the movement of the item can be tracked around an area and sometimes around the world. Hence the name - Travel Bug.

Anyway, this all started today for me, and this is a record of what happened next ....