First Find

Today was our first time Caching. I was given a Garmin eTrex Vista Cx for Christmas, cos I love gadgets and wanted to know what we have been up to when we go walking. I discovered this strange item on the setup menu ‘Geocaching’ and had no idea what it was. I looked it up on the internet and found it was basically treasure hunting! I used to love car treasure hunts when I was at school, and it sounded like something we could do while we walked, and it might help us to find new places to walk!

A few days later I mentioned it to my Dad, only for him to say ‘Yes, I know all about it, your sister does it with the boys!’ So that was that!

When Good Friday came round it seemed a good time to do a nice long walk with the dog, and to see if we could track down one of these treasure chests! I’d discovered there was a nature reserve near my workplace, so sorted out a 6 mile walk, taking in the nature reserve and the Cache it contained – GCN141 – Do you come here Ufton.

We printed off the Cache details, packed up a flask of coffee, some food, a map, various swaps, and, of course, the GPS. We arrived at the parking and faced challenge 1 – how on earth to get to the Cache! The GPS was pointing straight across the woods, but we decided to follow the very windy path round and round the reserve, getting closer, then further, then closer again!

Eventually the GPS beeped ‘you’re getting close!’ We had no idea what we were looking for, and checked out an obvious object near the path, but no treasure there, just rubbish. Eventually we decided to go over a stile to leave the reserve, especially as we had read the clue which said something about a gate. Stood around looking blank for a while, until we suddenly spotted a small cairn in the trees, off the path. It looked a little out of place, so gave it a go, and BINGO!
Read the logbook, and swapped some swag, then continued our walk feeling very smug! Hurrah! We’re Geocachers!