Try Geocaching For Half-Term Fun!

School’s out across most of the country – but are your children bored already? 

Why not encourage them outside with some geocaching? It can turn an ordinary walk into an exciting, high-tech treasure hunt which may be just enough to drag them away from the TV and computer games!

What is It?

Geocaching is an outdoor adventure game, where GPS technology is used to find hidden treasure.

Caches are planted across the landscape in towns and cities around the world. You’ve probably got one or more within a mile of where you live – wherever that is.

A cache usually consists of a small, waterproof box containing a selection of items including a logbook and pen or pencil. You won’t find anything too valuable – the fun is in the finding!

How does it work?

First of all you need to find the location of a cache near to you by logging onto www.geocaching.com and upload the coordinates to a Garmin GPS handheld.

Some devices, like the eTrex series of handhelds enable you to send all the details of the cache including location, terrain, difficulty, hints and descriptions, straight to your device before you set off. 

Then you just have to follow your GPS handheld to guide you to the cache!

When you’ve found a cache

Once you have located the cache,, sign the logbook and return it to the cache. You may find it contains a reward for you to keep. If you take something out of a cache, you should leave something in return. This can be anything from a small toy to a coin or a pencil.

You must leave the cache in the same place and in the same condition as it was found for the next visitor.

Find out more about Garmin GPS handhelds 

Go to geocaching.com to find out more about the activity.