Geocaching!

Howdie Loverlies!!

So at the end of October Mr N & Ms B came to visit us from Bristol and they brought with them a "Geocoin"... we were told that this coin was on a mission to visit as many Police Stations as possible.. ummm.. ok!?! We managed to get its photo taken with an old Police Box that looks a bit like a tardis, then we took it up to Pitlochry and took its photo with the local police station... Mr N then wanted to drop off this coin at a Geocache by Edinburgh Castle...  so one night after dinner, we went a searching for this "cache"... bear in mind, the mister and I really had no idea what these crazy people were on about!!

After a quick review of the map on the website I got us in the general vicinity... then we used the GPS to get us in the right area and using the clues to get us in the right spot Mr N and Ms B went a foraging... After some rummaging around behind some 'big rocks' Mr N declared he'd found it! He produced a click top container with a log book and various little tokens inside.. they dutifully dropped off the Geocoin, signed the log book and replaced the cache to where it was found.. Mr N was rather disappointed that the other "trackables" logged on the website weren't actually in the cache.

So this was Geocaching?!?! The next day while the mister was at work, Mr N, Ms B and I went for a walk up Arthur's Seat to check out the view and take the opportunity to find another cache... this time I tried to play along on my own phone.. tho to be honest I still left most of the heavy lifting to them and just followed along!

First Geocaching token! A monkey!!
It was SUPER windy at the top of Arthur's Seat.. hence the disheveled hair!!

It makes going for a walk a little more fun.. Like super high tech orienteering or modern day treasure hunting!! There are caches all over the world, perhaps there are some in your own neighbourhood?? It's also a fun way to discover parts of your own city that you might not usually visit.. also a nice way to rediscover an old neighbourhood... you may just notice something you've never noticed before!! I know I have!!

All you need to play along is a smartphone or a Garmin GPS.. although you could potentially play without either of those, just by using the website and something like googlemaps to get you in the right spot. Having a smartphone or GPS definitely helps tho!! Signing up to the website is absolutely free and although the official app costs a little money, I managed to find one for my Android for free which seems to work just as well as Mr N's official app on his iPhone....

Traditional Cache.. one we found on a slight detour on the way home from dinner one night..
A nice excuse to go for a meander! (I blanked out the owners name & phone number)

We've since found a few caches around about the place on various weekends out just meandering around.. I'll usually check if there's one in the area if we're heading out to run errands or heading out somewhere for dinner... The mister definitely take the opportunity to try and get me out of the house on the weekends!!

Coconut decided to join in the fun too... :)
This is one we found in a park nearby...
Yes, they can be as small as film canisters!!

We found this one on the same day.. it wasn't actually dark.. the flash on my phone just made everything else really dark! This one actually had a little story about the history of the boundary "Between Edinburgh and Leith"..
FUN!!

So if any of you are geocachers, look me up! My username is: caz.monkey and I only have like 2 friends... so I'm super lonely on there!!

If you have a smartphone and you love going on little adventures and exploring new and old places, you should totally get on this bandwagon! It's totally free to check out, so what have you got to lose!?!?

I will be taking a trackable to Sweden with me over Christmas! Super fun!!