Tag Archive for 'gps'

I have discovered a new hobby. Geocaching.

I’ve heard about it before, years ago, when someone hid one under a bridge (it was on the news), but I pretty much ignored it. Then a while ago, someone I follow on Twitter (yum9me) started tweeting about it so I thought “hm, sounds interesting”. Anyway, I decided to try it out recently, so I downloaded the “lite” (free) version of the Geocaching app for the iPhone, and gave it a go. Anyway, it’s quite fun – I started off with one in London – the South Bank Lion geocache, which is near the Lion opposite Big Ben. I found another two today, in Birmingham, and it’s quite fun – and depending on where it is – pretty easy to do.

The whole idea around the “sport”, if you can call it that, is that you find GPS co-ordinates for a cache, plug them into your GPS unit (I use my iPhone), and then go searching. For example, next time you’re in, say, Iceland, you could attempt to find this cache. The cache itself is usually something small – the inner city ones are generally either a film canister, or a tiny plastic ziplock bag, and the country ones are usually a bit bigger, such as a container the size of a mug or a small box. Inside is anything from a log only, to other stuff like a coin or something similar. You can even hide your own cache if you want to, as long as you follow the rules and so on (eg, you have to put it on public property and it has to say what it is, etc). I might do that one day – there are a few spots I can think of around where I ride my bike that might be quite good.

I mean yes, it is ultimately a pointless sport, but it’s fun to do nonetheless. I’ve found 3 so far and I haven’t even started on the ones in Stafford…which I’ll do when the weather gets a bit better (it’s freezing cold at the moment and it’s raining now).