Pleasure Hunting

On the 2nd of May 2000 the US military, on orders from President Bill Clinton, made access to their previously restricted Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites available to one and all. So what, I hear you cry.

Well the very next day an anorak from Oregon hid a box full of knick-knacks in some woods and posted on the internet the exact co-ordinates so that like minded anoraks with the right type of GPS gear could go look for it. If it was found the simple rule was “Take some stuff, leave some stuff” - and the pursuit of Geocaching was born.

Fast forward almost exactly twelve years and I was approach by a local geo-nut, (actually a very nice lady who works at a nearby school) who wondered if I would mind if she hid some geocaches along our farm trail. After she had patiently explained to me what it was all about I thought ‘what the hell’ and told her to press ahead. It didn’t seem as if it was likely to do any harm and if it gave a few local geeks a reason to enjoy the farmwalk so much the better.

At midnight on the 5th May she sent me an email saying that the co-ordinates had gone live onto a web site and at 8.30 the next morning I was pleasantly surprised to find my first geocachers in the yard looking for a spot to park. By midday there were six cars parked in a row and ever since a steady stream of walkers and families have been enjoying the hunt.

Not to be outdone, I purchased a Garmin GPS device for son number two’s upcoming 11^th birthday, and on the day he took a couple of school mates around the farm looking for treasure. Now normally when I suggest to any of our brood a walk round the farm, I am greeted by long faces and with their feet firmly in drag mode. However, with the winning combination of a new gadget and hidden treasure to find we all set of with real enthusiasm.

They absolutely loved it and rushed from box to box to complete the 2½ miles in record time. We took with us a bag full of unwanted toys and bits and pieces to swap, and we added our names to the already impressive list in each stash.

Our handheld GPS did knock me back over a hundred quid, but it also has many other useful functions such as a compass, an altimeter and also tracks how far and how fast you have walked. The process of downloading the caches is a doddle and many smart phones can also do this with just the help of the right app.

If you are coming to camp here and have a GPS enabled device, the coordinates can all be found here:

http://www.geocaching.com/seek/nearest.aspx?lat=50.544565&lng=-4.67747&dist=.6

Happy hunting!