Cache Machine

Montrose Park

A quick cache and dash at Montrose Park takes my cache total to 33 finds - most of which found in 2010!

This cache didn't take me long, even though I was restricted solely to the use of my iPhone - the medium-sized tupperware was jam-packed with goodies - including a travelbug (Dutch Woodenshoes) which seems to originate from Holland as attached to the metal tag are two small wooden clogs.

Dutch Woodenshoes

Hopefully it won't be long before I get this back into the game as I plan to hide another new cache near home this weekend...

I live near to an area I see lots of truckers using as an overnight stop right by Junction 8 of the M1 motorway. Hopefully a few of them will be geocachers and this will be a good way of getting travelbugs and the like travelling up and down the M1 to rack up some miles on their tracking map!

Alexandra Palace

On the way home from Crouch End in Haringey last week I spotted a few local caches showing up as closeby on my iPhone geocaching app - OK, I had to open it to look but I had heard from a friend that there were a number of geocaches placed in Alexandra Park and thought I'd make sure I didn't miss out on what turned out to be three very different finds!

The first cache was a medium-sized tupperware, tucked neatly inside an ornate metal post - a really great hiding place which stands very little chance of being accidentally discovered by passers-by.

After a quick dash up one of the central path through the park, the second cache was a micro magnetic metal containers attached to a very permanent structure.

Put your head between your legs geocache

The third and final geocache took me right past Alexandra Palace (right) and down a path on the other side of the park looking for a disused entrance to a nuclear bunker (apparantly, according to the cache description at www.geocaching.com).

Searching for a geocache described as a heavy 5 litre tupperware was not as easy as I was expecting - the geocache was well camoflagued to blend into it's surroundings but after dismissing it twice I pulled out a lump of concrete which I thought was blocking my way and discovered the largest geocache I have yet found.

These three geocaches were relatively easy to find, especially with a GPS unit and iPhone Geocaching app - if you're in the area and want to increase your cache count, why not give them a go... especially if you're new to the game!

Welcome to Winkwell Cache Contents

"Welcome to Winkwell" is the third geocache I've put down since starting geocaching.

At 6.3km from my home co-ordinates, it's relatively close and I come to this part of the world fairly regularly as I have friends who live on one of the boats moored at the boat yard opposite and drink with them in the Three Horseshoes once or twice a week. This means that any maintenance required can be carried out quite quickly once reported.

Initially this cache was further down the canal (towards Hemel Hempstead) placed on an afternoon walk from home, through Hemel Hempstead town and along the canal, but I hadn't realised there was already a geocache from the Grand Union series already located within metres of my hiding place!

For those of who who aren't regular geocachers, the rules for placing a new geocache say that it shouldn't be within 0.1miles of another existing cache... This is to avoid having a number of geocaches too close together, thus increasing the risk of too much suspicious activity around the area - drawing attention to the location and potentially seeing the geocahce "muggled" (found by members of the public).

A view around the geocache location

This Sunday I retrieved the geocache from it's origianl location and took it with me part way along the canal, on my walk to Berkhamsted Castle with friends. I spotted a suitable location just off the towpath - still in sight of The Three Horseshoes pub and took down the all-important co-ordinates.

The geocache contains a logbook and two pens, a "first-to-find" certificate, a travelbug and geocoin (collected on my travels the first day I put the cache down), a small ladybird (from Alibags "Bridge 148 - Old Fishery Lane - Grand Union Series" cache), a Scout Network pinbadge, a pink penguin pencil top and Scouts "Join the Adventure" card.

Within hours of the cache listing being approved, geocaching player "emgi" became the first to find it, at 10.50am on Monday 18th January - congratulations, I hope you're the first of many.

An example geocache container

The Midland Reporter Telegram website (www.mywesttexas.com) have reported how a geocache container sparked a serious security scare after being placed in a shopping centre in Northwest Midland, Texas, USA on 13th December 2009.

The unintentional hair-raising geocacher had chosen to place a cache in a busy shopping centre, to challenge other cachers wanting to add to their cache count in an area busy with muggles (members of the public who don't know about geocaching).

Doing all the right things to ensure no-one would unearth his cache within minutes of placing it, the cacher was careful to look around and wait for a suitable time to place the cache inside one of of car park's lighting poles. Despite the care and attention paid, he inadvertantly drew attention to himself, with a member of staff at the Academy Sports and Outdoors store reporting his "suspicious" behaviour to local police.

Upon arrival at the scene, police, fire, EMS, FBI and ICE officials sealed off the area and ordered customers to remain inside the store while they used robots to inspect the unidentified object - reported to be a small plastic tube wrapped in traditional camouflage.

Following the high-drama incident, a police representative explained that this had not been the first time they had dealt with a reported suspicious package only to find out it was one of over 969,000 caches to have been placed across the world.

While geocaching across the world relies on players hiding new geocaches for other players to find, this story emphasises the need to exercise a bit of common-sense when planning to put a new cache down!

So, on the train into London yesterday I noticed in my iPhone app store that I had two new updates available - one for an app I never use... and one for the groundspeak Geocaching app (which, I thought, maybe I should use more often).

So with time to kill, I downloaded it and thought I'd put it to the test for my first real attempt at some urban caching if there were any caches along my route.

It downloaded pretty quickly, although reading the changelog that's probably because there was only a slight tweak in usability (for example the app no longer suppresses you ipod - so listening to music while navigating to the cache is possible).

Once downloaded, I opened up and searched for caches along the route I would be taking that day - a little difficult having to flick back and forward between locations and the Google Maps app (although their linked so no need to close and re-load each app)...

Eventually I got a bit frustrated with all this faffing about, so I opened up my laptop and used www.geocaching.com to locate a couple of decent caches which I could get to without deviating from my planned route - one near Angel tube station in Islington and another near hidden-away park by the Arsenal football stadium (added incentive of picking up a trackable here!)

After a bit of searching (and help from the hints) I found both caches, but not without some help from my trusty Garmin Etrex I'm afraid to say...

Having the cache description, hints, photos etc at the push of a button was superb, I found the "Navigate to cache" feature lacked the accuracy of a standard handheld unit... For much of the final search at each location, the iPhone told me I was 63ft away while my Garmin was busy calculating to an accuracy of centimetres.

My verdict overall:

A great way of finding nearby caches if you're out anyway and the urge to find a cache takes you, but I think unless it's a pretty easy spot or a very useful hint, the accuracy of the "Navigate to" will lead to disappointment almost every time... So carry your usual unit just in case!

Functionality: 9/10

Usability: 4/10

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As I was looking around for my next batch of caching containers this afternoon, I stumbled across a great range of magnetic containers, available from www.cachingcontainers.com.

These neat little containers cost just $3.00 and come in a range of 5 colours to ensure a good blend when placed as a cache - ideal for urban caching where extreme stealth is required to avoid being discovered by muggles. Cachingcontainers particularly recommend the grey textured container for "blending right into street lamp poles and metal railings".

At just 10mm x 10mm x 11mm, this is one of the smallest geocaches I've ever come across - even for a nano!

This series of geocache containers is available in either red, brown, grey texture, black or green and comes complete with one(1) pre-loaded and one(1) replacement nano log, so you can get straight out there as soon as the postman delivers them!

See the full product range at: www.cachingcontainers.com/sf/Nano_Geocache_Containers

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Shrek's Quest - Gingerbread Man

A disappointing start to my geocaching career...

One summer evening (6th July 2009 to be precise) my other half and I ventured out to find our first ever cache. GPS in hand we confidently drove past the end of the lane and parked up in a convenient layby about 400m away.

Having made sure we had pen to write in the log and a keyring to leave as a gift we made our way down the lane, onto the footpath until the GPS started counting down to our arrival... 25metres into the middle of a farmers field???

We knew this couldn't be right, aside from the fact there was no-where to hide a cache in the field, we'd learnt enough about geocaching to know we wouldn't be deviating from the recognised footpath.

After 10 or 15 minutes desperate searching, trying to use the decryted clue to pull off a lucky find, we gave up and turned back.

Frutsrtrated and puzzled I logged in as soon as we got home - having considered all the options which might have led to this disappointing start, I realised I hadn't set up my 'Garmin Etrex H' GPS unit correctly, which would have left me stranded 25metres from every cache I attempted until then end of time.

If you're about to set out geocaching for the first time, I'll soon be posting some information to ensure you don't suffer the same frustration I did... Check back for further details.

Cache Name: Shrek's Quest - Gingerbread Man

GC Code: GC1AJX3

Cache URL: http://www.geocaching.com/seek/cache_details.aspx?guid=2902d7cc-9a6a-4545-8a31-49604ad0ead8