Geocaching in the United Kingdom

In a nutshell Geocaching is simply a high tech treasure hunt. A traditional Geocache consists of a waterproof container housing a variety of items, the container is normally hidden in a location which can be reached by the public without the need to trespass on to private land. Once a new Geocache is placed the cache’s owner will normally publish its GPS co-ordinates on-line, so when it comes to tracking down your first find your primary hunting tool will be a GPS unit.

Geocaching began back in 2000 and is widely seen as a global sport, most participants take part to enjoy the hunt rather than the contents of the cache itself. Only a small number of rules oversee the sport, on finding a cache it’s generally expected that you sign the log book and if you decide to take something from the cache you are encouraged to replace it with something else.

At the time of publish just under 23,000 caches and related events are currently placed or planned within the United Kingdom, many Geocaches are family friendly and can be great activity for all ages. Most traditional caches can be found in rural locations and many believe the secret of a perfect cache is its location.

As the sport has evolved new types of caches have come about, for the more enthusiastic Geocacher small caches known as micro or even nano caches can prove more challenging. Due to their size these smaller caches will normally contain just a log book but thanks to their size they are perfect for place in more urban areas. Other types of cache’s can also involve visiting more that one location to collect clues which will eventually reveal the GPS coordinates of the final cache.

As I briefly mentioned earlier traditional Geocaches normally contain a variety of items, some items known as “Travelbugs” and “Geocoins” can be tracked on-line with their own unique number. The objective of these items are to travel from cache to cache using Geocachers as their means of transport, most have their own individual goal to archive such as visiting the world mountains or travelling to a specified destination.

Geocaching is a great way of finding places you would never normally find and probably the best way to see the UK’s best kept secrets – most of which cannot be found in any tourist guide.

By: Tim Day

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