Month completed: December 2011

This is a goal I have been looking forward to for a while, but just hadn’t gotten around to it.

Fortunately for me Buyruk from Istanbul got in touch, said that it was on his bucket list too, and suggested we do it together next time he was in London.

What is geocaching?

Around the world, unbeknownst to most people (known in the geocaching world as muggles), there are millions of caches (little treasures, which could be as small as a film cannister or as big as a 5 gallon drum) hidden. The aim is to find them using clues and a GPS device.

Here’s a short video that explains the activity perfectly.

Getting started

I downloaded the official Geocaching Android app, which is really all that was needed to get started as it used my phone’s in-built GPS.

Then it is just a simple case of going through the list of caches nearby and deciding which one to try and find. Fortunately around my area in London (Islington) there are plenty of caches available.

Each cache has a difficulty, from 1 to 5, based on how small it is, how difficult it is to reach, how good the GPS coverage is in the area and a few other factors. The first one we went for was 3 out of 5 in difficulty, which was probably a bit of a leap for a first cache.

The hunt begins with success

After navigating to within a couple of metres of where the compass was saying the cache was hiding, and using the hint (each cache description includes a hint, to make life a little easier), we had a reasonable clue of where the cache was. But alas, it was nowhere to be found.

15 minutes of searching through leaves, gardens and under rocks, we finally found it! The cache was very cleverly hidden, and the feeling of finding it was very exciting.

It was a medium sized cache, and contained a range of random items. The rule is that you put a small item in, and take another out ready to put into the next cache you find.

Each cache also contains a log, for you to leave your name as a record of being amongst those to have discovered the cache. You can also log your find within the app too, which is good as it shows everyone else that the cache is still in play and hasn’t been displaced or stolen.

After finding and logging, it is important to put it back as you found it, for the next person to enjoy. Also important is to do the whole process with as much stealth as possible, to prevent the muggles from snooping and potentially messing with the cache.

Looking for more

After tasting our first success, Buyruk and I wanted more.

With lots of caches nearby, we ended up finding 6 more caches in the following few hours. The cache locations took us to a 500 year old church, the Islington Electricity Department, a quiet little river path, and even a shopfront where a nano cache (about the size of a fingernail) was hidden.

Here we are after a 10 minute search through some thick ivy to find a cache (I can only wonder what people walking past us must have been thinking).

4 of the 7 caches we found were in 35mm film cannisters, which seem to be the most common type. Generally they are magnetised to something metallic (like a gate), and contain just a log book to sign. Here I am with one of them.

Apart from discovering the caches, one of the great things about geocaching is exploring parts of the world that you might not otherwise have. Here I am in front of the 500 year old church that I never knew about, but is literally a 10 minute walk from my house. It is amazing what there is right on your doorstep.

Final verdict

The whole point of Project 183 is to identify new hobbies that I would like to pursue in the long-term. Surfing has become one of them, and I will definitely add geocaching to that list now too.

It is the perfect low-commitment, low-investment activity that you can play anywhere, with others or on your own. In fact, just today I went out at lunch time with a few colleagues and find two cheeky caches no more than 5 minutes from our office.

A world full of little hidden treasures – what an amazing concept. Definitely one to add to your list.