Aldershot Park

We went to do some caches at Aldershot Park today. I forgot to reset the trip computer, but according to GoogleEarth we did. 1.77 miles. I usually do my walks in metric, but can't be bothered to convert right now as Sam is quite mobile now and is currently wrecking havoc around the lounge...

View Aldershot Lake District in a larger map

We aimed for 4 or 5 (I couldn't quite tell if we could get to one of the caches from the map) but managed to find 3.

The 3 around the lake were not buggy-friendly, so we put Sam in the carrier. It works much better when Matt uses it.

Found the first cache after a while going round in circles as the GPS kept jumping around. This one you could get fairly close witha  buggy, but you'd need someone to watch the baby while you tramped into the undergrowth.

The second cache wasn't too far away, but after walking up and down for a bit we realised we needed to be the other side of a stream... so had to cross this:

Luckily Sam was strapped to Matt, as I'm quite nervous of jumping rocks after seriously damaging my leg in Japan! But we found it:

Sam seemed to be enjoying the trip!

On the way to the third cache we got some nice views of the lake, and Sam fell asleep!

 The third one would have been very muddy in wet weather, so I'm glad we didn't leave this too late in the year. The forth cache was not to be found :-( Sam was asleep by now, and the GPS was pointing me well off the beaten track, so I left Matt and went stomping through the undergrowth. Looking at the clue I think I had the right tree, but there was no sign of the cache. I hope I was just not looking properly. I stumbled across a nice path, but when I tried to follow it back to Matt it started going off in the wrong direction, so I ended up stomping through the prickles again to find my way back to him. Then we finished our walk around the lake, and caught a bit of a Rugby match (Aldershot & Fleet against an unknown opponent) before coming home.

Luna's Quest

Today we tackled our first picture multi-cache, Luna's Quest. Just 2.9km today:


View Luna's Quest in a larger map

Track is a bit rough today!

We had a really nice wander through Cove, and picked up a Premium-only cache on the way as well. I need to get braver, as I just knew where the cache was when we got there, but it took me a while to get at it as there were spider webs and spiky things in the way!

I thought a picture cache would be tricky, as I had never been to the area before, but actually it was a fairly easy walk from clue to clue, and was good fun. We had planned to go to Hawley Lake again, so I had borrowed an off-road buggy from a friend. I thought we may not get a chance to test it out, but the last bit to get the cache was in some woods. I had to put the rain over on to stop Sam getting stung or spiked!

The fact that the front wheel is fixed took a bit of getting used to, when I am used to such a tight turning circle with my Zapp, but is supposedly much better off-road.

Tongham and Ash Green

I discovered the other day that there was a short cut to the Sure Start Centre in Tongham where we go for baby group, so I had in mind to walk if the weather was agreeable. Then I noticed that we could walk the other way along the abandoned railway line to get to Ash Green, where there is a puzzle cache.

So today Sam and I decided to give it a bash. We walked to baby group first, and then went home via the cache location (we are completely baffled and left with just a photo of the sign that is supposed to help us solve it).

So, a 7.68km walk with no cache found at the end of it :-( To be honest I wasn't really expecting to solve it there and then. Just take a look at some of the logs!

Here is our track, but for some reason I can't get it to start zoomed in, so you'll  have to do that bit yourself!



View Ash Green in a larger map

Geocaching with a baby

So, I go 'caching with Sam almost all the time. There are clearly some difficulties with this.

Some cache setters think about access and are good at specifying whether a cache is wheelchair or buggy accessible. Others aren't so hot on this, so if I focussed only on those that are buggy-friendly I would miss out on many caches. You often have to look at the map and satellite image and read the logs and go with your gut.

I have a buggy that was bought based on how small it folded up. As you can imagine, this is not the most study of buggies! I have a Quinny Zapp Xtra, which has been fantastic, and served us really well, and we never had to bother with a pram (which we don't have room for). I shall assume you are not on first name terms with all the buggy designs out there - this is what my buggy looks like:

Not ideal for anything a bit rugged!

I have tried baby carriers, but Sam doesn't like slings, and he does this in carriers, whether on my front or back!

It is quite hard to get down on your hands and knees or reach high into trees with a baby strapped to your chest as well. So, I dream of owning one of these (or similar):

03 Sport Pushchair - Black/Red - 03 Sport - Mamas & Papas

But first I need a a shed to keep it in :-(

My Zapp is doing surprisingly well though. The Hawley Lake visit we did really pushed it to the limit, and we were off-road most of the time, as you can see:

It is definitely better to go with a friend, usually we can get the pushchairs pretty close to the hide location, but the last couple of feet sometimes involve bush-whacking or hedge-diving! So it is handy to have someone to watch the small ones while you hunt around. Sam is incredibly good in his pushchair as he seems to love the outdoors, but even he will get a bit antsy at times, so you have to be prepared to stop and give them a cuddle from time to time. Of course, don't forget the nappies, wipes, bottles, snacks, bibs, rain cover.... small babies come with lots of stuff! When I have popped out with him in the carrier I have thrown the bare essentials in a rucksack, but otherwise I just take his usual change bag and throw it under the pushchair. The babies seem to enjoy it most when we stop for a proper picnic lunch to break up the pushchair time a bit, but that is getting harder as the weather gets chillier.

I have plenty of photos that show Sam really does enjoy it!

A favourite cache - Howlett's Zoo

So Small is having his 2nd nap of the day (yes, at 10:45 - we got at up 5:30 *sigh*), so I am taking the opportunity to tell you about my favourite cache so far.

We went on holiday with my parents and my sister and brother-in-law to Kent recently. It was my parent's Ruby wedding anniversary, and our first holiday with Sam. Kent doesn't sound terribly exciting, but it was about 2.5 hours drive for all of us, so was the perfect location. It was a lovely break, but this isn't a travel blog, so I shall get to the point - GEOCACHING!

We were staying in a village just outside Canterbury, and very close to Howlett's Zoo. Of course, I checked out the local geocaches before we left, as my mum is getting into it as well. The one that most interested me was The Elephant House. There is a public footpath right through the Zoo!

My mum and I set off from the house at about 5pm, doing a walk taking in Well Chapel as well as the Elephant House. Well Chapel was a tough find as the coords were clearly out by quite a way, and the contents of the cache were all mouldy. Urgh. So we were a bit late getting to the Zoo.

The footpath was clearly not well known or maintained, but I guess they don't really want to encourage people to walk through the Zoo for free (it is £18 per person!). But once we found it we started pushing our way through the overgrown plants. We very quickly came across Warthogs, who were very excited to see us:

And then Clouded Leopard - with babies!

We had a couple of bridges to cross, presumably so the Zoo wasn't completely cut in two by the path. And then we saw our first Elephant! I have always had a bit of a thing about Elephants, so I was quite excited, but as we walked our views just got better and better, until we had an entire family walk right past us! None of my photos did the experience justice, but here are a few:

Finally we got to the end and found the cache:

You can just about spot an elephant in the background!

By this time we were really late, and there was almost no mobile signal at the house so we couldn't ring home and tell the others to put dinner on, so we made ready to walk home at a fast pace... but on the way back we just had to stop for a moment to see the Lemurs! I didn't take any photos as we were in a rush, but my sister went the next day and took this lovely photo:

Definitely my favourite cache so far!

Hawley Lake - 19/09/11

This was my first trip to Hawley Lake, and Sam assured me it was pushchair friendly... we were joined by another friend, who did a sterling job of baby-watching while we dived into bushes!

Hawley Lake is a short drive from where we live, and is MoD land, so you have the usual scary notices telling you not to touch suspicious objects! Apparently you can sometimes stumble across soldiers on bridge-building training.

We certainly pushed the buggies to their limit on this walk. A day and a walk around the civilised (well, mud-free) surroundings of Milton Keynes later and mine is still coated in mud. I bought a buggy based on how small it folded up (small house and small car) not how well it would deal with mud and puddles! I'm still thinking of a way I can get an offroader...

We hit the caches in the following order:

1. Common Place
2. Silent Sentry 5
3. Common View
4. Blue Egg

Sam had already found Common Place and had to come and nudge me in the right direction. A cannily hidden film canister. Silent Sentry 5 was very easy. Common View was great! As the name suggests we got fantastic views from the location, and it was in open heathland, so a real test of our hunting skills, and one you would never find without a GPS. Blue Egg - well the clue is in the name, so it was easy to find!

We walked over 7km in total, here is our track:

View Hawley Wood in a larger map


ETA: Photos from Sam!

Spot the cache:

Wonderful view:

Funky tree!:

Hello!

So, I started geocaching on 31st July 2011. Well, that is when I joined geocaching.com anyway, my first find was on the 5th August. Since then I have been hooked.

If you don't know what geocaching is, you'll get the best description by reading the above website, but in a nutshell is it what happens when you let geeks out :-D It is a real life treasure hunt using GPS equipment to locate the "treasure" (usually just a small container with a log to sign).

Doesn't sound that exciting does it?! I started it as a way to get me out for walks with my baby (Sam, or Small, Babski, Trouble...) as I'm not one of those people who can just go for walks for the sake of them. I quickly became addicted, along with my friend, neighbour and mum (also called Sam, just to confuse you!) to her own bundle of trouble (Maddy) . We try and persuade other mums to join us, but I think they do so with a slight air of bewilderment at our addiction!

I'm starting this blog a little late, as I have only just discovered that I can record our walks and upload the tracks onto google maps. The geek in me LOVES this and I wanted to document these adventures in one place. I might make a few posts about past trips and caches that I have particularly enjoyed when I have the time though!