As explained on the title page, geocaching is one of our main hobbies, and it involves wandering about the countryside following a signal from a GPS receiver until you either find the cache you're searching for, or give up in disgust. Luckily we have only had to do the latter on a couple of occasions :-)

Cache containers can vary widely, although the most common is probably the lunch-box type tupperware container. We have found large and small tupperware boxes, screw-top beakers, metal ammo boxes, 35mm film canisters and even the tiny metal tubes usually used to attach address details to pet collars.

The types of location where a cache may be found varies even more. They can be found in town, village or countryside, sometimes in the most ingenious hiding place. They may tucked under a tree root, hiding in a sign-post or, on one memorable occasion, underwater, attached to the mooring rope of a canal narrowboat. Although "hidden at the base of an ivy-covered tree" does seem to have become something of a geocaching cliche, you really never know quite what you're going to find.

I think the main reason we enjoy geocaching so much is that it gives you a reason to get out-and-about, visiting places you may never have come across otherwise, and getting plenty of exercise into the bargain. We generally prefer trying to find two or three caches on a trip, combining them if possible into a circular walk (ideally with a pub somewhere en-route!) - the main purpose is the hike, the fresh-air, the scenery and the feeling of achievement, rather than the caches themselves.

This page contains a set of statistics for all the Caches we have visited, for sad people like me who like that sort of thing! You an also access a page showing a sort of "diary" of our various caching trips. At the point I started writing it, we had already visited over 100 caches, so the early ones are limited as to detail, but hopefully later ones will have much more information. I hope reading about our experiences will tempt others into trying this fun and healthy hobby, and that they get as much out of it as we do.

Basic Stats First Caching Trip:   Sat 25-Sep-2004 Last Caching Trip:   Thu 04-Aug-2011 Number of Trips:   113 Caches Found:   290 Caches per Trip:   2.6 Most Caches in one Trip:   18 (Sun 10-Apr-2011) Countries Visited:   9 UK Counties Visited:   25 Furthest North (UK):   West Coast Kippers Furthest South (UK):   The Wimbledon Park Cache Furthest West (UK):   Marylanders on Kerrera Furthest East (UK):   Essex Windmills - Stansted Mount Fitchet Caches By Type Standard 222 Multi 38 Puzzle 24 Virtual 5 Letterbox Hybrid 1 Caches By Month January   2 February   16 March   31 April   77 May   74 June   14 July   18 August   27 September   12 October   15 November   3 December   1

Caches By UK County Warwickshire   193 Oxfordshire   16 Midlothian   12 Northamptonshire   10 Argyllshire   6 Leicestershire   5 Northumberland   5 Worcestershire   5 Derbyshire   4 Berwickshire   3 Buckinghamshire   2 Dunbartonshire   2 Lanarkshire   2 Middlesex   2 Rutland   2 Yorkshire   2 Bedfordshire   1 Dumfriesshire   1 Essex   1 Lancashire   1 Monmouthshire   1 Perthshire   1 Staffordshire   1 Surrey   1 Westmorland   1 Caches By Country England   252 Scotland   27 Ireland   4 United States   2 Belgium   1 Cyprus   1 Czech Republic   1 Spain   1 Wales   1 Caches By Year 2004   3 2005   81 2006   47 2007   48 2008   23 2009   28 2010   3 2011   57 Caches By Day Sunday   158 Monday   53 Tuesday   10 Wednesday   9 Thursday   4 Friday   9 Saturday   47