Wednesday 2 July 2014

"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."


Sometimes i write posts and forget to publish them, this is one of them...

Rain, rain and more bloody rain. We woke up and our 'what are we going to do today' discussion was under way. What could we possibly do that was fun and indoors? Mrs M had booked some time off work to hang out and see how us boys make use of our time together. Who'd have thought it would be Mrs M dragging us out into some muddy and wet adventure.


I'm feeling a little ashamed of myself now that while the rain thrashed against the window me and the boys (who claim to be adventurers) had already thrown in the towel and was planning a day of Lego, super heroes, computer games and craft, shame on us. Mrs M had other ideas and suggested Geocaching. We had planned to start last summer but for some reason or other we'd managed to avoid it. Thankfully at that shear mention our sense of adventure rebooted and we were ready for action (adding even more proof to the fact, we'd be lost without mommy!).


I knew what Geocaching was but as always no researching had occurred before hand so I didn't know what to expect, I prefer to just find out on the day. We downloaded an app, jumped in the car and headed towards an area rich in Geocache locations. We walked for a while following the compass and satnav on the phone which took us to an area where our first item was hidden. I disappointingly turned my nose up when I thought we had walked all that way to find a wooden post in the ground, until Mrs M told us we were looking for a camouflage covered box, instantly the hunt had earned my full attention again. Me and Seth investigated the wooded area until I heard Seth excitedly shout 'I've found it'. As he turned over a very well hidden pile of rocks there was the treasure we had been looking for.


Inside, items left by previous adventurers and a notepad with everyone who had been there before us well documented. The last adventurer had left us £1 so in return we left some snacks for the next hungry traveller. Seth was having the time of his life and honestly it was the most fun I'd had in ages (and we have a lot of fun). There's something so addictive about getting out and finding these hidden things that we quickly moved on to the next one. Which after walking around in circles we found well hidden under rocks wrapped in vines. Geocaching is like having your own 'national treasure' adventure virtually on your doorstep. It was exciting knowing I had been on walks and bike rides through this forest and had no idea that these had been hidden since 2009, I think we 're addicted.


Seth wanted an adventure and with mission three he definitely got that. The weather took a turn for the worse and the rain was really coming down we were trudging though wet sinking mud, because of Seth's limited mobility he was on my shoulders but we were not going to let that stop us. Mrs M was the only one not wearing walking boots so she was soaked through, she slipped over and landed in mud but wasn't bothered by it because her new found sense of adventure and adrenaline was keeping her smiling. Box three was a nightmare to find but we stuck together and didn't give up. We found the 'three pronged birch tree' and our days adventure was complete. All we needed to do now was remember where we had left the car.

We have been on many many more Geocaching adventures since and found some great hidden treasures...


Our best find to date was a disused fire extinguisher hiding in the forest with an official geocach tag inside, very exciting. Its been a really fun new hobby and something we will definitely continue wherever we go. Its been great for fill time when we have no plans and sometimes we use a quick hunt to break up things that we are doing the weekend. We've also started leaving our own so go hunting, If you spot a LEGO minifigure in one of your finds then there's a good chance it was left by the Gifts From The Pirates team.






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