Geocaching on the C2C

There will be those amongst you who think why is an experienced hill walker doing a spot of geocaching? Well for several reasons I suppose. Firstly to help me learn more about using the GPS – I have always been a map and compass man and still am but I must admit the GPS adds a little bit of reassurance when walking in cloud and rain. Secondly, because without realising it, before geocaching was devised, I actually used to hide 35mm film containers on a given compass bearing near mountain tops for teams to find on the Dales Exercises. I’m not saying I started the sport/game? but I enjoyed trying to find the treasure at given grid references as published on www.geocaching.com. For those of you who may be interested I actually launched my own travel bug in June at a cache on the slopes of Pen Y Ghent. This travel bug is made up of two sheep from the front of a pair of my wife’s slippers and sewn together making two sheep i.e. A Double Ewe. Do any or all of you C2C walkers spot the link?

I named the TB after the man who inspired me as a young man many years ago - A.W. (Alfred Wainwright). I set A Double Ewe a mission to visit as many mountain caches across the Northern UK and any other places that A.W. would have approved. Additionally I asked that someone move it to the cache near Innominate Tarn on or before 17 January 2007 which would of course have been the great mans 100 birthday. Watch this space. Incidentally, a travel bug is an item with a serial numbered dog tag attached that is tracked via the geocaching website provided people who pick it up and move it on log the movements on the website. I am not a fanatical geocacher/hiker, far from it, but felt it would add an additional dimension to my C2C walk if I bagged a few caches along the route and therefore I started research to identify suitable geocaches on or near to my chosen route. I identified a total of 27 knowing full well that for a number of reasons I would not find them all. How did I fare – you’ll have to wait until the final section of this journal to find out (if you’re interested).