Geocaching Wales

Welcome to the all new Geocaching Wales website! Here you'll find an introduction to what Geocaching is all about, the do's and don'ts for placing your own cache, news, events and much more. Geocaching Wales was established on February 11th 2008 with help from the Welsh Assembly Government and the aim was to establish an information source for ordinary people wanting to get into this fascinating and rewarding hobby.

Geo-caching is an international sport based around the idea of a treasure hunt with high tech assistance. Participants use a Global Positioning Satellite receiver or other navigational techniques to find small interesting containers called "Geo-caches”, usually hidden in out-of-the-way places in scenic or interesting locations outdoors. These have been put in place by fellow enthusiasts, who then publish the details on the web so that other people can find them.

The first and most obvious piece of equipment necessary is of course a GPS receiver. These come in many shapes, sizes and price ranges, but a fairly low cost outdoor model such as the Garmin etrex with a black and white display is perfectly adequate and can be bought for around £80. More elaborate options include units with colour mapping, but these can be considerably more expensive and don’t completely replace a traditional map and compass. The most important consideration is that the unit can be connected to a PC to receive downloaded Cache information.

Other equipment you may need would be the standard kit that you should take on any trip into the outdoors, such as a map for the area, compass, waterproof clothing and sturdy, comfortable footwear.

The next step is to find some caches. Go to www.geocachingwales.com and select the area you would like to search. A list of caches will pop up and you can select the ones that seem most interesting and click for further details. The next page will give you clues to the cache location and provide an option to download the cache coordinates to your GPS. Consult your GPS manual for further information on downloading cache points. Most entries will give you the exact coordinates of the cache, so it is a simple matter of setting your GPS to take you directly to that point. Some caches however will list only a starting point or a convenient place to park and then expect you to work out the location of the cache from a series of clues.

Once you’ve found the cache, remember to sign your name in the log book, and also to record your visit on the cache website when you get home. If the cache is large enough to contain tradable items then you can swap these with any of your own of equal or greater value.

If you want to learn more about geocaching in our beautiful country of Wales

then feel free to phone us on 01758 760652 or 01758 760532

or email us at enquiries@geocachingwales.co.uk