A small gust of wind from the past

Tags

Adventure, Bronze age, Friendship, Geocaching, Hobbits, Stone carvings

Spring had been dormant for quite some time, but was turning in its sleep feeling the sun’s rays increasing in heat tickling its back and reminding it to come back to start the circle of life again. A friend of mine, I, was home for a few days, and despite wanting to spend a lot of time together,  all we could find time for was a morning walk in the sun.

We decided on a short route in our neighbourhood, slightly modified to include a few geocaches in the area that I had yet to find. My friend, of course, thought me mad when I started talking about running around to find lunch boxes that strangers had left for us to find. But after we had tracked down a nano, which is a tiny box the size of your little finger (from the last joint out), she was I was no longer searching on my own.

The next cache was atop a tree-covered mound. Climbing up we passed rock carvings dating back to somewhere between 2500 and 4000 years ago. The thought of these carvings having been present for all those years, and all the people who have looked at them, felt them, and fantasized about their origin, and the their carver, I find quite dazzling. My friend bent down and gently traced the carvings. As her hand came close to the rock, a shadowy hand from the past reached out and met her outstretched finger.

The wee walk had turned into so much more; treasure hunting, history lessons, and good conversations had my friend referring to hobbits and journeys, friendship and adventure.

Out hiking and getting warm

Tags

Bonfire, Forrest, Geocaching, Nature

Geocaching, which I talked about here, gave me a good excuse to discover new and exciting places last time we visited my in-laws. But it became a lot more fun as soon as I had convinced them all that this was a fun hobby. One of days we took out, there were six of us: Husband, Son, Uncle T3 (there are three uncle Ts, this is the youngest), Granny, Grandpa and me. And Rambo the dog (a small papillon who lives up to his name only when encountering small birds).

We had two posts we wanted to find. We drove for a few minuted and then found a small, gravel road to take us up into the forrest. The first post was found quickly, we practically ran up. The road led us to its vicinity, and the post was located only a few metres off the road. The second however, was not connected to any of the paths we could find. It was getting cold, we had two arguing about which way to go (arguing for exact opposite directions). We knew in which direction the post was, but we were faced with two paths, non going in the direction of the post.

So we stopped. Made a fire. And watched the sun set in-between the trees. And if we hadn’t already reached perfection: we now have to set out for the second post some other time, which means another splendid day out in the wild.

A new hobby

Tags

Family fun, Geocaching, Hobbies, Nature

At one time I found myself walking arm in arm with my mother in law, both giggling, with Husband walking in front of us swearing and mumbling. Apparently we perceived the situation a little differently as we walked through a small forest in complete darkness, following a small arrow and a blinking dot on my iPhone…

Another time, this time out at dusk, we parked the car in the outskirts of a forest, walked a few hundred metres and found ourselves at the edge of a small stone circle (think stonehenge en miniature)… 

I giggled as I climbed a set of stairs leading up to a church and the connected graveyard. Husband and my youngest brother-in-law accompanied me on our quest to find a memorial bust containing some inscribed dates which would give us a hint about where to go next… 

 

A treasure hunt by the sea coincides with a beautiful sunset

As if I don’t have enough thoughts spinning in that poor little head of mine, I have also taken on a new hobby. Actually, it’s not ‘my’ hobby, I’ve forced it upon both Husband and Son too (and my in-laws and soon my parents, but that’s a different story). Son knows it simply as treasure hunting. Husband has dug out the competitor in him and is hooked. And I love every aspect of it. This activity gets us out of the house more, shows us new places, often amazing places, and every now and again it requires a wee bit of brainwork. You’ve probably heard of it already, it’s called geocaching.

Anyhow, I’ll try to explain it simply: there’s an online community of cachers (who refer to non-cachers as muggles). Cachers hunt caches and place caches. A cache is a small container varying in size from a little less than a sugar cube, to a small bath-tup, but are mostly the size of a smallish lunch-box. A cache is hidden somewhere, often in a location of some importance to the cacher who hid it, and made available for other cachers to find. The location of the cache is given as gps coordinates so the cache can be found by using a gps (or a phone with gps). All caches contain a log book which is signed by finders. After finding a cache you also log your visit online. The website then keeps track of all the caches you’ve found.

A rather compelling cache hid well from the passing muggles

We found our first caches in the neighbourhood. A wee stroll after picking up Son from kindergarten, a few minutes of searching under bushes and in the cracks of the mountain resulted in a few smilies (found caches are registered as smiling faces on a map). Son is ecstatic when he finds a treasure (a pirate scimitar is now an obligatory item for all treasure hunts) and often there are small items to trade with so he gets to bring home a prize. Boy do I have a lot of places to show you! More to come 🙂