My first Isle of Wight geocaching adventure

In a former life in journalism I would frequently have to show an interest in things that listeners were passionate about. It was usually dog poo, which biscuit is best for dunking or Princess Diana. A story combining two or three of those was gold.

I have a vague recollection of a story about geocaching but I never got around to working out what it was and kind of assumed it would require giving up weekends to spend my time in a field. 

I decided to give it a go after a visitor to this site got in touch and said that the Isle of Wight had plenty of geocache spots.

The general idea is pretty simple. You download an app which shows you where little boxes of treasure are hidden in your area,  and then try to find them when you have five minutes on a day out. You write your name in a log book and you can usually take a toy from the box and leave one behind if you want to. 

So, several weeks after downloading the app we finally got round to our first Isle of wight geocache. We had spent the morning at Appley's beach and seaside playground and spotted that there was a cache 400 metres from our current lunch spot. 

Obviously that doesn't sound far, but considering that it required an uphill walk across a park with a toddler I'd say we did well not to require survival assistance from Bear Grylls.

After passing the Goodleaf Tree climbing spot we found a path into woodland,  and then another path where a tupperware box was hidden inside a camouflage bag.

We dutifully signed the log book and our toddler helped herself to a toy car, which she exchanged for some toy we got free from Lidl. We also marked our success on the app.

And that was it. No great commitment or expense or hours spent in the rain in a field. Just a 10 minute detour and a new toy for our little one. 

By the way, Diana's favourite biscuit for dunking was a custard cream.