Eight go Geocaching in Olney
One of the events suggested at our MK & Bedford planning day recently was geocaching. We thought previous experience would be useful, so with the aid of our local Mensa Facebook group we recruited the expertise of new Bedford member Carla and her family. Thus, along with five other regulars, a group of eight ventured forth one slightly rainy Saturday afternoon in August. We had details of two caches, the first a relatively simple "beginners" one that we found quite easily, despite some uncertainty as to whether it was on private property or not (the nearest entrance said it was, but we approached it from a different direction and encountered no signs).
The second cache was more complicated and involved finding and solving a series of clues around the town (with the aid of GPS), and then using the answers to solve a puzzle that would reveal the co-ordinates of the cache. We found and solved the clues without much difficulty, but even tea and cakes were not enough to help us solve the puzzle. We would have thought it was insoluble, except we knew that 110 people had already found the cache! A little dejected by our failure, though having thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon, we agreed to each work on the puzzle at home, compare notes, and reassemble in Olney on a future date to go and find the cache. Some of us have already had another go and arrived at the (possible!) answer.
We all enjoyed the afternoon and would feel more confident about trying geocaching again. A tip for doing it in a group is to ensure that either everyone finds the cache details on the website beforehand, or there are enough printed copies, so that everyone can see the questions and knows where the group is going next. Thanks again to Carla, Paul and Cassidy for their help, and to everyone who came along.