Geocaching in Jersey

Want to do something new on your holiday? Try Geocaching in Jersey.I've recently discovered Geocaching - it's a kind of treasure hunting game - and Jersey is a fantastic place to try it out.

It's a combination of walking, map-reading and hunting, sometimes with clues to solve.

My son's friend got a top of the range new mobile for Christmas - complete with GPS. That's what inspired us to hunt for our first geocache, you need a GPS. I'll definitely be buying a hand-held one of our own though.

There are over 100 caches hidden in Jersey. You can sign up at www.geocaching.com to find out where the caches are hidden. You will be given coordinates to put in the GPS, or clues to work out what the coordinates are, and off you go.

Sounds easy? The difficult part is often spotting the cache itself. Anything from a 35mm film cannister to a large plastic bucket might be hidden.

The smaller caches might just have a log to sign to say you found them. Larger ones can have all sorts of goodies inside. The idea is that you take one, and leave something else.

Some caches have specially made coins, or 'travel bugs' which each have a mission, such as travelling around Europe.

Jersey has no end of good places to walk, and so most caches are hidden in woods, valleys, tourist spots and even in the town. Geocaching in jersey could keep you busy for at least a week - and you would get to see lots of beautiful corners of the Island that many visitors never discover.

Geocaching is a very family friendly game. Following the map and the GPS, solving the clues, hunting for the cache and of course the fun of swapping items will be enjoyed by all ages.

We picked an easy looking cache to start with. The one called 'A Jersey Landmark'. It was rated one star which is the easiest to find. It still managed to outwit us on the first visit though! We did find a bag in the bushes containing someone's laptop - rather wet - which we handed in the the local police station. I'm sure they were wondering what we were doing searching the bushes!

I won't give you any clues where we eventually found the cache. It's tiny, and very cleverly hidden. Not in any of the obvious places we looked the first time. I'll leave it for you to try and find yourself!

Tip

You'll need to look up details of the caches on the website before you can play. Either do so at home before you visit Jersey, or you can get free Internet access at the Library in Halkett Place, St Helier. Some hotels also offer Internet access.

Happy Geocaching in Jersey!

Return from Geocaching in Jersey to I Love Jersey Home page.