The aftermath & the wallet

Thursday morning arrived and I knew the 14 mile walk was not an option. So as a slight compromise I went and spent some money!

I dearly love my first GPS; a Garmin eTrex Vista HCx which I've had since I started Geocaching in May. It's rugged, it's scratched, it's reliable, it's dirty, it's waterproof and above all it's my first! It's been regularly updated with the free online maps (via talkytoaster) and it's genuinely been worth it's small weight in gold but as I've progressed in caching I've come to need more; when I've been out solo it's been a logistical nightmare carrying maps I've printed out especially for the day, any additonal route notes or puzzles and even lists of the caches I'm doing so I can take notes to remind me of each cache to aid me in doing my online logs.

I've been looking, on and off, for a few months now but last Sunday (the paperwork!) and a nicely timed Christmas bonus made me look again. Patrick has a Garmin Oregon 450 and this was the exact model I'd been looking at for a while. Questions and answers went back and forth about likes/dislikes, value for money and the professional maps vs the free maps. In the end I decided to double-treat myself and got one with the entire GB Ordnance Survey loaded, which practically doubles the cost.

I justified this to myself by thinking of my adventure doing the Yorkshire Dales Way. I won't need to carry ~£60 worth of non-waterproof folded maps saving weight and hassle.

Well that's my excuse anyway.

Home, a quick unbox and play, and then out for a small walk to stretch my legs (seizing up from the day before) and also to test my new GPS.

I did a quick two miles and 'discovered' Hannah's nearby series. I'd helped her place all these a couple of months ago (see blog) but it seemed reasonable now to re-do the walk, check they were all OK, sign them and then log them as finds.

The new GPS is really good; the compass and speed of updates is much better than the old one, but there are a few features I miss. They're there, but hidden away, so I suppose it's just a case of getting used to the new one. However the biggest bonus is the paperless caching - you can type notes in it as you wander, you can view the webpages, logs and hints on-the-go and all without needing a phone signal. My iPhone can stay tucked in my safe and dry pocket instead of being dragged out everytime I get really really stuck on a cache and need to consult the hint or old logs for clues.

But I do still love my old one and feel sorry for it. I have tech-sentimentality.

Back home...

Once back from our break we started to get out and about in earnest.

I had moved to the beautiful village I live in about 11 years previously, but had made no real effort to explore the surrounding countryside or towns. I was amazed. We were finding little woodlands, hidden paths and secret walks only moments away from roads we'd regularly drive on. It was such an eye-opener connecting places to other places, and realising that point A was only a field away from point B - something you'd never connected in your head as it was normally a two mile drive or a round-the-houses trip.

I've a dozen or more stories to tell about the caches I've already found but, for now at least, I'll have to leave them in my own head and I shall cut this intro short.

In summary over the last six weeks we've bought a proper GPS device (Garmin Vista eTrex HCx that's fabulous.) We've both also upgraded to the iPhone 4 which is also phenominally better than the 3G for GPS performance. We've tracked (using the Garmin) over 70 miles of walking, both passed our first 100 finds, hidden our first cache and then also a small series of three.

I've also spent a small fortune on rucksacks, water bottles, water-proofs, hiking boots, cache containers, log books, pencils, cache logs, nano-caches, paint (to disguise my hides), cache swaps and "furtling" sticks. It's been worth every penny. My legs are 100% fitter, I feel 100% fitter and I've lost 5lbs.

Now to shift the beer belly... oh, and to hit the 1000 finds mark!