Aladar123 plays geocaching

Till today I did not know the English name of this river runnig across Rotterdam. One day we decided to search for as many geocaches as we can on an island in the middle of Rotterdam on the river Meuse, it wall went fine, then when I decided to write this blog about it I had to realize I have no clue how it is called in English, so I'll be honest I looked it up. The geocache As you can see there is not much to talk about the geocache itself, it is one of those plastic bags with a log sheet in it and that's all. Hidden in a tree. Why would anyone hide it like this? See the pictures below? The view from the geocache As you can see it has a nice view to the north part of Rotterdam from here. We lived in the Netherlands for almost ten years by the time we came to find this geocache and this one the first time we had a chance to look at Rotterdam from this angle. Really nice. Unilver, an interesting building The geocache is placed here to mark the building of Unile...

When the weather is bad and you are not in the mood to go out to find some geocaches... Wait a minute, can that happen? Seriously? No way ... Ok, so if you also like to read you might have your own library at home, you might even have a library pass, or you might even go to the library. Unfortunately I do not have the luxury of time to do so many things, but for sure when there is a mini library on a street and there is a geocache in it that is one I want to visit. The geocache hiding in a small birdhouse ... This mini library is so colorful, located in a small village in the Netherlands. See the geocache? A really nice sunny morning, perfect time to go for geocaching. See the tiny geocache I places on the library? In some other mini libraries they mostly hide the geocache in a book, or a bigger container, but this might have happened later then the library and they did not want to mix the two purpose of it. The library I was always thinking of who startes such a smal...

If there is one object I had to name in the Netherlands that you can find all different shapes, sizes and colors that could be the bridge. As there is so much water all over, all different shapes; people have to travel across and for that you need bridges. The geocache hiding in its place On this sunny afternoon we decided to search for all geocaches on a small island on the river Maas. This was the firt one, you know those park and grab type geocache. The geocache As you san see the geocache is nothing fancy, no special features, a typical park and grab thing. But when we arrived to the location we already knew it was a good trip to get here. The view from the geocache Calm water on one side of the bridge, it was a bit windy day, but the river was still so calm and peaceful. The object holding the geocache While walking back to the car I made this picture. Could you guess just by seeing it, what is this for? I told you there all all different type, shape, size ...

There are so many viewpoints along many of the roads we use in our areas. This one we drove by for the last nine or more years and never thought of stopping by ... till a geocache showed up and got us there. The geocache almost in its place As it is summer and the weather is not bad or some days it is even good in the Netherlands almost every day after work we try to go and find one or more geocaches in the neighborhood. Hiding amongst the stones On this evening we decided to go for this one and another close to a fast food restaurant. This was logged as a DNF by a few geocachers, but we like the challenges and as you can see we found it. Magnetic geocache I am still not sure what the magnet is for on this geocache's bottom as it was just put to its place as seen on the pictures and the magnet did not hold it at all. Maybe the last geocacher did not place it back as it was planned. The view from the viewpoint through its window That road you can see was the ...

One of my favorite hiding technic is hide a geocache in a bird house. This one I found in Tennessee while on the way to Jackson. A beautiful bird house, but not for birds To build a bird house you can find many instructions on the internet, and yet every time I find one it is different from the previous ones. I'm sure it was shiny when it was made and put out there. All those painting on it, it is one that deserves a favorite point for the work put into making the hiding place. I'm not always sure how people give their FAVOs away, I've see many beautifully done geocaches with many finds and only a few FAVOs. If I meed any hides where it is trivial that it was not just buying a plastic container putting a logbook in and placing it out there and I have available FAVOs I always give one to respect the CO. Hiding in there This bird house was placed next to a resting area along one of the busy highways in Tennessee. I love resting area geocaches, they give you a reas...

After the first year of acive geocaching you start learning about the typical hiding technics. This is one of them, but with a small twist. The geocache and its logbook The geocache itself is some reflective object that could be used on a bicycle, a pole, a postbox or anywhere to make sure passing by cars would spot the object and avoid hitting it. Now the twist with this one was the place the CO put it. It was under a bridge. Using two magnets it was stuck to the steel part of the bridge. Hiding under the bridge While we were searching for this geocache an elderly couple passed by, they were muggles for sure, had no clue what we were up to. So as I was expecting here and there the lady stopped and started to talk about how big shame on the townhall that these bridges are not well maintained. Then I looked a bit closer at the bridge and had to realize she is so right, this bridge had already four different colors painted on it and all visible at many spots as the paint was ...

As the Mary Hyde challenges were still going on we kept on adding more smileys to the map in our neighborhood. This was one of them. The logbook in the bolt Recently I made one, but that can be hidden differently, check it out  here . This geocache was hiding in a gate close to some sporting facilities. These facilities are mostly crowded after work as many kids would be here, but for our luck it was summer holidays so it was closed, so we could make it the park and grab style. The geocache closed As we all know the coordinates are not always perfect, and that could cause some headache when you are looking for some tiny geocaches like this. The gate As you can see the gate is here to keep the sheeps in that area, however there was an electric fence to keep them in there as well. Check this gate out a bit closer. See the big spring? That is to pull the gate closed in case someone forgets to close it when leaving or entering the area, that is coll, but you could a...

Have you ever heard about the geocache in Maastricht, the Netherlands? The one that is hidden in a safe? In a place that once used to be a bank? A geocache with more than 3000 favorite points? (of course still counting after I wrote this blogpost) The geocache My daughter wanted to visit another famous place in Maastricht, the bookstore that is in a church. That building is not used as a church any longer only as a bookstore, it has its atmosphere, and beauty. After the bookstore we stopped for a quick lunch at a quick food place and my wife started to look up what geocaches should we go after in Maastricht. She immediately spotted this one and realized this is that famous one, the legendary, and less then 300 meters away. There could nothing come in between this find and us. Inside the geocache She became so excited she kept on rushing us to finish up with our lunch. The we walked to the spot, and what do we see there? Another of her favorite places, a store for all tools ...

A really busy day at work and around the house. A bit tired, but let's finish the day with some geocaches. This one was the first I picked to go after, not far from home, so a short drive and we can start searching. Ducks don't sit in trees and bushes As in many cases we take the longer more fun way to go close to the geocaches, this is exactly how we did it with this one. There was some footprints going one way and I followed it. It was full with nettle and guess what I was wearing, of course shorts, it was good weather. Good weather in the Netherlands in general doesn't mean some would not wear layers, many of them. The duck in the bush Of course the way I was coming was on the other side of this bush, so I could not see the duck from that side. I once, and only once saw these ducks on sale in a cheap store in Germany and since then I regret not buying them. I since got some crows which are in progress, I need to find some perfect location for them to hide, bu...