blog – GilmourFamily Geocaching Blog

The Hull Hub and Geocaching

December 22, 2019Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged app, blog, blogging, Cache, East Yorkshire, family, Geocache, Geocaching, Hull City, Jennifer Gilmour, Kingston Upon Hull, magazine, newspaper, Paperzine, The Gilmours, The Hull Hub, travel, treasure hunt, YorkshireLeave a comment

We have been meaning to share this with you for a little while but we have been in The Hull Hub for our love of Geocaching.

Here it is:

Here is what we wrote about Geocaching in Hull…

Back in May 2017 my family and I discovered the world of Geocaching and the five of us embraced it, it has been something we have taken with us on holidays and has saved us a lot of money as a family. The photo of us was taken on our first ever trail.

What is Geocaching?

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor adventure that is happening all the time, all around the world. To play, participants use the Geocaching app or a GPS device to navigate to cleverly hidden containers called geocaches. There are millions of Geocaches in the world waiting to be found.

Some are as tiny as a thimble and some as large as a caravan, there are clues on what to look out for or how to open it, using your problem solving skills. Once you open it you simply sign the log with the date and your username. If a Geocache is large enough you may find some ‘swag’ which are small toys/items, the idea behind this is that you swap an item for something of the same value or greater.

For us Geocaching has helped us discover different places and seen things we wouldn’t have seen without it. Some cache hiders like to give historical information and place their cache at a location linked to this.

City Centre caches are more urban and hard to discover because you are not meant to be caught finding them by muggles, which in the context of Geocaching are people who don’t know about the hobby.

What Geocaches are in Hull?

Here are a few with the GC codes if you want to find them on the app and discover them for yourself. There are 2,191 Geocaches around Hull.

We have some fantastic caches in Hull and if we take the City Centre alone there is a Hull Culture Cache Trail (GC7035W) placed in 2017 for Capital of Culture. Theres also a Historic Hull Trail (GC71D5) which is a short multi cache trail in which you have to answer questions at certain locations to gain the information to find the cache’s location. Another multi-cache in the City Centre is A Trip Around Town (GC2FNJX) which took us the best part of a day to complete as you walk a quite a bit but we enjoyed it and it cost us nothing extra to do.

How do you start Geocaching?

You can get a Geocaching account for FREE and if you want to go the extra mile then you can get the premium membership for £25 a year which unlocks the whole of the Geocaching world. It has saved us money as a family, it’s our go to weekend or holiday activity. No longer are we scraping our heads on what to do without spending a fortune.

Simply download the app and away you go.

Final thoughts

Geocaching has provided our family to rediscover places we loved and has helped us with our own mindset, giving our walks purpose and giving us an adventure. I haven’t pin pointed where the photo’s are taken in and around Hull, but you can see some of the caches and get an initial feel for what it could be like. Rob (my husband) and I will go out on our own at times and we enjoy it just as much with the kids. Robyn (my youngest) found her first cache late last year and now has the competitive streak to find it first when we hit the next Geocache location.

You can also read it in Issue 8 at www.thehullhub.co.uk

The Gilmours

A mum’s night out…

November 14, 2019Posted in Family AdventuresTagged alcohol, Bambino's, blog, blogging, cocktail, Cocktail Bar, cocktails, DJ, DJ Darren Williams, drinking, drinks, friend, Giant Cocktails, Halloween, Hull, Hull City Centre, life, mummy night out, Mums, night out, Princess Avenue, Visit HullLeave a comment

I was gifted a night out at my friends newly opened Cocktail Bar- Bambino’s. So excited for her new venture and I’m glad to be able to celebrate and share it with you.

First of all, I have to say I don’t go out that often because of the three kids. When I say out, I mean ‘out out’. To be able to enjoy a night out and let my hair down was going to be a treat.

Bambino’s is located on Princess Avenue in Hull, East Yorkshire. It’s next to a restaurant called Luccas.

Going into the bar it has a classy feel with the stylish interior and furniture. I particularly loved the copper look woven in subtly. Cage like shelving above the bar for the glasses and cocktail making bits with the hanging lighting really gives the place an atmosphere.

There’s a flower wall and selfie board with lots of photo opportunities, what’s not to like?

The cocktail menu is in Italian, for me I am ordering blind but I don’t mind that at because I’ve always stuck with the usual favourite cocktails before heading into Bambino’s and trying something different.

We went on their Halloween night and there was a special cocktail menu just for the weekend. I had a poison apple cocktail and it was delicious, fruity with a big enough kick for me. I’m always wary about ordering from special menus but you can tell they have been carefully created.

Giant cocktails anyone?

I don’t think I’ve seen cocktails this big before!! Wow, for £21.95 they are a bargain price with plenty to share with your friends.

DJ Darren Williams was playing as it was a Friday evening, Daz is the resident DJ for Friday and Saturday. I enjoyed the music and once the night got going a little there was time for a boogie with just enough dance floor space.

I had the pleasure of meeting Tilly Sparks who is now their resident Queen for Wicked Wednesdays, there will be 241 cocktails on top of the 10% student discount as well as free entry and optional free transport from the University. I will be going along to see Tilly in action sometime in the near future.

I had a lovely night with some of my blogger friends, add in some drinks and theres a little room for selfies, boogieing and some facepaint. In the photo at the top is myself, Rachael and Kat. Below photo’s of Ed, Lizzie and I.

I would like to congratulate Zoe, Callum, Luke and all staff on providing a great night out with a cocktail menu I want to work my way through. I’ll definitely be returning and cannot wait for a Wicked Wednesday and also Lazy Sundays.

Well worth a visit.

Jennifer

Firewalk for Abbie’s Fund

October 28, 2019Posted in Family AdventuresTagged Abbies Fund, angel baby, baby loss, blog, blogging, cause, current affairs, events, family, fire, firewalk, fundraising, Harrison, Harrison James Gilmour, Hull, life, memory boxes, pregnancy, rainbow baby, still born, UKLeave a comment

On November the 2nd I will be doing a Firewalk in aid of Abbie’s Fund. Each year around our angel babies Birthday we try to do something in his memory and even though this is a little early I felt called to taking up the firewalk in November.

My story:

When Rob and I found out we had lost our baby we were devastated. Someone connected me with Katy Cowell who runs Abbie’s Fund and she supported me personally through the whole process and right on top of Christmas. We had gone into the hospital on Christmas Day for the first part of the process. It didn’t matter to Katy, she wanted to be there for me in virtual form as she messaged me throughout the days waiting to give birth to our angel baby- Harrison James Gilmour.

We were presented with a memory box, which we still have and go through, the memory box was something to take away from such a sad time in our lives. The box gave us comfort as we left a teddy with Harrison but had one to keep, a blanket, forget me not seeds, a candle, a poem, some support information and more.

If it wasn’t for Abbie’s Fund we would have found our time a lot more difficult and not knowing what was happening when. Abbie’s Fund has provided us comfort as a family and this is imperative to those who have been given the news.

Harrison James Gilmour born on the 28th December 2014 at 1:37am weighing 250g.

I have paid for the Firewalk myself so all donations will go towards Abbie’s Fund.

Donate

Streak week starts tomorrow

August 24, 2019Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged adventures, Badge, blog, blogging, challenge, digital badge, Durham, Geocache, Geocachers, Geocaching, Geocaching challenge, Geocaching HQ, holiday, profile, streak week, The Gilmours1 Comment

Did you hear?

It’s streak week starting tomorrow (25th August), can you find a cache every day for 7 days? You can find more of course but this is about not breaking your streak.

Of course we are joining in with the challenge as we haven’t had a long streak for a while and our longest was 8 days back in 2017.

If only the last two days counted because we found 6 caches today and 4 yesterday. Rob is off work and this means we can go farther afield with our caching.

Will you be joining in?

Our plans are to do some local caches that we have been meaning to do through the first part of the week and the second part we are traveling up to Durham to see a friend and stay the night… of course we will be Geocaching whilst we are there and on the way back as a long route back.

We can’t wait to share our adventures with you.

What do you get if you complete streak week? A digital badge on your profile and we want it.

Find out more about Streak week on the Geocaching website here.

Our Caches

July 21, 2019Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged blog, blogging, Cache statistics, caching, East Yorkshire, family, Geocache, Geocachers, Geocaching, hides, Hull, Hull City, Jennifer Gilmour, Kingston Upon Hull, life, Riley, Robin Gilmour, Robyn, sophie, statistics, The GilmoursLeave a comment

The other week we received an email providing us some statistics on the caches we have hidden.

I have to admit I was impressed with the total amount of times our caches have been found. We love reading the logs and finding out what others think of our hides.

If you haven’t found any of our cache’s yet here is a list of them available in East Yorkshire. We have plans for more and we hope to build a trail in the future.

View our caches here:

Board Schools (GC75E4W)

Carlton Micro (GC76FJV)

Sophie’s Cache (GC7NXCB)

Riley’s Cache (GC76GTC)

Robyn’s Cache (GC7MQDM)

Travel Bug B&B (GC797W7)

Amy Johnson (GC81XMQ)

Treasure for Bugs (GC89FWT)

Travel Bug B&B is our most favourited cache, we did love placing this one out there to be found. All of them are child friendly, Carlton Micro and Amy Johnson are micro caches but the rest are big enough for some swag.

Happy Caching.

The Gilmour’s

Kids Rule the Day

July 6, 2019Posted in Family AdventuresTagged blog, blogging, Eastfield Farm Strawberries, family, fun, Hull park, life, park, Peter Pan Park, Pick n Mix, report, Riley, Robyn, school report, sophie, Strawberries, strawberry picking, The Gilmours, travel, west hull parkLeave a comment

Today we let the kids rule the day, that’s right! Yesterday Sophie and Riley received their school reports and because they were excellent we decided to let them take over what we do for the day.

We had four categories with three choices in each and they had to choose which one they wanted to do.

Outing

Strawberry picking
Ellerker Village summer fayre including duck race
Geocaching

The kids unanimously chose Strawberry picking, it’s something we haven’t done as a family before so we were all excited and drove out to Eastfield Farm Strawberries.

What a fantastic time we had and yes they had to have their own punnet each, we will be eating strawberries all week. It is well worth the visit, the staff were friendly and the cheesecake was delicious (mummy and daddy needed encouragement since the kids were in charge for the day).

Lunch

Picnic
McDonalds
Trinity Market

The kids chose McDonalds and they ate the lot, although this wasn’t the easiest out of the three choices they didn’t mind the little wait in the car on the way back from Hollym.

Activity

Biking
Scootering
Park (with hope the splash section is running)

The kids chose the park but it wasn’t warm enough for the splash section to run so we went from West Park in Hull to the Peter Pan Park for a change. They loved every moment and especially because they were in charge.

Pudding

Popcorn
Pick n Mix
Magnum Ice Cream

The kids chose the Pick n Mix and this was the last part of the kids rule the day although they did come home and choose a movie as well as tea (they still had some room from the strawberries).

All in all the day was a success and we will be doing this again next year (if not before) for the weekend of the kids getting their report.

Sophie says “I think we should do it again and other parents should try it with their children”

Riley says “It was a good idea I have been waiting all week so we can rule the day”

The Gilmour’s

Chalking and Geocaching in Kooties Coveralls

July 1, 2019Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged art, blog, blogging, caching, daddy, doctor, experiment, family, fun, Geocache, Geocaching, Kooties, Kooties Coveralls, life, Mummy, paramedic, Riley, Rob, Robyn, sophie, The Gilmours, travel, treasure, video, weekend, youtubeLeave a comment

We were gifted a Kooties coverall a couple of weeks ago and we have spent some time trying it out with Robyn (3).

WE WENT GEOCACHING, keep reading to find out our caching fun.

Robyn absolutely loves to pretend to be a doctor and make everyone better. There was an obvious choice when deciding which coverall to go for, you can choose between: fire fighter, construction worker, paramedic and police officer.

Kooties are a worlds first coverall that combines messy play and role play.

We have three children and so this is perfect for us as our washing machine is always on the go when they have been playing outside with chalk, painting with water or in the mud. Our kids seem to get covered in all sorts and so I was excited to see if it would reduce our in the week wash down with Robyn’s school uniform.

Robyn’s first impressions was that she couldn’t wait to get in them, she loved that she could be a ‘doctor’ and fix everyone back together again. Robyn is 3 but 4 in November, we decided to go for a size 3-4 because she is on the tiny side. We were pleased that the Kooties coverall had plenty of space to grow but it didn’t matter that it was a bit big her her because of the elastic on the wrists and ankles. Either way they offer a lot of space making it easy to get the coverall over all of Robyn’s clothes.

The first thing we did was let Robyn chalk away and it proved useful because it meant her school clothes were kept clean. The chalk was easy to wipe off the coveralls as well. Find out about the chalking in the vlog (keep reading).

Whilst out Geocaching Robyn enjoyed searching for someone in need and running to help as well as running to find the cache. Often when we are out Geocaching we wear old clothes because we don’t want to get them muddy or grass stained, the coverall is a perfect alternative for the kids and it means we wouldn’t have to worry as much.

Robyn was very happy playing in the Kooties coveralls, you can see for yourself in this short video we put together. See what Geocache we discover…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNDGN-Zux1Y&w=560&h=315]

Visit Kooties Website * Find them on Facebook *Follow them on Twitter * Follow them on Instagram.

The Gilmour’s

Friends On Every Street

June 29, 2019Posted in Family AdventuresTagged art, blog, blogging, business, events, family, Friends On Every Street, Fruit Market, fun, Hull, Hull City, Hull City Centre, Humber Street, Instagram, kids, Kingston Upon Hull, Levy's, life, Look North Mate, Peter Levy, pop up shop, pop up store, Riley, Robyn, sophie, sun, The Gilmours, weekendLeave a comment

This afternoon we enjoyed the sun and went along to the first day of Friends On Every Street pop up store. To be honest we have been excited to go along to this event since we discovered the reason behind the ‘Peter Levy Changed My Life- 29.06.2019’ when I posted our family feet pic on Insta. Glad to say that this photo has been used by Friends On Every Street and the Fruit Market as well.

As soon as we walked down Humber Street we could see where the pop-up shop was because of the people crowding around the entrance, we soon found out that Peter Levy himself was present. What a fab turn out and soon you could see a sea of people wearing the iconic shirts.

Anyway, we decided we couldn’t miss it and with the build up on social media it has been enticing. The kids were also intrigued to find out what all the fuss was about. There’s lots of photo’s to come because there was so much to take in, we have narrowed it down but it was difficult. It is well worth the visit if you don’t have anything to do tomorrow or just go anyway, it will be the last day and open from 12 midday. There’s refreshments and music which gives it a brilliant atmosphere.

There was a lot to observe and it felt like an alternative art gallery, there were lots of photo opportunities and with directions and instructions we couldn’t go wrong.

We were particularly excited about this photo opportunity, Robyn our youngest wanted to pose for the camera but Riley was taking the mick out of me because I had a snap taken laying down before (cheeky thing).

A snapshot of the wall’s and what there is to see, we spent a while observing and having a nosey around. As I mentioned before, it felt like an alternative art gallery that expressed the love of Hull (its people, places and slang).

Peter Levy was present and so it only felt right to grab a photo with him. We had met him last year at the Freedom Festival and Sophie had a picture with Peter then, Sophie wasn’t shy to let him know of this and I mentioned she had his signed sticker on her bed frame. It made it more memorable and Sophie won’t forget it, she gave him a hug which was quite sweet.

Sophie says “Peter Levy is a very nice guy who is very intelligent. The wall art was amazing because it had all the colours of the rainbow”

It wouldn’t have been complete without an Insta wall with a lot of the fun gimmicky work of Friends On Every Street. We spent a lot of time giggling to ourselves and perhaps sniggering as well, even coming home and looking back on the photo’s we found new re-created logo’s we hadn’t spotted before.

We couldn’t resist splashing the cash to buy some local swag and investing in a Levy’s shirt, pin badge and sticker pack! We congratulate Friends On Every Street for their genius work and have enjoyed seeing their journey so far, we look forward to seeing what’s yet to come.

My MacBook has had a make over and I certainly feel ‘cool’, yes I said it. My hubby has been subtle with his placement of his sticker as you can see, clearly didn’t want to potentially over kill it (like me).

Thank you so much for a fun afternoon and there will soon be another feet family photo on social media, keep your eye’s peeled and nose’s pinched.

Jennifer

Did you spot us? #ITVTonight

May 25, 2019Posted in Family AdventuresTagged after, Asda, Asda Hessle Road, blog, current affairs, experiment, family, filming, Hessle Road, ITV, Itv Tonight, result, shopping, television, The Gilmours, Tonight, Tonight ProgrammeLeave a comment

Last week we were on the ITV Tonight programme, did you see it? Full info on our previous blog.

We have to report that since filming we have managed to keep our shop to £60-70 a week which is simply fantastic for us. We have managed to keep our Lurpak replacement, which I thought would never happen.

Here’s the link to the programme on the ITV Hub.

Also, something you didn’t see on the filming is that there is the Asda Farm Stores range and an Asda Growers range. When out shopping, the Growers selection is what your eyes’ are guided too.

I went out with Rob for the first time shopping after the filming and showed him the different ranges because initially I thought I was shopping the more basic brand. There were times he picked up the Growers range thinking there wasn’t the equivalent, I then pointed where the Farm Stores range is placed. You have to work hard to see it because sometimes it’s as simple as a different label, sometimes it’s on the next shelf along, sometimes on the opposite or in a different isle altogether. Now we have got used to looking and give more time for our shop it has become a lot easier. I would encourage you to have a look when you are next out shopping, to be it feels like a tactic so you don’t see it the Farm Stores range because they don’t want you to buy it.

Let us know what you think and what you struggle with OR are savvy at.

Jennifer

Egg Rolling Geocaching Event

May 5, 2019Posted in Geocaching AdventuresTagged blog, blogging, Decorate, Easter, Easter Egg Rolling, Easter fun, egg rolling, events, family, Family fun, Free, fun, Geocaching, GilmourFamily, kids, life, Pokemon, Riley, Robyn, sophie, The Gilmours, travel, weekend, Wonder Woman, youtube, youtubersLeave a comment

So we mentioned the Egg Rolling Geocaching event in a recent previous blog post and we thought we better share what we got up to with you all.

We went along on Easter Sunday and it was our second year to visit this much loved event. It’s so much fun and the kids were looking forward to it. We decided to get rubber eggs this year, a tad naughty, we just wanted to have some extra fun. Each of us decorated our eggs as you can see, they are placed in age order as well.

Both sides were decorated, above are the reverse of the eggs. I think you will agree that we all put some great effort into them.

Egg Rolling is basically to roll an egg down the hill and to see which one gets the farthest. We wanted to share the fun with you so have put together a short video for you all…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7xoKHpu9wQ&w=560&h=315]

Unfortunately I had an influx of work and had to do some traveling but now I am back I am able to update you on our happenings. I have a few draft blog posts ready to go and so you should hear from us again soon.

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

Jennifer