The Hull Hub and Geocaching

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:
The Hull Hub Geocaching in Hull .JPG

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

Sundown Adventureland and Geocaching

A trip to Retford for some Geocaching and adventures at Sundown. We couldn’t believe it when we woke up to find it was pouring down with rain. We did check the weather at Retford and it said it was cloudy with a small chance of rain, so we braved the idea and prepared just in case.

Thank goodness it cleared up and to the point of sunny and hot by the afternoon. It was the best outcome in a way because it did put some of the public off going along to Sundown Adventureland which became our first part of the day.

Thank you to Sundown Adventureland for gifting us the tickets.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed the rides, we felt Robyn was a perfect starting age at three years old, she didn’t want the rides to end. Riley enjoyed the storytelling of the rides and it certainly helped his imagination and role play throughout the day.

 

Sophie enjoyed the play areas and making games up to involve Riley and Robyn in play. They were happily playing in these areas and we found that we could have a short break as mum and dad.

 

Be careful though because your children might end up wanted. There was so much for them to do, interactive games, walls, buttons, rooms, acitvities, areas. The wild west themed part of Sundown was our favourite but it was a hard pick.

 

To describe the park is in its title Sundown Adventureland, the three children certainly had their own adventures and came together as a trio as well. They were all tuckered out by the end of Sundown but we did have some time for Geocaching.

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We were especially excited to meet Honey and Sunny themselves at the summertime fun activities, the children enjoyed a boogie with them and joined in the conga line. Robyn didn’t want Honey and Sunny to go, this made her day even more special.

We think our video speaks for itself, you can also watch us Geocaching in action. Have you found the church micro in Bole?

 

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbfPc1fzSO4&w=560&h=315]

 

Jen says “What a fantastic day out for young families, it has everything you could want. Make sure you explore the whole park though as there is plenty to discover”

Rob says “Fabulous family entertainment. A fair entry price and we look forward to seeing what the Christmas season is like at Sundown”

Sophie says “I think that you should go to Sundown because you get to have lots of fun with your family and make memories like I did”

Riley says “I liked Sundown because the rides are very cool and the water ride was the best”

Robyn says “Can we go again?”

 

Further information about the Summertime Fun… 

“Summertime Fun” activities will run between 12pm and 6pm on the picnic field until Sunday 1 September. 

Every day from 12pm, the park will be hosting children’s party games such as school disco classic ‘four corners’ and the limbo, giving every child the chance to win their very own bear. Visitors can meet Honey, Sunny, Kiki and Koko and pose for photos from 2pm, before they get the party started with conga lines, agadoo and the macarena on the picnic field until 6pm.  

The park’s usual attractions, shops and restaurants will all be open until 6pm including a four-storey indoor play area Crash Landings, liquorice and sweet-smelling fairy-tale Lollipoppet Castle complete with its very own sleeping dragon, the Wild Ostrich Safari Ride which takes you through the African Savannah on the back of an ostrich, yodelling goats and talking potatoes at Sundown Market, and many more interactive rides and play areas. 

Tickets for adults and children over 90cm are £16.75 and children under 90cm go free. Family passes are also available to purchase. To book, visit: https://tickets.sundownadventureland.co.uk/webstore/shop/viewitems.aspx?cg=pkt&c=pkt

For more information about the event, visit the website: https://www.sundownadventureland.co.uk

 

The Gilmour’s

Hull Fish Trail

A couple of month’s ago we had a local adventure in discovering the Fish Trail in Hull City Centre. I had completed this as a child but despite living back here for over five years, I hadn’t taken my three children to discover the 41 different spots.

Our adventure was a part of The Hull Hub Issue 7 which is currently available to pick up at different locations in and around the city. You can also read online.


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Issue 7 of The Hull Hub

 

We also captured some footage of our discoveries and wanted to share it all with you. Enjoy…

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFRMzD0Ybr4&w=560&h=315]

 

Jennifer.

Milestones

We have hit another Geocaching milestone and so we felt we should share all of our milestone videos with you. In descending order for you.

 

Thats right we have hit the milestone of 400…

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

 

Here’s our 300th find video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuA-ahmB08o&w=560&h=315]

 

Here’s our 200th find video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqOL2HmNSbI&w=560&h=315]

 

Here’s our 100th find video:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU3ys_IvbJY&w=560&h=315]

 

We hope you’ve enjoyed celebrating with us.

The Gilmour’s

Kids Rule the Day

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

  1. Strawberry picking
  2. Ellerker Village summer fayre including duck race
  3. 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

  1. Picnic
  2. McDonalds
  3. 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 

  1. Biking
  2. Scootering
  3. 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

  1. Popcorn
  2. Pick n Mix
  3. 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

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

Egg Rolling Geocaching Event

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.

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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

Easter Egg Rolling- Next Weekend

Last year we attended Bobo Frett’s Easter Egg Rolling event for the first time. A Geocaching event with a bit of fun added into it.

We will be returning to this years event which is next weekend on the 21st April 2-3pm.

This year we are a little better prepared as we know what to expect. All three kids have already decorated their eggs and are excited for this years event.

 

You can find out more over at GC852WV, let us know if you are coming as well. 

A social gathering for geocachers to discuss geocaching.

The Brocklesby Egg Rolling Competition 2019

Roll up! Roll up! And once you’ve rolled up let’s roll down…again!

This is our fifth egg rolling competition down Mausoleum Hill on the Brocklesby Estate. Egg rolling is not compulsory.

 

 

Have a look at the fun we had at last year’s event: 

Brocklesby Egg Rolling 2018

Easter Sunday Geocaching event by Sophie Gilmour

 

See you there…

The Gilmour’s

The Little Welly

We are excited to be going to The Little Welly for the first time this year.

We plan to attend on the 29th June and share our experiences with all of you, unless you are coming along then do feel free to join us in our muddy adventure.

Sophie, Riley and Robyn are super excited to be going along

 

FIND OUT MORE HERE

 

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Let your kids Go Wild, Get Muddy and have a ‘Best Day Ever!’

The Little Welly Lands in Northwich, Cheshire

Get ready for a whole dollop of outdoor, muddy fun as The Little Welly – the UK’s largest obstacle course for children – arrives at Arley Hall and Gardens, Northwich, Cheshire on 29th and 30th June.

Especially created for kids aged four to 12, The Little Welly obstacle course has more than 30 challenges over a 3km route.  It includes climbing walls, a huge water slide, scramble nets, balancing poles, foam pit and of course, lots of mud!  This unique, interactive experience provides an exciting, energetic adventure in the great outdoors and promises to create family memories to last a lifetime.

 

Sophie (9), Riley (7) and Robyn (3) are super excited to be going along and have an adventure of a day. We haven’t seen anything like this before and want to share it with all of you.

Let us know if you are going to try and make it.

The Gilmour’s

 

 

Geocaching Appreciation Week 2019 – #IHeartGCHQ

This blog was prompted by The Geocaching Vlogger, his video on declaration of an appreciation week for Geocaching HQ. We wanted to join in somehow and so the least we can do is write a blog post. In fact it’s the first one of 2019, we need to get back in on it. The Gilmour’s have done plenty of New Year Caching after all.

I’m going to try and not be so sentimental but I think it’s unavoidable. Here’s my message to Geocaching HQ…

Thank you doesn’t cut it for us because Geocaching has brought a lot to our lives. We have been caching for almost 2 years, in fact as soon as we discovered it we went out to cache. At first we enjoyed it, we couldn’t believe this was across the world and around us and then after time went by we realised what a difference it’s made to us. The time we went out caching was a way of escaping the reality of our lives at times, a way to get healthy and a way to spent time working as a team in our family unit. I used to laugh at those shirts that said ‘Geocaching is my therapy’ and then I came to realise that we could even relate to this. Escapism from my reality was important and still is at times, still recovering from an abusive relationship from some years ago. I do love nature and used to go walking a lot but it became difficult as it ended up thinking over situations etc all the time. Geocaching gives you a focus. Not many people know about my connection with Geocaching like this, so it’s quite personal. Thank you again HQ.

Our three children growing up with caching, this photo was from a couple of weeks ago.

This was a first family photo on our first Geocaching trail back in 2017.

Find out more about the Geocaching Appreciation week from Joshua himself…

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

We have some blog posts ready to share so watch out for those coming out soon. Subscribe if you haven’t already so you don’t miss them.

Jen and the rest of the Gilmour’s