A recent geocache find in the Mull of Galloway can be tracked all the way back to Gifhorn, the German twin town of Dumfries.
The ‘treasure’ started out in Gifhorn, with the person hiding it aiming for it to reach Dumfries and Galloway. It can be tracked through many hands before making its way to the Mull of Galloway, where it was unearthed by countryside ranger Elizabeth Tindal.
The trackable features a picture of the replica of the windmill at Dumfries Museum, which is a feature of the international windmill museum in Gifhorn. Elizabeth brought it to Dumfries to show to Provost Ted Thompson, Provost of Dumfries, and Councillor Alastair Witts, the Council’s Twinning Champion.
Provost Ted Thompson said, “Geocaching is new to me and it’s fascinating to think how this item travelled to our region. We’d very much like to encourage more visitors to Dumfries from our twin town Gifhorn. This innovative use of modern technology encourages people to explore the countryside is certainly one way to do this and strengthen the links between our communities.”
Councillor Alistair Witts said, “We’re keen to encourage people in Dumfries and Gifhorn to build personal links. Geocaching sounds like a modern version of a message in a bottle, offering people a great opportunity to do this while experiencing our magnificent countryside.”
Geocaching is a treasure hunt, using GPS-enabled devices, in which participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then try to find the geocache container hidden at that location.
Geocaches are located all over the world, with geocachers often hiding caches in locations that are important to them, reflecting their interests or skills. They could be in a local park, at the end of a long hike, underwater, or just at the side of a street.
The only equipment needed by participants is a GPS device, or GPS-enabled mobile phone, to enable navigation to the cache.
In its simplest form, a cache always contains a logsheet to log a find. Larger caches may contain a logbook and a number of items, which turn the adventure into a true treasure hunt. Once a person has found the geocache and removed an object from it, they must leave something in the geocache of equal or greater value, write about their find in the cache logbook, and log their experience on the geocache website.
More information on geocaching is available at www.geocaching.com or from the Council’s Countryside Rangers, t: 07702 212 728
Photo link attached
