I'm a 24 year old aircraft engineer in the RAF and have a 5 year old son. I heard about this thing called geocaching a while ago from a collegue and didn't think much of it...

Not at least until I looked into it a little a few weeks ago. WOW..! I was really impressed, not only at the amazing concept behind the very simple idea, but mostly the number of caches in my area. And to think every day folk have no idea. That's maybe what makes it quite interesting for some people, the exclusiveness of it all!

So, I borrowed a Magellan GPSr from a friend (who does not geocache) and set out with my lad one sunny Saturday morning. We attempted 3 caches in the Reading area, and did not find a thing. I noticed that things like car parks with given co-ords were not accurate, about 350 ft out.

After a bit of advice on groundspeak, I changed the datum to the geochaching norm and tried again the next weekend. I was more than dissappointed, not just because I had really gotten into the idea (just by surfing t'internet), but because I could see the dissappointment in my son, and felt bad because of it.

I've given up up my friend's Magellan GPSr and gave it back. I've just bought an eTrex Vista from an American trader (with pre installed UK mapping hopefully) and am just waiting on delivery. Lets just hope we have a little more luck with this one!

Well, the point of this topic was really for some advice, and to share my experiences. What I would like would be for someone in the Berkshire area to very kindly invite us along for a couple of caches one weekend to give us a head start. I see this as something my son and I can share together for many years to come, and want to do it properly. And, I want to tackle a couple of caches on the Isle of Wight and Northern Ireland over Christmas!

Thanks all!

Steven and Wee Matthew