After several days of rain, the sun finally put in a very welcome appearance at the end of our first week of holidays so we decided to head out into the fresh air. As usual, I had a vague idea of where we'd be going but we always play it by ear so if we see anything exciting on the way, we can divert.
We started off with a walk along the canal by the barges
We saw the first fragile springtime blooms poking their heads out of the grass.
Pierre got very excited by the double-decker bus that has been transformed into a pizza restaurant because it reminded him of our weekend in London.
We stopped off for a play in a little park where I knew there was a geocache - it's still there so we swapped over a few treasures.
We had a look on a big statue (with big boobies, as Pierre pointed out !) for a nano (ie very small) geocache.
We found it cunningly poked into one of the holes and suspended on a thread (which I already knew because I'd done this one on my lunch break a while ago but I didn't dampen the kids' enthusiasm by telling them !).
Heading into the commercial port area, we found another cache (that I'd also already found on my lunch break) in a big anchor.
On to uncharted territory as we crossed the huge lock. There are big signs everywhere saying you're being filmed by CCTV and you're not allowed to be in this area without an official reason - would geocaching count ?! - so the kids were freaking out and we moved on before finding the cache.
As I pointed out, even if the signs do make it look like you shouldn't be here, the lighthouse is only a few hundred yards away and that's open to tourists so I'm sure we wouldn't be in trouble ! I told you all about Dunkirk lighthouse here.
We found the geocache and dropped off a travel bug.
The kids were flagging so I said we'd stop exploring and head to the beach for a play before going home ... which involved a big detour anyway. We ended up walking 11km in total (nearly 7 miles) so it's hardly surprising they were tired !
At the beach, the kids wanted to take off their shoes to play in the sand but they soon gave up because their feet were frozen !
Well, we visited one lighthouse but I still haven't made it to this one in the distance, that I vowed I would get to last year. I just need to convince Madhouse Daddy because it's too far to go on foot or by bus !
yeeeeehhhhh welcome back to the mad hobby. I like the caches that are slightly different and some like the one on the string can be devious.
ReplyDelete11km is a long walk for little legs but when it is interspersed with parks and bare foot beaches then they dont seem to notice too much.
Love to pick up TB's to see their history and what their ambition is.
that reminds me I need to link to #countrykids with mine
They've always walked miles with me so they just think it's normal !
DeleteWe only got into geocaching fairly recently and loving it so always exciting to see other peoples' geocache finds! Looks like an interesting spot for a treasure hunt though I'd never have found that one on the string! #countrykids
ReplyDeleteAfter a while, you get a kind of sixth sense about where they'll be hidden !
DeleteI need to go geocaching with the kids again now it is warmer! We went a while ago in the freezing cold weather and the kids loved it so definitely want to go again! Gorgeous photos!
ReplyDeleteIt's a great activity in the spring/summer, although the ones hidden in bushes and trees are much easier to find in winter, if you can brave the cold and the mud :)
DeleteIt's great that you've started getting outside again this week, and the kids look over the moon to be out enjoying the fresh air again. It sounds like there were some devious Geo Caches to find this week, I bet it was fun searching in all the nooks and cranny's of the statue to find them though. Thanks for linking up with Country Kids.
ReplyDeleteHopefully I'll have something to share every week from now on :)
DeleteWe have been geocaching for a couple of years now and we absolutely love it, wherever we go even on holiday we search for a geocache!
ReplyDeletesame here - love collecting the foreign country badges !!
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