Madhouse diaries : Mum, I'm bored, can we go geocaching?

Well, how could I say no to that ?! Usually it's me trying to convince the kids to come out geocaching with me, but on Sunday afternoon, after our big walk the day before and a morning clearing my backlog of marking, I was planning on having a lazy few hours. It didn't take much for Juliette to twist my arm though ! It was still freezing cold so we wrapped up warm and set off to find a few more geocaches.

We passed the canals which were half frozen and had a giggle at the forlorn-looking seagulls and ducks standing on the ice.

Despite the subzero temperatures (it was minus one when we headed out and I'm sure it got cooler as we got closer to sunset), we could see the first signs of spring - sticky buds on the trees and a poor duckling braving the icy waters of the canal. They'd have done better waiting for a few more weeks until it warms up.

 Our first geocache was next to a book drop-off point - this is a great idea and I hope they'll introduce many more of these in strategic locations around town. The idea is you drop off unwanted books and magazines and can help yourself to the ones in there. There was one children's book in there but we left it for someone else. We admired the giant metallic vegetables then got into geocaching mode.

Sometimes Mother Nature offers the perfect hidey-hole, such as this unusual bark formation. Juliette found the geocache on the ground next to the path so we signed the log and stuffed it back into the tree trunk, which is where it was supposed to be.

The vegetables weren't the only giant-sized things in the vicinity though. The next geocache took us to a giant pencil pot and set-square.

Juliette was on a roll and beat me to find this one too - although she was in charge of the GPS which gave her a head start !

A few hundred yards away, I found the final one though ! By now, it was getting twilighty and distinctly chilly so we decided to head for home, taking advantage of the weekend free buses. I didn't manage to get a photo because we were on the bus and never seemed to be in the right direction but as the sun set, it made an enormous golden orb in the sky - it reminded me of the fabulous sunsets in Kusadasi, Turkey, rather than a wintry day in Dunkirk !