A healthy mix of orienteering and treasure-hunting, but what exactly is Geocaching?

A cross between orienteering, treasure-hunting and tourism, geocaching can, paradoxically, get both children and adults away from the computer screen and out into the real world, writes Conor Power.

HAVING fun with children isn’t what it used to be. There are so many distractions that it’s often hard for them to be able to enjoy anything. These days, it’s as if part of their soul was being taken away by computers and their hand-held spawn. At least, that’s how it can look when you stand in the middle of the living-room floor and announce that you’re all going for a nice walk in the countryside and are met with low grumbling noises without anyone lifting their head from their little screens.

Happily, there is a place where the world of the outdoors and the digital/internet/smartphone/ computer world meet. It’s called geocaching.