Penny Travels - Page 10 of 12 - Travelling the world, near and far, one step at a time.

Geocaching for Beginners

February 2, 2019 by Penny 1 Comment

As a parent I’m always looking at ways of getting the best for my kids. This might be in terms of their education, but also their general health and wellbeing. I’m a firm believer in getting children outside as much as possible. The fresh air and exercise can do them the world of good. But at the same time I’m also very aware that as they become older it can be more of a challenge to drag them away from screens and they also seem to become more aware that staying at home on a cold and wet afternoon can be far more inviting. Kids can need motivation and that’s where I’ve found geocaching to be the perfect solution.

Geocaching is one of those things that I’ve been meaning to try for years, but only actually got round to in the last six months or so. It’s a hobby that lots of people have heard of in general, but not everyone really knows what it really involves or how it works.

What is geocaching

For those of you not in the know, let me start with the basics. Geocaching is basically like a big treasure hunt where you use your phone, or a traditional GPS, to find “treasure” in the form of a cache that other geocachers have left to be found. A cache could be anything from just a simple log in a waterproof container that you’re asked to sign to show that you found it, right up to a larger box containing objects that you can exchange. Quite often the attraction is in finding the cache rather than what is inside it. Also a good lesson for children in doing something not just for personal gain.

Different caches

Caches can also come in all different shapes and sizes. In my time geocaching we’ve found everything from large Tupperware boxes down to film canisters or keyring sized things with a small pieces of paper acting as a log rolled up inside. You sometimes have a bit of a clue as to what size of cache you are looking for so that it can help you know where to look, but other times you simply have no idea, so have to look everywhere!

How to find a cache

We made a start by downloading the official Geocaching app on our phones and signing up for a free account. Based on your phone knowing where you are it then shows you a map with local geocaches shown on it. For each cache you can then drill down and see a more accurate location and a “description” of the cache. These descriptions can vary quite a bit depending on who left the cache. Sometimes it’s a general description of the area where the cache is – possibly a park or similar – whilst other times it can be a more detailed set of instructions as to where to find the cache. This is often the place where you might find out that you need some extra equipment to extract the cache. Depending on where it is tweezers or even a magnet might be required. I’ve heard stories of more complex caches that have even required you to take water and batteries (I’m assuming not to be used together!) but these are a bit beyond me for now.

That’s the thing with geocaching – there are caches out there to suite geocachers of all abilities. The basic caches just involve you finding one cache, yet there are also “series” that you can complete where a number of caches have been left following a certain walking route or similar. There are also puzzle caches where you might have to solve something first to help you find a cache, or you might have to collect a series of clues from the caches in a series to give you the coordinates of a final cache. In other words it’s a mental workout as well as a physical one.

Premium caches

It is possible to upgrade your geocaching account to a paid for Premium one. It’s not necessary by any means, but it does give you access to some additional “premium caches” and also (the thing I’ve found most valuable) enhanced maps which show footpaths and tracks on them. It’s obviously possible to use an old fashioned paper map (or a digital OS one) alongside your geocaching app, but it’s so much easier to have everything in one place.

Being a geocacher is a bit like becoming a member of a secret club. In so many cases caches are hidden in plain few of unsuspecting members of the public and I’m always amazed when we find a cache that is somewhere that we’ve walked or driven past hundreds of times before without noticing it. It does mean that when you go to find or recover some caches you need to be careful not to be caught by “muggles” for fear of them removing a cache, but it adds to the fun and the thrill of it.

We may have only scratched the surface with geocaching so far, but it’s certainly worked its magic as a way of getting the kids out of the house and exploring the countryside willingly. They also need to pay a lot more attention to the things around them. Sometimes it needs a bit of encouragement, but they’re getting there. I’m keen to try my hand at some of the more involved puzzle caches – I just need to find ones that I can reach with a baby in tow!

Tube Stop Baby – Southwark

January 31, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Southwalk was our final stop on a day of exploring some the Jubilee Line extension and for me it was a bit strange being back as I spent a summer working in the area once and getting out there every day for about 8 weeks. This was the first time I’d been back in a while and we used the opportunity to not only see the station, but also some of the area above ground as well.

When the Jubilee Line extension was planned, a station between Waterloo and London Bridge wasn’t included. Southwark station was only added after lobbying from the local council. The station though is actually west of the centre of Southwark which is served instead by London Bridge and Borough underground stations.

As you come out of the station and turn left under the railway line you can see the remains of the old Blackfriars station, which was later renamed Blackfriars Road to distinguish it from the modern day Blackfriars. Blackfriars Road was situated on the South Eastern Railway line between Charing Cross and London Bridge. Only open for five years (from 1864) it was replaced by Waterloo East.

As you walk along Blackfriars Road you can clearly see the old entrance to Blackfriars Station, as was, on the Charing Cross Railway.

Speaking of Waterloo East. On the tube map Southwark is marked as being an interchange station with Waterloo East and passengers can come out of Southwark, following the signs for Waterloo East and find themselves in a small no-mans land between the ticket gates for the Underground and ticket gates to go into Waterloo East. It has a bit of a feel of the area between two hostile countries that can’t quite agree on their border requirements.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Southwark

Date of visit: 3 January 2019

Underground Line(s): Jubilee

Zone: 1

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby – North Greenwich

January 28, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Our exploring of the Jubilee Line extension continues with the station that was really the whole motivation for the extension – North Greenwich, home of what was formerly known as the Millennium Dome.

Now I’m old enough to have first moved to London before the Millennium Dome was open and it’s fair to say that at the time no one quite knew what to make of it. Yes, everyone wanted to celebrate the millennium, but no one was entirely convinced that the Dome would be finished in time, or that people would want to go and visit it.

I’m probably one of the few people who did make the trek to North Greenwich in the year 2000 and it was for the sole purpose of visiting the Dome. I came away feeling a bit meh, but having enjoyed the Blackadder screening in the building outside, which many people had described as a highlight of the trip. Looking back, it wasn’t really that bad at all, and I do seem to recall being quite impressed at the time by the huge human body that you got to walk through in one exhibit.

Nowadays, the Millennium Dome has been re-branded as the O2 and it’s a fantastic leisure venue with cinemas and restaurants alongside the major entertainment venue. I’ve been there on another occasion for a blogging conference, and we’ve also taken the older kids there when we took them for a ride on the Emirates Airline over the Thames (a trip I’m sure we’ll take Tube Stop Baby on one day too).

North Greenwich may be known now for the Dome, but the idea of an underground station in the area was first proposed way back in 1973, as part of what was then called the Fleet Line. The station would have been on part of the line from Charing Cross to Beckon via Fenchurch Street. The line got approval, but no funds, so North Greenwich station didn’t actually happen until the Jubilee Line extension got the go-ahead in the 90s with the route south of the river to Stratford in the East. The track layout at North Greenwich has been designed so that a future extension branch to Thamesmead is possible, but at present there are no actual plans to do so.

Knowing what there was to see and do, we took a trip above ground at North Greenwich. We may well return on a day that a bit warmer, and when the whole place isn’t swarming with people there for Disney on Ice! Until then though there’s the rest of the tube map to explore.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – North Greenwich

Date of visit: 3 January 2019

Underground Line(s): Jubilee

Zone: 2 and 3

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby – Canada Water

January 24, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Another stop along the Jubilee line extension, and another station that is this year celebrating its 20th birthday. Canada Water.

Canada Water is a station that I’ve actually wanted to visit since I first moved to London back in 1999, but not for the Jubilee Line running through it. Today Canada Water provides an interchange with London Overground at the station, but back when the station opened in 1999 it was an interchange with the East London Line. The East London Line was opened in 1869 and used the old Thames Tunnel (originally for horse drawn carriages) to take tube trains under the River Thames.

Before the line closed for refurbishment in late 2007 (after which it became part of London Overground) it used to use the same A class rolling stock as the Metropolitan Line. For years I’d lived on the Met line, and the carriages used to have line diagrams in for both lines as the rolling stock was shared between the two. I’d often sat on my daily commute into London and wondered what the East London line was like and planned to go and explore it one day. But sadly never made it.

Our visit to Canada Water with Tube Stop Baby just took in the Jubilee Line platforms. Here they share a large island platform meaning that as you come in you can see the other direction track across the platform. I’m told that this design (which also happens at Canary Wharf) was done so that in peak times both platforms (East and West-bound) can be used for trains going in the same direction to help share the load.

One random fact about Canada Water is that it once had the station name changed for a day. To coincide with the 2015 London Marathon, TfL took on its first external sponsorship of a station and all the roundels and other signs at the station were changed so that they read Buxton Water, as part of a sponsorship deal with Nestle. If you want to see more about what was done then I’ve found this video online that explains all.

As a modern station Canada Water is full accessible so if London Overground becomes part of our challenge (as I’m beginning to think that it might) then I’m pretty sure we’ll be back.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Canada Water

Date of visit: 3 January 2019

Underground Line(s): Jubilee

Zone: 2

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby – Bermondsey

January 23, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

So, Bermondsey. Stop number 4 on our trip around the underground, but not the most thrilling of the ones we’ve been to so far (at the time of writing we’re up to 14 stations).

Despite Bermondsey offering step free access we didn’t actually venture any further than the eastbound platform when we visited the station as part of our trip along the Jubilee Line extension. The simple reason being that we didn’t really have any idea what we might find above ground if we had decided to venture outside the station. A pathetic excuse really, but the truth all the same. One day we may return and see just what there is on the other side of the ticket barriers.

Bermondsey will be celebrating its 20th birthday this year (2019) as the station was opened as part of the extension to North Greenwich (and beyond) for the Millennium Dome. More on that when we visit North Greenwich itself.

I read that the rest of the station is quite impressive due to the futuristic design that was used on much of this part of the Jubilee line. Certainly the grey and metallic look on the platforms, combined with the platform edge doors, give it a feel a million miles away from some of the older tube stations that I am more familiar with.

I remember when the extension was opened and there was lots of talk about ow platform edge doors were the future and that one day they would be installed across the whole tube network. I have to admit that I’ve not read up on the subject recently, but it certainly seems that 20 years on they’ve not retro-fitted any to any other station on the underground network.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Bermondsey

Date of visit: 3 January 2019

Underground Line(s): Jubilee

Zone: 2

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.

Tube Stop Baby – Waterloo

January 10, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Waterloo is the first of our tube stops that we technically have “done”, but have in reality no way “done”.

Let me explain what I mean. Tube baby has been to Waterloo. We arrived there on foot after a walk along the South Bank and we even stopped for a coffee and sandwich (and her some milk) at the Costa on the concourse. But, at the same time I feel like we haven’t even really scratched the surface at Waterloo, and we really need to go back there and do the station justice.

I know we are visiting tube stations here, but in the cases where the tube stop is at a mainline station I don’t really think you can ignore the mainline station. Especially when, as is the case with Waterloo, you’re talking about the busiest national rail station in the UK.

Our visit just involved a trip down to the Jubilee Line where we then took the line east, along which I still refer to as the Jubilee Line Extension, in the direction of Stratford. Before heading underground we did take a quick look at the work being done where the old Eurostar platform were there, but at that stage we were all hungry and it was only a very quick look over the barriers.

I’d really like to go back and look properly. Try to understand what has been done, compared to what was there when I last took the Eurostar from there to Paris. Look at some of the history of the station and the old architecture that has been incorporated into the current station design and layout.

Waterloo actually has the Bakerloo and Northern lines running through its underground station, in addition to the Jubilee. There’s also a certain tube line that terminates there that I want to travel along. The only one I haven’t yet been on. The Waterloo and City Line. For that reason alone there will be a return trip to Waterloo as part of this challenge.

Tube Stop Baby Facts – Waterloo

Date of visit: 3 January 2019

Underground Line(s): Bakerloo, Jubilee, Northern and Waterloo and City

Zone: 1

If you want to know more about our Tube Stop Baby Challenge then pop over here and have a read.