Urban or countryside ?

January 7, 2012

HI all.

What is your preference as to where you look for geocaches.Urban or countryside??

I live in scarborough and have a choice of either caching around the surrounding towns and villages or heading out into the countryside.I do prefer to do my caching in the countryside though as i find it more relaxing.What do you prefer ????

January 7, 2012

Absolutely countryside, 100%. Infact, we've avoided caches based purely on them being urban. Our own, relatively small town has a lot of not-smiley-face caches that we've no intention of doing simply because they're Urban.

1.1k · January 7, 2012

HI all.

What is your preference as to where you look for geocaches.Urban or countryside??

I live in scarborough and have a choice of either caching around the surrounding towns and villages or heading out into the countryside.I do prefer to do my caching in the countryside though as i find it more relaxing. What do you prefer ????

I'm surprised you even feel the need to ask :lol:

.

Countryside, in case there was any doubt :lol: .

Rgds, Andy

6.2k · January 7, 2012

Mostly countryside, although I also do urban caching, but for me an urban cache should be somewhere particularly interesting so for me some of the ones I've done in London are great because they have some history or interesting connection, same with Bath; however a boring urban micro which is there just because there was a gap on the map is of no interest.

January 7, 2012

Countryside again, a nice trail 2~4 miles.

3k · January 7, 2012

Countryside, all the way. In the woods, paddling, fields, hills, dales, seashore, mountains, large state parks, nature preserves, marshes, waterfalls. I cache to get myself out of town and into nature, away from people, cars and noise. I have probably found more caches outside of my home state than in, because it's too congested around here. I love a great view, and a nice hike. I don't like heading into the city for anything. I live in a town with a population on @17K, and even that is too big for me.

January 7, 2012

Definitely countryside. While it is interesting seeing the creative hiding spots in urban areas, I hate caching in places with too many muggles. It doesn't thrill me, it annoys me. Also, I love nature. I love doing caches with high terrain-rating and I love running through the woods and ending up dirty as hell :laughing:

1.3k · January 7, 2012

Countryside again, a nice trail 2~4 miles.

Yup exactly the same here

January 7, 2012

Countryside every time. No contest.

2.6k · January 7, 2012

Countryside of course.

Urban caches can be fun too; especially Multis. A good multi or puzzle which takes you around interesting locations in a city/town can be fun, especially when visiting a new place.

When home, it's always countryside for me. When traveling, it's more likely to be urban, fitting in where I am. (I often fit in some caching with business travel, which is generally urban).

3.3k · January 7, 2012

HI all.

What is your preference as to where you look for geocaches.Urban or countryside??

I live in scarborough and have a choice of either caching around the surrounding towns and villages or heading out into the countryside.I do prefer to do my caching in the countryside though as i find it more relaxing.What do you prefer ????

I do most of my caching in greater London although I'd call it more suburban than truly urban. The centre of London isn't so much fun because although there are hundreds of caches available it's also very likely that many of them will be unavailable due to being disabled, missing, or in close proximity to muggles (it's hard to grab a micro from under a park bench when someone is sitting at the bench).

Caches in more built up areas are less likely to be interesting hides simply because of the relative lack of interesting places to hide them. That said they are good as waypoints on a route to get me out and about on the bike, so on that basis I like to see a lot of caches near home.

Rural caches are good in that they are usually in nicer spots and larger hides but the fact they are fewer in number means it's easier to clear out an entire area very quickly. For comparison a friend of mine in rural Pennsylvania set himself the goal to find all the caches within 10 miles of his home; I've found over 1000 caches within 10 miles of my home and still have at least 750 to go.

January 7, 2012

Almost always country. There is a supermarket film can less than 100 yards from our house that we cant be bothered to look for. But we do rather like the "Town trail" type of multi.

January 7, 2012

Country for me as well. I've done all the urban ones around where I work for something to do during lunchtimes but as many tend to be the dreaded Nano :mad: I don't tend to plan a day out finding them - the countryside is far better for that.

January 7, 2012

Same here, I've done most of the urban ones near my office, plus some to get puzzle cache clues etc, but I wouldn't go out of my way to do more.

January 7, 2012

Definately countryside for me as well. However, I will not ignore the urban caches and will tend to check the listing and try and determine what is involved with each cache.

A nano on someones fence has no appeal whatsoever, however a multi/puzzle cache taking me around a town/historic area can often be excellent entertainment.

January 7, 2012

For me its forests, woods & quarries... followed by caches placed along public footpaths, preferably leading to / from the former locations. I have a particular dislike of drive-by caches, in making that statement I have to admit that I do, reluctantly, do 'em from time to time.

It just wouldn't do if we all liked the same, it takes all sorts!

1.1k · January 7, 2012

Does not matter if cache is good (smart hidden in interesting place). I know a lot of rubbish countryside geocaches and countryside does not make them better.

1.1k · January 8, 2012

Does not matter if cache is good (smart hidden in interesting place). I know a lot of rubbish countryside geocaches and countryside does not make them better.

I think there was an implied "other things being equal, urban or countryside".

Rgds, Andy

1.1k · January 8, 2012

I think there was an implied "other things being equal, urban or countryside".

As I said: it doesn't matter for me. I like to seek and interesting hides are most important for me in geocaching. Because I live in the city I lookk for caches it in the city but I like also walking countryside and I do it during weekends and then I look for geocaches there. To be honest I look for geocaches everywhere and whenever I can.

January 8, 2012

I love urban nanos and can't get enough of them. Can't be bothered with countryside caches, what's the point in having to walk for miles?

January 8, 2012

I love urban nanos and can't get enough of them. Can't be bothered with countryside caches, what's the point in having to walk for miles?

As I stated earlier "It just wouldn't do if we all liked the same, it takes all sorts".

Your opinion is as valid as that of anyone else....but give me the grass and trees any day.

Edited January 8, 2012 by Croesgadwr

January 8, 2012

Can I be awkward and say that I'm glad we have BOTH. I seem to spend most of my time countryside caching, purely because in my (semi-rural) neck of the woods, that's what there's most of, and I don't own a car.

However, I got on the bus yesterday to grab a few far-flung/puzzle caches which I needed for various challenges and took the opportunity to mop up some of the urban micros in between them as I went.

At the moment, I'm on a streak and cache every day. Having spent the last month, almost literally up to my ankles in MUD (yes, read my logs, it's a case of mud, mud and more mud at this time of year) it was a pleasant change to be making swift progress on hard terrain. Simply strolling along in the sunshine, going round the Church micros, shore-line hides and pleasant sub-urban settings which the local COs found interesting was fun.

And yes, I'd get bored of it pretty quickly, but that's why I like the VARIETY. I'll have BOTH please, with a side order of being able to choose depending on how the whim takes me.

1k · January 8, 2012

Countryside every time. No contest.

also has to be a nano doesn't it *mouse*

January 8, 2012

You are lucky, from Scarborough you can cache from town to coast to countryside by foot cycle or car on a single route. Coast and Countryside are the best though.

January 8, 2012

I like to do both, I live in the countryside, I can drive 6 miles to the coast, a couple of historic towns and have a beautiful old city 7 miles away. I have enjoyed caching in all locations but if I am on my own I feel safer in the 'urban' environments. If I have company I will venture out into the countryside then if I fall over and break something, get lost or encounter a weird person I have somebody with me. I'm off to Athens at the weekend for a wedding and hope to find at least one cache in the city for my map.

January 9, 2012

I'm happy to do both, but my favourite would be a nice circular walk in the countryside. Quite recently whilst travelling back home from a trip to London, I stopped just off the M3 and did a circular walk lasting about 3 hours and got about 25 caches. Although the walk was mainly countryside, the public footpaths were varied in that they passed by MOD training land, backs of housing estates, side by side with the noisy M3, including 2 bridges over the motorway, and through quiet woodland.

It's amazing how sometimes a really nice countryside view with nobody around can be a 5 minute walk away from a town.

January 9, 2012

There are great imaginative hides in urban areas. And I do like many urban caches especially in London. But overall, rural caches will one easily.

3.7k · January 9, 2012

Countryside for me, although an urban one I found recently (last August) was most enjoyable and turned out to be on the promenade at Scarborough (with about 10000 people around). The crowds actually made the micro easy to retrieve, because they provided cover.

January 16, 2012

Almost exclusively countryside caches. The wilder the better. When we first started 10 years ago we went for just about everything, although in those days there wasn't an awful lot to go for. Have seen some pretty abysmal contryside and some really awful urban ones, but we don't really do furtive very well and prefer to cache in some peace and quiet.

January 16, 2012

Given the number of interesting contryside caches with a good walk and some scenery and fresh air, I don't think we could really be bothered with urban caches and have so far avoided any cache where "stealth is required". There are enough suspicious characters around without us adding to the number.

January 16, 2012

Another definite vote for countryside here, I love discovering places (often not that far from where I live), that I'd otherwise never have got to. The quality of cache does matter, but to be honest, I'd still be content with a 10 mile walk full of sandwich boxes / film containers, if the scenery was good (what = good - subjective, I know).

Having said that, I can see the appeal of, and have done a few, multis set in urban surroundings that teach you something about the history / culture of where you are exploring. I'm not a fan of nano type urban caches, simply because I don't the idea of being watched / discovered.

January 16, 2012

Countryside for me too, although I'm lucky to live in the city with the most parkland per square mile in the UK, so there are heaps of "rural" walks right here in the city.

That said, if someone living in Scotland can't go out and enjoy the countryside up here, they are unlikely to enjoy anywhere, in my view.

(I was just about to put TFTC there! TFTP!)

January 17, 2012

Countryside all the way, although I have also done some very enjoyable urban caching in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Budapest, particularly older multis/virtuals where the CO has put some thought into devising a good hide and a walk around an interesting location finding out information.

Bottom of my list is suburban caching though, where the cache is e.g. a film pot on the back of a road sign in a residential area, placed there simply because the name of the road fits a particular theme or something. Anywhere with twitching net curtains = no thanks.

January 17, 2012

Depends on where I am!

Given the choice countryside wins, but urban Caching has it's own joys and challenges.

January 17, 2012

I must admit I like both , with someone who has limited mobility long country walks and difficult terrain is impossible for me but I am lucky that the location I live in there are some great urban and country areas

January 17, 2012

I must admit I like both , with someone who has limited mobility long country walks and difficult terrain is impossible for me but I am lucky that the location I live in there are some great urban and country areas

I think that sums it up well. My wife is a wheelchair-user so most countryside caches are just not accessible to us. There are some great urban caches if you look for them (try GC2P9MC if you don't believe me), combining historical perspective with a long (albeit urban) walk.

lefthanded99

Urban or countryside ?

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