Geocaching in the UK and Ireland

This page is intended to provide a list of resources available to cachers living in, or visiting, the United Kingdom and Ireland. Hopefully it will answer many of the questions often asked in the UK forum

The links provided are not supported nor endorsed by Groundspeak, Inc.

If you have any questions about caching in the UK either post them on the forum or e-mail faq@geocache.co.uk

Geocacheuk - This is a site providing information, statistics (including cache downloads) and chat on all aspects of UK caching. It also has a comprehensive Trigpointing section and a very useful interactive cache map of the UK

GAGB - The Geocaching Association of Great Britian was set up to provide a voice for UK cachers and to negotiate access rights with landowners. It has produced a set of good practice guidelines which have been accepted as the basis of a number of agreements with landowners. A list of landowners with whom agreements have been reached is listed in the GAGB Landowner Database (GLAD)

Forestry Commission (South East England) - Permission has been granted to place caches in woods managed by Forest Enterprise in the South East of England. The area covered is: Isle of Wight, Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, Kent, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Some of Oxfordshire and Hertfordshire. When placing a cache the cache owner must complete an agreement form (right click here then select "Save Target As" to save it to disk before opening it) Complete and sign it either with name and e-mail or with an image of actual signature then forward it to the appropriate reviewer. The reviewer will then check it out, append a map of the area showing the cache location then forward it to the Forestry Commission on the cacher's behalf.

Chris 'n Maria's Homepage - Set up by a well known geocaching duo. This has an excellent " tube map " guide to caching in London and is home to an immensely useful spreadsheet " Waypoint Workbench " which is used to convert between file formats and much more. It also has a useful links section.

Geocaching Today - A web based magazine covering many aspects of Geocaching activity. Run by Geocachers for Geocachers.

Hampshire County Council - The first public body to approve of Geocaching on their land based on these guidelines

Bucks Caching - Produced by Dan Wilson, this site is designed to tell you all you need to know about caching in Buckinghamshire.

Geocaching Ireland - This site aims to provide everything you need to know when geocaching in Ireland. It has FAQ's, an interactive county-by-country map of the country, information about pending event caches, a link to the geocachingireland.com forums where the Irish Geocaching community chat, and much more.

GeoHikes is a brand spanking new website designed for walkers and geocachers alike. The site contains a growing number of varying length walking routes in the UK which allow you to get the most of of your geocaching adventures.

Streetmap Linker - Gary Player's very useful utility for obtaining a 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey map from a set of WGS84 co-ordinates

Guidelines for placing a geocache. Please be sure to check these before submitting your new cache.

UK specific guidelines - In addition to the worldwide guidelines mentioned above, these have been agreed by the Forestry Commission and other major landowners as the basis for listing caches in the UK. Please also check these when submitting a cache in the UK

An Introduction to Geocaching - This is a useful document you might like to use when trying to obtain permission to place a new cache. It explains in basic terms what the sport is all about.

A guide to Rights of Ways, and the Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CROW), regarding Open access land produced by Mancunian Pyrocacher

Micro cache Logbook - Print this out to make a log sheet for 35mm film can micro caches. Also one for APS film cans

Basic cache document - When placing your new cache be sure to label the container clearly "Geocache - Contents Harmless" (or something similar). Also leave a copy of this document in your cache. A prettier version of the document can be downloaded fom Dan's Bucks Caching site.

Handicaching - is a site that aims to improve the accessibility of Geocaching for physically handicapped people over the world. It includes a handy way of rating caches you own or visit, for accessibility.

I realise this list may not be comprehensive so if you have, or know of, any resource that could be included, please drop a note to faq@geocache.co.uk

If you have any general questions about geocaching, don't forget to check out the or check out the FAQ's at Groundspeak.com

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