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Treasure hunting goes hi-tech
If you go down to the woods today you're in for a big surprise - hidden behind a tree, or a rock, or in a handy cave could be a stash of goodies.
But you will probably only find it if you have a hand-held GPS device.
There are literally thousands of hidden 'geocaches' across Lancashire, with nearly 500 within a 10-mile radius of Preston alone.
Yet for most people the word geocaching means nothing.
In fact the sport is nothing more than a grown-up treasure hunt crossed with hide and seek and a little bit of modern technology thrown in.
Geocachers, or "finders," hunt for "caches" which have been placed about the countryside by "hiders".
In each cache is placed a trackable tag, with its own unique code.
Geocachers use hand held GPS (global positioning systems) to track them down.
A geocacher can place a geocache anywhere in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache's existence and location online.
'Lollybob' is one member of the North West group nwcachers.co.uk
In fact Lollybob is two people, Lorraine Beever, 53, from Wigan and her partner Bob Aston, 53 from Dudley.
The pair were, until recently, the 'top hiders' in the UK, having hidden 267 caches across the region.
If you fancy a go at geocaching visit geocaching.com
For more on this story see Wednesday's Lancashire Evening Post.
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Weather for Preston
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -4 C to 2 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: South east
Tomorrow
Light rain
Temperature: 2 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: South east
