During the first weekend in September, Coast Alive partners around the North Sea took part in a weekend of various activities. For the first time, the collaboration with the IAT was visible on signs exhibited by all 14 partners in 5 countries, from the spectacular fiord-indented coastline of Norway, through the pastoral countryside of Sweden and sandy landscape of Denmark, along the formidable dikes of the Netherlands, and across the beaches, forests and moors of England.
Trail markers will soon show the IAT logo/blaze to guide “Appalachian” walkers along the North Sea Trails, where in most areas overnight accommodation is never far away. The Coast Alive website (www.coast-alive.eu) will help locate relevant services, and provide local history and lore to help bring the regions alive.
The landscape and culture varies significantly from region to region, but in all of them geocaching is a widely popular pasttime that the Coast Alive partners use to attract a new usergroup to their trails. They have even commissioned their own geocoin which is now starting to disseminate from caches along the North Sea.
Coast Alive Geocache Challenge for North Sea Trail Day – 3 & 4 September 2011
North York Moors National Park Report
On Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th September the Geocaching Community was invited to take part in our North Sea Trail Day Challenge.
Participants were requested to visit two of the geocaches that had been placed by the National Park as part of the Coast Alive Initiative, working with staff and pupils from the Primary Schools at Hawsker and Hackness. In return for logging their visits on the Geocaching website, each participant would receive a Coast Alive Geocoin, which they could then place in a Geocache of their choice.
Dave Kitching (right) and his geocache friend Micky after being presented with their geocoin
The Geocaches are located at Hayburn Wyke and Ravenscar, and can be linked by a 5 mile walk along the Cleveland Way, which is also part of the International Appalachian Trail in our area. We encouraged the Geocachers to follow the trail by linking them to a Google Map which shows details of the route and describes public transport options.
The event was promoted through a press release, with copy produced in a number of local and regional papers; the Cleveland Way and North York Moors National Park websites and Facebook pages; and on other social media and blogging sites for Geocachers.
The weather over the weekend was good on Saturday, with rain Sunday morning before clearing again later. The event was a great success, with 14 geocachers registering their visits, and an estimated 25 to 30 people taking part.
The response from participants was extremely favourable, with a number saying it brought them to an area they had never visited before.
Some of the comments were as follows:
- We had a great day walking and caching. We even drove up and camped on Friday just for this event!
- Both caches led us to places we’d never dreamed of going, and the history behind them is very interesting.
- Thank you for giving me a new challenge.
- Many thanks for setting up the challenge and for getting me to visit the area. I’ve never been there before and really enjoyed my time spent here today.
- What a great way to start introducing people to geocaching in the Park.
- It’s good to see the local “kids” are getting involved with geocaching, as it’s good for skills and getting out into and understanding the countryside.
- Thanks for bringing me to an area I might not have explored otherwise.
