“We do not need magic to transform our world. We carry all of the power we need inside ourselves already.” — J.K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
If you’ve ever read any of the Harry Potter books or seen any of the movies, you’ll know non-magical people are called muggles. You may also know in the geocaching community, muggles are non-geocachers. This is not the only thing that geocachers and Harry Potter lovers have in common. They both share the same excitement in creating magic and discovery in everyday life. Now, you too can discover what it’s like to be a Hogwarts student while on the epic Multi-Cache journey to find Harry Potter’s Abenteuer.
The journey begins just 60km north of Frankfurt, where the cache is located in the picturesque hills of the Lahn valley. There, you will embark on a series of 18 stages that are each inspired by a different scene of the Harry Potter books and movies. Each stage was designed in detail by the cache owners, blackschneck, also known as Harry, Ron, and Hermione.
One such stage invites you to embody the appearance of Harry Potter himself with a Gryffindor scarf, broomstick, round eyeglasses, and wand. There is so much detail to this cache that there are certain items that must be carried from one stage in order to complete the next stage. Because of this, only one team of 2-4 people are allowed to find the cache per day. To prevent multiple teams on the same day, there is a calendar to schedule your visit. Before you come, the cache owners will email you with all the information you need for your magical experience.
In their words:
Ever since we started to cache we’ve always wanted to make a Harry Potter inspired cache. Because we are big fans of the books and movies. After two visits to the original movie sets in England, we started getting ideas how we could make it happen. We’re extremely happy to see all the positive feedback in the logs by old and new Harry Potter fans. They give us new energy to keep repairing and improving the cache. And now it’s your turn to come and explore Harry Potter’s world in Hessen.
Things to take with you:
There is not a short log on the cache page, but AR-Team’s thoughts on Harry Potters Abenteur summarize the experience well:
We had thought we were normal cachers, as Harry believed he was a normal boy. At least we thought that until the 11th of August when the owl letter reached us and called us to play GC6ACTD —Harry Potter’s Abenteur. The trip to the magical land of the Harry Potter cache was an unforgettable experience for us. Like Harry, we jumped into the adventure, which brought us to many different spectacular stages where we fought against beasts, classmates, and fabulous creatures. At the starting coordinates we arrived at the land of cachers, witches and wizards.
At each stage, we were surprised with how the dedication and detail that was put into this cache and all of its stages. Awesome. After a good 7 hours we completed the amazing cache and we will always remember this experience.
We find here is a magical cache of the category “exceptional cache – exquisitely recommended”! And the bar is truly raised to a new level of quality. Thank you blackschneck for the endless effort and time that has been put into every single detail!
After 5 km (3 mi), 18 stages, and a 6-10 hour re-creation of the magical wizarding world of Harry Potter, you will surely want to sit back and enjoy some butterbeer. Now grab your broomstick and wand and be on your way!
Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world.
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Tucked into the cliffs on the Irish eastern coast lies a cave, and within it, this Geocache of the Week. With a title like, Where Bats Dare, where else would this geocache be located?
Perhaps another title for this cache could be Where Batty Geocachers Dare, because this T4 Mystery Cache requires ample preparation, research, and equipment to access safely. Geocachers who attempt this cache should pay strict attention to the ebb and flow tides. At high tide the cave fills with water. Giving you only a two hour window to get in and get out before the treacherous tide rushes back in.
The entrance is located at sea level on the side of a cliff. You will lose GPS signal immediately upon entering the cave and will have to use your best geosenses to poke around the dark and wet rocks. At the end of the abyss lies the treasure, a small tupperware container.
What to bring:
The cave is also home to sensitive fauna and flora which may excite you or frighten you! But like most areas with a sensitive ecosystem, the cache owner reminds us to not disturb the environment inside.
What geocachers had to say:
This cache caught our attention when we were planning the trip to Ireland! Equipped with the tides table, we decided the afternoon would be the best opportunity!
Entered the site at the western beach, since we were traveling counter-clockwise. We had fun climbing over large rocks and little pools, until we arrived at the cave Exchanged our walking-shoes for Crocs, and went straight through the puddle towards the cave.
Thanks to the detailed description, we found the box and logged the find. The water would still recede a bit more while we were on our way, it was fun to watch it! Thanks for this great cache, which deserves a favorite point.
Well this was some adventure! And, of course, somewhere I would never have seen if not for geocaching and toczygroszek. So first off, a big thanks to the CO for the hide and the waypoints. I parked on Ceanchor Road and followed the track to path 1. From there it was straightforward.
I was at sea level over an hour before low tide so I was in no great hurry. I sat at the cave entrance and removed my walking boots, preferring bare feet for the water pool and the business in the cave. I found no obvious signs of life in the main cave or the side passage other than a couple of pigeons near the entrance.
A word from the Cache Owner toczygroszek:
“In my opinion Howth Summit is the most beautiful area in Dublin, so I decided place there something special. While looking for a spot to hide a geocache, I found few interesting caves. Most of the caves are only accessible on the low tide. One of them was perfect for geocache.
As the cache type is mystery, I supposed that it would only be found by locals. But after a few logs I realized that many tourists were visiting the cache. And I find that amazing, because you have to prepare before — you have to check a tide time, use torch (flashlight) and have good boots. Now, it’s probably the most popular cave in Dublin 🙂 I’m really happy that people enjoy the cave and can discover wild part of Dublin.
Continue to explore some of the most amazing geocaches around the world.
Check out all of the Geocaches of the Week on the Geocaching blog. If you would like to nominate a Geocache of the Week, fill out this form.
The town of Maastricht in the Netherlands has an impressive number of 1677 national heritage sites, which is the second highest number of a Dutch town, after Amsterdam. It’s become known as the birthplace of the European Union, European citizenship, and the single European currency, the euro.
A realist, in Venice, would become a romantic by mere faithfulness to what he saw before him. -Arthur Symons
What you see on this Multi-Cache journey in Venice will surely turn you into a romantic. For anyone visiting Venice (Venezia) you will want a tour guide to navigate you through the tight twists and turns of this unique city with a transport system of interconnected canals.
Death in Venice will take you on a 7-part Multi-Cache tour of the city, weaving you through back streets and historical sites, transporting you to a time over a thousand years ago. This is a death themed Multi-Cache that will take you to spots plagued by stories of death and misfortune. How intriguing!
Hidden in 2002, this older Multi-Cache took almost a whole day for the cache owner to create. Some geocachers have taken several days days to complete the entire adventure. Make sure to take note when certain locations are accessible.
Part 1: The Bells, the Bells — A good spot to view the entire trip ahead of you and gather your first set of clues.
Part 2: A reminder of nastiness amidst beauty — A beautiful and often missed campo with a spooky memorial.
Part 3: Hunchback — This ugly statue was a welcome sight in Venice’s colourful past. Miscreants would be flogged across a nearby bridge and run a gauntlet of angry citizens. They would be spared if they could make it to this figure.
Part 4: Dragon-Slayer — A tough campo to find, but if you can spot a dangerous looking bell tower you are nearly there! There is a mosaic of a famous dragon slayer nearby.
Part 5: Wages of Sin — There is a wall here with 3 intriguing statues.The story goes that these were merchants who tried to cheat an old lady and were consequently turned to stone.
Part 6: A sorry tale — This is a real gothic horror story. The tale is that a mad turk ripped out his mother’s heart and ran to this spot with the dripping organ in one hand and the knife in the other. The heart spoke to him (did I mention that he was mad?) and in his fright he tripped up the steps, fell into the canal and drowned. Apparently the area is still haunted by his restless spirit.
Part 7: Don’t Look Now — The final resting place for the cache, wink wink.
This one was awesome! Loved the places it took us and the stories we discovered at the waypoints. Favourite!
Found this beautiful cache over the course of two days while exploring Venice. Thanks for showing us sights beyond the well trodden path, especially San Michele! TFTC!
Skybluesbazza and I were spending a few days in Venice. Yesterday we explored the back streets, picking up the clues for this Multi – thanks for a very well set up Multi, that took us to places that we would have otherwise missed, and gave us some information about the different points. Today we got an all day boat ticket and visited Murano. This was just a short stop off on the way back to the main island! We soon found our way to the final coordinates and we were very relieved to find the cache!
We have been staying in Venice for three days, so there was enough time to visit all the interesting places you showed to us. It is so amazing – and enjoyable for us – that there are less tourists as soon as you leave the main streets. Thank you so much for hiding this cache. It was a great pleasure to walk through Venice and to visit the various stages. Of course, it is one of our favorite caches.
