Fourteen Caches in the Tampere Summer

Here are three suggestions for a one day caching tip to Tampere, Finland. The longest trip will take you anything from five to seven hours by foot, and some two, three hours less on a bike. The distance is about 10 kms all together. It is also possible to use the city buses, but they will not take you to all the locations.

All caches mentioned were active in January 2005. I will try to keep my eye on the caches, and alter the route, if some of the them will get archived for good. I would still recommend checking the status of all the caches before taking the tour. I am also prepared to add more caches to the tour, if new suitable ones should appear. As this was planned to be a summer-time trip, I cannot ensure that all the caches can be found in winter. The easiest way to check their winter status is to look for any comments on the cache page, or contact the cache owner.

I have liked all these caches, I hope you will, too. I haven´t listed any multis that require long detours from the main route. Still you will see many places of interest in the city of Tampere.

Three options:

1. The whole route, no visit of Särkänniemi amusement park (14 caches, 10 kms)
2. Caching plus a visit of Särkänniemi amusement park, return to the railway station by city bus number 4 or 16 (9 cahces, about 5,5 kms)
3. Short route, no visit of Särkänniemi amusement park (12 caches, 7 kms)

At a few hundred meters from Ukko-Pekka is the starting point of a multi cache "Snowman" by Scrod (GCKYAJ) (2,5/1,5). It will take you about 30 minutes to complete, not too long a walk, though. The next one to go for is a mystery cache Ojakatu by Harjus (GCM10R) (3/1,5). This one requires some homework, and if you don´t know the Finnish TV-culture very well, it might be wise to seek for some help from some Finnish cacher. You should be able to complete this in about 20 minutes. When visiting Ojakatu (the name of the street), drop in in one of the lovely little cafés.

Next you should cross the Tammerkoski rapids along the bridge of Satakunnankatu and get yourself photographed at Tampere city centre WebCam by jhgrc (GC6188) (1/1). On the way there you can check the starting points of two multis: An investigation about Finlayson´s environment by Scrod (GCKCMT) (2/1,5) and Nature trail to English Toffee Mystery I by Scrod (GCKCNB) (2,5/3). After the webcam you can finish off these multicaches. They will take about an hour of your time.

If you wish to take a shorter route (option 3), go now for the Captain's Special Nr. 4 aka The Tammerkoski rapids by Captain Morgan & Crew (GCH788) (2/1). Note, that there are some restrictions on when this cache can be found. If choosing the shorter tour, skip also the four following caches.

Close to the multis by Scrod, is located S/S Kuru, part 1. by Captain Morgan (GC8C75) (3/1,5). Don´t be distressed, if it takes you a while to find. We visited the place three times before finding it . From Kuru it is easy to go to the Särkänniemi amusement park (350 meters). The cache Closer to the Särkänniemi "Find&Sign II" by Scrod (GCKM49) (1,5/1) is located in the Särkänniemi area, but as it is quite far from the route, you should not go for it unless visiting Särkänniemi any way.

The next walk is about 1,5 kms long, but visiting Tampere €uro Swap by Harjus (GCGGNQ) (2/2) and the lovely park, is worth the effort. In the park you can play minigolf in the summer time. Please, note that this cahce contains only Euro coins as trade items.

It will take you about one kilometer to get back to the city center and Muggle's Special (part 1) by Jurn:a & _Pear (GCKVD0) (3/1,5), but be prepared, that you might not dare to search for it, as the muggle population is very dense here. Next you should cross the Hämeensilta bridge using the same side where you found the previous cache.

If you chose the shorter walk after the webcam, this is the point where you return to the route.

Now it is time for a multicache called Captain's Special Nr. 3 aka Tampere walkabout by Captain Morgan (GCGQQ4) (3/1). You should check the time limits for searching this cache.

The next stop is at Manse Police by Captain Morgan (GCK5VN) (2/1), after that you should reach for the multi The offspring of Tampere Dockyard - event by hippihiiri & Captain_Morgan et al. (GCHGX2) (1,5/1,5) (this one also requires some homework) and a classic cache, Sorsapuisto by Harjus (GCJJJ2) (1/1). This cache has been the .first to find ever. for so many of us!

After a short walk back to the station, you can jump on a train and congratulate yourself! I don´t think I could have done this in one day!

If you have any questions or comments on this cache tour (including poor English expression), do not hesitate to contact me through our user page. The inspiration for this cache tour was the Caching tour of Galway I would love to see more caching tours being written . please, let me know if you have done one of your own town or city.

Best wishes, Johanna aka Mum@TeamEimi, http://www.geocaching.com/profile/?guid=9d442418-11f4-4f80-8494-79cf88a66ebb