This geocache is not at the stated coordinates. Wherigo caches require certain hardware and a cartridge from wherigo.com. This cart doesn't guide you around, instead wander around the area enjoying the views and perhaps the nearby barbecue pits…?
This module has three difficulty levels: easy, medium and hard, from perhaps 45 mins up to two hours, though luck and judgement do play a part.

The Story

In this story you play the part of Queen Æthelflæd of Mercia. The year is 913, and Mercia is a border country – you have Danes and Norse to the east of you. They love to “go a-viking” – to raid your lands and take what the like – and you’ve been working hard to build up your defenses. Today you have heard reports of a Viking raiding parting in the woods near Cannock. Your task is to find out where the Vikings are and battle them! You have sent some scouts on ahead – see if you can find them, they will know where the Vikings are. You are likely to need more help though, and luckily help is nearby in the form of a dozen groups of your subjects (and others!) who you can try to recruit into your army. Find enough of them to defeat the Vikings that you face.

The Game

Variable Difficulty level: In this whereigo you can set the difficulty level for yourself. Cannock Chase is a wonderful place to spend a few hours, caching, walking, cycling, whatever you like. Why not set the difficulty level to ‘high’ and see how many recruits you can draft in to your army! If you have less time available, simply set the difficulty level lower when you launch the module. Tips: find your own personal guard, and find your scouts. Stick to paths to the east and west of the starting zone – you can go as far as the lakes to the east, and as far as the ‘White House’ to the west. There’s a ‘spoiler’ photo in the gallery if you don’t enjoy wandering around our natural habitat enjoying fresh air LOL. The game saves automatically when you enter the final battle. If you lose(!), you can always choose to reload that saved copy.

Finding The Cache

The cache is within a few hundred metres of the Start Zone. But you’ll need to defeat the Vikings before we tell you where. At that time a zone will become available to you and the coordinates will show up on screen. On easy level you could manage this in less than 45 mins. Normal mode wouldn’t take much more than an hour, especially if you use the spoiler map. On the hardest difficult level this could take a couple of hours, though doing it by bike would be an option if you have a GPS holder on your handlebar. Your personal guard will keep count of your army size. Once you have met your scouts, your personal guard can also remind you of how big the Viking army is, and the battlefield will then be available for you to easily navigate back to.

How to download and use a whereigo

Follow the link to whereigo.com to download the cartridge. Only certain devices can play a whereigo module, so check out the details on whereigo.com. Before you leave home check the module at least opens to the starting dialogue. You can then close without saving.

Android Technical Tips:

• After download, use a file manager app to move the file from /download to /whereyougo. Sometimes you even have to rename the file (the extension should be .gwc – but sometimes Android adds .download and you need to fix that if it happens).
• When you open Whereugo, before you click ‘start’ click the settings button.
  1. Make sure GPS is set to be always on (deselect ‘disable when hidden).
  2. GPS Beep. Please turn it off (it really travels far in the quiet woodlands!)
• Maps. The best maps for the Chase are either Bing OS Maps or one of the hybrid/satellite maps. Whereyougo has a hint for how to download offline maps from home – it shares them with Locus. You can add Bing’s OS maps to Locus using an addon for Locus, then download the maps there and make them available to whereyougo. This will mean much better battery life while on the Chase.

Have Fun!

Hall of Fame

• The Haywood Hornet (Claimed after a return visit)
• shropshire lasses (return visit)