A Journey to the Centre of the Solar System
The introduction:
Welcome to the University of York! Since arriving in September, apart from beginning the work towards my degree, I have been thinking of ways to come up with fantastic things to do in York. After joining countless societies in October on a Sunday long ago, I got the bus into the city to check out some of the caches on offer. The caches I found were some of the greatest I have ever found, some with over 500 fav points in less than 5 years! This is when I knew that I had to try to make something special.
The history
After term 1, I headed back to my yellow belly home and returned with fresh ideas. After getting involved with Physics Outreach and AstroSoc I had a thought about setting up a series in order to coincide with the University Solar System trail which had been laid out a few years prior. On a very cold weekend in January after a quick sandwich in Heslington, I headed out to the start location to begin scouting out a route.
The next week, the snow came which turned the campus into a winter wonderland before the work started to pile on. I have spent the rest of term 2 focused on my Uni life until in March when the term finally ended, and the building could begin. The cache was tested on a cloudy spring Wednesday with mkaoss who, although it was their first-day geocaching, loved the way the Wherigo worked and helped me squish a few bugs to take it where it sits today…
The cache
This Wherigo is my first and will take you across both campuses of the University of York, acting as a tour-guide and testing your observational skills on the way. The route roughly follows the Solar System trail starting from the edge heading inwards and will take you between 1 and 2 hours depending on how much time you spend exploring the remainder the campus as you go along. The mapped route is about 2.25 miles long but will take you longer to return to the start.
To start the cache, you will need to travel to the University’s Heslington East campus. This is best accessed by the 66/66a bus route which runs every 5 mins during the day in term time and every 15 mins out of term time. You should travel to the Heslington East Interchange where the Wherigo can be started from. The buses can be accessed by any bus stop on campus to return to the city (these are all marked on the Geocaching page.) Parking is also available at the York Sport Village although I cannot recommend it due to price and limitations. Cycling to the campus is also recommended but please make sure to follow the cycling restrictions in some places (especially over bridges) on the Uni campus.
I love to see photos of the campus so feel free to post yours as long as there are no spoilers
With special thanks to:
Cache / Wherigo notes:
- Current version 1.7
- 1 to 2 hours completion time
- Building work on hes east
- Neptune out of action as well as lakes 2
Known bugs:
- If the zones seem a little inaccurate, please have a little wander around to trigger the Wherigo
- Changing the compass in the iPhone app causes crashes
If you have any issues with the Wherigo, I can be contacted through the Geocaching messenger and I will be happy to help you out. HAPPY HUNTING
