The first London coffee house was set up in about 1652. Coffee houses quickly became established as hotbeds of political, philosophical, artistic and scientific debate. Public lectures were also given in coffee houses while on occasion, some coffee houses became centres of international espionage with spies writing letters in invisible ink. This Wherigo cartridge takes you to a selection of coffee houses where key figures from the 17th-19th century once drank and dined. At the end of this little trail, you will find a geocache that will reward you for your efforts.
Find out more about Wherigo caches on the Wherigo website. To do this geocache, download the cartridge here: Ye Olde Coffee Houses
ABOUT THIS WHERIGO: We have tested this cartridge with a Garmin Oregon 200, an iPhone 5 as well as an Android HTC phone using their respective Wherigo apps. This cartridge takes less than an hour to complete and the walk is approximately 2 miles long. You will visit 8 zones including the final where the geocache is hidden. You must sign the log in order to log your find on geocaching.com. When you arrive at the final zone, you will also receive a completion code which may be required to log your find on wherigo.com.
All the sites visited are available 24/7 and should be wheelchair-friendly. However for wheelchair users, bear in mind that there are some cobblestones to negotiate as well as some pavement kerbs. At the penultimate zone, you may find some problems with phone or GPS signal as it is a small alleyway - we managed to get it to work on our devices, but bear in mind that it may take some time for your GPS/phone to register the location, moving around and in/out of the zone may help.
Note that with older Garmin devices (such as the Oregon 200), for Wherigo events to 'trigger', it may be necessary to be 0m away from the zone in order for it to work. We have found greater success with smartphones and so would recommend them over older Garmin devices for playing Wherigo cartridges.
The final zone may be heavily populated by muggles especially on weekdays after 5pm. PLEASE ENSURE THE CACHE HIDING PLACE IS NOT COMPROMISED and kindly replace the cache exactly as found. The best day to do this cache is a Sunday when the final location is relatively quiet.
This Wherigo cartridge would not have been possible without the development efforts of sTeamTraen and the excellent Earwigo web tool. All text and graphics by artemisworks. No rabbits were harmed in the development of this cartridge. Thanks to Qeams and TitanRex for helping with play-testing.
References used: 'London Coffee Houses' by Bryant Lillywhite (pub 1963)