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Virginia Water - OK020E
A walk of about 6 miles around Virginia Water lake.
Owner: Amberel
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Altitude: 66 m. ASL.
 Region: United Kingdom (UK) > Surrey, East and West Sussex
Cache type: Other type
Size: Small
Status: Archived
Time required: 3:30 h    Distance to travel: 10.00 km
Date hidden: 23-01-2011
Date created: 23-01-2011
Date published: 23-01-2011
Last modification: 21-01-2020
5x Found
0x Not found
2 notes
watchers 0 watchers
5 visitors
3 x rated
Rated as: Good
1 x recommended
This cache is recommended by: sandvika
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Cache attributes

Long walk / hike  Parking nearby  Point of interest 

Please read the Opencaching attributes article.
Description EN

For this cache you will need a mobile phone with a data connection and a web browser. It is a multi-cache - as you answer each question, you are presented with the next waypoint.

You start here http://www.amberel.com/Virginia.html.

The web pages are designed for display on small screens - the maximum width is 222 pixels. In case you are not on an unlimited data tarriff, and to help you calculate the charges, the entire cache should require less than a megabyte of data.

All the answers are single words - there are no spaces. Where the answer is a number, enter it as a number rather than spelling it out.

The co-ordinates above are for free car parking in Wick Road. But because it is free it is often full up. It is less busy if you arrive early, or during the week. The alternative is to pay for parking - the entrance is just a few yards to the east, but it costs £6.00!

You should allow 3 to 4 hours for the cache.

Refreshments are available at approx. the halfway stage, but only at weekends.

GPS reception at the final location is poor, but the last page gives explicit directions.

Dogs are permitted, but in places (including the Valley Gardens) must be on a lead.

Cycling is permitted on about two thirds of the route, but not in Valley Gardens. I'm not sure how appropriate it would be to push a cycle as some of the route through the gardens is over grassy areas between the shrubs and flower beds. Furthermore, the final location of the cache is in an area of dense vegetation where it would not be possible to take a cycle.

The cache is not suited to wheelchair access for some of the same reasons as cycling. Access to Valley Gardens is fine, of course, but there are some significant hills, and some of the going is on grass which can be very soft and muddy in places. And the final location is overgrown.

If you plan to do this cache, feel free to email me beforehand for my mobile number, or even email me from the cache if you get stuck - if I'm working at home, which frequently I am, I'll probably get the email within 15 minutes. Taking my phone number is particularly relevant to the first one or two people to tackle the cache.

I checked network coverage on my iPhone at intervals, and always had a signal, though not always a strong one. But if an iPhone can get a signal all the time, other phones should be OK.

I took the photographs on a very dull winter's day. If anyone does the cache and can provide better quality images I would be pleased to receive them.


Web browser issues: The web pages are tested with Internet Explorer and FireFox on a PC, and display fine. However, it is how they display on mobile phones which is more important.

On Pocket Internet Explorer under earlier versions of Windows Mobile, they display well, but occasionally I find that when I tap the text input box, the keyboard is displayed (as it should) but then disappears again. To get it to work, I have to tap outside the input box, scroll the screen and tap inside the input box again. I assume this is a bug in PIE and there is nothing I can do about it.

As far as I know I have resolved all issues with iPhone, Android and Blackberry browsers.

I would also be pleased to hear of the results on any other phone.


Any feedback on the concept, whether you do the cache or not, would be welcome.

Summary:

Nice walk? Yes, a lovely walk of about 6 miles over varied terrain.
Great views? Beautiful gardens, grassland, woods and lakes.
Interesting location? Yes.
One of a series? Yes - Isabella, Bushy Park West and Spanker's Hill.
Cache trail? No.
Unusual hide? No, but dense vegetation.
Cache and Dash? Definitely not.
Size? Small.
Additional waypoints
Stage Symbol Type Coordinates Description
Physical point --- Entrance and first waypoint
Physical point --- Exit to car park
Log entries: Found 5x Not found 0x Note 2x All entries