Please read
The cache is NOT at the posted co-ordinates. You will need to download the Reverse Wherigo cartridge from here and use it with your chosen compatible player.
This Wherigo converts your player into a virtual version of the "Reverse Cache Box" which tells you the distance to the cache, but not the bearing. Your task is to find the cache by periodically querying your Reverse Cache Box for the distance to the final location. Try to use your Reverse Cache Box as few times as possible. All instructions and necessary information needed to complete the cartridge is contained within it. The cartridge is multilingual.
The cache is somewhere on Portsea Island. The difficulty rating represents the difficulty in obtaining the numbers required, the terrain rating represents the effort required to get to and find the cache. Please do not include hints in your log about where and how you found the cache or post photos that would give away the final location.
IMPORTANT!
Some sort of motorised transport will probably be required for this cache. Please check the attributes on the cache page before setting off and come prepared accordingly. To prevent a wasted journey, be sure to download the latest version of the cartridge before attempting this Wherigo or at least test it before leaving home. It is recommended that you take the codes with you on your journey. They will be needed if it becomes necessary to restart your player for any reason.
Cathedral of St John the Evangelist, Portsmouth
The Cathedral was built in 1882 to accommodate Portsmouth's rapidly increasing congregation of Roman Catholics. It replaced a Chapel built in 1796 in Prince George Street, Portsea, half a kilometre to the west. Before 1791 it was illegal for Catholics to have chapels within towns of Borough status, but the Second Catholic Relief Act of 1791 allowed them to open a chapel in Portsmouth. The first priest was John Cahill who had a chapel in a private house in Unicorn Street. He was succeeded in 1794 by Joseph Knapp who opened a purpose-built chapel in Prince George Street seating 300 people in 1796. This chapel was enlarged in 1851 because of the ever-increasing number of Catholic soldiers in the British Army, and Portsmouth was a major garrison town. By the late 1870s an even larger church was needed. The land that the Cathedral is built on was purchased from the War Department in 1877 because Portsmouth's defensive ramparts, a hundred metres to the west, had become redundant and were demolished.
The new church was opened for worship in August 1882 and was immediately made the Mother Church of the new Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth. The old chapel was closed. The Cathedral was completed in four phases: 1882, the nave; 1886, the crossing; 1893, the chancel; 1906 narthex and west Porch. The Cathedral may be described architecturally as 19th century French Gothic because it has a curved apse and shallow transepts. It was originally designed by John Crawley to have a tall spire at the south-west corner, but the underlying geology made this impossible. Crawley died just as building started and his partner Joseph Hansom took over the project and modified the design. The Church is built of Fareham Red Brick with Portland Stone dressings. It was badly damaged when enemy bombing in 1941 destroyed the Bishop's House next door. Since restoration in 1950 after the war the inside of the Cathedral has been re-ordered three times in 1970, 1982, and 2001. Besides its function as the Mother Church of the Diocese, St John's Cathedral serves a parish of some six square kilometres with regular services.
The cathedral is one of two cathedral churches in the city, the other being the Church of England Cathedral Church of St Thomas of Canterbury which is located about one mile to the south.
The cache
At the posted co-ordinates you will find a statue with a plaque on the side of the plinth which has 12 lines of text. Note down the following values, counting the number of letters in each word:
- A - 2nd line, 10th word
- B - 4th line, 5th word
- C - 2nd line, 3rd word
- D - 4th line, 7th word
- E - 3rd line, 6th word
- F - 4th line, 2nd word
- G - 5th line, 3rd word
Substituting the values for letters, enter the following three lines of numbers into the cartridge when prompted:
E 0 F E G 0
F A D 0 0 A
0 E B 0 F C
About Wherigo Reverse Caches
Wherigo Reverse Caches were inspired by the original Reverse Geocache Puzzle Box. The cartridge for the Wherigo version was developed by -Waldmeister- and has been re-used in many different caches. At the end of the game, you will be given a personal passcode which you can enter into the cartridge if you select "create" rather than "play" when you start the cartridge. Save this code, and if you ever wish to create your own reverse cache, you can do so. -Waldmeister- would like you to inform him of your new edition of his handiwork.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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