A Non-geocaching Puzzle....

[+rutson]

Real treasure!

[+milvus-milvus]

I discovered Dan & Pid's Masquerade

last night, and spent over an hour reading up on Kit Williams book, which I hadn't heard of since 1979. Had to go and complete the cache at lunchtime. This seems to be in a similar vein. Looks interesting... and real gold!

[+Happy Humphrey]

So..have you cracked it, Ian?

[+rutson]

Nope

[+Pengy&Tigger]

Perhaps it's somewhere along the river SEVERN if you follow it from the SEA?

 

T

Edited March 24, 2005 by Pengy&Tigger

[+sTeamTraen]

Isn't it amazing how these treasure hunts never seem to end with the alleged gold being found ?

[Sparticus]

Look at the puzzle closely. Pengy and tigger seem to be on the right track. The wiggly line. Is it wiggly deliberatly or does it follow the path of something. mm let me think. Any more clues.

 

Oh, by the way, I don't have anything to do with this treasure hunt. Just seemed logical to me. Bit too far to go though to find a 1oz gold bar.

[SlytherinAlex]

I have some ideas about this one, but I'm not sharing them on a public forum.

 

-

[NickPick]

Well, a 1oz gold krugerand seems to retail for about £200. So if you don't live too far away, it could be worth hunting for it.

 

I wonder what they have done regards landowners permission for burying it.

[+sTeamTraen]

I wonder what the little cube on the 7 is for ?

[+-Phoenix-]

its a building on a 'yellow' road on an OS map, my guess is its a local road feature than looks like a 7 with a building on the corner, the line and arrow look footpath ish... in fact the whole thing is done in OS colours.

[Sparticus]

Maybe one of us is going to get it first.

What a great way to celebrate a FTF within a cache.

If only we were all rich!!

Edited March 24, 2005 by Sparticus

[+Happy Humphrey]

the line and arrow look footpath ish

I think it's more likely to be a contour line (hence "C"?). LU and KY could be postcodes (Luton and Kirkcaldy).

 

I'll have 10%.

 

HH.

[+-Phoenix-]

I was looking at it as UK and LY

 

you could read it as C in UK between L and Y ie Coventry in UK between London and York

 

but I like the contour line Idea

Edited March 24, 2005 by -Phoenix-

[+Happy Humphrey]

The UK and LY explanation sounds likely, but I suspect it's between smaller places than London and York.

[+McDeHack]

This sounds rather complicated to me. I think I shall stick to finding tupper, ammo boxes, and 35mm containers.

[+Alibags]

its a building on a 'yellow' road on an OS map, my guess is its a local road feature than looks like a 7 with a building on the corner, the line and arrow look footpath ish... in fact the whole thing is done in OS colours.

Using Pengy and Tiggers insight, I took it to mean that the town (or nearby location) was Upon Severn (geddit) but could not find any likely suspects which were anything like Lucky or derivations thereof. I also think that the full stops between the letters are significant, and may spell something out which is an even bigger clue.

 

My brain hurts!

 

I am not going anywhere in that sort of area, but it would be cool if a geocache4r found it (and got a round in!!)

[+-Phoenix-]

I think the Severn idea is way too blantant, and may just be a road feature.

 

The wavy line is interesting, since if we follow the idea that its an OS based clue, then I can think of no example of a wavy black line.

 

the line could be river course, coastline, contour has been suggested.... for all I know it could be a drunken ant!

[+-Phoenix-]

diamonds similar to the full stops do appear on an OS map, but, they are red in colour and signify a NAtional Trail..... is it possible that such a trail was closed recently???

[+Wuthered]

Isn't there always some debate about the true geographical 'C'entre of the UK?

 

Now, if a contour line running through this were to match the line drawn ...

[nobby.nobbs]

you're just as likely to find it using a blindfold, a pin and a map of the uk.

 

but as has been said good luck to all trying. hope a cacher does find it.

[+Happy Humphrey]

Isn't there always some debate about the true geographical 'C'entre of the UK?

The telephone box in Dunsop Bridge is the centre, supposedly.

[+Wuthered]

The telephone box in Dunsop Bridge is the centre, supposedly.

 

Some people reckon the centre as the point furthest from the sea, which gets nicely round the debate of Scottish Islands, Northern Ireland etc. If this is the case it is thought to be at -

 

It could be argued the centre of Britain is the furthest point from the sea.

 

The Ordnance Survey says this point lies just east of Church Flatts Farm, about a mile south-east of Coton in the Elms, Derbyshire.

 

Have a look at Multimap Here.

 

There is a familiar feature just east of the farm. Do we have a geocacher nearby?

 

Edited to add

And there is a cache here, The cache furthest from the sea . So a better reason for checking it out.

Edited March 25, 2005 by Wuthered

[+The Hornet]

As Wuthered said, recognise this?

 

Edited March 25, 2005 by The Hornet

[+milvus-milvus]

Stunning! Good work wuthered. Who'll get there first?

Edited March 25, 2005 by milvus-milvus

[+Stuey]

I nominate Wuthered as being a true smarty-pants!!!! That's completely ace!!!

 

Who's gone to get the treasure then????

[+Wuthered]

Who's gone to get the treasure then????

 

I hope someone will. Living in Northern Ireland, I am out of the running and renounce any claim. Although it would have been nice to place it as a FTF prize for a four Provinces multi we are planning here.

[+Stuey]

Who's gone to get the treasure then????

 

I hope someone will.

I would expect there to be a race to the spot

[+Simply Paul]

Why am I thinking there will be four palm trees there, in the shape of a W?

 

SP

[+Happy Humphrey]

Well done, Geocache team! Go and dig it up before the treasure hunters get there.

 

I won't be collecting the prize as I'm 800 miles from there at the moment. It should really be placed in a new cache now as a FTF prize. And everyone in this thread should get first crack at it...

 

HH.

[Leoness]

I hope someone takes a metal detector with them or else there's the potential for a very big hole to be dug in the general area!

[+-Phoenix-]

has someone gone to get this, cos if not Im leaving now!

[+Stuey]

Leave anyway!!!

[+Bill D (wwh)]

We know the vicinity, and we know the road and the contour line, but we still don't know where to dig.

 

The contour line through the farm points to the spot. But so does the red dotted line. Is it a footpath? The contour line, if followed, crosses a footpath, and coincidentally or not a river meets or almost meets at the same spot, a little over a kilometer east of the farm. Do we dig there?

 

Or do we dig where the contour line crosses the road? If so, what is the significance of the dotted red line?

 

And what is the line of diamonds? There are no national trails on multimap or streetmap in that area (if at all on those sites). Does anyone have a recent OS map of the area?

 

Also, we're digging for something quite small. Even a foot out and we'd miss it. Either there's some sort of marker on the ground, or we're missing some other clue in the image.

 

Afterthought: could the diamonds represent a marked pipeline on the ground? Dig beside a marker at the spot?

 

Edit: And do the L and the Y have some significance?

Edited March 25, 2005 by Bill D (wwh)

[+-Phoenix-]

I aint got a metal detector and its 1 160Km drive from here

[Leoness]

Afterthought:  could the diamonds represent a marked pipeline on the ground?  Dig beside a marker at the spot?

 

 

Aren't gas pipelines marked by those fluorescent orange markers on posts which can be seen from the air by helicopter? It would be interesting to find out if there are any in the vicinity.

[+-Phoenix-]

personally I think whatever the rest of the clue means its probably only decodeable at ground level

[+Eckington]

Bill said "But so does the red dotted line. Is it a footpath? "

 

The OS map shows a footpath at about the corret angle and in the correct place........

[+-Phoenix-]

Im pretty sure its as simple as that Eckington, I felt that would be a footpath from the start

[+Wuthered]

We know the vicinity, and we know the road and the contour line, but we still don't know where to dig.

 

Sitting here in my armchair my read on it is - The treasure is at the junction of the track and the road. There are no contours invloved in it - just a wiggly line showing where the centre should be on the OS map. And the diamonds are fiducials - which appear on some text layout programs to assist in registering the positions of the letters. Go for it.

[+-Phoenix-]

surely we can tag someoen in that area to go dig it up, preferably with a metal detector

[+The Hornet]

So how many of us "armchair sleuths" are going to get our percentage for all the hints/clues/maps/etc.?

[+-Phoenix-]

Well frankly I wish the best of luck to whoever finds it, personally Im not up to a 2 hr drive now, else I would be on the road already.

 

If anyone who does retrieve it feels that my contribution is worthy of a share then I will nominate a charity to send it to, or agree a charity with others.

 

I would love to think that after the team effort we have put in here that someone does retrieve it, I waoul hate to think that someone has been watching this thread and just dashed off to reap the rewards

[+The Hornet]

Well frankly I wish the best of luck to whoever finds it, personally Im not up to a 2 hr drive now, else I would be on the road already.

 

If anyone who does retrieve it feels that my contribution is worthy of a share then I will nominate a charity to send it to, or agree a charity with others.

 

I would love to think that after the team effort we have put in here that someone does retrieve it, I waoul hate to think that someone has been watching this thread and just dashed off to reap the rewards

Good thinking that person!

 

I can think of a charity close to the hearts of many geocachers that could benefit. This way there would be no arguments

 

If that's too subtle then think of a very big wave!

[+Bill D (wwh)]

The Hornet wrote:

I can think of a charity close to the hearts of many geocachers that could benefit.

I quite agree. There's a strange irony, though, in the fact that this is the furthest point from the sea!

[+Learned Gerbil]

I was convinced by the idea of the 7 being an OS construction. It all fits for me. Too far I am afraid - so the best of luck for anyone who can get there! I like the idea of the prize being donated to one of the major players in the big wave saga.

 

I see that further up the path there is a very wavy 100 metre contour line that looks a little like the one in the clue stretched out. I hope it is simpler than finding where the path crosses the contour!

[+Simply B]

What happened next ???????

 

Having come to this thread on Sat morning, I read with mounting excitement as the riddles were solved and the cachers closed in on the prize all through Fri evening. And then ... nothing.

 

I now feel like when you set the video to tape a film. You settle down to watch it the next day, are really enjoying it, only to find out that the tape ran out five minutes before the climax. Who can you call who knows the ending? Did they find the treasure, and are now nursing hangovers in a nearby hotel? Are there now 10,000 holes (and counting) along the footpath amid a growing crowd of spade-wielding maniacs? Please someone, put me out of my misery!!!

 

My only helpful idea is to point out that "fiducials" are also markers used in other practices, including surveying, to mark reference points. So is there something like a milepost on the roadside where it meets the path? There doesn't seem to be a trig point anywhere nearby, which would have been neat. (Not that I'm suggesting digging it up and moving it a few feet sideways to look for gold...)

[+Happy Humphrey]

I think the purpose of the "fiducials" is simply to say that the treasure is at "the furthest point (i.e. fiducial) from the "C"". Which is why the rightmost one is slightly separated from the others.

 

I guess it would be worth asking the puzzle setter whether anyone has claimed the prize: also mentioning the spot and checking whether or not a metal detetor will be necessary.

 

HH.

[+-Phoenix-]

Ive been there today with little sucess, the field looks like its been searched with metal detectors (there are pock marks everywhere) and needless to say, Im not a Kruggerand better off for the effort

Edited March 26, 2005 by -Phoenix-

[+Stuey]

needless to say, Im not a Kruggerand better off for the effort

Oh no... bad luck . Let's just hope that another cacher has got it and will tell us about it later! Sorry you had a wasted journey