Kidnapped was chosen as the focus for the 2007 “One Book
- One Edinburgh” campaign. Copies of the novel were given away free
in local libraries and two graphic novel versions of the story, one
in Scots, were published.
The story is told by David Balfour, a young man who travels from
the Borders to Edinburgh to seek his fortune in the years just
after the 1745 rebellion. Tricked by his wicked Uncle Ebeneezer,
David is kidnapped aboard a ship bound for America. Shipwrecked off
the west coast of Scotland, falsely accused of complicity in a
murder and hunted by redcoats David makes his way back south in the
company of a fugitive Jacobite, Alan Breck Stewart. It is one of
the great adventure stories and a terrific read.
This cache compliments a multi-cache (and bonus) about
Stevenson's life in Edinburgh
Robert Louis Stevenson's Edinburgh
Our thanks to Wildlifewriter, Highland Nick and Charlotte Aubrey
for the help in beta testing.
To find the cache you will need to follow David Balfour’s
journeyings through the pages of Kidnapped and identify
caches in Scotland associated with places along his route. In each
case you should record the waypoint name of the cache and find a
number or letter from the waypoint to help make up the final
co-ordinates.
Good Luck!
Chapter 1: I Set Off upon My Journey to the House of
Shaws
“I will begin the story of my adventures with a certain
morning in the year of grace 1751, when I took the key for the last
time out of the door of my father’s house.”
And so David leaves his home village in the Borders, setting off
to seek his fortune, little knowing what adventures await.
The village seems to be fictional, but there is an E*******n
Terrace in Edinburgh and close by is the start of a multi-cache
around the historic suburb from which it takes its name. The
waypoint contains one number. GC**A*
Chapters 2 to 4: Great Danger in the House of Shaws
David carries a letter of introduction to his Uncle Ebeneezer
Balfour of the House of Shaws in a place which is now a coastal
suburb of Edinburgh. The house turns out to be an unfinished ruin
and his Uncle a wicked miser who lures David nearly to his death in
the unfinished tower.
It is said that Stevenson created the House of Shaws after
seeing a tower still to be seen close to the coast - and close to a
cache with a 3 word name which is all too appropriate for David’s
peril in the tower. The waypoint is all letters. Take the fifth
letter and convert it to a number in the usual way (A=1, B=2, C=3
etc). GC**B*
Chapters 5 and 6: The Queen’s Ferry
Having failed in sending David to his death in the tower,
Ebeneezer has a further plan. He receives a letter which he gives
to David to read. It is from Elias Hoseason, a sea captain, writing
from “The H**** Inn at the Queen’s Ferry”. David is now lured to
the Inn and aboard ship.
The Inn is still to be found and the nearest cache, now adopted,
has a two word name. The waypoint contains two numbers. You need
the second. GC**C*
Chapters 7 and 8: I Go to Sea
Clubbed unconscious and confined aboard, David wakes to find
himself at sea, bound for slavery in the Carolinas. The ship is
called The Covenant. What harbour is her home port? There is
a cache containing the same name. You need the last number of the
waypoint. GC****D
NoteThe cache has been archived. For now you get this one
for free. The number you need is 8.
Chapters 9 and 10: The Man with the Belt of Gold and the
Siege
Passing around the east coast and the Orkney Islands, the
Covenant sails down the Minch where she runs down a small
boat carrying Alan Breck Stewart. Alan’s belt containing gold
destined for the Jacobite cause in France attracts the wicked
attentions of Hoseason and his men. David overhears their plot and
fights beside Alan in the struggle which gives its name to Chapter
10: “The Siege of the R****-H****”.
There is a Scottish cache with a suitably maritime theme on the
north-east coast which has this word (without a hyphen) in its
name. The waypoint contains a number. GC*E**Note The
cache has been archived. For now you get this one for free:
E=0.
Chapters 11 to 15: The Lad with the Silver Button
With Hoseason and his men cowed by Alan’s fighting prowess,
David and Alan expect to be set ashore on the Linnhe Loch. Alan
tells David about the Jacobite clans and David - Whig though he be
- is struck by the romantic nobility of the Highland cause. Chance
plays another hand and the Covenant is shipwrecked on a
small island. David, cast away alone, believes himself marooned but
finds that at low tide he can cross to a much larger island where
the local folk feed him as he passes on his way, using one of
Alan’s silver buttons as a passport.
Find a cache on the larger island’s only Munro. The waypoint
contains only letters. Convert the fourth letter to a number as
before. GC*F**
Chapters 16 to 19: The Appin Murder
After getting to the mainland and crossing Morvern, David finds
himself at the scene of the Appin Murder just as the fatal shot is
fired. Chasing what he thinks is the culprit, David comes across
Alan again. Alan persuades him that he is not the murderer and
points out that David himself is believed to be an accomplice.
“….tomorrow there’ll be a fine to-do in Appin, a fine riding of
dragoons, and crying of ‘Cruachan!’ and running of redcoats; and it
behoves you and me to be the sooner gone.” And so their flight
begins.
There is a cache at the site of the Appin Murder, which takes
the victim’s nickname. The waypoint contains a number.
GCG***
Chapter 20: The Flight in the Heather - The Rocks
Their flight takes them through Glencoe where a river crossing
challenges David’s prowess. “So there we stood, side by side
upon a small rock slippery with spray, a far broader leap in front
of us, and the river dinning upon all sides….I bent low on my knees
and flung myself forth…Sure enough, it was but my hands that
reached the full length; these slipped, caught again, slipped
again; and I was sliddering back into the lynn when Alan seized me,
first by the hair, then by the collar…’Ye’re no very gleg at the
jumping,’ said he.”
At the heart of Glencoe is a spot marked on the OS map as “The
Study”. Nearby is a cache with a very appropriate name for this
scene. Take the first and last numbers from the waypoint.
GCH**J
Chapters 21 and 22: Corrynakeigh and the Muir
Hiding in the wood of Corrynakeigh, Alan sends a message to his
clan and gets money to help him and David on their flight. They set
off across Rannoch Moor towards Loch Ossian and Ben Alder, dodging
the redcoat dragoons. David is exhausted and becoming ill. They are
found by men of Cluny Macpherson and led off to Ben Alder.
Rannoch Moor has a number of fine caches. Near to Loch Ossian is
a cache celebrating a tale of winter survival. It has a three word
name. Take the second number of the waypoint. GC***K
Chapters 23 to 25: Cluny’s Cage to Balquidder
While David lies in a fever, Alan and Cluny play at cards and
Alan loses all his and David’s money. On their journey once more
and David and Alan quarrel bitterly before Alan recognises that
David is seriously ill and brings him to Balquidder (now usually
spelled with an “h”) for help from the folk there.
The family that houses and cares for David are descendants of
Balquhidder’s most famous son. There is a three word cache named
for him near the town. The waypoint contains only letters. Take the
last letter and convert it to a number as before. GC***L
Chapter 26: We pass the Forth
Unable to cross the Forth at Stirling Bridge because of the
presence of soldiers, Alan and David go east until the daughter of
an innkeeper in a Fife coastal town near to the present road and
rail bridge crossings takes pity on the pale and handsome youth and
rows them across the Forth.
The place in Fife at which they cross is named for its principal
industry which features in a multi-cache also named after the town.
The waypoint has two numbers. You need the first. GC**M*
Chapters 27 to 30: Goodbye
With the aid of the lawyer Rankeilor, Alan and David settle
wicked old Uncle Ebeneezer’s hash and discover the secret of
David’s birthright. They set off again, David to Edinburgh to seek
his fortune, and part at the Rest-and-Be-Thankful on the Hill of
Corstorphine. The novel ends with David at the doors of the British
Linen Company’s Bank. Is it really “Goodbye”?
The place where David and Alan part is now the site of cache
which reflects a more modern - and not specifically human - aspect
of Corstorphine Hill. There is a quotation from the parting scene
of Kidnapped on the cache page. The waypoint will give you your
last number. GC*N**
The cache can be found at:
N 55.PQ.RST
W 003.UV.WXY
Where
P = A+B
Q = N
R = C+F
S = G-K
T = E
U = M-L
V = H
W = D+C
X = J+N
Y = A-J
You can check your answers for this puzzle on
Geochecker.com.