Fort Riga Multi-cache

It's 16th century, you are the spy outside the city of Riga and you need to gather information about opponent stronghold. You succeeded to get over Riga moat and rampart, but 9 meter high fortification wall with its numerous small cannon windows and arrow slits holds you back from entering the city. You see the guards at the gates. Archers observes you from several towers and everything plays against you. You would be dead if anybody sees you entering the city. So you decide to find weak spots where your allies can brake into Riga. You walk alongside Riga fortification wall.

[ A ] So you see doors of the Bastion opened and you take your chance. You start at the top of the bastion. You need to know how many knights are on guard. You see that third of all benches are occupied by archers playing cards. If only a third of all benches have one guard on a bench, how many guards are there? This will be value A. Go down using Northern entrance. On your way down you spot a window, from which you see tower. That's your next spot.

[ B ] You arrive at big tower with loads of windows just on the corner of fortification. The diameter of this round tower is 14.3m, height 25.6m, the width of the walls reaches 3m. This is serious threat for your invasion operation. On the side of tower (Smilšu street side) you see two bronze plates with text on the tower. Look down - rusty levelling sign. This might be useful. This is your B value.

[ C ] But what can tower without cannons do to your army of thousands? Go alongside the fortification on Torņu street. You can see one light cannon just standing there. What is the year it's carriage was reconstructed? This way you know how up-to-date the weaponry is! Continue your way straight.

[ D ] You see rectangular Ramera tower. This might be first tower built in Riga. Square towers provide weak defence. Is it a weak? Well, count the arrow slits (tall, narrow windows) on the tower. This way you know how many archers can defend the tower. Continue your way alongside Torņa street.

[ E ] Jacobs barracks right in front of Swedish gates. You can see that it is standing strong, but it wasn't built at that time. It is about 200m long. You need to find out - when was the construction of the barracks started? This is value E.

[ F ] Now you arrive at Swedish gates. Do not panic. This is house of local executioner. The guards are huge for such a small gates. You see few cannons, for some reason, dug in the ground. How many cannons do you see on both sides of the entrance (only from Tornu street)? This information might be useful. Continue your way straight past the gates. You can't get past the guards anyway.

[ G ] You rush between peasants and see legendary stone guards between Jacob's and Maiden towers. And you didn't believed, don't you? How many stone guards do you see (heads and sculptures)? This is value G.

[ H ] You arrive at a city castle. You can't see much behind the gates [..that used to be here..], but you should take a walk around the castle and locate how many defensive towers the castle has. Castle was built in 1330-1340. How many defensive towers does the castle has? This is value H.

Go to the embankment and continue your way alongside the fortification walls. Maybe you will have more luck there.

[ I ] Past the Butchers tower you arrive at Wolf's pit tower. Pretty scary names, right? It would be very awful to end up butchered into traditional chop and your bones fed to angry wolves.. Here you can see Anglicans church. It's tower looks just like any other church tower, but it keeps some medieval secrets underneath. Fortunately for you, you can't see horrific tower here. Just count how many steps does the entrance to the church has. (fast checker - no more than 10)

[ J ] You can't pass by Triangula bastion. Yes, it is from glass and steel today, but you can witness the remains if you go down. Your only mission here is to find in what century was it made. Maybe it isn't too late yet. Or is it...? (vale is missing. Hint: 16)

[ K ] Past the Bishop's tower and Triangula bastion you come across two, unusually close towers. One is called Lubeck's tower, also called Maiden tower (yeah, you have already seen one Maiden tower today. There never can bee too much maidens, right?) and previously unknown tower. Every passer-by you ask answers - «It's tower besides Maiden's tower. What's wrong with that?» *sigh*
There is nothing left of the towers and Riga Technical University stands here. How many towers does the university has?


[ L ] Go past the Sallu tower and Sinner tower. Ah, Peldu tower. Still the place looks impregnable. people used to call this tower a Pig tower. Why? Just because streets used to be named like that, that's why. You see new large metal numbers on the building right above your head. Write down, you may need them later for intelligence.

[ M ] You put your ear to the wall of Marstalu tower, knock a bit on its side and you hear no echo. It must be the strongest tower yet. Archaeological excavation shows that there was built new tower over the old one in 15th-16th century. You can see Dannenstern's house - big house with very steep roof and its own fence surrounds it. Even if it has not been built yet in 16th century, please, do go to that forgotten, beautiful building. Find out the numbers on black metal plate and see how long can buildings last if properly made. You will need that four digit number in your equations.
(hint: read description of the house - yes, it is quite off, just behind the wall)

Go to the start of Minsterejas street. Here you see some part of old Riga wall. Move along that Minsterejas street. River Rīdzene used to flow here and there used to be docks. That is the reason why so very few towers were here. Yet, still no easy entrance for your army into Riga.

[ N ] On your left you can see seemingly endless fortification of Riga. On your right - many small houses. You pass by Rezena tower, Square tower and Weavers tower. There is a port just in front of Weavers tower! This means, you can boat along Ridzene river and break in here! It is just the possibility.. Ships will have to take heavy cannon fire from three towers and a fortification. O.K., it's still a possibility. But the River Ridzene continues along the fort. How can your ships know when to stop and land the troops? We need to find something that stands out from the environment..art! This awful, rusty peace of art! For locals it blends into environment and nobody will care about it, but we can use it as our landmark! On how many legs does this piece of art stands? This is value N.

[ O ] Let's explore more possibilities. Next tower you arrive at is Ludwig's or Black Monk tower and it has some interesting decoration. How many white flowers are there above the entrance where used to be Ludwig tower? That's the building with large sun, you can't miss that. This is value O.
Continue your path along fortification walls. You will encounter part of the fortification, you can explore it, but do not have to.

Pass along Kalku tower and go directly to the square. There used to be large guild tower, but now all you can see are large and small guilds, one of the humblest tourism objects. Sit down and get your bearings

You hear carriages and people shouting behind you. It seems that you blew your cover. It must be that sentry nearby Large Guild Tower. Move along Meistaru street past Gray tower, right in the middle of Maza Smilsu street and Meistaru street crossroads, take your cover on the right in small Maza Smilsu street. Carriage passes by with angry guards. You have gathered too much valuable information to waist it. Riga still seems to be impregnable. There still is loads of fantastic things about Riga through the history and you can never have enough of the beauty of the city. It is the time to go to nearest bench, sit down and get your bearings to the last location in Riga Fort. No more spying for you!

At the finish you can take your time and wait until nobody is looking - this place is quite busy and might take your time. Remember to put something as valuable or greater value than you take. Don't put snacks and dead animals. Don't put explosives, bullets, and cigarettes. This cache is kid friendly. People in wheelchairs can participate in this cache hunt, only concern is the cobbled streets.

Calculate your stash spot by choosing any of three equations and log your observations at:

N 56°57.X
E 024°06.Y

X =
A*O+B+H-K = X
E-M+D+K = X
I*N+B+L-G+F = X

Y =
(C-M)*F+J+K-H = Y
C-E+B*O-L+K = Y
C-E+X*(N+K)-B+G-A