PLEASE READ LOG DATED 02/20/2019
Congratulations to the following who have actually completed the challenge:
Coddie, Jurassic Parkinsons, lodgebarn, jamange, Simply B, Khoomfay, Papejb, cDaveMc, Harry the furry squid, thetwocoots, PlasmaWave, lavaflow, WHyvNa, Nessie
This is a great "multi-cache", set long before the days of GPS. The ultimate challenge is to complete this cache on foot in one day, especially if you just use Joe's numbers. I doff my cap to anyone who manages this!
A White Peak Area OS Explorer map OL24 is ESSENTIAL to complete this trail. There are 20 checkpoints. The walk is approximately TWENTY MILES long!
The checkpoints are mainly at fairly obvious landmarks. With the exception of checkpoints 2 and 15 they are all near tracks (2 & 15 are on access land).
Each checkpoint contains two 3-digit numbers, except for those at checkpoints 2 and 15 where the second number is 4 digits.
The numbers are about two inches high, and come in two formats: a 6-digit OS reference or a compass bearing followed by a distance in yards. For example, 029753 is grid reference SK 029 753 (accurate to within 71m!) and 168x1100 is 1100 yards at a bearing of 168 degrees (i.e. just shy of south). With the bearing clues, it's best to plot this on the map rather than attempting to pace it out!
Because some of the numbers are heavily weathered, I have left a laminate near to those that are hardest to read.
I have given a distance in each waypoint description. This is the distance from Joe's reference to the actual location (which I have hopefully calculated correctly!). I have also added location clues.
Note that the initial waypoint is that given at the previous stage, i.e. stage 20. Luckily this coincides with a convenient parking space.
See how many clues you can find using just Joe's numbers. Remember, they are usually at an "obvious" place.
When you have collected all the clues, you need to add together all "first three digit" numbers and all the "last three (or four) digit" numbers. To the first sum add 998 and to the second add 60026. This will give you a the 10 digit SK grid reference of the cache (put a zero at the start of the first number).
Although this cache would ideally be completed in a day, it can be conveniently split in two, or indeed any number of visits (as I did). The difficulty rating would be much greater than 5 if just Joe's clues are used - indeed I would say almost impossible in the light of the error at stage 6.
To claim the cache YOU MUST VISIT ALL 20 STAGES (although you should know the value given at the 20th stage) - no guessing or other clever stuff!
Huge thanks go to Doug Brown, author of (amongst many others) the excellent Dark Peak Hikes, for inspiring this cache and providing me with the essental details.