The Millennium Time Trail was a fascinating project developed by Sustrans to celebrate the year 2000 Millennium and promote Sustainable Transport through the National Cycle Network.
Unfortunately, in less than two decades since the project was launched it has been all but forgotten, even by Sustrans. Much of the original material has been lost and few people now remember the aims of the project or what the remaining posts and plaques represent.
Sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, 1,000 marker posts were commissioned, in four basic designs. These were to be positioned around the country’s National Cycle Network. These posts were each to carry a circular plaque - game pieces in the Millennium Time Trail. A total of 50 different disks were designed for the main part of the trail and ten different disks in a supplemental ‘Rare Disk’ series. People were to be encouraged to collect rubbings of each one to earn special Time Souvenirs from Sustrans. As the marker posts were to be distributed around the whole country ti would be difficult for any person to visit every marker post so the country was divided into nine regions and each region would contain at least two of each disk in the entire set. It would therefore be possible to ‘collect’ the entire set within a single region.
The disks are collected into five different ‘series’:
- T1 – set of four – “The Seasons”
- T2 – set of six – “The Continents”
- T3 – set of eight – “The Ages of Man”
- T4 – set of twelve – “The Signs of the Zodiac”
- T5 – set of twenty – “The Centuries”
There is also an additional series of ‘Rare’ disks (I believe this contains ten different designs, but I may be wrong) which contain clues to solve additional elements of the puzzle.
Each disk carries an image relating to the theme of the series. This image is surrounded by a segment of a poem written in cipher based on St. Thomas More’s Utopian alphabet. The entire poem (shown below) is divided amongst the fifty disks in the main five series.
Although records are incomplete, Sustrans have stated that they believe that only one person ever completed the entire quest.
The post at this location is a design by Welsh artist, Andrew Rowe. It is based upon the nautical and industrial heritage of his native Swansea and can have up to four directional fingers.
The disk carried by this post is from series T3 (The Ages of Man). This series comprises of eight disks based loosely on Shakespeare's monologue introduction to 'As You Like It' (All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts. His acts being seven ages…). The creator of the Time Trail has, however inserted one more age at the start of the sequence - The Foetus.
This disk is number 6 in the series of 8 and represents man in his 'Justice' age: And then the justice, in fair round belly with good capon lined, with eyes severe and beard of formal cut, full of wise saws and modern instances;
At the top of the image is the Roman Goddess Justitia, blindfolded and carrying the scales of Justice. Symbols of wealth and security abound, the laptop, the mobile phone (a little dated in design now!), food and wine and presents. This stage of man is affluent and comfortable.
The cipher around the image represents the fragment of the Time Trail poem shown in red below. The entire poem is divided up amongst all the fifty disks in the first five series.
MEASURE EVERY HEARTBEAT TO COUNT OUT OUR LIFE’S SCORE
IS “TIME TO ESCAPE” MEANT TO FIRE OUR COMING AGE?
LOCKED IN SEASONS’ BARS SWINGS PENDULUM’S CEASELESS CLAY
LUNGS NEVER FULL ENSNARE US IN TIME’S EIGHT PIECE CAGE
ENTROPY’S AIM SHOOTS LEPTONS IN DANCING CYCLES OF LIGHT
NATIONS REACH OUT IN HOPE ACROSS TIME ZONES AND LONG DEGREES
NO CORNERS TO HIDE US, EARTH’S SHADE SPINS HOURLY ROUND TONIGHT
IN ALL MIND-STREAMS WE WADE, OUR WORLD-LINES WEAVE PAST TAPESTRIES
UNCERTAIN DREAMS EVOLVE IN THE STRUGGLE FOR THE “WHY?”
MUST IN ALL THESE TIDES OF FAITH, FLOW STILL SUCH WAVES OF FEARS?
PLACE AND TIME TEMPT FATES, BUT ALL LIFE’S NATURE IS TO DIE
OUR ERA, STARS, BOWS OUT, PLAYING ITS MUSICAL SPHERES
EVERY GAINED UTOPIAN GOAL MAKES US MANIFOLD TIME’S TREASURE
MAPPED OUT, AS ABOVE SO BELOW, NERGAL TICKS OFF TIME’S MEASURE
To find the geocache take a look around you and you will discover another, more modern (and boring) signpost within view. Add up all the numbers on that signpost to give a three digit total. Call this ABC.
The geocache location can now be found at N52 34.(B-A-A)A(C-B) W000 10.C(C+A+A)(B-A)
