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Old MacDonald had a Farm... Mystery Cache

Hidden : 7/28/2010
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:

Old MacDonald had a Farm, ee-eye, ee-eye oh. And on that farm he had a... lot of road signs in the form of warning triangles?

To find this farm cache, first you must go on a journey passing many forms of wild life, and a number of other things plausible on a farm yard (plus a good number of other cache on route). Find out which order you pass them in, to work out the final cache location. I suggest you drive or cycle the route, but be safe while listing the signs! Those who like an Eco approach may even decide to use Google Street View to collect the clues

Note:It appears one of the red triangles has vanished from it's post. After you drive up the steep incline as you come to the forest there should be a deer warning on the post.

The journey starts as you leave Quinton heading south. The first signs are found near to the affectionately named "Smelly Farm" which ironically is no longer smelly since they stopped farming cattle. The journey takes you on to Hanslope where you can stop (I suggest you park on the road named "Weavers End") to work out the location of the cache and walk to the final location.

Be warned that as you leave Long Street Hanslope you pass one of the signs facing the opposite direction, all other signs face you as you drive south.

You will need to write out a list A to K (miss out i to avoid confusion), and as you pass the signs in the image below, put their number against the letters (eg if you passed the tractor first followed by the cow you would get A=8 and B=5). You will only need to use each sign once, so if you see a sign a second time then ignore it. Some signs are a little covered by trees/bushes, so keep a keen eye out! You should have seen all 10 signs by the time you park up.

Unfortunately there were no Zebra (crossings) on route, however there is a cockerel, all be it not in a warning triangle, but it is on a sign! So keep your eyes peeled.

The Final cache is at N52° (j-d).hk(e+a) W 0° ce.(g*d)b(f+k)

If you do park on the road mentioned above and walk from there, it's just over half a mile along foot paths to the cache (and a short section of road initially). There are a number of field gateways that would allow you to park nearer the cache, but you would see less of the countryside this way and it would be inconvenient if a farmer needed access to those fields. Alternative parking and a slightly shorter walk can be had when parking at a local cache Cooks Oak.

The cache container is a little different, but still has room for swaps. It currently contains a few trinkets to start with (shuttle cock, wine bottle stop, etc). Please stick to the public footpaths marked on the OS map below and Enjoy!

Old MacDonald had:

Above: The Road Signs


Above: The Route to take


Above: Area map for aiding the walk to the cache

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Va gerr ebbgf

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)