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Out for a Duck Mystery Cache

Hidden : 7/23/2024
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   small (small)

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Geocache Description:


Buoyed on by maintenance to sister site '88 Steps' in Great Malvern, here is a similar one for Worcester. You will go past the cricket club which is often inhabited by ducks after it has been raining. Please feel free to feed the ducks. Alternatively, it is a cricketing term meaning "nul points".

Worcester is an ancient city, famous for standing up for the royalists when besieged by Cromwell.  Its emblem is the black pear. Don't try eating one - you'll break your teeth! Queen Elizabeth I was so pleased with its alternative use as a cannon ball that she decreed that this would be the emblem of the city. Two of the three King Charleses are honoured at the Guildhall, but there's no more room under cover, so I imagine the third one would have to stand out in the rain admiring the architecture. The first post-Norman Plantagenet king to be buried in England, John, is laid in the cathedral since nobody on the continent would have him. The city survived the blitz unscathed, but fell victim to comprehensive redevelopment in the 1960s, which took out a number of important landmarks such as the Elgar music shop and the last medieval cathedral lych gate in Europe. An impressive medieval house for the Dean in Friar Street was replaced by a car park. Rumour has it that the City official retired to Bermuda on the proceeds of the deal. The River Severn floods regularly. In 2007, instead of horses, there were fish flapping around the racecourse, and cricketers often have to use flippers and sometimes snorkels to get a game in.

Fifty images of the city centre can be found along a circular walk, starting at the large car park west of the river, entrance on Tybridge St on the one way system, and finishing at a riverside pub near the bridge. The walk should take around 60-90 minutes. Parking is free for 2 hours, and charged thereafter. If you want to go shopping, you could try going out and in again for another free 2 hours, but I've never tried this. Street parking nearby, by the river, is free after 5.45pm..You do need to start the route at the car park though.

These are arranged in five groups. What you must do is to work out the correct order of the images along the route. These are coded by letter. Taking the first one you find as zero, and the last as nine, you can then calculate the co-ordinates of the box. To help you, every group is coded the same way, and an additional help is that E=5.

Northings: 52º 11', then (AxD)-B=K; (KxF)+H-G= L; L gives first two digits, C gives the third.

Westings: 2º 13', then (ExC)+(IxI)=M; M gives the first two digits, J gives the third. 

From the car park, aim for the southern corner, and proceed up the footpath alongside the river to the traffic lights by the cricket club. Cross the river on the Cathedral side of the bridge and carry straight on through Bridge St, Broad St, St Swithins St and Mealcheapen St to where there are public toilets and a car park. Turn right down New St, and carry on into Friar St. At the T junction, turn right and up into the Cathedral Square plaza opposite the Cathedral. Turn right into High St, and turn round at the Guildhall back down the High St. Turn right into Copenhagen St and left on Deansway heading back up to the Cathedral. Pass the front side of the Cathedral and take the footpath that takes you over a low wall to a pretty line of old houses. Take a hard right through the gatehouse into College Green at the back of the Cathedral. On the far side, go down some steps to the river, and walk on the path alongside the river towards the bridge, where you will find the pub.

All should be visible along the route shown . Remember to look up as well as down. Some are more obvious than others. Locals can test themselves before setting out.The box should be accessible by wheelchairs in most weathers, but GZ can get very busy, so stealth is required, and the box should be rehidden carefully.

GROUP 1
ALasletts Almshouses two bricked up windows lamp with conical cover Post Box around Corner moustache
bendy roof swan neck oblong tiles three tall windows two blue doors in brick wall

  

GROUP 2
steel doors and round lights two stone faces otter gate with coloured balls first Methodist chapel
blue framed dormer brick on pipe three black pears FISH avant garde coloured crown

  

GROUP 3
two finials on tower round window R 1960s tower block 
ornate lamp with crown castellation lamp standard with balls man on a horse two shields

  

GROUP 4
multistorey car park H123  gentleman with moustache In Grateful Memory Russell & Dorrell

F

 round fire escape

beams on pipe 2858  I  cottage and lawn GUNS

  

GROUP 5
King Charles II 28 Jan 1990 door knocker wreath Qneeu Anne King Charles III
Conservation award 1978 fountain H 12ft 10in stained glass

eight steel covers

 

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Gevcyr gehax

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)