Welcome to Queer Quest. This geocaching trail re-imagines the medieval poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight through a queer lens, immersed in the very landscape which inspired the legend. As you follow the route, each cache marks a moment in Gawain’s legendary journey—challenges, temptations, and revelations—while also sharing local LGBTQ+ histories and folklore from the Staffordshire Moorlands.
Just like Gawain’s quest to test courage and honesty, this trail invites you to explore the countryside and uncover stories often hidden or overlooked. Inside each cache you’ll find a small piece of artwork and a short tale that links the epic myth to real queer lives and landscapes.
You are also invited to share your own reflections and post your response to be included in our archive.
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On the third day at the castle, Lady Bertilak gives Gawain three kisses and a green sash, which she tells him will protect him. That night, he passes on the three kisses to the lord but witholds the green sash, knowing that the following day he will face the Green Knight’s challenge.
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Artist statement: drawing on the heritage of the tape mill at Tean in the South Moorlands, this piece
also talks of the silk industry in Leek whilst simultaneously exploring the idea of ‘Lady
Bertilak’s green sash’ in the Gawain poem.
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For those coming of age queer in the 1970s Moorlands, the map for self-discovery was often entirely blank. "That feeling of not fitting in, being different but not really knowing why was overwhelming," recalls one woman, age 65, who grew up in Tean.
She describes her traditional Christian family and rural community, where she found silence on gay or lesbian issues. She felt that the media offered little help, providing only negative stereotypes and malicious rumours.
With only secrecy and ridicule available, she felt that the path forward became a forced migration. The only solution was exile to the city, "to cut the ties and cords with my old life." The subsequent journey became a life lived in hiding, laced with guilt, where anonymity was the only form of safety. She concludes: "There was no such thing as PRIDE in the Staffordshire Moorlands when I was growing up,".
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Access Information:
This is just off the main road, there is space to pull off onto the grass verge and the cache is in the hedge just by where you stop the car.