This is the first of a series of puzzle caches that we intend to set up over the next few months. As you will surely discover, Nantwich is a beautiful town and I am a bit of a puzzle buff. For this cache you should start at the parking lot at N53 deg 03.893. W002 deg 31.296. Parking is about 40p but you may wish to park across the street in the other parking lot... Please allow yourself plenty of time to look around the town! You may want to bring along a pencil and some paper to help you solve the clues....
The historic market town of Nantwich in South Cheshire played an interesting role in the English Civil War when it was held by the Parlementarians and besiged by the Royalists in 1643-44. Every year the Sealed Knot society recreates the Battle of Nantwich on Holly Holy Day which is the Saturday closest to January 25.
It's name (in Saxon) means 'the most famous wych'. A 'wych' is a place where salt is mined or refined It was an area heavily involved with the salt trade and archeology work has uncovered some facinating evidence of this early industry. If you should happen to pass the town museum and it is open, it's worth a look!
Now on to the cache...Happy caching!
Starting at the way point head to N53 deg 04.015 W002 deg 31.270. Look around in the square for the following names. The position in the list of the name will give you the numbers for the next set of coordinates.
North 53 deg 0A.EED West 002 deg 31.BCD
A. John Lea
B. John Hammersley
C. Richard Harding
D. George Winfred Harvey
E. Peter McGowan
Okay...you survived the first one! This one is a bit more work...
Row 1 and Row 14 are dates! Each character for the next set of coordinates is represented by the line and then the number of characters in from the beginning of the line. For example (and to help you confirm you are in the right place!) 1,3 = '8' Remember, spaces and punctuation count!
North 53 deg 0 2,6 3,22 3,5 7,3 7,6 9,29 3,8 3,4 X 4,18 10,3 X 13,10 10,2 6,24 3,6 3,13
West 002 deg 31 2,8 9,11 4,26 7,14 11,5 7,6 5,14 12,13 7,5 7,1 3,3 7,21 10,19 9,29
The last puzzle before you find the cache...
An American pilot bravely struggled to keep his crippled airplane in the air long enough to avoid the town in WWII. This is a simple transposition cypher based on the keyword that also happens to be 1st Lt. Brown's aircraft type. First Letter =1, Second Letter =2. etc. (1,2,3...8,9,0)
North DU deg LU.UTD West LLH deg UT.NBD
We really hope that you have enjoyed the hunt! There is a spoiler picture if you really need it.
The cache is a clear plastic peanut butter jar with a red lid.
The contents when we set the cache are as follows:
- the usual notebook, pencil and sharpener
- a geocache key chain
- package of stickers
- Yo-Yo
- Set of Jacks