Silvine Mystery Cache
bill&ben: Oh dear air tight box getting wet again! It's had a good run, so time to go
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size:
 (small)
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All parts of this cache are reachable from public footpaths. The cache is a 1L container containing a log book and pencils and a few small things.
For those of us of a certain generation, there are fond childhood memories of Silvine exercise books. These exercise books were (and apparently still are) bright red and had tables of exotic measurements printed on the back cover. Not for this generation were there the thumb bending pleasures of the X Box but more the excitement of making a tent in bed and by the light of a lantern torch with a green filter reading of the exotic texts on the back of the Silvine. All this talk of Avoirdupois and Troy was heady stuff. What follows is a test on how well all this sank in all those years ago.
Clue A : Length
A is the number perches in a chain.
Clue B : Capacity
B is the number of gills in a quart
Clue C : Troy Weights
C is the number of grains in a pennyweight
Clue D : Apothecaries Weights
D is the number of scruples in a drachm
Clue E : Apothecaries Measures
E is the number of minims in a fluid scruple
Clue F : Area
F is the number of square feet in a square yard
So now to complete the coordinates for the cache we need to do some nice arithmetic from the same period.
Question 1
Robin is going to build a patio using flags of 1 ft by 1 ft. Robin’s patio is to be sized C ft by E ft. Additionally he is going to build a path to his patio which is 47 ft long and D ft wide. How many flags does Robin need?
Question 2
Susan goes to the greengrocer to buy some fruit. At the greengrocers she buys a pineapple at B pence. She also buys two avocados at A pence each and a peach at F pence. She offers the greengrocer a guinea. The greengrocer has no change other than farthings. How many farthings does Susan receive?
For those of you who have not been arrested by the man from the EU the cache is located at
N 51 55.Answer 1
W 000 11. Answer 2
On a historical note patios and exotic fruit were not very much in evidence in these times being due to the fact that no one knew how many flags to buy and that pockets full of small change kept going down the back of settees. The current trend for alfresco eating is a tribute to the invention of the calculator and credit cards.
For those of you with are urticaphobic, as we are, the cache site is free.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
Haqrearngu gur snyyra gerr.
Treasures
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