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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(small)
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Features:
Great views, abandoned settlement, exciting wadi walk
Be aware:
Reasonable fitness and stamina required (especially from kids!). Hiking shoes, preferably ankle boots, recommended.
Kids will have to be supervised, as there are some sheer drops on the hike and also some open wells.
Take plenty of water, sunhat, suncream and start either early morning or, for more shade, in the afternoon. Calculate 2 hrs walking time + 1/2 hr for the clues and some rest. ENJOY!!!
Set your map datum to WGS 84
Start: beginning of Riyam Park walk: N23 37.203, E58 34.583
The Cache is located at N23 36.ABC, E58 34.XYZ. To find ABC and XYZ, you have to work out some clues.
(*) To find A, C and Z, have a look at the signposted map of the Riyam Walk at the start:
• A: Add the numerals of ‘Distance’, ‘Round Trip’ and ‘Walking Time’, (NOT ‘walking Time’ one way!)
• C: Number of letters of what to ‘take only’, subtract 1
• Z: How many parking signs (P) do you find on the map?
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(*) alternative clues as signpost gets more and more weathered:
To figure out A, C and Z go to the singposted map of Riyam Walk and look around you. Behind the board there is a house with a green way number plate, its cross sum being 20.
• A: first digit of the way number
• C: second digit of way number minus 1
The trail is marked with a three coloured flag.
• Z: the total number of letters of all three colours divided by 2 (example: pink = 4).
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Now start walking and ascend following an old Diesel pipeline. Always look out for the coloured markers that show you the trail (great job for kids!).
When pipeline turns right (watch out for a vertical valve!) and starts leading downhill, leave the track for a moment to follow the pipe downhill until it makes a sharp turn to the left. Stop at exactly that point and look down into the valley, where you see a wall:
• X: How many electricity poles can you see from your position all the way down to the wall?
Go back to where you left the trail and continue on the track, going uphill.
At N23 36.949, E58 34.425, you have reached the highest point of the walk. Look NNE - What colour is the monument on the hill?
• Y: Number of lettres of the colour (example: pink = 4)
Now you got all clues together. For B = A minus X minus Y.
Continue the trail that eventually leads down into a valley. Once you are there, you have made approximately half of the walk (time, not kilometers). The cache shouldn’t be far. Here is a good place for a picknick with plenty of things to explore, but be careful: there are some open wells !
If you feel you need some extra exercise, you may follow the wadi upstream to the south, opposite to the round trip. You might find some small pools (we saw a snake in there) and, after some boulder climbing, another ‘secret valley’.
The walk continues downstream in the wadi bed, and eventually opens into a kind of plane. There the track ascends to your left up a gravely slope (marked by rags and rubbish) and leads via a cemetry back onto the road. If you happen to miss that ascend, you will find yourself facing an impressive dam. Just go back a few hundred meters and watch out for the track, which is then to your right.
Back on the road there is a small foodstuff shop where you can recharge. If you follow the road you get to the Corniche, the waterfront promenade. You can either walk along the promenade, or grab a taxi to take you back to Riyam Park.
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
guerr zrgref nobir n oebxra snynw oevqtr oruvaq fbzr fgbarf