The Smoothe field Mystery

The Cache

35mm film canister with magnet on the side. Bring a pencil / pen. Moved from the original location for Health and Safety reasons.

As with a lot of urban caches you’ll need to be sensitive of local residents, gardeners and passers by. Be aware of potential watchers (whether in homes or offices or via security cameras). However, if you are approached by either Police or Security Officers avoid acting suspiciously and explain what you are doing. Snow Hill Police Station is in the area, but not near the final cache.

Avoid doing the actual cache discovery during the weekday lunch hour. Relatively quiet in the evening or weekend. I don’t believe there are any cameras overlooking the final cache site.

Buggy and wheelchair friendly

A couple of the stages (initial site and ‘torture’) are not 24hour access, the other sites are accessible at all times. You can do the sites in any order.

Once you’ve found it: *** make sure it goes back where you found it. This is so it will be there for those who come after you and not discovered by those who shouldn’t find it ***

Getting started

This is a tale of sin (of the deadly kind), alien visitors, an ancient hospital (or two), body snatchers, frivolity, torture and ambulances, plus a few animals for good measure. Interested? Read on.

Step One: N 51 31.103 W 00 06.070

Count the number of four legged animals in the field. Each mention counts (so, for example finding a horse, a mare and a filly would count as three). Only count four legged animals. This is A.

Whilst you’re here, have a look at what must be an early example of skiving off (C.W.s comment).

This site is not available 24hours.

Step Two: N 51 31.255 W 00 06.006

A visit to the doctor in this fourteenth century hospital is not so easy to arrange these days. How many 't's in the URL you have to visit to spend £10 to have a tour of the ‘surgery’ these days? This will be B

I think where you need to look is accessible 24 hours, but might raise a few eye brows if you come looking in the wee small hours – suggest you try before 11pm . You do not need to enter the private area to get this one. [this clue replaces an earlier version that refered to a phone number]

Step Three: N 51 31.195 W 00 06.116

Our first close encounter of the trip!

What colour are the Aliens eyes? Pick the number corresponding to the colour, this will be C

If Yellow, then C is One.

If Green, then C is Two.

If Red, then C is Three.

If White, then C is Four.

If Blue, then C is Five.

Step Four: N 51 31.258 W 00 06.228

Time for some pain! How many prick marks would you get if you laid down here? This is DEF.

Try it – it won’t hurt honestly!

This site is not available 24hours. (Mo-Fr 8am – Dusk, Sa 9am – Dusk, Su 10am – Dusk).

Step Five: N 51 31.322 W 00 06.172

Just in case the wounds from step four are more serious than expected, better get along to this ancient ambulance station. The question is when was the gate to the ambulance ‘station’ built? GH04

Step Six: N 51 31.108 W 00 06.319

A second close encounter is imminent. This fellow looks a little ghostly.

What colour are the Aliens eyes? Pick the number corresponding to the colour, this will be J

If Yellow, then J is One.

If Green, then J is Two.

If Red, then J is Three.

If White, then J is Four.

If Blue, then J is Five.

Step Seven: N 51 31.029 W 00 06.087

We meet a sinner here and learn the real cause of the Great Fire of London in 1666! Whilst his sin was a deadly one, the public house that once stood here and served as a body snatchers ‘show room’ (so to speak) was surely a fairly sinful place altogether. The question is when did it’s fortune change and it was demolished? KL10.

The final stage: the actual cache

It’s time to put it all together to find where the final cache is located.

If you read through the whole of the description again, you’ll see that one of the things that I promised you has yet to be delivered – somewhere where frivolity and fun can be found. The final location with rectify that (so, there is a clue for you!)

The final location is in the form N dd dd.ddd W dd dd.ddd (where ‘d’ is a digit). You don’t multiply the brackets out, just solve each bracket to get the corresponding digit in the final coordinates.

The cache is nearby, so if your final coordinates don’t indicate that, something has gone wrong!

N 51 (A-B)(C-B).(D-B)(E-F+B)(F-C)

W 00 (L-E)(J).(G+A+D)(J-K)(L-H)

Careful where you look: I had 24’ GPS accuracy when I placed this cache due to local buildings.

The new cache site is 24 hour access. Suggest you avoid trying the final cache at week day lunch times and commute hours. There is a hint below if you need a little extra help zoning in on the cache.

Acknowledgement

I had my original introduction to the London Aliens thanks to London Invasion (GCYCDM), try it if you have time. The two you’ll met here are not part of that set.