The autumnal sun shone weakly
on Holmes, who was sitting in his study motionless, his eyes
absent-mindedly resting on his violin case. But,
his reverie was disturbed by a sharp knock on the door of 221b
Baker Street.
“It’s not a telegram” he said quietly,
“that boy’s knock is quite distinctive”.
The door opened and Holmes held up his finger to silence me as
he stared towards the top of the staircase, a look of intense
concentration on his face. Twenty seconds later
I heard the door of 221b Baker Street close.
“It’s a letter, Watson.”
Holmes saw the look of puzzlement on my face, “only Mrs
Hudson came back into the house, so it is not a
visitor. The time between the door opening and
closing was too short for meaningful dialogue, but exactly the time
needed for pleasantries to be exchanged and a letter
delivered.”
He strode to the study door, and flung it open just as a
startled Mrs Hudson prepared to knock.
“My letter, please, Mrs Hudson... Thank
you... Goodbye.” He
said this while snatching the envelope from his housekeeper’s
hand, waving her away and closing the door, all in a single
sweeping movement. “It’s in
Mycroft’s hand - that’s strange, we are dining together
tonight”.
Holmes broke open the wax seal and his eyes darted eagerly
across the note, and suddenly he was alive and engaged
again. After a few minutes he allowed himself a
slight smile. “Hah! I must go out”
he barked as he threw two bits of paper towards me. “These
might amuse you until I
return.”
I looked at the letter, but it was mostly in code and meant
nothing to me. An hour later I was still puzzling over
Mycroft’s missive, when Holmes returned clutching a map.
“Watson, the game is afoot! Grab the
Bradshaw, we’ve a train to catch and must be at our
destination before nightfall.”
“But,I’ve not deciphered the message yet, and the
type-written version is no more helpful than your brother’s
hand-written note...”
"Nonsense! It’s elementary, my dear
Watson.”
That was such an irritating phrase; I made a mental note
never to record it in my journals detailing Holmes’
exploits.
“Did you get the key from Remington?” I asked.
“Hah! I’ll explain all on the
train. Come Watson, make haste, we.....”
but his voice tailed off as he bounded down the stairs and emerged
into Baker Street, his cane held aloft to summon a Hansom
cab.
The
cache: a regular 1 litre Lock & Lock container in a
camo bag. As you approach GZ, note that access
to the cache itself will be easier from the
path. Although it appears quite secluded,
muggles can approach without much notice so stealth is required for
the retrieve/return operations (benches close by provide somewhere
to complete the log etc). GPS accuracy is not
great due to tree cover and the coordinates have been averaged
– see hint for further help on precise location.
Initial Cache Contents: usual log book etc; FTF
certificate & badge; 2 “Elementary Cache” GCs; plus
a few other “swappables”.