Dan Q found GLEBQ6VH A Beck Sudoku Challenge … 1. Broughton Beck

This checkin to GLEBQ6VH A Beck Sudoku Challenge ... 1. Broughton Beck reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Lovely place, but after the recent rain, I’m glad I wasn’t driving here! Some colleagues and I from a voluntary organisation are having a couple of “away days” in a house up the road, so I thought I’d spend my lunch break coming out and finding this cache. Glad I did! TFTC.

Geocaching Like Batman

As the days get longer and the weather gets better, woodland trails and city alleyways alike begin to more-frequently see a particular brand of explorer. Clutching GPS devices (or, increasingly, mid- to high-end mobile phones), these satellite-guided adventurers shy away from normal people, whom they call “muggles”. Outwardly, this is out of concern for the continuity of their tiny treasure, but as often as not, it’s because geocachers – and especially urban geocachers, who often don’t even have the excuse of “getting some fresh air” to justify their hobby – are likely to be seen as a little odd., “You do what for a hobby? Find lost lunchboxes?”

Geocache GC13WZQ, from a distance..
There’s a “hidden in plain sight” urban geocache in this picture. Can you spot it? (probably not, at this resolution)

I’ve written plenty about geocaching already, but the only important thing to know for this particular anecdote is how geocaches are rated to indicate how hard they are. There are two scales, each scored from one to five “stars”. The first scale is difficulty, which is about how challenging the geocache is to find – a 1-star rating means that it’s in plain sight, not camouflaged, etc., while higher ratings might mean that it’s well-concealed, tiny, disguised as something else, or requires that you solve a puzzle in order to determine where it is. The second scale is terrain, which is about how challenging the geocache is to get to. A 1-star rating is typically accessible by wheelchair – you certainly don’t need to leave paved roads and footpaths to get it; higher ratings might mean steep gradients, tree climbing, long hikes, and so on. The highest terrain ratings often mean that specialised skills or equipment are required (for example, rock climbing gear or a scuba tank).

Geocache GC13WZQ, zoomed-in
There it is: that capsule, magnetically-attached to the girder that supports the bridge, is the geocache.

As you can imagine, caches with a 5-star “terrain” rating are rarer, and are especially uncommon in built-up areas. Half-way up cliffs… deep inside caves… miles out to sea: these are the places you’d expect to see geocaches with the highest level of “terrain” score. So imagine my surprise when I discover GC13WZQ (“Swing Lower”), a geocache with a 1-star “difficulty” rating but a 5-star “terrain” rating, just a few minutes walk from Oxford City Centre. In the seven years this cache has been in place, it had seen fewer than 110 successful visitors: contrast to its neighbour, GCK57Z (“Swing Low”) – a virtual cache less than 10 metres away – which has seen about six times as many visits in only 3 years longer. This, I thought, was a cache I had to see.

The sides of the bridge, boarded up and with barbed wire. Photo by OxfordLad on Geocaching.com.
OxfordLad (who took this photo), and other geocachers claimed that, since early 2014, the cache was made entirely inaccessible by the boarding-up of the sides of the bridge.

Folks recently attempting to find the geocache had reported (OxfordLad, izybuzyfingers, twitcher50) that it had been made inaccessible by the recent addition of boards and barbed wire to the edges of the bridge. Counter-arguments were raised (sandvika, Mad H@ter) to show that this didn’t make the cache inaccessible; it merely made it accessible only by boat, which had already been suggested in the “attributes” for the cache.

Geocache with "boat" attribute
Only an idiot would attempt a ‘requires boat’ geocache without a boat. Right?

I’m not a believer in the idea that any particular geocache can only be found one particular way. Also: I don’t have a boat. So I decided to make an expedition to “Swing Lower” my own damn way. Approaching the bridge under which the cache is located, I immediately saw the boards and barbed wire that had been reported by those that had attempted it earlier in the year. But as I would soon discover, anybody who was put off by a little bit of plywood and the risk of damp feet really wasn’t built of the right stuff to be able to do what was required next. Put simply: boards and barbed wire are the least of your problems when you’re hunting for GC13WZQ.

Dan, braced between two I-beams about 5 feet apart, underneath a bridge.
It’s not the most conventional way to cross a bridge, I’ll admit.

The bigger challenge was getting to the cache once underneath the bridge. I discovered (perhaps with a little inspiration from “Jackhuber”) that it was possible to brace myself against a pair of the beams that run the length of the bridge and – facing down – shuffle sideways to get to the centre of the bridge. I felt acutely aware of the fact that until I got over the central channel, the depth of the water might not be enough to break my fall (especially if I slipped and fell head-first), but was reassured by the fact that I’d brought fellow ‘cacher and coworker kateevery and she was ready, perhaps not to swim out and get me but at least to call 999, should the need arise.

Dan holding the geocache he's found above his head, triumphantly.
This is how Freddie Mercury holds a geocache.

So there you go. To all of you wusses for whom “there are boards and barbed wire in the way” was an excuse: you hadn’t even begun to face the challenge of “Swing Lower”. I’ve written up a Batman-themed description of the expedition as part of my log report.

A screenshot of the clue for GC54F78, one of the caches in my new series.
Can you make out the coordinates in this image? No? Maybe it’d help if you looked at geo.danq.me.

This conveniently coincides with the week that I launched my new collection of puzzle geocaches, the Oxford Steganography Series – four geocaches (GC54F78, GC54F7B, GC54F7J, GC54F7N) whose coordinates are concealed within images or text, each of which contains a transparency film that can be used (I made a video showing how) to determine the coordinates of a fifth, bonus cache. I’m reasonably pleased with the series, and I’ve been enjoying reading the reports of the ‘cachers who’ve been out hunting for them, so far.

Geocache GC13WZQ, from a distance..× Geocache GC13WZQ, zoomed-in× The sides of the bridge, boarded up and with barbed wire. Photo by OxfordLad on Geocaching.com.× Geocache with "boat" attribute× Dan, braced between two I-beams about 5 feet apart, underneath a bridge.× Dan holding the geocache he's found above his head, triumphantly.× A screenshot of the clue for GC54F78, one of the caches in my new series.×

Dan Q posted a note for GC54F7V Oxford Steganography #5 – Secret Bonus Cache

This checkin to GC54F7V Oxford Steganography #5 - Secret Bonus Cache reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Congratulations to mbtkz on FTF (haven’t seen your logs on the other four yet, but I assume that you wanted to get this one onto the site promptly so that other knew you’d made it!). Well done!

Dan Q posted a note for GC54F7N Oxford Steganography #4 – Tilt

This checkin to GC54F7N Oxford Steganography #4 - Tilt reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Thanks, Sapphirites (and congratulations on the FTF!): I’ve updated the puzzle sheet so that it recommends ensuring that the “fit to page” box is not ticked, and I’ll send you a message containing the number that you should have seen when you visited this cache. Happy hunting!

Social Engineering of the Day

This afternoon I was sent out to a distant corner of Oxford University, to which I’d never been before, in order to deliver a lecture on information and computer security. I just wanted to share the exchange that happened when I arrived, because it’s so delightfully ironic:

Dan walks into the building and, seeing the security gates, walks up to the reception desk. Papers left loose on the reception desk indicate that a lecture on security is happening today.

Dan: [pointing at his name on the papers] That’s me. I’m here to deliver the presentation on security. Where should I go?

Receptionist: I’ll buzz you through the gate – go down the stairs, and to the end of the corridor. There’ll be swipe-locked doors you can’t get through, but just hang around for a minute or so and you’ll be able to follow somebody else through.

That’s right – I turned up at a building in order to teach the people there about security, and – without identifying myself any more than pointing at a piece of paper and saying “that’s me” – was given a temporary ID card and encouraged to piggyback my way through their checkpoints. I guess they needed me more than they thought!

Dan Q found OK0044 Swing Lower

This checkin to OK0044 Swing Lower reflects an opencache.uk log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

The following log was originally posted elsewhere:

After my visit the other day, I went home, read some of the logs, and thought about this cache. Boards? Boards are something that people worry about when they’re not Batman. A cache that’s placed in the middle of dead space? That’s not a problem Batman would have. I can be Batman, sure. I AM BATMAN!

So today, I finished work, changed into a set of loose clothing (that I could comfortably climb in and wouldn’t mind having to swim in if I had to), rallied my coworker and fellow ‘cacher kateevery to act as my eyes-on-land – and my photographer – and set out to the bridge.

The boards on the side I opted to start my expedition from were a little more-troublesome – stretching farther out over the water – than the one I’d taken on before, but that hardly mattered: today, I was Batman. A grab and a leap, and I was on the other side. Next came the tough bit – the crossing: no Bat-Belt; no Batarang… but I still had my pure Batmanosity. Leaping up and bracing myself against the beams, I began shuffling across. Just as I began to tire, kateevery – my very own Robin – called out, “just four more steps”, exactly the motivation I needed to complete my crossing and grab the cache.

Totally great location. Totally Batman expedition. Totally adding this cache to my favourites.

EDIT: I’ve now written a blog post about the experience – http://www.scatmania.org/2014/05/18/batman-geocaching/

Dan Q found GLE7H2JG Swing Lower (Historic Site)

This checkin to GLE7H2JG Swing Lower (Historic Site) reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

After my visit the other day, I went home, read some of the logs, and thought about this cache. Boards? Boards are something that people worry about when they’re not Batman. A cache that’s placed in the middle of dead space? That’s not a problem Batman would have. I can be Batman, sure. I AM BATMAN!

So today, I finished work, changed into a set of loose clothing (that I could comfortably climb in and wouldn’t mind having to swim in if I had to), rallied my coworker and fellow ‘cacher kateevery to act as my eyes-on-land – and my photographer – and set out to the bridge.

The boards on the side I opted to start my expedition from were a little more-troublesome – stretching farther out over the water – than the one I’d taken on before, but that hardly mattered: today, I was Batman. A grab and a leap, and I was on the other side. Next came the tough bit – the crossing: no Bat-Belt; no Batarang… but I still had my pure Batmanosity. Leaping up and bracing myself against the beams, I began shuffling across. Just as I began to tire, kateevery – my very own Robin – called out, “just four more steps”, exactly the motivation I needed to complete my crossing and grab the cache.

Totally great location. Totally Batman expedition. Totally adding this cache to my favourites.

EDIT: I’ve now written a blog post about the experience – https://danq.me/2014/05/18/batman-geocaching/

The epic (and challenging) geocache GC13WZQ.

Dan Q posted a note for GC13WZQ Swing Lower (Historic Site)

This checkin to GC13WZQ Swing Lower (Historic Site) reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Ha! I agree – the boards are irrelevant!

I got within a few metres of the cache through some creative climbing, but couldn’t get close enough to reach it. I’m pretty sure that I could manage it with some ropes and a belayer, but I’m not as young as I used to be and I think I’ll instead attempt this cache in the way that the owner intended. Nice location: I look forward to logging it someday!

Dan Q found GLE74KJ2 Swing Low

This checkin to GLE74KJ2 Swing Low reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Found while (optimistically) looking at what it would take to log the nearby non-virtual cache GC13WZQ (I’m now convinced that the “correct” way to log that one is the only one). Amazing to see the remains of such a spectacular old swing bridge: I took a nice photo but I can’t share it here because to do so would answer one of the challenge questions! TFT(V)C!

Dan Q found GLE707N0 The compass is wrong!

This checkin to GLE707N0 The compass is wrong! reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

I cycle right by here virtually every day, but every time I think to look this way it’s late afternoon and the muggles are out in force. Today, though, I left for work a little earlier than normal and so managed to get here before the place was crawling with them. Lid of the cache was very tight, but got there in the end. TFTC!