by Ive » Wed Nov 14, 2007 5:45 pm
Hiya,
I feel I must put everyone out of their misery!
I actually found the coin yesterday afternoon, but have only today had it confirmed, and created a forum account. Apologies to anyone who has made a trip today!
Given the clue 'Take the 10k quarrymans to B3 in 007M' and a picture of railings with water behind, this is how I found it...
I googled "10K quarrymans" and found 2 possiblities - a Quarrymans walk along the Coventry canal near Atherstone, Warks, and a Quarrymans challenge in Devon. Both unfortunately were 10km in length!!!
Taking into account the picture, and also the 'B3' part of the clue, I figured that the Warks location was more probable. I thought B3 would mean bridge number 3 along the canal, or maybe the third bridge we come to on the walk. The picture looked remarkably similar to a canal towpath, and so sealed my decision to go hunting for this one as Atherstone is a mere 25miles from where I live!
My partner and I went the weekend before last, to the start of the walk. We noted that the walk was a figure of 8 - a big loop around the canal and a shorter loop around Hartshill country park. We made the decision to follow only the canal section, given I was convinced we were looking for a towpath near a bridge. This we duly did and found no railings similar to those in the picture. Even so we searched each and every canal bridge and footbridge we came across. No luck.
We went home dissapointed, but I had a nagging feeling about the bit of the walk we left out, and another nagging doubt that it might be the Devon quarrymans! However, I continued to look on the internet and found a leaflet that showed a stream running through Hartshill park - possibly the water in the picture?
Then, yesterday morning I checked the forum and noted an extra hint - 'Follow the heart to the hill'. This confirmed by suspicions I was at least in the right part of the country and so I booked the afternoon off work and went hunting alone.
I parked the car in Hartshill and picked up the bit of the Quarrymans walk we had left out. After a mile or so I arrived in Hartshill Country park. The info board showed where the stream was, and the course of the trail.
Nothing on the map suggest a link to B3 or to 007M, so i was a little despondant. However, convinced I was looking for water, I decided to go cross country directly to where the stream should be.
After a trudge through the forest I luckily stumbled upon the correct trail route, marked by a yellow post.
Even luckier I noted another wooden post next to it, with an Acorn and 'B4' stamped into it. Sensing a connection, my heart stepped up a beat and I scanned around. I saw some railings about 50 yards away and sprinted over. Next to the railings was a very small pond, and stepping back I could see this was where the picture was taken from. I then saw a post, covered in mud, and after scraping off the mud I made out the acorn and ... B3!!!!! Was it deliberately covered up by a fellow searcher???
Now to figure out what 007M meant!.
I must admit to first spending a frantic 10 minutes scratting around in the undergrowth for anything unusual. But I managed to calm myself down and look at it logically.
I scanned the railings and nearby trees for markings - literally looking for '007' scratched into the wood. No luck.
Then I counted seven posts either way and searched in, below and around them - no luck.
I had loads of ideas about what 007M could be. The James bond connection could not be ignored and I has spent ages researching the M character. Who played him/her, what the characters name was etc. Judi Dench stood out, probably as the most recent, but I couldn't make the connection with anything I could see around me.
Then I thought - 007M might simply be 7M, or 7 metres. So I started at the B3 post and stepped 7 or 8 strides in various directions. 3 trees, the pond and a bench were around that distance. The trees yielded nothing, and I though the pond was not an option and so I searched the bench.
It was a simple bench - 2 stumps and a plank. There were no markings, and no cracks in the wood I could see. But when I got down on my hands and knees and peered underneath I noticed a gap between the stump and the plank, stuffed with leaves.
I picked at these and voila - out popped the bag with the coin in.
I have to admit to jumping around and whooping a bit. Good job there was nobody else silly enough to be in the middle of a forest while it was raining heavily!!!
I was wet, covered in mud but with a massive grin on my face. God knows what the folks of Hartshill thought while I walked back to the car!
Ive