January 2008 - 1

[haggis]

Yep, I thought about you when I read the post Lodgecrest...
Think thats 2 found isis for Toxophilite.

Haggis

[Lodgecrest]

Oh well I had a good try, and at least someone got it.

I will have to just wait until the May search is released and hope that it is placed on my doorstep so I trip over it when I leave my house in the morning.....

[ChadH]

I reckon it's 23 paces from the end of the wall. NE would then put it on the water side of the wall. I was tempted to go today, but Toxopholite posted (fortunately ) before I even got up!

[Toxophilite]

Sorry about the delay, I'm not at home at the moment, will post the full story later this evening.

[Toxophilite]

I found the general location for this one back in February, but for slightly the wrong reason. In legal parlance the term for a place where a messuage once stood is a toft. I found a few villages called Toft and the most likely seemed the hamlet near Dunchurch in Warwickshire which is at the Northeast end of Draycote Water. This is a well known bird watching area so I thought that Tip Your Wing referred to migratory birds coming in to land. The reservoir is completely surrounded by a path suitable for walking or cycling so it all seemed to fit. I assumed that W was a sign or object from which a Northeast bearing would point to the coin but we covered the entire area and never found anything that fitted.

Around this time people were hinting that the location was in the North East so I saw that there was a Toft Hill near Newcastle airport. To the West of this is place called Ponteland and to the north east a dissused windmill. This all seemed to fit much better than Draycote Water so I gave up on it.

My interest was awakened when the arial shot of Draycote water was posted a few weeks later. Shortly afterwards it became apparent that the synonym for tip your wing is 'bank'. So the correct interpretation of the first two lines was Toft Bank which is one of the banks surrounding Draycote Water.

Then there was a clue in the subject line of one of Ade's posts that said As easy as ABC or 123. This made me think that W should be interpretted as 23 or it might refer to orienteering markers which have both numbers and letters. The numbers only go up to 22 but there was a 'W' as shown here:

and a North East bearing pointed into the thicket behind it. However all I got for my efforts was lacerated by brambles. It was Ade's post last night that told me exactly where it was. Firstly the subject field now said ABC=123 so W=? this confirmed that W referred to 23. He also says that you need to be in the correct position on the bank, so it had to be on Toft Bank, but I knew there was no visible '23' on the bank. Then the penny dropped he uses the phrase "you can count on it being there".

So if you look at this picture:

there is a "stroll or roll" sign at the start of Toft Bank where it joins Farborough Bank. This is the reference point. You then walk North East along Toft Bank counting 23 cap stones as shown here:

I knew that the coin had to be there so I shot up there early this morning as I knew that anyone familiar with the site would jump to the same conclusion.

My first thought was that it would be under those rocks on the water site but they didn't look as though they had been disturbed in ages and the coin could easily get lost in there. The outside joint between the blocks forming the bank under cap 23 looked big enough to wedge a coin in but it was filled with earth. Fortunately I had taked the advice of the Lightjockey after his visit to Goat Fell and always carry a giant paperclip with me. Brilliant for scratching the muck out of crevices and revealing the edge of a polythene bag with a coin in it.

The location is shown in these photographs with the bag pulled out slightly for clarity:



So there it was, there never was a 'W' or a '23'

It was Silver by the way, I think that the hidden clue from February is probably the only one that fits the original criteria of a gold coin.

Oh well I'll get back to looking at pictures of castles now, hope you enjoyed the story.

[ChadH]

Thanks for the story, and well done on finding it.

I have to say though, according to my map, that part is Farnborough Bank . Not fussed though, as I already have a free search under my belt, and it was just finding out where it was that I really wanted to know.

Anyway, congrats again Toxopholite, and thankyou for posting your find early so that I didn't take a trip in vain

EDIT: Ignore this post - I got my bearings wrong

[Toxophilite]

I used the map on the Draycote Birding site:
http://www.draycotebirding.co.uk/map.htm
The two banks appear to join due East of the 'H' buoy which is exactly where the blue sign is. There is also a reverse shot of Toft Bank looking South West on the site. I think the area where the hide is located is Toft Shallows.

Just realised I never did get to see the Alpacas.

[haggis]

Excellent story and great photos. Thanks for sharing them with us.

So, still no gold coin then...

Haggis

[ChadH]

Sorry Toxopholite - got my bearings on your photos now. I'm so used to looking at satellite images of it, it was a bit odd looking at it from that angle

Also, I hope I didn't sound bitter earlier - I didn't mean to. Congrats on your find

[Toxophilite]

No I wasn't offended, that's the beauty of forums you can say really nice things about people and nobody can hear you grinding your teeth or putting your fist through the monitor.

I felt a bit guilty about not posting earlier but in the early days I thought I was totally off track and when I looked again I didn't really have anything new to contribute until last weekend.

[Gary's Mum]

Dear god I don't believe this. I have not bothered with this one as I thought it was north.
I go to Dunchurch almost every day and cycle Draycot water often and usually a coffee in the cafe after.
On my door step and I never gave it a thought, how dim is that

Congrats to you Toxophilite, very well done good story

[Lodgecrest]

Thanks Toxophilite,

I don't think I would have found if I went back fifty times to look, anyone who's been there would know how long that wall was and it must easily be a mile.

You would have only have got it, if you had work out where to start from, there were many of the stroll or roll signs up there, but you worked out which one to look at. I concentrated on the one at the end of Toft's bank being that it was further North East

It also had the Warning sign under it.

Shame it wasn't Gold for you. Well done again and thanks for putting me out of my misery and saving me about

[Toxophilite]

Before the 23 thing my best theory was that there was one unique spot where a Warning Sign, Stroll or Roll Sign and No Entry sign all occur in the same place:

This particular No Entry sign doesn't have a cap on it and is full of rain water. I was convinced at one stage they had wrapped the coin in polythene and stuffed it down the pipe.

[Karen_G]

Congratulations Toxophilite Great pictures and story

Karen

[bingabonga]

good pics, great explanation and a very good day out by the sounds of it!!
well done.
Bing!