Thread: The Hare has been unearthed

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Originally Posted by Jep

(see subject)

Details please!

Do tell...

This was posted in the thread about the map being found:

Originally Posted by cw0909

hare has been found and archimagus
has given the map for study, i think the forum
maybe open now too.
http://www.quest4treasure.co.uk/forum/index.php

map seems too take from last solve, will be a tough one, for me for sure

not sure of jep/ see subject
here is solve........................

Archimagus
Menagerier
Holmes

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Posts: 216


Location of the Hare (don't read if you're still deciphering the map!)
« on: July 20, 2008, 04:09:52 am »

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OK, I think it's probably time to reveal what was the precise location of the Hare, and the story of our deliberations between recovering the map and finding the Hare...

From the discussions on the board, it seems that most people have come up with pretty much the right location anyway, so it shouldn't be too much of a surprise. So, the Hare was buried...

ON EDINGTON HILL, BEHIND THE BENCH WITH THE PLAQUE "THESE HILLS ARE MY CATHEDRAL..."

As most of you have correctly surmised, the BR, E, and ER refer to the village names of Bratton, Edington and Erlestoke, which lie roughly west to east to the north of Salisbury Plain (indicated as SALES BUREE PLANN on the decoded map). Again, I think it's already been mentioned, but the reason it was E and not ED for Edington was that there was no D in the solution phrase. Incidentally, we didn't immediately realise that, and the inconsistency between the representation of the village names was one of the things that held us back originally.

Our initial theory was that we would need to climb the hill to the south of Edington (RISE) and then (REST) at a bench, behind which we would find the treasure. The word BUREE pointed to the X behind the rectangle, which we assumed represented the object behind which we should dig.

When I contacted Dilllon with this theory, he was pretty adamant that he wasn't going to confirm or deny any location attempts. All he did say was that once we'd reached the correct location, there should be a bit of an 'AHA' moment, and something from the pictures would make sense.

Unfortunately for us, this meant that until we actually reached the right spot, we wouldn't know whether we were 100% correct or not - this was mainly the reason why we didn't make the journey straight away (as it was a significant amount of travelling for both of us).

We then spent the next few days scanning aerial photography of the area (Google Earth), but really couldn't find anything that could be said to represent a bench (or any other interesting object, for that matter). We asked Dilllon if the correct 'object' could be seen on Google Earth - he checked, and told us that it couldn't. This left us with a bit of a dilemma - should we go to Edington Hill and search around, not really knowing where or what to look for, or carry on trying to find some other confirmers?

As it was, I found another website with aerial mapping, http://www.192.com/maps/ , and crucially the photography was different (probably more recent), and slightly more detailed than Google Earth. To my great delight, there appeared to be a brownish-coloured object by the footpath at the top of the 'rise', which I automatically assumed to be a bench (I mean, what else could it possibly be?!)

Armed with this new information, we decided to make the trip on Friday 18th, a nice twist being that it also marked Menagerie's 3rd anniversary. We met up in the church carpark around noon, and proceeded to make our way up the hill on the footpath which starts almost opposite the road to the church. We were hoping to see the brownish bench come into view as we neared the top of the slope...

...what we did find, however, was a large bush, which was remarkably un-benchlike. I have to say, at that point, our hearts sank, as all our hopes had been pinned on what was now a non-existent bench.

Undaunted, we decided to walk along the footpath heading east. Within a few minutes, Martin pointed out what looked to be a somewhat out of place tree trunk, lying on its side, a short distance away, behind a patch of thistles. We headed over to investigate, through the thistles, and as we neared the tree trunk, it became obvious that it was a bench(!), overlooking the plain below. I quickly made my way to the front of the bench, and immediately read the plaque: "These hills are my Cathedral". We'd found it!! The Hare was now a matter of inches away!

On returning home, I checked the 192 maps site again, and the bench is clearly visible on there! Just goes to show it's always worth being thorough.

My best estimate of the OS grid reference for the location is ST 9293 5294. And lat/long: N 51deg 16' 31.44", W 2deg 6' 9.18"

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Is there anywhere that I could get the solution to the original pages on where to find and decipher the map. I'm sure it's in the locked section of Q4T, but as I lived in Canada I never donated as I had no ability to actually search. I was just doing the puzzles for fun. If somebody has the answer but doesn't want to post it you could PM it to me. I'm very curious to see the entire process. Much obliged to whoever is willing to share.

Centura

I PM'd Centura.

The Q4T protected area will be opened to the public soon. There you can see the whole extensive solution to the Map's location, photos of the location, photos of the Map itself, the solution to the Map, and photos of the Hare's location and Hare.

Jep