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The Italian Job 2 - Treasure trove? Mystery Cache

This cache has been archived.

stoneballs bass: Time to go. Think I might find a nice sunny pool to sit beside somewhere in Italy! Cache recovered.

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Hidden : 3/27/2015
Difficulty:
4 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   other (other)

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Geocache Description:

The cache is not at the given coordinates.

Some paths are rough and some can get very muddy at times so appropriate footwear is advised.


Do you remember the film's most memorable quote. After Arthur has blown up the truck, Charlie says: "You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!". All I can say is "Just follow the instructions!". Who knows what might happen if you don't follow the instructions properly or correctly. Read all these instructions before you start.

I said "Read through and just follow the instructions!"

I was on holiday last year in Sorrento and one day I was lounging beside the pool soaking up the sun lotion, as you do and after a while decided to go for a swim, as you do. I'd just entered the water and when I saw a bottle bobbing along toward me. I reached for it and saw it had a paper inside. Oh! Whoa! My luck's in, I thought. A treasure map, maybe, or the code for a safe deposit box or maybe just a banker’s wage slip! I thought this is almost as good as finding a cache. I returned to my lounger with my trophy, where I spent the next 28 minutes trying various tools from my caching bag to entice the paper from the bottle, as you do.

Eventually I won my battle and secured the paper. Uncrumpling the paper I saw it had a grid of some sort inscribed upon it. It didn't make any sense to me but I knew it meant something. Hieroglyphics, red herrings or algebra? My ecstasy at finding the message had soon subsided. It was like finding a feeder cache, and not being able to understand where it was supposed to take you for the final. I spent several months trying to understand that message, then one day a few weeks ago, I was studying it for the 94th time that week, and for some reason, I held it to the light and saw it had a watermark in the paper. A breakthrough? The watermark had another message within it which I struggled to read. I could see some letters but not others. This is what I could read.

53._47_6 V _ F _ 5 V V A _ D _ R B _ N _ 5 1.31_58

Last night, studying it again as I have done every day and evening for what seems an eternity, it clicked. What a fool I had been! I suddenly understood what it was telling me. There was no "X" on the grid, so no buried treasure, but everything else was starting to fall into place.

I worked out that the watermark was the coordinates for a cache archived a few weeks ago. I think the message was telling me to start from there then all I had to do was to follow the instructions in the grid. I found the starting place. I think I was right, but I need some help. But can you decipher the numbers and symbols? I think I've worked it out now, but you had better work it out for yourself. I'm not going to tell you here, after all it took me absolutely ages to solve this puzzle! I have given you a copy of the chart so that you can work it out. You will have to upload the chart, and print it if you think that is best.

These caches are on/near a Local Nature Reserve. Please respect the sensitivity of the area and remember the Country Code. Thanks are given to Sheffield City Council - Parks and Countryside Office for permission to set these caches.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

V thrff lbh'er ebbgvat sbe n pbssrr ol abj (ol gur cbby?)

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)