I have been meaning to come and discover the well-deserved Amberel Top Cache coin ever since it was placed, but have never quite got round to it.  In the moment, now, I almost said why one planned trip was cancelled, but that would be a spoiler for the final location area.

Today, we had a shortish walk and a picnic and headed for the final location.  Last time I was here it was dark and snowing, so things were a bit different today.  In spite of the good conditions, drpljg decided to have a sit down rather than make the detour, so son #2 and I made our way there, only to realise that we hadn't bothered to bring a torch.

I won't say too much about the find but the replacement was one of the most worrying things I've done while caching. (Don't let that put you off; the risk was not a physical one.)  I had visions of sending son #2 on a mission from which he might not return.

Anyway, we admired the coin and signed the quite damp but usable log.  Actually, the container's condition is very in-keeping with the story.

Thanks.

A new residential geocoin (thanks to Amberel) was placed in the cache today - see the addendum to the main cache page. The logbook is suffering from some dampness, but it would be a shame to lose the messages it holds so I have left it there for the time being.

Tracking down Der Fahrer's escape route was no mean feat all those years ago, and so it proved again. We started the mission over Christmas when we were kid free and have tackled the various stages since then. One early stage was missing, but I still had the old photos so that was no trouble. I struggled to find one of a trio of clues in the jungle, and sent the CO on a wild goose chase to confirm that it was still there, but again old photos helped us out - I'm particularly glad not to have had to tackle this in the summer. We enjoyed the field puzzle in abanazar's playground, even though we met a very odd chap who chatted to us for about 20 minutes before letting us continue with our search. There was quite a hiatus between the penultimate and ultimate locations, but this weekend presented us an opportunity to finally complete the mission. There were some pretty impressive nettles between us and the final clue but they were successfully negotiated, and at GZ I made the same mistake as last time and didn't read the instructions closely enough, meaning we went a little further than absolutely necessary. Fortunately for me I am much less spry and slender than I was, so Effy21 went in instead. She discovered a massive toad and great crested newt. And the cache. Thanks for a fantastic adventure.

Some early stages have been checked as OK or reset to their intended positions, thanks to some recent feedback from a re-seeker who has let me know of their progress. Also a little supplementary information has been added to the hint.

Hello abanazar!

I'm pleased to inform you that your cache became: Cache of the month

CONGRATULATIONS!
OC Team

I just discovered a whole batch of opencache.uk notifications in my Junk inbox and so had been fairly oblivious to recent activity here and elsewhere. (Hopefully I have retrained the Junk filter to accept opencache.uk from now on.)

Firstly, well done to minadequate and insertcure. Der Fahrer’s journey was designed to be completed in a day (but ideally a summer solstice kind of day, with an early start, not rocking up sometime after afternoon tea) for the benefit of full immersion in the tale (but not exactly m & i’s idea of immersion).

Anyway, the real reason for this note was the replacement of a small but useful bit of metal. Sorry, it’s been on my to-do list for a while but I’d wrongly assumed I would have a year or so before the next seeker after Team Paulicus.

(In addition to my earlier log.) Insertcure and I having not fully read all the logs for this cache set out to do this cache one sunny Sunday afternoon after tracking down the Saboteur (and having spent Friday night cracking both of these, Insertcure finally had the ah-ha moment with the puzzle and we quickly realised this would be another cache where we'd need a laptop in the field. Since neither of us have a tablet or similar device and no inclination to try a more low tech approach). 

At 4pm we started off towards the first stage and with this in hand we wondered if we might have time to find some 'boring caches' before dinner. How wrong we were. At the amazonian location the gps was little or no help, and after trying the alternative I finally pursuaded IC to leave the rucksacks up against a tree for retrieval later. Here it was a case of just wade and see, and after a few hours we had worked out where we were, in seemingly uncharted territory and managed to find what we needed. Though this was really down to me keeping saying... 'how about we just explore a bit further', or 'that looks interesting lets go that way for a bit'. I had the benefit of a long stick & rubber shoes while IC was barefoot and holding his phone in one hand. There were arguments about which location we were at (the gps had no idea) but I'm glad to say I won them all! From then on it was plain sailing apart that we ended up trying to find a brass needle in a woodland at 10pm, we managed to ignore all advice concerning going too far and/or squeezing and I wondered at one point if I would need to call for an ambulance to retrieve Insertcure from a very tight place he'd got himself into. But finally the driver was tracked down and only 2 or 3 hours after I started to hope we would find it soon. 

Its never the case I wish an abanazar took less time to find, but next time I'll make sure I'm well prepared with an emergency dinner when I set out in search of a cache. It was epic, I loved every minute, but most of the words which came out of my mouth for the last 120 were some version of 'I'm hungry' or worse still 'shall we give up and finish it in the week'



How all field puzzles should be solved - while still ankle deep

Wow. How do you even go about describing a cache that took minadequate and myself 8.5 h to find (after doing Saboteur) that resulted us finishing the final stage at almost 1 am? I think I can safely say that the cache lives up to its name, and that this is the best cache I have ever done.

Breaking the code took a fair amount of research but was cracked in one night. The stages required perseverance (especially as we were using torches from about halfway through), a willingness to just go and explore, and a bag of mystery items to keep minadequate's hunger at bay. Challenges included jumping GPSs, observed terrain not necessarily matching that on the map, and spotting clues before going to far. TFTA(mazing)C.

I don't yet have any ratings as this is only my 2nd opencache, but probably nearing my 30th Abanazar. I havent yet done Il Nono so I can't say for certain, but this is currently on a par with Wymres to maybe my favourite cache ever. Its almost 2am I've just had a quick dinner after getting home well after 1 - we should have heeded the warnings. If anyone is considering doing this pull a sicky tomorrow, pack all your caching gear (short of ropes) and anything else you own... a tow float might have helped.... and go find it. I'll write a full log later but for now, I can only just manage to stay awake for this short review. 

Report for Assignment *OK0324VERRATERJÄGD* - SecondInterimMission

Team members: Senior Operative ‘Roz(MonsInc)’ Uxor, Operative (Retired) Paulicus, Operative Filius, Trainee Operative Minimus and Junior Observer Minima

SitRep 18/03

XXXX

Executive Summary:

A long and demanding mission in which Operative skills including both the hardness of helmetless heads and the ability to remain silent during the torture of a thousand stings were tested to the limit.  The disparate ages, experiences and leg-lengths of the various Operatives assigned to the undertaking precluded successful completion on a single excursion and a follow up expedition was required to finally run the dastardly turncoat to earth.

Notwithstanding the utmost seriousness of the task, it was both a valuable training experience and just fantastic fun!

Verbatim quote from a damp, very muddy and slightly cold team member emerging from the dank mist out in the field: ‘It’s Saturday ….  All my friends will be at home playing computer games …. Can I do some more decoding?’

We assess that security will not compromised if we offer the following advice to intrepid future Operatives:

There are many hazards to be negotiated, but be especially mindful of both Bärlauchgas and feindliche Schnecken

XXXX

Today I donned my Ray Mears survival clothing and visited the Amazonian jungle of Wiltshire. Ever since I first followed der Fahrer's trail into this realm, I have marvelled at the relentless entropy of nature. All the clues in the jungle were located and touched. They are difficult to find, but with perseverance and diligence, progress will be made. If there is such an ailment as being poisoned by wild garlic fumes, I may have experienced it today.

Maintenance (partial): As it was such a lovely day, I decided to go on a long walk. This took me to the second physical stage. Or is it the second, third, and fourth stages? I’m never too sure. Anyway, it was a jungle, the land that time forgot. One of the clues is very much harder to see and access than when originally placed, but it is still there at the coordinates, halfway like the others.

We started this cache a long time ago, it took a while to identify the code, when we did we stored the info on the back burner waiting for the right conditions to have a go.

One sunny Sunday we made our attempt. We started well and it was full of promise, the first stage was tricky until Mr EP finally found the info we needed and off we went.

Many hours later, it seemed, we had to give up searching for 2 out of the 3 last bits, we were successful with one item! Meanwhile we got hemmed in by cows who took a fancy to the dog, did quite a lot of wading and nettle bashing, then the dog decided to make a swim for it when he didn't like what Mrs EP was up to!

'We'll be back' 

As someone said once.

The errant clue is now back in place. The majority of stages have been checked recently, so I'll re-enable the listing now and also check any outstanding stages within the next couple of weeks.

[Edited 23/12/14] Sooner than anticipated, the remaining stages checked out OK today.

Frohe Weihnachten.

Today I noticed that one of der Fahrer's clues was missing. I expect I can rectify that within the next couple of weeks.

Maintenance (partial).

As the only known British descendant of der Fahrer (it seems that being the Lord of the Manor’s chauffeur had a little cachet with a local lass), it is incumbent on me to periodically check der Fahrer’s trail. This is too extensive a task to complete in my usual slot before breakfast, so this morning I concentrated on the area that has required most maintenance to date. Two things to report: all clues were present and correct, albeit suitably tricky to spot; and Mother Nature has been busy in recent months. It is reported that der Fahrer eventually fled to South America, and it seems that the dense jungles there have been recreated on a small scale here in parts of Wiltshire. I have never before been simultaneously stung on the head, cheek, and lips; as a result my face is rather tingly.

One more thing. If you should ever spend a day seeking and hopefully finding der Fahrer’s hoard, then (a) a number in an American database will not increment by one. Furthermore, (b) your more mainstream friends and acquaintances on social media will not be interested in your day, no matter how interesting your day might have been; this is because of (a). In such circumstances, resist the urge simply to say “Baaaah!” (no matter how strong that urge may be), and instead just nod politely when they show you the results of their filmpots-per-day GSAK query (filtered on stiles, signposts, and multi-trunk trees).

Glückliche Jagd.

Fertig zum Such!

In the unlikely event that anyone plans to embark on this adventure soon (or indeed ever again), it must unfortunately be disabled for the time being. Whether due to a sixth maintenance sense or just chance, it was discovered this afternoon that a couple of clues had gone AWOL in ‘The Bermuda Triangle’. Or perhaps that should be referred to as ‘The Jungle’, given the level of bushwhacking required and leg stings suffered.

The adventure will be restored either when I get round to it, or sooner if requested!

Bis bald!

Um 06:30 versammelte sich das Einsatzkommando und die Ausrüstung wurde in den Volkswagen verstaut.

Nach einer längeren, nervenaufreibenden Fahrt (falsche Straßenseite, viel zu langsam) fanden wir unsere erste Position.

Amberel wurde auserwählt das Buch zu tragen, sandvika hatte den Photoapparat und ich hatte Papier und Bleistift. Der Rest der Ausrüstung wurde angelegt und wir konnten ohne irgendwelches Aufsehen zu erregen unsere erste Stellung einnehmen und untersuchen. Nachdem wir ein bisschen umgebaut hatten, fanden wir den nächsten Befehl. Schnell machten wir uns auf zur nächsten Stellung; einem (mehrere) Brückenkopf.

Leider ging etwas bei der Übersetzung schief und obwohl der Befehl auch mit dem falschen Word Sinn machte, brachte es keinen Erfolg. Zum Glück war eines unserer Fernmeldegeräte funktionell und wir konnten unseren Befehlsstand erreichen und Hilfe wurde bereit gestellt. Schnell waren die nächsten Befehle gefunden und wir konnten uns zurückziehen bevor der Feind uns entdecken konnte.

Als nächstes mussten wir ein paar Wachhunden entkommen. Sie drohten uns mit viel Matsche zu immobilisieren, aber meine Kameraden schafften es sich auf einen Baum zu retten während ich meine Fremdsprachen Fähigkeiten unter Beweis stellen konnte. Schnell waren die Hundeführer überzeugt das alles OK war. Seltsame Wachhunde haben die Tommies, keine Zähne, nur Zunge und schneller Schwanz! Die nächsten Befehle fanden wir recht schnell und ohne 'Reinfall'.

Der 'Reinfall' kam an der nächsten Station. Während die anderen beiden dem Befehl folgten, untersuchte ich die Gegend und hatte das Objekt der Begierde bereits in der Hand. Unerfahren wie ich bin hatte ich es aber nicht richtig untersucht und somit vergeudeten wir wichtige Zeit. Zum Glück gab es keine Abreibung von meinem Vorgesetzten und auch kein Kriegsgericht wurde angesetzt. Kurz darauf wurden wir von einer Zivilperson angesprochen was wir wohl dort täten. Ein bisschen tête-à-tête über das Wetter und Geologie überzeugte auch ihn davon das wir legitim waren.

Als nächstes riskierte sandvika Hals und Kragen um weiter Befehle zu bergen. Alles ging glatt und schon bald waren wir auf unserem Weg zur nächsten Stellung. Auweia, diese Stellung war heftig und ich wurde instruiert meinen Kameraden den Rücken frei zu halten und den Aufstieg zu ermöglichen. Beinahe wurden meine Kameraden vom Englischen Ton für immer verschlungen. Mit viel Mühe und blauen Flecken schafften sie es sich zu retten und vorher die neuen Instruktionen zu finden.

Es war noch einmal Zeit unseren Befehlsstand zu kontaktieren um zu sehen ob wir unser Mission fortsetzen sollten oder bis zum Sonnenaufgang zu verschieben. Der Befehl war weiter zu machen und unser Ausrüstung zu benutzen. Unsere Leitstelle meinte es wäre nicht mehr so weit.

Also ging es weiter. Weit entfernt von jeder Zivilisation und auf extrem engen Straßen nährten wir uns der nächsten Position. Viel konnten wir nicht mehr sehen, aber unsere Karte meinte wir wären nahe feindlicher Stellungen. Ohne großes Aufsehen schafften wir es und konnten weiter Befehle ergattern. Zum Glück biß uns der Hüter nicht .

Am Ende musste Amberel den Schatz bergen da mein dicker Kopf nicht rein passte (ok, mit Helm und Lampe nicht).

Nun waren wir so erschöpft das wir alle Bedenken über Bord warfen und uns ein paar warme und schale Biere (das meine Kameraden mochten) und ein paar Tüten Chipse gönnten. Danach ging es wieder heim.

Vielen Dank für diesen super Cache.

--------------------------------------

OK, Google translate makes a mess of the translation (actually quite rude), so here what was said above.

--------------------------------------

Thank you for this super cache.

It took a long time to decode the instuctions for this one, and then we had a couple of false starts when planned trips had to be postponed for various reasons. But today it all came together, and an appropriately cosmopolitan trio set off in the early hours of the morning to search for der Fahrer - one British, one German and one who is half of each .

I had some preconceived ideas of what we might find at the first stage, but I had it quite wrong, and we found ourselves somewhat over-dressed and over-prepared here. Not to worry, better than the opposite, and it wasn't too long before we were on our way again.

But at the next stage we ground to a halt. After a fruitless hour or more, with no real idea of what we were supposed to be doing, we sent a coded message to the c/o. The reply was brief, but contained some crucial information. When decoding our instructions, one of us (British) was reading and one (German) was writing - and one important word was mistranslated. The incorrect word sounded VERY similar, and it made sense in the context of the message - but it meant something very different, and we had been searching in the wrong place!

Even with the correct information, this stage was a tricky one, but eventually we were ready to proceed. After a relatively easy step, we once again found ourselves seemingly at a standstill, but this time we kept at it and finally managed to sort this one out for ourselves .

Plain sailing again then, until we reached a location from which I was uncertain I would be able to extract myself without external assistance, so advised that one of us stayed on guard duty. Indeed, while Sandvika was able to extract himself unaided, my fears were well founded, and I just could not escape under my own devices. I have to thank my co-conspirators here, for bodily hauling me to safety, filthy dirty and somewhat battered and bruised but at least still on the case .

Night was now fast approaching, and we had no real idea how much of our task still remained ahead of us - had we been only halfway we would have returned to finish it another day. A quick call the the c/o revealed it was worth persevering - and so it was .

What an epic - nearly 11.5 hours from start to finish, but that did include at least an hour lost to our miscommunication, and another 30 minutes or more due to a road block later in the day.

Thanks for a serious challenge, though I'm not sure for how much longer I'm going to be able to keep this sort of thing up . A TOP CACHE, of course, would anyone expect anything different .

Rgds, Andy

Erleichterung.

The errant clue has now been replaced.

Today while confirming some GPS readings, I discovered a clue had gone missing since the last bunch of Eagles had passed through, so I need to get der Fahrer to knock up a replacement for me. I will replace on his behalf asap.

The rain has stopped, the sun is shining, and we have received another package from Argentina (via Gruber, we suspect). Someone is in a better humour, it seems.

For the third time on an Adler mission I found myself in ice and snow for the find. This was an epic adventure in good company with BradLad, antpeng and Hollingsgrose and it was made all the more exciting by the weather. At one stage I thought antpeng might not return alive. More than one of the stages were closer to 5 terrain for our attempt but we couldn't resist tracking down the chauffeur.

Since DA notices 1, 3 and 4 have been placed on reports of this mission, I can't reveal details. I'm not even sure that I should note how useful die Leiter proved at stage two. The final hide almost proved very eventful but we made the retrieval safely. antpeng took the excellent U-Boat geocoin and then revealed that Amberel had posted him the first ever "TopLog" trackable for our previous note for this cache (I won't reveal how much time it took- time I could have spent solving the puzzle). TopLog TB51X3D I'll post a photo when I have one of it as it was, as usual for Amberel coins, a work of art.

All in all, this was one of my absolute favourites, but is the story over or will there be the opportunity to make a 5th inaugural Adler find?

I'm afraid the Top Brass have kept this mission top secret UMBRA because of the sensitive nature of the case, what with Der Fahrer being a nazi defector and all, so I will have to be careful what I tell you….

 

Notification of Der Fahrer's escape attempt came through early in the year. The captain had several groups working on tracking him down and although our unit was close to the breakthrough, it was thanks to the rocket scientist and 4 small west country suinae that the code was cracked. They were seconded to other operations so it fell to us to complete the field mission. We decided the urgency of the mission outweighed the captains penultimate piece of advice and we did not fully appreciate his final words to us, so we prepared our kit, synchronised watches and set off.

 

We successfully followed Der Fahrer's trail to a remote location where our haste to begin the mission came back to bite us. We were lucky though and found an unwieldy tool to help us negotiate the terrain. Here one vital clue evaded us until our wireless operator picked up an unsecure transmission which reinvigorated our search and we we're soon on our way. 

 

Further problems were encountered whilst tackling the twin peaks which required aid from the royal engineers and a makeshift pontoon. 

 

Shortly after the discovery of some of Der Fahrer's munitions we discovered a clue which had become dislodged and was spotted some 5 metres lower than it was placed. Even here we were not beaten as we'd come prepared with kit that oughtn't to have been required.

 

We eventually tracked down Der Fahrer's final hideout after braving floods, rain, gales, snow and bitter wind chill, and carefully following the final instructions the prize was ours. We didn't capture Der Fahrer before he escaped to Germany, but we did find important documents and personal possessions and I looted a small memento from his stash.

 

This was certainly one of the most intense missions the captain has sent me on and it was most enjoyable. To round off the mission with a decoration for FTF was particularly pleasing and the icing on the cake was the first ever Top Log award for lieutenant pljg. 

 

Everyone know's the army loves acronyms and I believe the one used in this instance is: TFTC

--. -.-- .... --.. ---

...- --- ..- -.-. -.-- .. - --- -.. -.-- / ...- . .-. .- -.-- ..- -.- -- -.-- .... / -.- .. .- .-. ...- .-.. . . --.. - / .. ...- --.. --- .--. .--. --- ..- .--. -.- / -. -.-- .- .-.. -.-

.- ..- -.-. .... / -.. .- ... / .-- .- .-. / ..- -. . .-. .-- .- .-. - . - / . -. --. .-.. .. ... -.-. ....

 

-.- --- -.- .. ...- / .--- ..- .- -- ... / .- .-.. .- ...- -.- / --. ..- -.- -.-- ... / -.- .- --. .. -.-. / .- .-.. .- ...- -.- / .--. --- .. .--. .... / ... .. -. -.- --- / .- .... ...- ..- ..-.

 

I suspected that might be the case, but amberel scans so beautifully (much better than pljg). Careful though, you might enrage der Fahrer further claiming it's too difficult - it is only a D4 after all....

 

 

I'm still stuck 

Honoured as I am to be mentioned on the same line as far more illustrious puzzle solvers, I have to keep the record straight and admit I'm not working on thisWith the notable exception of "There and Back Again", I don't really like puzzles, and have little skill or inclination to solve them - what little brain power I possess has to be devoted to work and I like to use my free time for more physical activities. My only motivation to do them at all are the excellent caches to which they often lead (or in the case of abanazar puzzles, always lead).

But this one just looks too difficult for me.

Rgds, Andy

Who do you think you are kidding Mr Fahrer

If you think this cache's a cinch

We are the boys who will play your little game

We are the boys who will try to think again

'Cause who do you think you are kidding Mr Fahrer

We just can't get this puzzle done

Staticman and amberel and also pljg

Are working very hard on it and just as stumped as me

So who do you think you are kidding mr Fahrer

Do you think we're playing dumb?

Up at Abanazar Heights we all much prefer the originally posted link, but I recently received an anonymous package from Argentina and feel duty bound to pass its contents on. It clearly has much in common with the original, but it appears to come from a slightly different angle.

"Wilson, order the men to fall in"

"Would you mind awfully just falling in"

"Right Men! We've had orders to keep a lookout for these Jerry-Eagle-Fellows and if possible to apprehend the driver -'Der Fahrer. We've got quite a lot to go on. He's left behind various clues to his trail. If we can track this man down then the whole division will be awarded FTF medals'"

"How absolutely lovely"

"Permission to speak sir"

"Go ahead, Jones"

"So we're meant to find this "Fahrer" fella-me-lad"

"I wondered how long it would take you to work that one out. We need to plan an ambush."

"Do you think that's wise sir"

"Of course it's wise - It's an order direct from the top brass at district HQ"

"Please may I be excused"

"Certainly not, Godfrey!"

"So what's the plan, sir"

"Well, all we have to do is to decode his most recent message and the rest should be a formality"

"We're all doomed!"

"Don't Panic! Don't Panic!"

"Captain Mainwaring, I've been looking at the code and I can't make head nor tail of it"

"You stupid boy, Pike! As I was saying - We decode the message, follow his trail, lay an ambush and then seize the traitorous scoundrel"

"They don't like it up 'em! Don't they, sir?"

"Quite, Jones, Quite. So this code - I'll have it solved in no time and then we'll be all set. How hard can it be..."

One of the funniest logs I've ever seen, well worthy of an abanazar cache

Der Fahrer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6SE49Yotqw

Listen very carefully, I shall say zis only wence...

You may wonder what I am doing... Well, I am trying to track down this getaway driver - Der Fahrer.

What-a mistake-a to make-a!!

I have bad nose. I have no idoor what I am deeing.

I will keep trying, but Ohhh, my dicky ticker...

Still, Jolly good show!