Cache archived automatically

I have been warned by The System that this and its neighbouring opencaches will soon be automatically archived since they have been Temporarily Disabled for too long. So be it. These caches are still checked and maintained but it remains the case that I do not wish them to be publicly logged, should an adventurer be resourceful enough to find them. Since it is not straightforward (or possible?) to view archived opencaches, I believe the html copy at http://abanazar.com/opencaching/OC_ARCHIVE/menu.html will suffice as a starting point, so long as the lure of the adventure outweighs the ability to log online.

This will be disabled for a while and should not be logged.

There is an important update regarding certain aspects of local accessibility. Please revisit the relevant section of the solved instructions for more details, if this is on your ready-to-attempt pile.

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This will be unavailable for a short time for a spot of maintenance.

Unusually for me, this was a cache that I relied upon others for the workings, as I had missed all mention of it in our planning for the Matrix visit.

As is usual with the CO's work, the attention to detail and investment is a joy to behold. We spent a long time with one half of this quest in our possession as we journeyed back and forth in search of Trinity.

Very pleased that we achieved our goal with this one after the investment we had put in. And another huge thanks for the cache.

The team from Surrey, Berkshire and Hertfordshire tried to reunite these two guys last week, but the greater part of their effort was expended endeavoring to unravel the Matrix and we ran out of time. So Orpheus went right back where we found him.

Today we picked him up again and carted him around all day, and some time in the afternoon, one became two. Or two became one, depending on how you look at it .

After a brief moment of conjugal bliss (Orpheus and Eurydice that is, not the team from Surrey, Berkshire and Hertfordshire), we had to tear them asunder once more.

We THOUGHT we had recovered the information we needed during their brief reunion, but when chatting to the c/o in the pub later in the evening, the suspicion grew that maybe there was more to it than had met our eyes. And so it was. However, there were a limited number of likely inferences from the information we held, and I shall have to try them one at a time - if you see this log it means one of them was right .

A very original and unusual cache, one that for various reasons can only be located in a place such as these quarries and only listed on a site such as opencache.uk.

Regrettably I have only one available recommendation, and I think I will have to reserve that for Enter the Matrix, else this would clearly get one too. But of course it is an Amberel TOP CACHE (visit link for details).

Thanks for the cache,

Rgds, Andy

Well, the team from Surrey did come here, and did find Orpheus, and carried him around all day while tackling "Enter the Matrix", but that other cache took a long time and we realised that we weren't going to have time to finish. So we put Orpheus back again .

We plan to be back on 12th Feb., hopefully to finish both caches.

Rgds, Andy

A team from Surrey and Hertfordshire has pencilled in the 5th Feb for a rescue mission.

Rgds, Andy

Amberel's seems a reasonable request. And if there is any difficulty communicating with the most recent adventurers, I expect that Hades has located O&E too, as it is a considerably shorter round trip for the God of the Underworld.

Are we permitted to ask the most recent re-hider for confirmation of where we think Orpheus and Eurydice are currently residing? A 250 mile round trip is quite an investment in time only to find we had it wrong?

Rgds, Andy

It was a tale of two halves – both triumph and tragedy:

 

First, the triumph; we were able to light a path through the darkness from the incarcerated Orpheus to the shade of his wife and they joyfully conjoined, so enraptured that they forgot all else as they whispered sweet nothings to each other. 

Then, the tragedy; as we were leading them towards the light and sweet, fresh air of Box, the ground shook, thunder crashed and an unearthly voice [high, cold but very masculine and powerful] boomed out to inform us of Hades’ displeasure with the impending departure of two of his most special subjects and his subsequent refusal to let them go – we were compelled to Look Backwards and bear witness to their renewed, far flung separation in this accursed realm.

 

We are, however, greatly consoled by our memories of another superlative sorcerous geocaching experience and very much appreciate the seemingly endless versatility of his chthonic kingdom. 

We would like to declare our intent to rescue these two from where they have been languishing in the darkness for far too long and to lead them out to the light where they will live together happily ever after.  

 

We hope to undertake this humanitarian mission tomorrow, Sunday November 27th

I never did classics at school - apparently I was clever enough to do latin - ha! what do they know! The latin was vaguely useful in solving pljg's location clues, but my lack of classics meant Orpheus and Eurydice were new to me, so henceforth I shall call them Kat and Alfie. This also means that we can have some fun by matching up other classical characters with their east end counterparts - for example - Cerberus is now Well'ard. Anyway, when I read up on the topic I was expecting one cache to be above ground and one below, but I guess we caught Alfie before he made his way out.

This was the second of two opencaches created by the CO at the tail end of 2015. I liaised with my co-conspirators in the solving of Enter the Matrix with a view to tackling it together. We decided that pljg, aided by bradlad, could make the FTF attempt for Kat and Alfie, which would allow me to try for the find when we did Enter the Matrix. Enter the Matrix looked too much for one evening and available weekends are few and far between, so we decided to tackle the first 2/3rds of EtM and also go for Kat and Alfie.

We were joined by pljg's sister and were underground for just over 5 hours. We found all the stages we looked for, but I'll save the detail for the log on Enter the Matrix. It's certainly more extreme than other caches in this quarry.

We entered the quarry to the sounds of an owl hooting and made our roundabout way to Kat or Alfie (I forget which) at Lady Hamiltons entrance and all was found as expected. We then continued with Enter the Matrix until we reached the wall where it took me a little longer to find the cache. I then set about reuniting the pair and the outcome was not what I expected, but was certainly entertaining. I claimed the second FTF prize (thank you very much), and tried to re-pack both caches as carefully as possible. There was a rattle in Alfie (I think), but all worked well so I don't think there's anything particularly wrong, but thought I better mention it.

It was getting late so we made our way out of the mine and I rehid the caches as best I could, although the next finder won't have to be as ambitious as we were. Hopefully that will encourage another attempt soon. 

Thanks for another great cache - I love the implementation and I hope it's rewarded with many seekers.

 

Just a quick note to declare my intent to reunite this pair of star crossed lovers this evening (albeit a day too late for full poetic effect). We shall also be starting another more green and black mission, but probably not finishing it (given our previous exit time from the quarry on a similar stargatey-type mission)...

Well done to pljg for a textbook retrieval and an excellent choice of new hides accompanied by an equally excellent set of clues. And all at the same time as helping some wayward travellers to see the light.

I have logged the lovers' new locations on the puzzle's message board.  I reiterate the owner's "Ts and Cs" but the new hides are on similar terrain.

I forgot to say in my found log that I was slightly disappointed not to see an old friend during my adventure.

I have managed to temporarily reunite this pair that seem destined never to be together for long.  I found Orpheus in the extremes of the underworld and then carried him to Eurydice who was resting where I expected to find her, in the very centre of this realm.  The two communed and I was enlightened.

My journey was then interrupted as I helped two travellers from another place to find their way out of this hell.  As I approached the way out I took care not to look back and those following wriggled out behind me.   I ventured back in but realised that Orpheus and Eurydice had become separated again.  It seems that, with the lights out, they lost each other and now lie far apart once more.

It only seemed right to take just one half of the fantastic treasure; will they ever be reunited?

Many thanks for an eventful quest.  I will now, as instructed, place suggestions for searching for the two lovers in another place.

As requested on the solution page, I hereby register my intent to unite this couple this weekend.

Merry Christmas to all my opencaching friends and acquaintances, and all the best for 2016.