Another clue has been revealed by a crime writer who has hidden a secret cache high in the Lake District fells.
Novelist Andrew Bibby gave a map reference to visitors at the launch of his book, In the Cold of the Night, in Ambleside.
The story features a mystery in the fells, and Bibby has hidden a secret message in a geocache, with a prize for the first walkers to find it.
Adventurers can read the book first, to find out the area where the alleged crime takes place.
The view from where the secret cache is hidden
The novel features an investigative journalist who is a fellrunner and a member of the local mountain rescue team. Bibby spent some time with rescuers researching details for the book, and is donating a percentage of all sales fees to the LAMRT.
The publishers (Gritstone Publishing) are also reissuing Bibby’s previous Lakeland crime novel in a companion volume, The Bad Step, another murder story set this time above the Langdale valley on the mountain ridge called the Crinkle Crags, which has to date been available only on Kindle. In that story, one of the runners in a championship fell race is found dead on the route.
Andrew Bibby is a professional writer and journalist, whose work has appeared in The Guardian, The Independent and other national papers. He is the author of several non-fiction books about northern England landscapes, including the walking guide The Backbone of England. He’s a fell runner and has completed many of the classic Lakeland fell races, and the Joss Naylor challenge.
Andrew Bibby hides the clue
He said: “Working with the mountain rescue team has been great fun, and I’m pleased to be supporting them.
“I set the mystery near the route of one of the Lakes’ classic fell races.”
He told the audience at the HQ of the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team that the six-figure grid reference, which will locate it within 100 metres, is: 145091.
“If it’s not been found within a week or so, we’ll give you another clue,” Bibby said.
The first person to find it will win dinner for two at the Regent Hotel at Waterhead near Ambleside.
Andrew Bibby and mountaineer Alan Hinkes at the book launch at the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team HQ
There’s a second page in the cache which walkers are asked to return to its hiding place – after taking a selfie with the clue. “If you find it, all the instructions are there. But the geocache is in rough mountainous terrain at over 1500 ft height and so people looking for it need appropriate mountain experience and clothing, and need to take account of the weather… and you look for it at your own risk.”
The two books are now available at Fred Holdsworth in Ambleside and bookshops everywhere.
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