2023 Scavenger Hunt

I should like to join the hunt, if I may. I was out yesterday before the snow started here and wondered whether you would count the heavy-duty metal protuberances on the stone columns holding up the gates as “brackets”?

By the way, this is the entrance to Newby Hall, a county estate in North Yorkshire.

Does this count as an unusual road sign? In the UK, red triangles are warnings so this literally means beware of the duck!





The location is near the Ripon Canal, in Ripon itself: 11 Bondgate Grn · 11 Bondgate Grn, Ripon HG4 1QW

Just for luck, here is another odd sign. I am not sure how well my juvenile interpretation will translate outside England but they could, crudely (in every sense) be read as “virile sex-act”!








This was also part of my quick ride around local roads, in a unmissable break in the weather. These stone signs are at the entrance to the village:
Dropped pin

My Lord Justice @BRI_UK and members of the jury, I should like to submit a possible sighting of a “lowrider” bicycle.

After extensive forensic investigation (aka Google), I believe that these bicycles are essentially an American phenomenon. I have certainly never seen one or heard of them in my all too many years living in many parts of England. They are characterised by a long, low frame and can have 2 or 3 wheels. While they are often customised, they can be bought ready-made.

Today I visited a specialised bicycle shop in York, “Get Cycling” -
Get Cycling CIC · 22 Hospital Fields Rd, York YO10 4DZ .
They sell “recumbent” bicycles, which seem to me to have all the essential characteristics of “lowriders”. They are certainly long and very near the ground, and any user would most definitely be an exceptionally low rider!

I submit that these meet the hunt’s requirement but humbly await the court’s learned and merciful judgement.

Scouts out! said:

View attachment 735010
In the US, a Corvette. In Europe, a Porsche 911. Not interchangeable

Click to expand...

Drat - just too late and would you believe I passed a 911 on the way home! Not a day to buy a lottery ticket.

Near Ripon, North Yorkshire:

Next: sword.

Thirsk, North Yorkshire:

Next up: Owl

Some thoughts from a newbie, building on jslacker’s good points about balancing opportunities and incentives.

To encourage more people to get involved there are some issues to think about:
1. different opportunities to ride. I’m retired so have more scope to get out and about than those at work. Different climates have a similar handicapping effect.
2. different time zones. Those in the same zone as the person setting the challenge may get a head start.
3. while it is fun to be first to complete a hunt, it can be off-putting to keep getting pipped at the post (I speak from experience!).
4. keeping track of rapidly changing targets.
5. keeping the Hunt’s administrative overhead to a minimum.

With these in mind, some possible tweaks to the rules:
1. each hunt to be open for a week.
2. a point to everyone finding the target, with another point to them for each additional example found, providing they are at least 10 miles/15 kilometres apart.
3. members submit their successes every week, say on Sunday or whenever would best suit the Hunt’s administrator. At the same time they suggest a potential target for the following week.
4. any targets not found to be carried forward to the following week(s), with a bonus point when they are found.
5. the winner’s target is used the following week, when they stand down. The target is first confirmed and announced by the administrator, listed with any targets carried forward from before.


I don’t know whether these ideas will appeal or be practical. More experienced members will know best. Regardless of this, it might be worth promoting any changes in a separate thread in the “general discussion” and “news” forums to draw attention to the Hunt‘s objectives and rules, especially for the Forum’s many new members.

For what it’s worth, I should be happy to pitch-in on the Hunt’s administration, in whatever way might help, and whatever the rules.

PS. I also missed rule #2 and will try to do better. If I can’t at any time, I’ll try to explain why this wasn’t possible.