A couple of weeks ago I hid a small cardboard treasure somewhere in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, wrote a short clue hinting at its location and invited you to track it down. The card was hidden in plain view - not concealed under, inside or beneath anything - but that didn't seem to make it easy to find. To the best of my knowledge only Ollie's managed to locate it (and he lives just round the corner from the spot where I hid it, which may have been a considerable advantage). So, where exactly was the treasure hidden? Here's the solution.
» Across the Green
There are many Greens in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the most prominent of which are Bethnal Green and Stepney Green. But it was neither of those. There's another famous Green nearby, namely the Green Bridge in Mile End, and that's the "across the Green" I had in mind. This 1999-built bridge, unexpectedly yellow in colour, acts as a seamless link between the two halves of Mile End Park across the Mile End Road [map]. It was rather greener on top when it was built [photo], but most of the vegetation has since died off due to a lack of regular watering during the summer months. Now the brow of the bridge is little more than a disappointing ribbon of concrete with some shabby grass to either side [photo]. A CCTV camera peers down to keep a hidden eye on those who frequent the bridge-top - most likely a group of local teenagers or the occasional jogger. It's really just a typically unimpressive bit of urban park (but thirty feet off the ground), which is a shame because it could be so much more.
» Above the Eleven
I might have been talking about eleven objects, but no. The A11 slices Tower Hamlets in half, from Aldgate to the Bow Flyover, and this eastbound trunk road was the eleven in question. The Green Bridge (again) is the only place where you can stand directly above the A11 [photo], looking down on the cars and bendy buses swarming beneath you, and hopefully not spitting on them as they pass.
» Alongside the Angels
When you're up on the bridge, the most prominent local landmark is the nearby Victorian church beside the Mile End Road - The Guardian Angels. Standing up here your eyes are level with the church's big gothic south window, just below the high redbrick roof and a tall not-quite-square tower. Most of the locals now worship somewhere else, if at all.
» Beneath the Four
On the church-y side of the bridge, above the roadway, there's a lone wooden post marked with a metal number "4" on the top. This used to be one stop on a Year 2000 Maths Trail through the park aimed at local schoolchildren, although the puzzle associated with this particular post has long since disappeared. These days nobody gives the post a second look - which was perfect for my treasure-hunting purposes. I slipped the cardboard treasure into a long crack down the back of the post, and that's where it's been this last fortnight.
So well done to Ollie, whose photograph of the treasure has now been viewed a staggering 1000+ times. But he put the card back in its hole again, ready for someone else to find, even though nobody did. So I guess I'll have to go and collect it myself, just to make sure I'm not accused of littering the environment. Which means I still haven't managed to get rid of any of my 100 Moo photo cards, even after going to all this effort. Maybe I need to hide one again, somewhere else...
The diamond geezer Treasure Hunt [solution]
» Across the Green
» Across the Green