StreetRiddl
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Story

The Baker's Apprentice

London, 1666. The city has burned, and a man is to hang for it. The baker's apprentice knows he is innocent. Follow his letters – and find the name.

One continuous story from the first stop to the last. The plot is made up – the places and the history you meet are real.

Duration
95 min
Distance
2.6 km
Stops
8
Difficulty
Medium
In the small hours of 2 September 1666 a fire broke out in a bakery in Pudding Lane. Four days later 13,000 houses and 87 churches were gone. The baker swore his oven was out. The city wanted someone to blame – and got one. Will was the apprentice in the bakery and the last to see to the oven that night. He wrote eight letters to his sister as he walked through the ruins, westward, towards the man who passed sentence. You walk the same way today, with the letters in your hand. At every stop you have to find something that stands there now – an inscription, a memorial tablet, a gateway. Each stop gives a letter, and in the end the name of the man Will tried to save. Will and the letters are made up. The fire, the baker, the verdict and everything you see along the way are real.

Good to know

Walk it in daylight and preferably on a weekday – Postman's Park and the Temple precinct may be closed in the evening and at weekends. Flat all the way. Bring two phones if you can: stop 3 is split in two.

Try a puzzle

This is what the puzzles feel like

Someone has put the city's name in code. Turn the wheel until the letters make sense.

Turn the wheel until the letters become a word.

DGFVGF
0 steps

Starting point

Pye Corner, the corner of Giltspur Street and Cock Lane

London

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Leaderboard

  1. 1Team Pierogi1:09:55
  2. 2Suomi Finland1:15:26
  3. 3Os Viajantes1:25:59
  4. 4Oma en Opa1:27:09
  5. 5Kowalscy1:53:41

€3

for the whole team