Solution

I tried to make the puzzle easy enough so it could be solved within a relatively short period of time – and though we stated that a 13 year old could solve it, this was merely an inference to the fact that the puzzle was in essence really quite straight-forward. So, the puzzle was simple – any complexity would be provided by the minds of the hunters. If we think something is, or should be complex, our own brains will tend to make it that way.

Anyway .. onto the solution – which was

57 23 17.75 N
5 49 40.84 W

There were 4 text parts to the puzzle – so I decided to cut the co-ordinates above into 4 parts, and rather than distribute them randomly I left them in order so they would build logically.

I had hoped that after text 1 it would be apparent that a numerical solution was what was being sought and if not after this text then certainly by the end of text 2.

Text 1

1. ‘fifty-six miles over land - given that our roads north so recently were in such a sorry state it is a distance so great it reflects just how far we have truly come.’
   
   56 miles – but just how far have we truly come. The distance travelled was 56 miles by road, but this didn’t include the ferry journey across the Firth of Forth – which adds one further mile to that distance. This was reflected in the painting by the lightning bolt – which mirrors the route from Edinburgh to Perth – the ferry journey being referenced by the ‘Mind The Gap’ underground sign.
   
2. Whilst they stopped to water the horses in Kinross, Burns noticed a merchant hanging flags.
   
   ‘One red, a space then three further red flags. I asked him if there was any great significance to the order he seemed to labour to achieve and he quite cryptically answered, "Well Sir, what meaning would you have?"’
   
   Flag Space Flag Flag Flag  was quite simply a graphic representation of the binary string 10111, which is equal to the number 23.
   This was directly represented in the painting, though the space was occupied by a white flag. The white flag was added to reinforce the importance of the flags and also to give a stronger hint toward the binary string.

Text 2

1. ‘and whilst he spoke he wrote the numbers 112715 in his breath that had condensed on the glass next to his head’
   
   This part was derived from a number sequence puzzle that my daughter brought home from school – and one that I remembered from my own schooling.
   
   1, 11, 21, 1211, 111221, 312211, 132221  - find the next number in the sequence etc …..
   
   After starting the sequence with 1, each term in the sequence consists of groups of two numbers based on the previous term - the first being the quantity and the second specifying which digit.
   
   So, 112715 as part of a similar sequence would give either the previous number of 1775 or the following number 2112171115.
   
   The main development in the painting was the addition of the Grand Union flag. The flag was first flown on December 2, 1775 by John Paul Jones.

So after the first two texts we have the complete northing of  57 23 17.75

Text 3

1. ‘The lintel stones above the main doorway bore the motto " Desipere In Loco"‚ the initials of which were so intricately carved’
   
   The initials DIL in roman numerals gives the value 549. The modern convention for writing 549 would normally be DXLIX, though in the time of Horace (who provided the motto from: Verum pone moras et studium lucri, nigrorumque memor, dum licet, igniummisce stultitiam consiliis breuem, dulce est desipere in loco), there was no set convention and 549 could be acceptably represented by DIL.
   
   The nautical flags that appear as an addition to the painting that accompanied text 3 also represent the numbers 5 49. The gap was deliberately included to reflect their separation in the grid reference.

Text 4

1. The final part was acrostic. The first letter of each sentence gave ‘four oh eight four’ – or 4084.
   
   The main addition to the painting was the plane – the windows of which were actually the dots and dashes of Morse Code for 4084.

 

The final two texts then gave the Westing of 5 49 40.84.

If these two values are entered into Google Earth they give the burial site next to a coral beach to the South of the small settlement of Ard-Dhubh on the Applecross peninsula.