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Alice In Bewilderland

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Added October 2021

Using all her guile and ingenuity, Alice has escaped the hordes of rampaging, flesh-eating ghouls to arrive on the little-known Hebridean island of Bewilderland. Her next task is to locate the secret entrance to the underground sanctuary which now houses the last vestiges of humanity. Her old friend Bob was involved in drawing up the blueprints for the hidden shelter and has kindly sent her a map of the island, together with a set instructions explaining how to find it.

Security is tight and Bob has taken extra precautions to keep the location of the bunker a secret, should the map fall into the hands of a particularly intelligent mindless zombie. To achieve the requisite level of secrecy, he's written the instructions in a rather idiosyncratic and ambiguous style, guaranteed to tax even those whose minds are fully functional!

To solve this maze you need to follow the instructions to discover the grid reference of the secret entrance. Can you help Alice reach the safety of the underground bunker before the island is overrun by the foul legions of the undead?

I

            Proceed three
            leagues due south 
            of the windmill.
        

II

            Move two leagues
            in the direction
            of the church.
        

III

            Turn left and
            continue for three
            leagues, or head 
            east to the chapel.
        

IV

            Head west until
            due north of an
            ancient battleground,
            or stay where you
            are and skip to VII.
        

V

            If you are standing at
            a beacon, then move five 
            leagues in the direction
            of the windmill and 
            skip to VII.
            
            Otherwise, move to the
            nearest beacon now.
        

VI

            Turn right around and 
            proceed for three leagues.
            Then return to II.
        

VII

            Head north until
            exactly three leagues 
            from a beacon, as
            measured along one of
            the four primary 
            compass directions.
        

VIII

            Turn right and proceed 
            for four leagues, or
            turn left and proceed
            for six leagues. 
            
            Return to III if you do 
            not reach a chapel.
        

XI

            Move to the same 
            latitude as the first
            beacon you visited,
            or return to V.
        

X

            Walk two leagues
            directly away from
            the windmill. Dig
            here to uncover the 
            secret entrance hatch.
            
            Otherwise, return 
            to II.
        

Here are Bob's instructions:

1. Proceed three leagues due south of the windmill.
2. Move two leagues in the direction of the church.
3. Turn left and continue for three leagues, or head east to the chapel.
4. Head west until due north of an ancient battleground, or stay where you are and skip to VII.
5. If you are standing at a beacon, then move five leagues in the direction of the windmill and skip to VII. Otherwise, move to the nearest beacon now.
6. Turn right around and proceed for three leagues. Then return to II.
7. Head north until exactly three leagues from a beacon, as measured along one of the four primary compass directions.
8. Turn right and proceed for four leagues, or turn left and proceed for six leagues. Return to III if you do not reach a chapel.
9. Move to the same latitude as the first beacon you visited, or return to V.
10. Walk two leagues directly away from the windmill. Dig here to uncover the secret entrance hatch. Otherwise, return to II.

Execute each instruction in turn, starting with Instruction I. Then move onto the next instruction in the list, unless otherwise indicated. The only way to complete the maze is to reach Instruction X and execute it appropriately. If ever the instructions do not make sense in the present context, or cannot be completed, then you have reached a dead end and should try a different path.

This maze is fully interactive (click on a valid square to move there; the current instruction is shown to the right of the map), but you can also print it out and solve it by hand, if you prefer. One thing to note is that you can only move along horizontal or vertical lines (i.e. along the four compass points: north, east, south and west) when executing a particular instruction. I've tried to phrase the instructions as unambiguously as I can to indicate this, but closing every possible loophole requires a level of verbosity that would render them too difficult to scan, so I had to strike a balance. If you are solving the problem interactively, then there will be no such issues because the maze will not let you make an illegal move.