RIVERSIDE TREASURE HUNT
STARTING POINT: MANSION HOUSE UNDERGROUND STATION.
DURATION: 2 HOURS.
END POINT: THE GEORGE INN BOROUGH HIGH STREET.
Our riverside quest is a truly enjoyable journey along the banks of the River Thames that will take you into some truly hidden and secret places. From an old church tower through which you can step to gaze upon a section of Roman London, and onwards through a warren of timeless alleyways that twist and turn their way along the banks of the Thames, this treasure hunt has it all.
You will begin in the heart of the old City of London and then be expected
to root out all manner of cryptic clues and devious observations that are scattered around some truly fascinating places.
Courtyards and passageways that you would never dream existed will yield up surprise after surprise. Modern London in the form of the Millennium Bridge will get you over the River Thames and into the cobbled thoroughfares of Southwark where teams will compete against each other to find their way to their final destination.
But en route, what treasures await! You will see the reconstruction of Shakespeare's Globe Playhouse that has risen, Phoenix- like, on its riverside location. How times change. When we did our
first riverside treasure hunt in 1982 the spot where the Globe now stands was a derelict, eerie warehouse around which rats scurried day and night! Now the surroundings have been revitalised and people flock to enjoy a bustling and vibrant riverside district.
Since this was the area where Philip Henslow and the Burbage brothers (in partnership with William Shakespeare) established Elizabethan London's Theatreland, the clues that we lay before you have the distinct flavour of the Bard about them. Clues and observations litter this wonderful route. It hugs the banks of the Thames, and yet it is able to deliver some true surprises as you uncover places and items of street furnishing that date back a hundred and more years, one of which has even survived from Shakespeare's day!
As with all our treasure hunts the main thing to stress to the teams is that all the cryptic clues provided are visual. They will begin by reading the starter clue on their sheet o
f cryptic clues. By reading the clue and then searching around for exactly what it is that the clue is telling them to look for team members will be able to get themselves to the location where they will find a letter or a number that corresponds with the next clue that they must follow. Again this will be visual so they will have to keep an eye out for exactly what it is that that clue is directing them towards. Once again this will lead to another letter or number that corresponds to the next clue they must follow on their laminated sheet of clues and so on and so forth until they have completed the entire treasure hunt route.
The teams will have 18 clues to follow but some of these will be red herrings the sole purpose of which is to stop the teams knowing when they are getting close to
the end of their treasure hunt. How fiendish is that?!!
No points are awarded for the team that finishes first. The points are awarded for the next two sheets that are contained in the team wallets. The first is a sheet of 20 observation questions. These pertain to things that the teams will pass as they make their way around the treasure hunt route. Some might be slightly off the route, or hidden down a passageway or even in one of the churchyards passed on the route. Each correctly answered observation question is worth 100 points. So by taking note of their surroundings and ensuring that no hidden nook or cranny is left unexplored the teams will be able to acquire points as they go round and in so doing bring themselves that little bit closer to being the wining team at the end of their adventure.
The second sheet is a sequence of 10 photo challenges. Again these are items that the teams will pass as they make their way around the route. However, each one of them has been photographed from an unusual angle or has been slightly tampered with to make identifying
them a little more of a challenge. Again each of the photo challenges correctly identified is worth 100 points.
The idea of the observation questions and the photo challenges is to encourage the teams to take their time and to work together to find the answers to the questions and identify the objects as and when they pass them. In the process the treasure hunt becomes a valuable team building exercise and not just a race around the streets to see which team can finish first. Indeed it is often the team that takes the most time, and spends that time working on the solutions to the observation questions and photo challenges that gets the highest score. Never has the old adage 'the last shall be first and the first shall be last' been more true!
So, whether you are looking for a team building activity, an evening event that will get yourself, your friends and work colleagues out
onto the streets of London, or even an enjoyable Saturday or Sunday morning or afternoon for a social gathering, hen party or birthday party, take a stroll along the banks of the Thames to pit your wits against some tricky clues laid out in a superbly atmospheric yet vibrant quarter of London. But don't worry, the quest isn't too difficult and before you know it you will have resurfaced from the narrow alleys and hidden courtyards of a bygone age, and will have emerged, blinking into the 21st century where the scores will be added up and the winning team announced.
