Westminster Spys

Thursday March 29th 2012

Today we set off on the tube to central London to do the first of our 2 Treasure Trails. This one was a spy trail with the following mission: 

"Scotland Yard have received a sinister message signed "Winnie The Whistleblower", threatening to disrupt the Queen's next Trooping the Colour official birthday parade, with an ultrasonic device audible only to horses. Is it a hoax? Or nay, a threat? We need you to follow the trail, solve the clues and discover the code to disable the device - just in case!"


Completing Your Mission: Solve the clues to complete the mission answer grid on the back page and work out the de-activation code. The answers are words, letters or numbers that you will find as you follow the trail. When you find each answer write it into the grid. Some of the boxes in the grid are shaded. Cross off the corresponding letter or number in the combination box. Solving all the clues will leave 4 numbers or letters - the de-activation code. Mission complete!!!

We began outside the Houses of Parliament and learnt on the very first clue that this was going to be tough. We also learnt that we had to think a bit more laterally about the meaning of the clues and not go for the obvious first thought. As part of this trail we saw Parliament Square, the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St James Park, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Green Park, Pall Mall, Waterloo Place, Admiralty Arch, Trafalgar Square, Horse Guards Parade, and 10 Downing Street. 

We also saw a range of statues, significant houses, war memorials, the location of alleged secret tunnels to St James Palace, the purveyor of Royal fishing tackle and other little known historical places. It was tough and took us longer than we thought but it was a different and fun way to see the sights. We worked well as a team. I am pretty sure that none of us would have been able to complete the trail alone as at times each of us solved a clue that everyone else could not work out. Go Team Oxlad!!!!

Once we had finally finished the Treasure Trail we again tried to use the gift voucher that Allen had given to the boys but without any luck as we found out that the chain had gone into liquidation the day we arrived in London. Understandably the boys were pretty disappointed. It was then time to head home for dinner (and Ben and Jerry's).