Hunting for London's treasures

As I was researching things to do for Christina’s birthday activity I came across Hidden City, a quasi treasure hunt across London. I thought this would be a fun way to spend the day so recruited a couple of treasure hunters, including the birthday girl, and signed us up for the Cryptic Covent Caper hunt which described itself as ‘a moderately cryptic challenge to test your skills around Covent Garden and the West End. Ten clues ending at a friendly pub.’ Based on this description, and at a medium level of difficulty it sounded ideal!

The way hidden city works is that you pick your hunt, sign up and give them a primary phone number to contact. You then have 29 days in which you can start your hunt. Once you text ‘start’ to the number they give you they text you the first clue. Once you have solved the clues you text them the answer and they send the next clue. Simple! BUT be warned if you get a clue wrong you get a 10 minute forfeit. The idea is to finish the hunt in the shortest time. They even direct you to a lunch spot and give you a one hour break to eat. They truly have thought of everything!

So, armed with our phone and thinking caps, we set off from the BFI on Southbank.

During the hunt we got fairly competitive, keeping a keen eye on the on-line leader board which shows you the finishing times of all the other groups of people doing your route on the same day.

I couldn't possibly tell you more about the clues or specific locations we visited as that would ruin the fun when you sign up to it yourselves but I can tell you that the hunt took us on a wonderful route from Southbank, around the West End and Covent Garden.

It was a beautiful autumn day so we got to see London at its best…

 …and see some tourist spots along the way!

The trail, as promised, ended at a lovely pub (again you’ll have to find out which one for yourselves) and, feeling quite tired by this point, we treated ourselves to a well earned drink! We checked the leader board and unfortunately were no where near the top as we were foiled by a couple of clues!

This particular hunt was perfect for medium term Londoners like us. If you are new to London I would definitely recommend taking an A-Z.

At £16 per team this is a bargain day out and a lot of fun!

Up, up, &… down

Jon and I decided to head to the O2 this weekend to try out the (fairly) new Up at The O2 attraction. When we saw torrential rain outside in the morning our hearts sank as we had pre booked the date but by mid afternoon the weather had picked up so we travelled across London keeping our fingers crossed that it would hold out.

On arriving in Greenwich I saw for the first time how high the arena actually is and my knees started to shake a little as we signed our lives away in the head office. We were then given a safety briefing (which made me feel a better!) and taken to be fitted for our sexy outfits…

Harnesses fitted  and fully briefed we were taken outside to the start point and clipped on to the safety line. 

Despite appearances the platform which you walk on is not solid but rather a trampoline type bouncy material which made the walk (or bounce!) up even more fun!

Our ascent lasted around 20 minutes taking in all the beautiful views of the city. Once at the top you are let loose on a large round platform with 360 degree views and given a good while to see the sights with information boards to tell you what you’re looking at.

We spent about five minutes looking at the sights and then got distracted spending a substantial amount of time trying to get a good picture of holding the O2 yellow towers. 

Fun facts: There are twelve of these yellow towers in total, one for each month of the year and the O2 is 365m in diameter, one meter for every day of the year.

We were having too much fun and before we knew it our time was up and our friendly guide was calling us over to be clipped on to the descent safety wire. 

Going down started well and then suddenly the angle got a fair bit steeper and scarier. The group speed got a little slower, I clung to my harness and took it one baby step at a time. 

We made it to the bottom in one piece just before the heavens opened – phew!

At 90 minutes long this is an awesome thing to do one sunny London afternoon and is a great way to see and appreciate the city. It would also be a great date outing!

Tickets start at £25 and can be booked here.