If you've over indulged over Christmas like I have then you might be thinking about burning some calories. Well I don't know about you, but I hate the gym so I try to do activities that are a bit more enjoyable and when I was approached by local company Clued Up about reviewing one of their Treasure Trails I thought it would give me opportunity to get moving whilst having a bit of fun.
Treasuretrails.co.uk have over 1100 Treasure Trails across the UK and Clued Up looks after the Treasure Trails in Buckinghamshire and East Berkshire. The trails are themed self-guided tours which aim to get people outside, exploring, learning and having fun.
I selected the Wokingham Trail because it was the nearest to where I live in Bracknell. It is usually priced at £6.99 for a postal copy or a PDF download. You can also purchase a personalised version for £12.99. I received a PDF version for review purposes which I printed off and then once the rain eventually stopped I dragged my brother to Wokingham with me to give it a go.
Wokingham
The theme of the Wokingham Trail is set around a spy who wants to kill oak trees to gain notoriety. An acorn with oak leaves is the Wokingham town symbol so this seemed appropriate. He has planted a device which when activated will release giant oak weevils which will kill the oak trees. The mission is to follow the trail of clues which will help you to find the de-activation code.The trail pack told us how long the mission would take (2 hours) and roughly how we would be walking (2 miles). It also advised us to prepare for a short walk over grass so to wear appropriate footwear. It told us where the best place to park was and the mission actually started from there which was handy.
Now I don't want to give too much away about the mission itself but the general gist is that you follow the clues to certain places within the town and there you will find some information which you then need to write into a grid on the back on the pack to give you the deactivation code.
It took us just under 2 hours to complete the trail but my brother and I grew up in Wokingham so we knew all the roads names so the route was easy to follow. That said the instructions are pretty clear so I think that even if you didn't know the area then you wouldn't have any problems following the trail.
Even though we know Wokingham well we still found the trail interesting. The secret mission theme would definitely have appealed to us when we were kids but at 30 and 26 years old we were more amazed at all the facts and history that we didn't know about Wokingham and there were things that we had walked past hundreds of times over the years but never noticed before doing the Treasure Trail.
VerdictWe had a great time doing the Wokingham Treasure Trail by Clued Up, the time absolutely flew by! Treasure Trails would be great fun for people of all ages and a great activity to do as a family. It was great to get out and about and you can even make a proper day of it like we did and stop off at the pub on the way!
