Car treasure hunt?

[Peter Gillson]

Hi all

i mentioned this to my son who is at Uni and none of his mates had ever heard of such a thing, which got me wondering - they cannot possibly be only a Guernsey thing? So I thought I would post this to see how commonplace they are.

it is a social event used to raise money for clubs etc. At the starting point all teams (cars) are given a load of questions; each is a clue to a location with a question which can only be answered by going to thr location. the idea is to decipher the locations, drive tho them to answer the questions. When you have done all of them you end up at the finishing location (usually a cafe or pub) where the answers are marked and the winner announced. Also usually some food and drink! In all we drove 19 miles in a couple of hours and had a fun time. A variation is a walking version over a much smaller area..

who else has this type of social activity?

Peter

 

[adt70hk]

Hi all

i mentioned this to my son who is at Uni and none of his mates had ever heard of such a thing, which got me wondering - they cannot possibly be only a Guernsey thing? So I thought I would post this to see how commonplace they are.

it is a social event used to raise money for clubs etc. At the starting point all teams (cars) are given a load of questions; each is a clue to a location with a question which can only be answered by going to thr location. the idea is to decipher the locations, drive tho them to answer the questions. When you have done all of them you end up at the finishing location (usually a cafe or pub) where the answers are marked and the winner announced. Also usually some food and drink! In all we drove 19 miles in a couple of hours and had a fun time. A variation is a walking version over a much smaller area..

who else has this type of social activity?

Peter

View attachment 457955

Nope not alone. Our local BBC Radio station used to do them every weekend in an informal competition between two pairs of listeners.

 

[Mark1]

I remember going on a couple of these as a kid with my dad.

 

[therapy]

I remember going on a couple of these as a kid with my dad.

Yep, me too. Always used to finish up at a country pub....

Nick

 

[Mark1]

They were organised by he's c,b radio club, when that was a thing!

 

[Tim Marlow]

I saw the title and thought, “haven’t done one of those for many years……”
I think they were very much a seventies and early eighties thing done as a money raising activity by various club and pub groups . As Nick says, always used to end up at a club or pub. They seemed to disappear around the same time that pub quizzes became commonplace.

 

[stillp]

Used to be common in the 70s/80s, many car clubs organised them, giving strict instructions to the competitors that it wasn't (officially) a speed event.
Pete

 

[JR]

Yes agree with both Tim and Pete, esp the speeding warning. Fancy saying that to a load of young men driving Minis !

 

[Jim R]

I took part in a few many, many years ago. They were great fun. In one each car/team was given a cheap instant camera as part of the entrance fees as there were certain "clues" which needed a picture answer. Always ended in a pub!

 

[Peter Gillson]

I thought they must have been more commonplace. They have not really gone out of fashion over here, but if they fell out of favour in the Uk in the 80's that's why Joseph's uni mates did not know about them, he's only 23.

this begs the question; is Guernsey:

1 - old fashioned and behind the tines because car treasure hunts are still popular, or
2 - holding onto traditional values by keeping car treasure hunts going?

They still carry warnings about own risk and do not speed - remember our speed limit is 35mph.

ending up at some licensed premises is an essential element!

something which you cannot do now which we could in the 1980's are 'bus parties'. The bus company which existed then allowed people/clubs to hire a bus for an evening and the driver would take 30+ revellers on a pub-crawl around the Island; there were some pubs which i only ever went to on a bus party., Ah, the days pf out youth.

Peter

 

[Mark1]

I thought they must have been more commonplace. They have not really gone out of fashion over here, but if they fell out of favour in the Uk in the 80's that's why Joseph's uni mates did not know about them, he's only 23.

this begs the question; is Guernsey:

1 - old fashioned and behind the tines because car treasure hunts are still popular, or
2 - holding onto traditional values by keeping car treasure hunts going?

They still carry warnings about own risk and do not speed - remember our speed limit is 35mph.

ending up at some licensed premises is an essential element!

something which you cannot do now which we could in the 1980's are 'bus parties'. The bus company which existed then allowed people/clubs to hire a bus for an evening and the driver would take 30+ revellers on a pub-crawl around the Island; there were some pubs which i only ever went to on a bus party., Ah, the days pf out youth.

Peter

I think you still do them because you can! Anywhere remotely close to London or any city really you'll spend all your time stuck in traffic,paying ulez charges,a small fortune to park anywhere,all the pubs are gone or people are just to busy nowadays.

 

[stillp]

Satnav has taken a lot of the skill out of them. Actually you could probably answer most of the questions by using Google Earth!
Perte

 

[bilbo]

Used to do them a lot, we got in to the habit of using https://www.treasuretrails.co.uk/ whenever we went somewhere new, or even in our own town, always managed to find something new and interesting, but never won the big prize

 

[Tim Marlow]

The answer to your question is one and two Peter……..and it’s probably all the better for it…..

 

[Peter Gillson]

Satnav has taken a lot of the skill out of them. Actually you could probably answer most of the questions by using Google Earth!
Perte

Ah, but not in Guernsey - we are one of the few, possibly only place in Western Europe not to have Google streetview.

 

[Peter Gillson]

Used to do them a lot, we got in to the habit of using https://www.treasuretrails.co.uk/ whenever we went somewhere new, or even in our own town, always managed to find something new and interesting, but never won the big prize

What a great idea. if inly it had existed when my children were young.

Peter

 

[stillp]

Ah, but not in Guernsey - we are one of the few, possibly only place in Western Europe not to have Google streetview.

Well, you do Peter, but it doesn't work the same - I clicked on the map of Guernsey and then dragged the streetview icon onto a spot, and I could open a picture and scan around it. I couldn't move the point of view along a road, and when I tried a different spot, as you said, no streetview, so it is patchy.
Pete

 

[stillp]

I can get into the Mulberry Health Suite in streetview.

Pete

 

[Airborne01]

Know what you mean - we certainly did those but (alas) we always finished up in the Temperance Hall ...
Steve

 

[Peter Gillson]

Google came over here with their camera cars and started to take photos and were stopped by the then Data Protection Commissioner over personal data security and they have never come back. the few locations they have loaded onto the web are a strange mix of some public places and some which seem to be private or businesses - presumably the businesses paid for the service.

as far as I am asare there are no plans for the, to return and produce their 'normal' streetview.

Peter