Two routes for your enjoyment this Sunday, with it being the first Sunday of the month a coffee stop is scheduled in on the route at Home Ground, Long Marston. For something a little bit different on this weeks route there is a little “treasure hunt” which kicks in for the final 10 miles of the routes. Riders can stay together for the first part of the route and then if riders don’t want to stop for the clues around Tring they can head on to complete the route either at the coffee stop or straight to the pub.
As always with our routes, we aim to leave no one behind and early season non drop pace is employed.
10.30am 21 miles Mini Pirates https://ridewithgps.com/routes/54059799
10am 33 miles The Pitstone Pirates https://ridewithgps.com/routes/54038466
The clues for the hunt will be provided nearer the time. Coffee stop is Home Ground in Long Marston. If you are doing the hunt, this will be a good place to review your answers and check the map.
It was a dark and stormy night, a long long long time ago, the Portland Tunnel Cement Company in Pitstone had been supplying cement for the expanding Heathrow airport, deals had been done and cash was hidden on site, the business was just about to change name and ownership so some wily workers knew this was their only opportunity to make good with the proceeds of bribery money. The heist was to steal the cash and bury it locally under said cement.
Cross and double cross took place as the gang known as “The Pirates Of Pitstone” crumbled under the pressure (unlike their cement). There is talk that when you take off from the Southern runway at Heathrow you fly over the encasted bodies of the gang, who died leaving no living soul knowing the secret location of their buried treasure, although there was rumours that a set of clues had been left to indicate the best place to look.
When the cement works tunnels finally came down in 1999 it was thought that the secret to the lost loot was gone forever but recently while cleaning his bike in a Castlemead garden, an Ivinghoe Velos rider noticed a tattered old sheet in the dirt. The sheet contains clues only a local with a good knowledge of “our patch” could decipher, The location of the treasure is hidden in the coordinates on an OS map in the 100Km Square “SP”. It’s time to get on your bike and follow the clues to unearth the treasure!
As treasure hunters you have a list of co-ordinates to review, Eastings and Northings (horizontal and vertical) any that you find on your treasure hunt ride can be discounted as they are NOT the location of the treasure, this will leave just two co-ordinates within the SP 100km square on an OS explorer map where you can find the lost loot!