Bude: The Bal Maids' Revenge
Explore Bude as a self-guided outdoor escape room. Decipher clues to rescue two stranded gentlemen from a mischievous prank! Use the app to solve the puzzles and unlock directions of a walking route that will lead you to where their clothes have been hidden.
The Story
Help two Victorian gentlemen recover their clothes after a prank by the Bal Maids. Explore Bude by following the clues left by the Bal Maids' pet seagull Denzil. Solve the puzzles to find the garments before the tide comes in, when the gents will have to make an undignified emergency exit.
Stats
- Distance: 3.8 miles/6.1 km
- Approximate duration: 2.5 - 3.5 hours
- Steepness grade: Easy
- Puzzles: 50
- Dogs: considerations
- Access for wheels: no
Considerations
- Route involves unsurfaced grassy areas that could be muddy after prolonged rain in winter.
Gradients
There's a short climb from Summerleaze to the Sea Pool and a gentle climb up to the Storm Tower.
Had great fun solving the clues to discover the answer to the mystery whilst also having a lovely walk & finding out lots of interesting things about the town & some of its key features. If you haven’t tried one of these before I highly recommend them.
Loved this, our favourite so far. Loved the variety of the trail & we liked that there was a bit more walking in this one 🙂
Sea, sun, a natural swimming pool and a storm tower. Bude seems to have it all but now it also has naughty Bal Maidens! We had a great 3 hours disentangling their wicked schemes, applying our brains to the devious puzzles which ‘bought’ us the next directions, learning about the history of the town as we did so.
Get the app
The mystery walks are an outdoor escape room combined with a mystery tour. They are done using a mobile app.
For each one, there is a story with an overall mystery to solve. To do this, you solve puzzles to unlock each direction of a walking route.
Each step of the way there are detailed walking directions and live map showing where you're headed to next.
The puzzles also gradually build up a set clues to solve the overall mystery when the end of the walk is reached.
The puzzles are designed for adults although children may enjoy helping to spot clues and helping to solve some of the easier ones.
Every puzzle has a ladder of hints starting from harder and progressing to very easy to cater for a range of aptitudes.
A mystery typically takes around 3 hours to complete. It's not a race so you can take your time, take photos, stop for refreshments etc. and have a nice day out.
The price (per group) is £14.99. It can be done all in one day or split over two.
Once a mystery has been downloaded, it runs completely offline using GPS with no need for a phone signal or data/internet connection (it's Cornwall-proof).
Download the app from the Apple Store or Google Play and then browse/purchase the mysteries using that.
