Sunday morning arrived with torrential rain and a pretty big breeze. The breeze got bigger but luckily the rain diminished to occasional showers. Nine hardy riders gathered at Oughterlin, Rathmullan, to follow Francis and Maura’s cryptic treasure trail over 12 miles of beautiful scenery. Divided into three teams of three, the riders were started at intervals. At one stage, Team 3 (Marina, Enda and Libby) overtook Team 2 (Vera, Cyril and Catherine) while Team 1 (Nadine, Damien and Tanya) were occasionally spotted as flourescent yellow dots in the distance around bends in the roads and dips in the hills.

There were one or two ferocious squalls, near-gale force winds, and long spells of dazzling sunshine and brilliant blue skies. Managing the fiercely fluttering sheet of clues was the biggest challenge while discussing solutions over the noise of the wind made for some amusing conversations.

Team 2 eventually reappeared from the wilds to regain their position ahead of Team 3, beating them back to the finish line with a momentous effort up the final few killer hills. The treasure huntmasters totted up the scores while everybody discussed the answers over refreshments under a sunny sky.

Team 1 were victorious on the day but the real heros were the trusty jeeps that towed the horses up some of the Fanad Peninsula’s finest hills to the start point.

Pictured below: Marina and Enda hunting treasure near Glenvar. Further below: The judges’ box.