Introduction → Meet the Teams → Race Tracker → Leg 1 → Leg 2 → Leg 3 → Leg 4 → Leg 5 → Leg 6 → Leg 7 → Leg 8 → Leg 9 → Leg 10 → Leg 11 → Leg 12 → Leg 13 → Leg 14 → Leg 15
Leg 23.03 – “Don’t wet the money!”
Teams start the third Leg of the Race bright and early near Pont Neuf. The 13 teams depart in pairs starting at 6am. They will hop back into their brand-new 2023 Kia Sportages from last Leg and must drive themselves across the border from Toulouse into Andorra!
Teams will find their next clue at Casa de la Vall, a historical house in the capital city of Andorra la Vella. Here, teams will receive two photos, via their Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultras, of two nearby landmarks. Teams must find both landmarks on foot to retrieve two halves of the next clue.
Those two locations are art sculptures La Noblesse du Temps and Calidea I La Dama Del Gel.
When put together, the two halves of the clue direct teams to find the main branch and headquarters of Andorra’s Andbank.
Andorra is known for its favorable tax policies, making the country a favorite shopping destination. For this task, teams will first choose a deposit slip with a Philippine Peso amount. They must then convert the amount to Euro, based on the current, real time exchange rate. When they have the number, they must search through a pile of Euro currency and retrieve enough to fulfill the deposit.
But! Teams must have at least two pieces of each Euro banknote and coin in order to fulfill the deposit order. Once they have the correct amount, they can put the money into a provided briefcase to receive the next clue. Teams must keep this briefcase until further notice.
The next clue points teams to the Grandvalira resort in Canillo where they will find the Detour: Tubo or Trineu. Teams will need to decide how to retrieve four numbers they will need later in this Leg.
In Tubo, each team member must blow up a snow tube and then each slide down the course keeping an eye out for four numbers along the way according to the color matching their tubes.
In Trineu, teams must join a dog sled team and guide them along a course where they must keep an eye out for four numbers according to the color of their sled.
Once teams confirm they have the correct four numbers according to their chosen color, they will receive the next clue.
That clue tells teams to drive to Borda Del Pi. And at this mountain lodge, teams will find a Road Block: Who thinks they can “-got” for it?
For this Road Block, teams will enjoy a traditional Catalan dish, caragols a la llauna which are garden snails cooked over the grill or in the oven with many different spices. When teams are able to clean their serving of caragols, the will receive the next clue.
Teams must now drive back to Andorra la Vella and find Caldea Spa. Here they will encounter another Road Block! Who can make the deposit?
For this Road Block, teams must use the four numbers they received during the Leg and use them to crack the code to a safe into which they will deposit the money they counted earlier. However, teams will need to search the various warm pools in the spa for the safes they will need to unlock. Once they can place the money into waterproof bags and into the safe to be locked, they will receive the next clue.
And that clue points teams to the Pit Stop: Mirador Roc del Quer viewpoint in Ordino.
The first team to check-in here will P200,000 courtesy of Shell V-Power Nitro+.
The last team to check-in WILL be the first team eliminated from the Race.
^Click here to follow the teams through the Leg!
“Director’s” Commentary
#NewCountryAlert! So Andorra has always been on my list of countries for TARPHDME to visit sometime. But 1. I’ve never been able to find a full Leg to do here and 2. Never had a route that would justify a visit.
Thankfully, I was able to do both when first finalizing this route! Yay! Traveling by land from France to Andorra to *ahem* is just a perfect cluster of Legs to do. Especially with moderate COVID considerations. Having teams drive themselves will be a challenge on its own. And it also provides more opportunity for those stunning 8K UHD drone shots of teams driving through wonderful scenery.
So this Leg is interesting as it is quite a simple Leg and could definitely use more Andorra or I guess Catalan culture. But for a pseudo-first Leg, I think it is fine. This will result in the first elimination of the season. And I think the Leg has just enough tasks and challenge to make teams competitive.
This Leg is more of a thinking Leg too. Some physicality with the initial walking. But teams will need to use their brains more this time around.
Having teams search for locations is just an easy way to have teams possibly catch up and shuffle placements at the start of the Leg. Especially after a long drive. Also an opportunity for some Samsung promo.
I think Andorra has been known to be a tax friendly country. I read maybe not so much lately. But still, it has that aura about it I guess hehe. So I wanted to do a task with that idea. But wasn’t sure what. Counting money and converting PHP to another currency is definitely not a new TARPHDME task. So it’s an easy task to recycle here, but with a twist. Having to figure out how to incorporate each bill and coin into their count should hopefully trip up the teams somewhat. I would hope!
The Detour points more toward the more vacation-y aspect of Andorra. Enjoying a nice ski resort should be fine. And both sides of the Detour are straightforward enough. Not too simple, especially with the numbers watching. But just challenging enough to get the teams going. We will try not to have the numbers be so obvious so as to provoke potential multiple attempts hehe.
The suitcase and the numbers are of course TARPHDME “until further notice:
staples.
The first Road Block is a typical eating task. I don’t know if Filipinos would have trouble with the caragols (in Catalan)/escargot (in French) since they may already eat similar types of mollusks like periwinkle. Having to pick the meat out of the shell though could be the biggest challenge here.
The second Road Block of course wraps up the related tasks from the Leg. I wasn’t sure what to do at the spa, so I ended up connecting it to the money task. And then used the Detour to bring it all together. Scattering the safes around the spa is just some random thing and allows for another search task, but with the unique challenge of having to wade through the waters too. The main task would be to figure out the numbers and the code though. Which will take the longest I think.
Finally, a wonderful stunning Pit Stop location. The 8K UHD drone shots will look amazing as teams run to the Mat on the viewpoint deck.
Overall, I think this can be a solid Leg. Maybe simple, but we still have 13 teams and this is the first elimination. So I think it is suitable for this situation.