Don't forget - AGM will be held on 8th October. This is your
opportunity to have your say in the way the group is run.
Lorna borrowed Gareth's slide projector and showed a combination of various people's slides, which was great, because we got to see what everybody else had done. Slides are a marvellous way of reliving a holiday. We got to see the hostel at Ballintaggart, Mount Brandon, Carrantoohil (the highest mountain in Ireland), and the glories of the Dingle peninsula, all in full technicolour, with huge quantities of sunshine. I still can't believe that the weather was so good. My only regret was that Lorna didn't get a photo of the hunk (Liam Neeson?) at the teashop she found.
Trevor organised a fiendishly complicated treasure hunt which involved walking for miles around Chelmsford looking for the answers to his cryptic questions.
And to live up to the description in the newsletter, he even hid an inflatable crocodile in a pit!
First prize was chocolate Rolo eggs. Both Lynn and Janet were on the winning team, but Lynn left early, which was a pity - Janet ate her prize. Lynn hasn't found out about it, yet.
Nine of us had a very good time in searing August heat in Oxfordshire. We stayed at Charlbury Youth Hostel, which has been revamped since we were last there, and is now an independent hostel. On Saturday, Chris S took us on a circular walk along the Oxfordshire Way. He claimed that it was a river walk, and indeed, we did see the river once, but personally I think the walk was a pretext to get to the pub at Ascott-under-Wychwood as rapidly as possible. Chris and Janet certainly disappeared into it with uncanny speed. The afternoon walk was hot, hot, hot, relieved by a short visit to the medieval chapel at Shorthampton, which has some fine wall paintings.
We had the most splendid meal ever that evening at the hostel - Crema da Elote (a kind of sweetcorn casserole) with couscous, followed by a chocolate fondu, followed by the usual visit to a local pub. Charlbury was hosting a motor show that weekend, which caused some confusion - it's disconcerting to be passed by sixteen minis in a row when you've just come out of a pub.
Sunday we spent at Blenheim palace, crawling round with a thousand Japanese tourists on a guided tour, then crashing under a large tree in the park to escape the heat. We had a Blenheim Palace Ice Cream and a ride on the little train around the park, and were back home by 9.30. Thanks to Janet for a most enjoyable weekend.
About ten of us spent an evening in the library exploring the Internet and playing with the other gadgetry there. Gareth has recently revamped the CYHA pages on the Web, and we were very impressed by the results - especially Dave's photos of recent CYHA events. I reckon there's money to be made here somewhere. How much would you pay Dave not to have your photo on the Internet?
A crowd of us from Chelmsford were joined by George and Tom on their way back from Scotland, Trevor and Phillip on their way to Ireland, Colin visiting from Yorkshire, and Roz with her friends on their way to explore the rest of Northumberland. We gathered around the fireside in the tiny remote hostel and re-told the tales of famous disasters in the history of the Group.
On Saturday we walked a spectacular section of Hadrian's Wall, Sunday was a moorland yomp over to Alston for teashops and pubs, and on Monday we headed south for a riverside walk from Cauldron Snout in Teesdale.
Everyone is welcome on Saturday 27th September at 2.30pm at Three Counties Church, Lynchmere Rd., Hammer, Haselmere, W.Sussex. (Contact Helen for directions).