Seven teams assembled at Cowleaze Wood for the penultimate Collier Cup contest with Andy Collett on the transmitter. We were all expecting bearings towards Oxford and were surprised that he was somewhere to the South-East on the Reading and Windsor Map. There was a bit of sky wave but I was happy with a bearing of 160 degrees. The bearing went through Henley so I took the route of my sat-nav through Pishill, Stonor and Lower Assendon towards Henley. I stopped at Lower Assendon for the 2000 signal and got quite a strong signal with a bearing of 100 degrees. This indicated somewhere along the Thames Path near Remenham.
I managed to get through Henley and up the very narrow road to Remenham for 2015. A much stronger signal was heard but unfortunately, still 100 degrees. This indicated the Thames Path somewhere between Aston and Hurley. I carried on round to Aston and parked in a pub car park, wrongly assuming it was the pub for the meeting and set off along the Thames Path. At 2030 the signal was stronger and again pointed along the Thames Path. I had now committed to continuing along the path although the signal wasn't that strong.
At 2040 it was stronger and at 2050 it was what I would consider as get out and walk strength. However the path was clear and easy to follow in the dark. The length of transmissions seemed to indicate that nobody had found the station and after a bit more walking I could see torches in the distance flashing around some woodland. Most teams had been on site for some time and were engaged in a losing battle with some very thick foliage and head high stinging nettles. It was going to be pot-luck.
Eventually Peter Lisle found the operator and all the other teams on site eventually hacked their respective ways in. At one point I could hear the operator talking but the undergrowth was so thick that I was unable to reach him and had to make a tedious detour. As I had walked about 3km, Mark kindly gave me a lift back to my car which was parked at the wrong pub. All teams met up at the Red Lyon (strange spelling) near Burchetts Green for some liquid refreshment.
Thanks to Andy for organising a challenging event and not making us drive across the Oxford map.
John Mullins
| Competitor | Time | Adj. Time | Time Diff. | Score | Bill North |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Steve Stone | 21:14:08 | 21:14:08 | 00:00:00 | -5 | 10 |
| Peter Lisle | 21:14:33 | 21:14:33 | 00:00:25 | 2 | 6 |
| Graham Phillips | 21:16:12 | 21:16:12 | 00:02:04 | 5 | 4 |
| Alan Simmons | 21:20:24 | 21:20:24 | 00:06:16 | 10 | 3 |
| John Mullins | 21:20:34 | 21:20:34 | 00:06:26 | 11 | 2 |
| Mark Coventry | 21:20:45 | 21:20:45 | 00:06:37 | 12 | 1 |
| Roger Shepherd | NF | 21:40:45 | 00:26:37 | 33 | 0 |
| Andy Collett | op | - | - | - | 4 |