My turn to transmit again, but I was short of ideas having flogged my favourite haunts to death over recent years.  I consulted the map and thought this bit of woodland on the far side of the M6 near Arley Hall looked interesting, and checked out the site the day before.  The brook running through it was too wide and deep to cross, so this might give an added challenge and potential amusement.

Having lobbed some aerial wire as high as I could, and with an adjacent fence loaded up, there was a nice strong signal heard by everyone at the start.  Bearings however were a bit dodgy, and it was not until the 8th transmission that Dave Holland was the first to appear on site.  Dave climbed over the fence at the point where I had teed the aerial into it, so knew he had found the right place.  There was not much cover, I was just lying down next to a tree stump drinking hot chocolate and reading my fell runner magazine.

With time ticking away it was not until 12:23 that John Heath appeared on the wrong (south) side of the brook.  With the signal telling him it was t'other side John recorded his position on his GPS, walked to the nearest bridge a couple of minutes away, and back again until he was opposite his previous position - very clever - and soon spotted me.

With just 3 minutes to go, Roger then appeared, alas also on the wrong side, and with time running short, a more risky and improvised method of crossing the brook was called for - a rather slippery and brittle branch bridging the brook would have to do.  There was a heart-stopping moment when Roger, suspended halfway across, grabbed a twig to steady himself with his one free hand, only for it to break off and come away!  With a few desperate flapping arm movements Roger thankfully regained his balance to make it across, and handed in his form with just 10 seconds to spare.

The pub was the tried and tested Wheatsheaf at Broomedge near Lymm.  Excellent grub, but with no treacle sponge on the menu I made do with sticky toffee pudding.  Roger, who has not been too well of late, struggled with his main course and gave the puddings a miss on this occasion.

Well done to all who took part.