SHIPLAKE RAMBLE : 13 OCTOBER 2000

Congratulations to Moonlighters in first place with clear daylight between themselves and Rakehell Raiders in second position. The position of following teams was much closer with generally the equivalent of only one or two clues between the next team. The ramble clues were pitched to hopefully achieve a high rate of discovery. This was reflected in that the top team found 70% of the clues and on average teams found 50% of the clues.  Only a few clues proved so difficult in the dark that no team spotted them.

One gratifying aspect of the evening was that, after so much rain in the preceding weeks, the evening was beautifully clear and dry with no wind and a full moon.  It was pleasant walking and one only needed torches to enter clue positions down or to check the map.

Mentioned in despatches: As normal, some clues were only found by a few eagle-eyed teams:

Clue 37 (the small grid just over the railway crossing) - Marsh Hackers

Clue 68 (S in Spring Cottage) - Heeglin’s H’owls

Clue 76 (the anagram of WAYNFLETE) - Flying Kakapos

Clue 83 (the number 213 carved in the NRA gate post) - Dragons

Clue 84 (the metal box on the transmission support post) - Gracie Fields

Clue 95 (LITTLE SPINNEYS at C) - Heeglin’s H’owls again

Clue 107 (the stationmasters name) - Rakehell Raiders

Clue 119 (the GALLOWED part of NO PARKINGALLOWED) - Gracie Fields again

Clue 127 (the OO from WOODLANDS) - Blakes Six.

Special mention should be made of Gracie Fields who rambled as a team of two yet still managed third place and found over 60% of the clues.  Six other teams were also short of one member each and must be congratulated on good results.

Contentious clues: there were no really contentious issues.  It was interesting that only two teams recorded clue 25 (the second half of the barn date between 9-10) whilst five teams spotted clue 63 (the other half of the date) only a few feet away.  Similarly, clue 97 (the church millennium appeal logo) was found by twelve teams but only five teams saw clue 88 (the church millennium appeal motif) below it on the bottom of the board.  Teams counting acorns were given points on a sliding scale; only two teams got the ‘correct’ number!  Some ramblers inquired about the origins of clues 2 and 39; these were formerly Regency wall-paper printing blocks incorporated into the barn buildings circa 1810-20.

Contentious positioning: clue 38 (the Kingfisher nameplate) was not quite at point 5 and may be only 10 metres away!  Clue 64 (the Parrot) was between 6-7 although it could be seen from point 7 (the junction with the main road).   Some teams misplaced point 10 but this was clearly the Lych Gate.  Similarly, point 16 was the exit from the field where clues 33 and 73 were to be found.  Although some teams correctly positioned the clues between G and H quite a few teams were obviously not sure of the position of point H.  To avoid placing H on the red of the A4155 on the map it was placed at the sign for Shiplake Church (i.e. clues 81 and 122 ).  In all cases marking was generous with the view that incorrect map reading should not detract from the observer’s keen sightedness!   Unless there was an obvious guess.

A big thank you to those teams which took part in this ramble.  Although compiling a ramble is not difficult it does take time and commitment to organise; so it was somewhat demoralising to have such a small turn out and somewhat humiliating to have teams dropping out without notification.  It was concerning that only six teams had a full complement and so maybe some aspects of rambles need to be re-thought for future events.

The landlord at The Baskerville Arms was very complimentary about the care which everyone took regarding not walking through the bars with muddy boots.  However, he did receive complaints from some of his regulars that they were unable to park at the pub.  This re-affirms the need for to teams to try and minimise the number of vehicles when coming to such pubs and to use the alternative parking facilities as recommended by the organiser.

The date of the next ramble is still to be determined but will be advertised on the Ramble Society web site at:  www.ramble-rally.org.uk

Best regards & hope to see you all at the next event - The Flying Gs