Dispatches from the Front from a newcomer.

Feeling positively heroic and dripping with martyrdom, I agreed to man (woman?) a Rodings Rally checkpoint last November. I was sharing the tent/checkpoint with Ken.

My assumptions were that I would be cold, damp, hungry and lacking sleep; the reality was that I was nice and cosy. I'd brought three sleep mats with me and feeling something like the Princess and the Pea - and full of food - had a good 5 hours sleep (who needs more?) between 3.00 and 8.00am

Ken is a nice comfortable person to be with. I can recommend him. It was actually very exciting - like a return to childhood - the hide and seek days, lying low in the tent, being aware of the sweep of torch-beams and the snap of twigs underfoot as teams tried to find us. Our last teams came through about 3.00 then we drifted off to sleep, waking at 8.00 to a brilliant frosty morning. What a delight that was, and were it not for R.R, an experience I would never have had.

To High Beech Village Hall for breakfast. “What would you like for breakfast?” I was asked. “Everything of course”. Well, what else would one reply after a hard night stretched out in a sleeping bag?

Would I do it again? OF COURSE!

Marian Temple. 13 February 2013