Last year all competitors did the event in the same order, probably because Tx B was
nearer the tea. We were concerned that the same might happen this year, bringing more
than 6 together. With no tea, we reasoned that most would try to finish nearer their home
location. With navigators there were 11 participants, 6 would head home to the West(ish),
  5 to the East(ish), so Tx sites were chosen to give a clear W - E divide from the start..



Tx A   Gary



Tx B  Roy




The first three in were separated by just a few seconds!

        

 So there were two good signals at the start and despite local power line noise I was able to get two good bearings, 300 degrees on TX A and 55 degrees on TX B.  The bearing on TX B was very sharp despite it being much further away.

So there I was thinking "Oh! I have to find two sites, where do I go for the 2pm transmissions?"  I started out and set the sat-nav for Wyse's Cott, just south of the A414.  There looked to be a good bit of unclassified road there and low likelihood of power lines etc.  When I got there, I found the road to be so narrow and with steep banking straight into fields that it was not possible to park up. so I meandered south a bit and stopped short of Edney Common.  However I did not feel it was a good spot, so turned around and headed for College Wood.  Again it did not feel right so I turned around again and ended parking up in a field gateway just  to the North of Barrow Farm.  (Oh the indecision!)  While waiting for the TX's, a black pikey truck slowly crawled past, probably a local farmer wondering what I was up to.  He must have thought I was OK as he carried on without stopping.  Again I got two good signals with TX A on a bearing of 221 degrees and TX B on a bearing of 73 degrees but quite weak so almost certainly the other side of Chelmsford.  I decided I would head for TX A.

 At this point I was very sure that the site was to the south of Dagwood lane in a U shaped bit of woodland with a path going through it.  I drove a bit too far and the TX came up when I was near Wishfields farm.  The bearing I got seemed to confirm my now known to be erroneous assumption.  So I parked up just to the south east side of the woods and ran in.  I ran around an area of paths and found a nice pond and drainage ditches.  "Ah!" I thought, "this will explain the good signal"  When the signal came on I sprinted north through the woods towards Doddinghurst, only to find my way blocked by a Herras fence!  The TX was clearly beyond it. "Bum!" I exclaimed out loud.  And rushed back to the car as fast as I could.  I drove round and parked on Dagwood lane and when the TX came up it was clearly in the area between me and Doddinghurst, I drove back down the lane a few hundred yards to the south entrance to the footpath going NW and legged it in.  There were some unfriendly signs to my right about private property, but I soon entered the woods and was able to turn right towards where my bearing said the TX was.  Some passers by asked what I was up to as there were other people in the area doing the same thing with strange looking contraptions and headphones on.  I quickly explained and asked where these strange people had been seen, "just down there" they said pointing.  I carried on and found a small ditch and looked around, eventually being drawn to a fallen tree past which I found Garry!  Two sites visited, one TX found! So back to the car....

 Now it was a case of trying to make up for lost time so I had to make a guess as to where I thought the TX B was.  Looking at my bearings crossing just off the map near a place called Ulting, my eye was drawn to Blake's Wood near Little Baddow.  There were plenty of other places in the area the TX could be but I decided I would drive to the south side of the wood where there might be a parking spot close to where a load of foot paths converge from the wood.  I set the Sat-nav and it said 25-30 minutes. Off I went.  As I left the site I found myself stuck behind a large self propelled agricultural sprayer!  This cost me some 3 minutes according to the Sat-nav.  The air in the car was blue as I muttered various things every time the machine took the same turning I wanted!  Eventually we diverged.  As I got to the junction to exit the A12 the TX came on but I did not see anywhere I was happy to stop, so carried on.  Luckily I trusted the Sat-nav as it steered me around a traffic jam on the A414 in Danbury.  I was just coming up to Blake's Wood when the TX came on again, I parked up and under various power lines criss crossing the road got a vague bearing that said NE into Blake's Wood.  While getting back into the car I saw Graham and Geoffrey driving away from the site so I felt confident I had come to the right area.  A few hundred yards up the road there were DF cars parked up, so I elected to abandon any caution, parked up, and ran into the woods.

At this point I was pretty sure I was some way down the pecking order having visited 3 sites.  But Roy seemed to think we had done OK.  So after a few text exchanges with Gary it turned out I had beaten Colin and Rosie the other way round, but they had beaten Tim by a mere few seconds!  Well that was a nice end to the day and made the trip worthwhile.

My thanks again to Gary and Roy for putting the event on.  I just hope we can learn to live a meaningful life in the new normal and get DF up and running properly again.  I do feel that we can conduct this activity in a safe socially distanced way if we are allowed to.  The only area where this might not work is the Apres DF.

Justin