David Elson picked a very nice site for this rally, very close to both river and canal with only a short walk into Hoddesdon and the super-markets, plus a pub just over the road. It was also very well marshalled by Allan and Sheila with Allan acting as “paper boy” in the mornings.
There was tea and biscuits ready for everyone on arrival —”thanks!” — very much needed and appreciated. Sixteen vans attended in all and there was plenty of room to be well spaced out on the nice level field with grass just the right length. As it was my birthday I had arranged a celebration party which we all enjoyed and was attended by my brother, his wife and one of my nieces who live in Essex, a happy memory for me.
John and Janet  introduced us to a new game “Lawn Skittles” or throw a brick as we called it. Someone suggested it would be ideal for sites where ball games were not allowed. We played this quite a few times and we all enjoyed it as we were all as bad as each other-really good fun!
David organised a canal cruise with meal on the Lady of Lea Valley Canal narrow boat on the Thursday evening. The trip lasted over two hours and it was the first time many had gone through a lock on a narrow boat. Everyone enjoyed the experience.
The weather was extremely hot so most of sat around in the shade during the hottest part of the day, Arthur and I went for a long bike ride (we didn’t have electric bikes in those days) and David  took Ronnie and Linda and David and Jill  on a nice long nature walk. Ronnie and Linda arrived back some hours later absolutely exhausted and the others returned some time later. Here is Jill’s account of the walk:

“We set off for a short walk to the RSPB Nature Reserve at Rye Mead’s to see the kingfishers and the two fat ladies or water buffalo. On the way we stopped at a riverside pub for lunch but the service was so bad due to a trainee manager who had never worked in a kitchen before and got everything muddled up, they gave us a free round of drinks to compensate. On the Reserve, there were quite a variety of birds but alas no kingfishers, they had heard we were coming and did-n’t bother to turn up! There were many large fish kind of sunbathing on the surface plus lots of juicy blackberries everywhere. We came back from the walk absolutely cream-crackered”!
We were so lucky with the weather, after six days of glorious sunshine the rain and winds arrived the day we departed.

Jenny

Few Pictures: The Pub at Campsite, Jenny Party,  and Field skittles

Click on image to enlarge