This text was read by OCR from a scanned newsletter and has not been proofread yet, so expect odd characters and mistakes.
MITRE FLATS 11-13 SEPTEMBER 1992 RELAXED TRIP BY SUE WALSH
"Who wants to write the trip report?” A stony silence fell upon the group. "Lisa, how about you? On second thoughts though, maybe not. Phil....... ?° Funny how people can move quickly when they want to......except for us on Saturday morning! We emerged from the Duchess at a reasonable hour, then had a bit of a wait for the brew to boil. It gave us time to ponder on our surroundings and to sit on Lisa who was saying, "! can't wait to get there, look at all that snow! Let's build an ice cave!“ When we politely reminded her that she didn't have an ice axe and was with the Easy group, she slowly deflated. We eventually set off, strolling along the road and on to the track. We had one fearful river crossing soon after starting where two of the party nearly got swept away (so what if the water was ankle deep and moving as slow as a hedgehog!) but they managed to salvage themselves and the group carried on. The meander continued on until one of the group requested a pitstop by disappearing into the undergrowth (this was to be repeated on a few occasions, not that we were counting) while the rest of us admired the views. We carried on meandering along the track with smail delays at some of the streams we went through. What was Andrew doing Standing in the water all the time? His excuse was softening his new boots, we didn't believe him. He was standing so still we thought he was trying to plant himself. Lunch was a pleasant affair in a sunny spot until Andrew started telling us about the sardines he had brought for lunch. We tried threatening Andrew in the hope it would put him off eating the sardines and he retaliated by cleverly lulling us into a false sense of security by bringing out a hotdog instead. After lunch we carried on and eventually came to the start of the new track. We ambied up it and at the top had a fantastic view of the valley. Penny left her mark on the track when she turned around to talk and promptly slid over. It was a shame we couldn't get to our cameras before she got up. An action replay was called for, but for some reason, she declined.
We helped to christen the new swingbridge, and Lisa was so impressed with it she had to have her photo taken while crossing it. It was good to reach the hut and put on a brew again. Dinner was an early affair - sweet and sour chicken and very nice even though Lisa forgot the sweet and sour sauce. Dessert was good as well, even though I forgot the marshmallows. We dived into our pits soon after and settled down to be entertained by the Mediums. Morning rolled around and we rolled out of our pits for a leisurely breakfast. After posing for some photos the group split in two. Three of us decided to cross the river while the other two went back over the swingbridge. We met up and carried on, with Andrew stopping in the streams again. The thought of lunch made us move quickly and we were out before we knew it. We stopped by the river for lunch and Phil, who had been fairly quiet so far, left his mark on the trip by sneezing. And what a sneeze it was!! Penny, who was walking by the riverbank, leapt about 5 feet into the air and we ail expected to see her disappear over the side of the bank and into the river. To add insult to injury, the local sandflies decided to feast on her. One or two of them in places sandflies should not venture to! Andrew quietly slipped out the tin of sardines and started munching on them. We quietly moved away from him. We saumered back to the Duchess and finished off a good weekend with an ice cream. The punters were : Lisa (I'l only be two minutes)Dowdall Phil (Sneezy) Jacques Penny (Slip) Harrison Andrew (I'm softening my boots) McCoigan Sue Walsh (Leader/Scribe)