11 riders this camp for a combination of the previous few rides. It was either VERY dusty or VERY wet underfoot, depending on whether we were up hill or down dale.
Dave was very sneaky this year. Instead of trying to suck us in again to trying to get UP the hill from hell, he took us down it (well, all except this wise person & a couple of clever followers), then once they had struggled down in the dank gloom they had to get up the other side. Not too bad for most although Tom with inexperience & a bald tyre had a hard time of it, but finally made it unassisted.
Sticking to his game plan, he then did a few circles to confuse those of us who had been there in previous years & tackled the next hill from hell from the opposite direction as usual as well. All this while Chris was suffering from having to kick the 525 as the battery had flattened due to lack of riding! I advised him to give up trying the button until it had been running for an hour to give it a chance to recover, which it did (more on this later).
Even I was fooled by the attack from the opposite direction ruse this time & came across carnage