2019-01-01 51 0

Location

Bovingdon Wood, SW of Gosfield, Essex, UK.

Planning

Two of two spanning the new year midnight. ETA 00:00 - 2018-12-31 51 0 - 2019-01-01 51 0 - Arrive in 2018 and lurk until 2019.

This is only 5km in a straight line from the previous hashpoint.

Participants

Sourcerer

Expedition

There was a roadside lay-by 140 metres from a public footpath. This led SW between fields. A branch to the right led to Bovingdon Wood 2km later. This was open woodland with little undergrowth so it was possible to wander anywhere under the trees. I zeroed the distance and arrived on the dot of midnight, GPS time. No lurking was required! My phone said it was 23:57. The wiki history says I uploaded the evidence photo at 00:04. There was a great commotion of distant pyrotechnics with long delays between the flashes and bangs (why can't Hollywood get this right?). This year there were no candle powered hot air balloons. Perhaps that's a good thing. There were many stories of harm to wildlife from the materials used in the balloons.

The return drive required extra care. There were a lot of people on foot and some had clearly "enjoyed" their partying. The vehicular traffic was mostly well behaved with no obvious drunk driving. Back home with a hot drink and Welsh Cakes, I finished this report at 03:15.