Yesterday's HH3 run will probably go down as being memorable for all the wrong reasons as the culmination of 3 days' rain almost caused both runs to be called off.
Setting the long run on Sunday morning as the rain fell steadily, the hare noted the crossing of the first stream to be a little wider than had been the case on the recce earlier in the week, and towards the end of the lay, observed that the crossing of a second stream was a little wet under foot, but nothing to be concerned about at that stage of the run.
Come the afternoon however, the hare having left the short run to be set immediately before the off, discovered that the first stream at the point where the short run was due to cross it on the in trail, a little lower down its course than the first crossing on the out trail, had, to put it mildly, become rather swollen and in an effort to find a more comfortable point upstream, eventually arrived back at the first crossing point which was by then in the middle of a raging torrent. Finding himself on the other side of the river to the run site, the hare then made the decision to cross and was promptly swept away, only managing to stop himself by grabbing hold of some vegetation on the opposite shore on a bend. At that point neither run seemed feasible as both had to get across the river, and the short run had to somehow cross it twice. Nevertheless after some disbelieving looks from the assembled packs at the suggestion that the runs should be abandoned, hare, Kai Jeow aided by Lady of the Lamp and Knobshot set off with a skein of rope to try to construct a safe (albeit aqueous!) river crossing, but in the event, with a conveniently discovered tree trunk, were able to erect a makeshift bridge by wedging it behind two handily located trees and then use the rope as a handhold (Beaver please note, you would have been proud of our efforts), across which the long run, swiftly followed by the short run crossed while Sex Printer braved the rapids to hold the log steady. Not only that, but the short run having no other crossing point later made the perilous journey back across the river using the makeshift bridge a second time, this time without the steadying influence of Sex Printer.
Meanwhile the long run reached the beer stop in about 1hr 15mins from whence the hare had intended to transport them back to the run site to avoid their crossing of the second stream which by the sound of it was probably even more dangerous than the first. The pack had different ideas however and Kai Jeow was forced to set off with the soggy remains of a bag of paper and relay the end of the run to take it via what was a marginally less wet crossing a little downstream and thus to complete the whole run.
For the record, the long run with four fairly modest F's and no X's was 7.5k, and the short run with only one F was 3.9k. The long run ascended 354m to a maximum height of 297m with the short run climbing to 157m and descending to a low point of 80m. Thanks to all for not giving up and not getting drowned in the process, and to my two fellow bridge-builders for their invaluable assistance in the absence of a real beaver. Thanks also to Star Soccer for the gift of beer and to the HH3 cook-team for a sumptuous spread on a less than clement day.
