A trip east

It was an early start for the journey to Iceni; memories of the Millride wind and rain were soon forgotten as we drove east into blue skies and warm sunshine.
The Iceni ground was superb. It consisted of a field and acres of beautiful mature English woodland. The clear skies meant that it was sun bathing weather in the open and the woodland canopy offered shelter and a cooling breeze was very welcome.A walk of the course revealed that conditions were very favourable for high scoring. There was enough wind to cause problems though, particularly the six targets positioned in the field. This St George Cross occasionally opened to show the word Iceni, it spent much of the day moving from left to right and offered help and confusion to the watching competitors.
Everybody was revelling in the glorious weather. Here are a couple of spring boys enjoying the summer climate.
And these two are relaxing between lanes.
Michael G Cotter sticks to business and bags a pair of kneelers.
The morning scores were high lead by Andrew Gillott and Simon Ayres who both dropped only two, also congratulations to Mick Woodhead for an excellent 47 which would win him A grade. After a quick refill, Greg you look guilty, it was time for the afternoon round and off we set.The sounds of falling targets echoed around the wood and in every direction smiling faces finally buried the Millride demons. The course was excellent; it offered plenty of targets that every shooter might expect to get and some to challenge the very best shots. I really enjoyed being in this woodland, a cuckoo could be heard calling and many other birds offered their song. There was some wind but the trees and ferns protected many of the targets that was until I found lane one. It consisted of a 40 yarder low in the grass and a 50 yarder high up on a cage. I missed the low shot with my pellet taking about a kill and a half of wind, I moved to the high target to find it virtually paintless and all I could do was remove a bit more! I wasn't alone in missing as James Osborne also dropped this one on his way to an outstanding 49.
A first class day out and many thanks to the Iceni team for their hard work. It's back to Newbury in two weeks time; let's hope for more of this weather!