CORiF christmas walk

It's that time of year again! The christmas lunches are upon us. Last year I had been a user of the radionuclide lab, CORiF, and had thus been invited to their lunch-cum-walk. And it had been fun! This year I had not had any business in the lab, but they're not too strict about such things; if you're an ex-user and you've made a good impression, you are still welcome. So I got invited again!

Geoff, the head of the lab, had come up with a nice walk on the Bere peninsula; I had never explored it. And the weather forecast that morning promised sun only; this would surely be the day to do something about that.

When the chosen seven got out of the train it was raining. That didn't discourage us! We walked a nice muddy route that mainly followed the Tamar. The views were nice, and the route sometoimes was so soggy it was a real challenge!

 The seven walkers

The Tamar

 The route was a bit soggy; soon I looked like this

This could have ended in slapstick; Geoff jumps onto a log that isn't very stable...

Admiring the river from a hill

The river was very pretty with the stark back-light

The Tamar at Weir Quay

Another muddy challenge!

 And finally: lunch!

We got to the pub in good time. We all had a pint while the missing man, Will, who hadn't been able to make it to the walk, phoned to say he was coming for lunch. Good!

The pub in Bere Ferrers is very snug, and it was a nice meal, although there was a slight feeling of impending loss as two of us would be going north soon. Geoff hadn't heard yet Roland was leaving too; he regretted that. There was a general sense that his leaving was a symptom of both the department, and the university as a whole, only focussing on teaching, and disregarding research.

While we were eating Will showed up; fortunately, he can scoff down a meal in half the time it takes any of us, so we all finished at roughly the same time. What now; dessert, or the early train? Our Calvinistic work ethic won, and we were off. At three we were all back in our offices!