Murder Mystery Trail.

It was all change with the weather last night. I was so tired I slept through the thunderstorm in the early hours but the rain and thunder continued on through the morning. Not really the right weather for going out for a walk. 

But go on a walk we did. It was a murder mystery trail organised by and for the choir. We were put in randomly mixed teams of four which was a great way of getting to know fellow choir members. Peter wasn't the only partner who came as well and some people joined us later for the buffet and singing afterwards.

Each team was given a set of instructions to follow and clues which had us looking for names, dates, places and objects to cross off on our lists. Because some of my team needed to use the toilets first we then headed back against the flow of other teams to Poet's Corner (the small shelter above) to read the poems on wall mosaics to find one by Coleridge to give us our first date.

The clues lead us down the valley and round on to the cliff path back towards Lynton ...

 … and across the cliff funicular railway from where we had great views over Lynmouth.

Having to search for small details in the environment was a good way to really appreciate our surroundings. Hardest of all was trying to find a name on the gravestones from a possible number of names. At one point the cemetery was filled with people looking for names but as there are benches and picnic tables there as well it didn't feel disrespectful. We finally spotted one name halfway down a list of family members but a while later our clues led to the same name on a shop front along the street so we had no idea which name we should have found on the gravestones. We ended up crossing off one on our list at random but then it was more about exploring the area and getting to know each other than actually winning.

After a couple of hours we ended up  at a local hotel (not the one below) for sandwiches (filled rolls) and cake and of course a sing-song. It was a lot harder singing surrounded by mixed voices rather than being with all the altos (in my case). We sang one song that was quite simple that I'd never sung before and sitting between two bass singers I now know the bass part. I even spotted Peter joining in with some of the songs so my cunning plan to get him in the choir seems to be working.

All in all it was a very enjoyable afternoon and even the weather co-operated with just one small shower that had us all putting on our jackets.