Smart-ARS on Saturday

Those competing in Smart-ARS this coming Saturday morning will be desperate, we are sure, to acquire the coveted Golden Boot Trophy awarded to the winning team in this test of interpretation, navigation, observation and reasoning.

A series of cryptic rhyming clues guide you around the four-mile route from Audlem car park on an easy two hour ramble.

The clue compiler gets his apology in from the very start:
"The author of these awful rhymes
Begs your forgiveness for his crimes"

Twenty one questions later, he concludes:
"And up the lane, into the Square
Don't falter now, we're nearly there
So here we are, into the pub
To drink the beer, and eat some grub."

You get the idea.

The Golden Boot will be a delight to win, a talking point amongst family, friends and visitors, amazed at such a sight on the mantlepiece or on show in pride of place in the family's trophy cabinet.

Win it three years in a row and, like the original Jules Rimet World Cup football trophy, you get to win it in perpetuity, thus forcing the Smart-ARS donator to give his matching Size 11 boot the Goldfinger treatment for the following year's competition.

Smart-ARS was introduced for the first time in January 2013 by the Audlem Ramblers Society (ARS) and proved successful, a light-hearted competitive stroll: so much so that it's having another outing this year but on a different well-trod route from the village.

Participants will depart in small groups armed with twenty one questions which will guide you around the four-mile circuit – although note, it's pretty heavy going in places making it feel more like five miles or so of walking. There's a couple of stiles to negotiate too.

Meet on Audlem car park between 10.00am and 10.15am and, depending on the numbers turning out, all will have departed by 10.30 with a scheduled return to the Lord Combermere by 12ish.

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