What a beautiful day for a run – although the pub car park was a foot deep in mud and full of large vanloads of dogs, and the pub was shut.  But what else could go wrong?

Wimpey and Lemony were late, having detoured through Wallingford because they were stuck behind a slow driver.  Will they never learn?  Then Ringer turned up and proceeded to take 10 minutes to put his shoes on.  How come CS and Gnome, who ran all the way from Upton, managed to be on time and still look so lovely?  By 1120 the natives were getting restless and Lemony’s mismatching fluorescent yellow socks and pink running top were blinding everyone

so CS started us on our way.  Northern Soul and Rubber Sole’s Buddy were still in wellies – rather useful as Northern Soul put his foot into a rather large pot hole only yards from the start.  The story was that the trainers had been found in the container that had arrived from America but they were so clean they didn’t have the heart to wear them on such a muddy day.

The trail led us up muddy hill and down muddy dale, along muddy paths through the woods and beside farm land.  Well, it was just generally very muddy indeed.  At the 2^nd check Wimpey disappeared into the trees for a wee.  Zorro remonstrated with him saying “There are only 2 wee stops allowed on the hash and you have selfishly used one of them this early on!” 

There was mud splattered up all legs and was on the underside of Sadie and Tic.  Tic kept disappearing completely out of sight in the ruts and having to bounce to see over the foliage in places.  But kept in touch with the group most of the time. 

Big Stiffy was front running a lot.  Must have finally shaken off that cold (sorry, man flu).  On approaching the car park at the end of the trail Pressganger was asked where the On Inn was as we were all worried we had missed a loop of the trail. She explained that we had joined the road further up than we should have done saying “The end was a bit of a mess but we were a bit tired”.  There is no answer to that, although I am sure Ringer could come up with one.

The video in U Tube will show the route for those who want to re-live it.  Suffice it to say, there were a lot of twists and turns and changes of direction but I haven’t got a clue where we actually ran! 

This was borne out by the fact that I took the wrong turn when moving between the car park and the newly arranged On Inn (The Black Horse) and ended up driving round the countryside for 15 minutes!

The pub is small, but the beer is a good price and very tasty, so I am told.  The sun shone on us in the front garden and no-one seemed to want to go home. Zorro was feeling a little delicate and had a towel, and then the dog’s blanket wrapped round him for warmth.  He assured us he did have a coat, but it was at home.

Eventually the RA was encouraged to award the Down Down vest:

1^st contender was – himself for being so late – how rude!

2^nd contender was – Eric for delaying the start by talking to a dog – how rude!

3^rd contender was – Mismatch for not turning up at all but going show jumping – how rude!

4^th contender and eventual winner was – Zorro for being the chav of the group, wearing a chain round his neck with a bone on it and a parker (well, dog blanket).

CS admitted he had used the Green Shorts to mop up beer, hence they were wet.  He initially awarded them to Big Stiffy for being such an athlete this week.  It was as if he had been on a promise – so the shorts would put a stop to that immediately.  Then, when Stiffy agreed to lay the trail in CS’s stead next week, the shorts mysteriously moved to Northern Sole for continuing to run in wellies. 

On On

Hares:  Pressganger and Eric

Hounds: Rubber Sole's Buddy, Northern Soul, Wimpey, Lemony Snicket, Gnome Alone, Qwerty and Sadie, Big Stiffy, Rocket Ronnie, Cabouse, CS, B’Cider, Zorro and Piscine Dog, Piscine Down, Dancing Queen, Professional Peach and Weirdo

Date: 16 February 2014

Distance: 4-5 Miles