We set off from the pub and were soon in the countryside.  Into a field and left along the edge until we came to the balance beam across the river.  There was a check.  Over the beam the front runners went and when Marie was nicely in the middle Qualcast decided it was his turn to run over (he is a dog for any readers who have ventured onto this page in error).  He set off at a pace, tried to go round Marie, found his claws wouldn’t grip the slightly rounded edge he was now on, and plummeted into the water below.  The front runners just heard the splash.  “Who was that?  Wasn’t Marie behind you?  The splash wasn’t’ big enough for her”.  To which Marie retorted “I’ve got big waterwings, you’d hardly have noticed the ripple”.

Of course, the trail didn’t go that way, so they all had to come back again and continue along the field. 

Getting Qualcast over some of the styles was difficult.  But he paid the farmer back by snapping at the pony in the field.  Well, if there had been a dog gate we could have kept him on his lead.

We went round in a large circle and crossed the lane at the back of the pub.  The hares did a great job steering us so some of the group didn’t realise their proximity to beer until it was too late.  Towards the end of the trail there was a beautiful wooded lane off to the right.  On we jogged with CS calling us to view a badger set.  Of course, it was actually a fish hook!  This upset Cheating as we treated this differently from the way Surrey Hash do.  But we’re not Surrey!  When in Rome etc etc.  One more small loop and we were back at the pub.

A beautiful trail on a wonderful spring evening.

Back at the pub Ringer was overwhelmed by the number of possible recipients for the Down Down shirt:

- who bored him silly talking about computing?  

- who gave Big Stiffy beans for tea? It really was a windy hash

- who moaned about wanting to set off on time?

- who arrived at the circle even later than CS?

- who called Ringer Rimmer on Facebook?

- who can’t spell erection?  “To err is human, to really mess up the spelling takes a northerner” You need one of our new T shirts to understand this

- but CS won for re-naming Ringer as ring piece.

Wimpey was relieved as he was sure he would get the vest for admitting that he was calling On On even when there was no flour as, if he was on a false trail, the hare would then call him back to avoid the pack going the wrong way!

Dingaling awarded the Supergirl pants to CS for making fun of him.  Please don’t let him wear them without any additional ‘protection’!

The landlord was very friendly and the chips most generous, by the way.

On On

Hares:  Hotlips and Big Stiffy

Hounds:  Wimpey, Buzz, Rubber Sole’s Buddy, Northern Soul, Professional Peach, Lemony Snicket, Pressganger, Gatecrasher, Ringer, B’Cider, Jethro, Rear Admiral, twitcher, Dingaling, Cheating, Hash Hoodie, Billy Whizz and Qualcast, Marie and Bern 

Date: 14 April 2015

Distance: c5 miles