A small but select band gathered in a rather damp car park of a pub that was only open during the hours of daylight because there was a power cut.  The evening was dismal but the sight of Ringer in his cowboy chaps lifted the spirits.  Poor Whisper had had a very serious hair cut and was showing her true colour – a much darker brown.  Shame the summer weather had deserted us.

The briefing was a little confusing.  Were we following yellow or white flour, one, two or three blobs?  The rain hadn’t helped although the trail had only just been laid.  Berkshire had run from the same pub the day before. Spot had been there so had helped Pyro ensure that the routes didn’t conflict – although ours was a lot shorter. 

Pyro pointed us up the drive and left down the hill.  Mind you, it is down hill in every direction from this pub.  We then turned off right and right again onto a rather hidden path.  There were nettles and lots of wet vegetation but it was not actually raining.  We tried to go up someone’s drive next.  The trial went up and down, round and round, through the woods – slippy mud sent Dingaling flying and his inhaler flying even further.  He did most of the trail with quite a large hole in his leg, just under his knee.  The limp showed he was in some discomfort but he didn’t complain.  There were quite a few hills and Pyro was starting to suffer from laying the trail immediately before leading it.  At most of the checks we had to count the dogs to get up to 6!  They weren’t much help though.  In fact Bella caused some consternation towards the end of the trial when we were back in the woods.  Spot had already cut the route down a little and a long stretch had split the group.  Lemony had been mocked for commenting that she had forgotten her torch but it would have come in useful now as it was getting very gloomy.  Northern Sole had an eery glow in his pocket which turned out to be his sat nav!   Shame we didn’t have any Down Down vests.  It was at this point that we realised that Bella had gone missing.  Pyro had gone back to help look for her along with Gnome Alone, Hutch and Eric (who got separated and thought we’d have to go looking for her too).  A long debate ensued over whether the front runners would be any help if they went back.  Pressganger was just setting off with her dog whistle when Whisper, Bella, Pyro and Mother Theresa appeared from another direction and all was well.  We all got back to the car park in one piece and decided to head to The White Hart at Nettlebed where we were served with some pretty good chips and tasty beer.

It was a lovely trail, gorgeous rhododendruns, a luminous slug and a stagnant pond!

Ringer named Bella, who is obviously keen on adventure, Bolt.  Then we realised that Whisper has never had a Hash name so he called her Shaven Raven!

On On 

Hares:  Pyro and Spot

Hounds:  Rubber Sole’s Buddy, Lemony Snickett, Wimpey, Northern Sole, Rubber Sole, Hutch, Eric, Dingaling, Ringer, Pressganger, Gnome Alone, Mother Theresa, Qualcast, Whisper and Bella

Date:  31 May 2016

Distance: Don’t know.  I forgot to ask and the hare didn’t have a map, but we were out a long time!