Well, the day dawned with exactly the wind and heavy rain as was gloomily forecast. The smallish crowd of hashers somewhat unethusiastically pulled on multiple layers and waterproofing to stand shivering in Ellel village hall carpark .

Without too much ado - too cold!-  we were off following little damp mounds of dough. Squish-squelch, splish-splash, slip-sliding along lanes ,by streams, over the rickety stiles and across pastureland. An early R/W split took the Rambos off over a squidgy field circuit to eventually merge with the Wimps on the canal. That would be the Canal of Interminable Longevity upon the Towpath of Exceeding Muddiness...

And so to the BS where BB had failed to provide hot soup for cold hashers. ( I think his response to this request was fairly Anglo-Saxon!)

The second part of the trail led over the Hanging Paddy Fields of Galgate. Strange that water can puddle on a sloping hill ,but so it did and so we splashed on.

After a short episode of milling about on an A road and roundabout ,we eventually were redirected back on track by the fortuitously passing hares. We climbed up the Hill of Missing Flour where our destination showed tantalisingly in the distance but no marking was to be seen. Finally a lone flour blob was discovered by the ranging pack and we set off down the way we knew it ought to be.

But lo, on reaching the village on tired legs- the end so close- we came upon a sting in the tail- the Sneaky Overabundant No 2 Rambo loop. Luckily we managed to miss a chalk arrow so that we missed most of this out! Sorry hares....(not sorry)

So, finally home. A last picture of well mired running shoes and a shivery wet dog before scurrying off to warm ,dry clothes, a hurried circle and a cosy pub.

Many thanks to Team Postal for getting up so early on a foul day to set trail and turning what would have been a dingy uninspiring day into an enjoyable muddy romp!