We were graced with the presence of Highway – some said he was a day late but I believe he came just for the r*n.

This r*n outlined:
Down the river, across the river, up the river.

A bit more about the outing:

The hares for this r*n were very nice.

The up the river bit was the same as the down bit we had done the night before.  Antiseptic said this wasn’t their fault as SpeedBump had described a different route for their r*n, apparently.

After r*nning up a very big hill, past some smelly bog myrtle, the hounds were asked to wait while Cyberseptic live-hared part of the route ahead.  This begs the question of what he had been doing the night before, the mind boggles.

We were set off along trail, soon to catch Cyber up.  Coming to an open check, he was clearly visible sporting his new luminous vest. Needless to say, checking wasn’t necessary.

The trail went down hill to the beer stop – hidden in a myrtle bush by a pretty bridge over the river – which was nice.

After the beer stop, Bubbles and ForeverBlowing deserted the r*n, leaving early to go to a Genesis concert.  If loyalty isn’t shown by the founder members, what hope is there?

We then retraced our path, only to be shocked by what was next.  We were to begin a naked hash.

This was explained as hashing without a trail – following a hare.  I’m not sure this will catch on yet we gave it a go.  It proved not too safe as Antiseptic lost her leg down a hole.  FullMember dutifully rescued her from certain death.

A few corners further, an open check was to be found.  FullMember took it upon himself to check it out, yet checked for many miles before thinking it might not be the correct route.

Once the correct trail had been identified, there was a flour circle representing an open check, yet only one route we could go down.  Cyberseptic informed us that this was supposed to be a blob of flour yet it had come out all wrong.

The r*n then went up christmas tree alley (at least that’s what we called it).  This was the warmest part of the route, enhanced by the beauty and smell of this special place.

After this pleasant interlude, another check was to be found, and again FullMember checked for ages up what was clearly the wrong path.  He returned to inform that he was doing all this extra unnecessary checking from the depths of his heart, to save us all the trouble.  I rather think he didn’t have a clue where he was going.

The r*n went along a bit, past a farm with barking dogs then down a steep, rocky decent to a farmhouse which happened to sell ice creams.

These weren’t just ice creams; they were luxury English Lakes ice creams.  The only problem was finding the ice cream seller.  He emerged from the house, admitting he’d been asleep.  This, my friends is the way to sell.  Put up a sign outside your door, go inside and snooze.  Customers read the sign and wake you.  Easy money.

We went into the expansive back garden and ate our calorific snacks.

The trail from here was only a matter or yards back to the campsite.

There was the addition of a new hash marking ‘yoyo’.  This is to be used when the hares can’t be bothered to do an in trail.  Yoyo means ‘you’re on your own’ ie the hounds have to find their way back to the start of the r*n.

The hares did show us a short cut to Turner Hall Farm – so it’s not all bad.

Antiseptic insisted that today’s haring was very nice.  The trail avoided a ford so our feet didn’t get very wet very quickly.  Instead, the alternative route meant our feet got very wet very slowly.  Also, mini-fishhooks were used.  At these points, the front r*nners could decide to either r*n round the back markers or simply wait for them to catch up.  Additionally, there was no split, which was nice.

The circle was conducted at the campsite and DDs were awarded to:

• Antiseptic & Cyberseptic:  Hares
• Dormouse:  Impersonating a geriatric< /li>FullMember:  FRB
• MasterBaker:  Soiling the trail
• Highway:  Being a day late

Note:  Cyberseptic couldn’t be bothered to select a song from his repertoire, not a good example to set as Song Master me thinks.

We then sat in the sun and wind, passing the time until going to the pub for another evening meal.

The evening came to an early end at 9pm – shocking, I know.  The story is that it was quarter to midnight – reading the hands on the clock the wrong way round.