What a marvellous hash! Much better weather than initially expected, almost warm at times, and some beautiful scenery in this oft-overlooked corner of the Lake District. Your scribe cannot vouch for the quality or otherwise of the meals provided by the White Hart but he can testify to its excellent car park, coincidentally in just the right place for the start and finish of the hash.

After some complex explanations of half Rambo splits and good but slippery bits the pack was unleashed on the Cumbrian countryside, only to be dragged (figuratively) back onto the right course, so as to avoid early discovery of the in trail.

Not far along the road came the first of two Rambo/Wimp splits. Wimps to the right, Rambos to the left. Not far along the Rambo route we met the Hares, apparently treating us to an impromptu Beer Stop, but 'twas not to be. They had just parked up in order to mark a gateway where the trail left the road and strode out over fields. Apparently one of the Hares had forgotten to make this vital mark when trail laying earlier. Would this be a portend of things to come?

There followed a number of deviations from the intended route, which can only be explained by the notable shortage of marks at important direction changes. It could not possibly be that the Rambos missed any such marks, could it? Your humble scribe could go into great detail at this point, describing the various off piste wanderings, but suffice to say that, at one stage, they were almost back at the original Wimp/Rambo split, albeit approached from the opposite direction! Dormouse was in the lead and reported finding a "W" in the road (no "R") and correctly concluded that we had stumbled upon the Wimp trail, but in reverse. Further confusing markings were observed before once more regaining the straight and narrow, passing through the second split and moving onto the lauded boardwalks across the bogs and mosses of Rusland Nature Reserve. Leaving the Reserve, the Rambos had a chat with a couple out for a walk who turned out to have been hashers in Malaysia many years ago. They proclaimed themselves "too old" for hashing now, though obviously capable of walking in rough terrain. Maybe we convinced them to return to the fold?

A little later, still on the second split and not yet at the Beer Stop, the valiant Rambos found themselves following a clear trail of flour that took them off any rights of way (unbeknown to them) and cross country. Following a vehicle track, plenty flour blobs, there came a cry of "petrol" from Speedbump. In fact it was the farmer come to remonstrate with us for not being on a public footpath. Actually he was quite affable and accepted our explanations. Soon we were back on a signed footpath and approaching the Beer Stop, where Hard Astern had come out to see where we had got to.

The Wimps had enjoyed a straightforward hash without any oddities, and had left on the final section some 25 minutes ahead of the errant Rambos. The chase was on, and the Rambos managed to reel in a couple of Wimps just before the On Inn was reached. Time was a little short but D2s were awarded to the Hares and, for some reason, Large Package. The RA claimed she had no stories to tell since she was not with the Hounds.

Thanks RA and HA for an excellent r*n out.

On! On! to the next time, when we get two hashes in two days to look forward to!