FF and PP did the damage as trail layers today and what a trail it was, frost, water and mud, indeed a rich cocktail. The surprise was the number of die hard hashers that turned up, in total, my personal mole TwinPeaks, who is good at maths, claims she counted 41 hashers!
There was a mini fashion parade of winter clothing on view, coats, hats, scarves and of course gloves. The hares informed the pack that "it was one and on", after which statement several hashers were heard to mutter, got up late did they, the one and on is often the indicator of late getting up syndrome.
Next the hares, bless their cotton socks, sent is over the road and away from the car park into the Artic Tundra that stretched before us. First there was the ice, several hashers enjoying a short skate, I refer to hashers like Top Cat and Scarf Face to name but a few. Next came a series of water features, in this case featuring hashers like X-bitz, Blobhoblin, Fruitybitz and Groucho who chose various methods to cross these said features fearful of the frozen water below. I can report they made it with feet still dry.Soon came the mud, who would have expected mud within this frozen wildermess, even worse was the fact that a journey in the mud was unavoidable no matter how the pack tried to hop, jump or skip. Meandering movements were indeed noticed as the pack, down to a crawl, ambled on their merry way heading to the carrot, the sweet stop.
We all enjoyed a selection of sweets supplied by our hares, well done you two, whilst chattering in the middle of a forest about a range of topics. Soon we were on our way once more. The pack gradually picked up the pace, slightly faster than that of a snail with Oddbitz bring up the rear, knee problems was his excuse. We had a pleasing run for some distance before we reached what I called the Ditch of Death, a ditch that was not only steep, but laced with mud, plenty of mud, with an added bonus, cold water flowing by at the foot of the ditch. No one would would reveal how they got on, but I did notice several sheepish hashers on the far side of this ditch of death. Having crossed the ditch the next problem was finding the trail, as there was a great deal of frost around, eventually the flour laid trail was discovered. Once back at the car park Spockybitz, bless his cotton socks, produced hot drinks, both tea and coffee to go with the beer A very nice touch but I suspect that X-bitz also had something to do with it. Thanks also go to FF and PP for laying a great trail.