Sunday, July 10

Ellerhayes Bridge - Sorepoint and Paperwork - 10th July 2017

The pack gathered at Ellerhayes Bridge just as the sun broke through the clouds, which led to some last minute application of sunscreen. The hares told us the trail was laid in flour, on the left apart from when it was on the right or in the middle. The pack split early, with the longs seeing an ultrasonic testing train, which sounds like something out of Thunderbirds. But they found their way back, following the drops lovingly placed on cow pats. Meanwhile the shorts were going wrong, too busy chatting to notice they hadn't spotted a drop for hundreds of yards.

There was a concerted effort to avoid the horse flies, with Paperwork keeping count of the number he had squished versus the number that had bitten him. We gathered for sweets at a lovely spot overlooking the valley. Then, Pantsdown did the second half of the trail carrying a piece of tree. Apparently he wanted to build a shelf. After going up and down the contours rather than along them, we found our way back to the car park, where Damp-Patch and Paperwork decided to go for a dip in the river. At the final circle, we realised we'd forgotten to nominate a Sheriff so the pack was let off lightly in terms of fines, although there was some nerd-naming, you know who you are. Splat kindly pointed out it was Bullbait's birthday this week, so a beautiful melodic sing-song and down down followed. Next week, we are at Peak Hill (map here), near Sidmouth for Stingray's birthday hash and picnic afterwards. As always, please don't forget to Rate the Hash!