always, and afterwards to
tea of the renowned bacon butties that now have acquired some spicy sausages.
Robin ate so much, he claimed that he could not then bend down to lift the ramp
of his horsebox, but in reality did so with Nicky standing on it - "Robin, put
me down"!Some clearly addicted children came out for their third meet in 7 days and ended with seriously panting ponies and smiling faces. The Ensor family were in evidence as usual, Sarah riding a rather smart 14.2hh (for sale), Richard sticking it out to the end and Edward, with the help of University mate Will, laying the lines. (I believe that they cheated in using a 4x4 for the uphill, long second - Tim, who usually runs here, would be scandalised!) You certainly need to have some degree of fitness here, for horses, riders and impressively, the runners. The lines cover a good 10 miles, at times quite steeply climbing, and today the ground was fairly wet and holding in places, following a lot of rain over the last 10 days. Two lakes that have been dry for the last several months had filled to
about half depth.Variation on the first line, due to a newly seeded field, caught out some of the older hounds, who thought they knew where they were going but they quickly rectified their mistake to holler. It was interesting to jump familiar fences in the reverse direction to usual, following hounds rather than knowing where they should be going. A convenient water trough at the end of the line was gratefully appreciated by hounds who mostly jumped in, both to cool down and drink. We then walked half way up the Down before the start of the long, second line. Gradient, distance and a large, soft, stubble field sorted out any remaining brakes problems! In places, jumps come thick and fast on this line and a quick thinking mount is a bonus. The last line had a short climb, but basically, the hard work had been done. We then had a long hack back down to the village with plenty of time to take in the spectacular scenery and chat to friends, both new and old. I think we took long enough for Sarah to prepare the soup and mulled wine that accompanied tea.