Run	Date	Hare(s)	Description	MapRef	1:50000	1:25000	1:10000	Aerial
705	2011-02-13	Can Man & Soapbox	Fairmile Bottom LayBy	SU984092

It was raining, not the big drop drenching variety but the miserable bit here bit there variety helped along by a blustery wind from the west. Those that turned up seemed surprisingly cheerful considering the conditions however the small size of the pack prompted muttering about the need for a recruitment drive, we need ideas, how to attract new Hashers .
On the plus side Spiderman had done his bit by finding a lapsed hasher in the gym by the name of Two Sheds who had turned up. Two Sheds is an ex banker, and before you ask, the answer is NO, he did not get any huge bonuses just the odd extra quid at Christmas, at least that's his story.
Our JMs thanked the hares for standing in at short notice and then let them do the usual, which amounted to an apology for some longish tarmac bits and then a gesture towards the Madehurst road, so we diced with death crossing the A29 and headed that way.

The area we were heading into holds some unpleasant memories for the old timers, remember run 400 ? we started in the mist on Bignor hill and this is where we were after the first hour, not to mention Steve Smith doing in his achilles tendon and never running again.
Anyway, back to this trail, Pancsi and Old Faithful took a long falsie up the tarmac while the rest found the path west and then north at Punchbowl. The welcome arrival of better late than nevers Malibog (Stockholm) and Bouncer (Brighton) swelled our ranks as we headed north up the long drag to a check at New Barn farm.

Yet again Pancsi chose a long falsie but it didn't matter because everyone else just walked up the hill east to a check at the church, all out of puff, and we had only just started. This one did not take long to work out, so Bouncer and yours truly led the way on a long, long, long, slog over the north east FP to the road and then east through Lower Farm to the edge of Houghton Forest where we tried to find shelter under leafless trees, soon joined by OF, Malibog and Pancsi.
Eventually the rest turned up and we all headed south west on the path just below the noisy A29, clearly we were doing a clockwise trail and heading for the chariots at pace.
Hold on, there was to be no easy return, as we crossed the road and made the leg sapping climb up the steps to Yewtree Gate, even worse, Two Sheds was no longer with us and no one was about to go back down to find him.

The trails from this point are well known, so the hares had cleverly sewn together a series of checks and falsies that headed home along the ridge but cut back and fore through the bushes between the three main trails. It was in this lot that we lost contact with Bouncer, another one gone, just like Predator, was an evil alien taking us out one at a time .
The situation got even worse when the diminished pack all arrived at a false trail mark that the hares were adamant they had not laid, so we headed for home as fast as we could in case more of us went missing, arriving at the descent and on-inn mark after one hour and twenty minutes.

There were few nominations, Spiderman for forgetting to bring the Hash-it (tut,tut), those trying to shelter under a leafless tree, but the proverbial biscuit was taken by Bouncer for finding a football on trail and engaging Spiderwoman in a kick around.
We then beat a hasty retreat to The Spur for a welcoming aromatic fire, to be shortly joined by The Gnu and Sinbad.

Bambi.