Run	Date	Hare(s)	Description	MapRef	1:50000	1:25000	1:10000	More
956	2021-04-11 11:00	Bambi	Droke, direction East Dean off A285	SU924127

Podded Hashing resumed on a sunny crisp early spring day, the daffs all out, the first primroses beginning to show, and the trees not yet in leaf.

Both pods arrived in good time except for Bika who is a true JIT merchant, no matter, as we had a bit of a natter about insurance before the Off, accompanied by a crescendo of impatient dog whining.

Bye and bye Pod number one disappeared west into Droke Hanger under the beady eye of Popeye. This left Bambi and Pod two to count to six hundred Mississippi before taking the same path into the bright morning sun.

I think Vixen was the first to mention "Lockdown weight gain" as our early pace soon became a jog and then a walk. Seemingly unaffected, Dr Blood disappeared ahead up across the contours on the northern flank of Selhurstpark Hill, we thought that he might regret this later, but for now he was a bionic man on a mission.

A Check near the top of the climb saw us wandering around in deep deep leaf litter, soft but sapping any energy left in the tank. At one point Vixen could be seen bent double wheezing away, I thought about reaching for my Oximeter, which has been a constant companion in recent times. When she arrived at the Check she said that she had been admiring some unusual bit of spring flora.

We gradually recovered our composure as we followed the trail on the crown of the hill heading south towards the upper car park. So far, and in fact, for the rest of the run we did not encounter any other people although on two occasions we saw individuals from Pod One in the distance, Snake Charmer obviously lost as usual, and Stomping Donkey chasing after Kinky. These sightings might have helped our Pod to guess where we were headed, frankly however we needed all the help we could get.

From the area of the upper car park we took an obscure narrow path North, lovely slightly down hill running among mature pines with the rushing sound of wind bending the branches high above. A Fish Hook for three caught Pink Flamingo, Vixen and Prancer just before we emerged on to the main path back to Droke Hanger from the West.

At the cross roads high above Droke it was hard to guess that we were only a few hundred yards from the chariots, as the plucked crow flies.

Then, after a bit of hunting, the Bubble found the off piste trail South again to cross the big Eastern Bridleway that bisects the park. At this point Prancer and Vixen baled out, pulled the rip cord and descended gently back to Droke.

Still bionic, Dr Blood was keen to continue so we humoured him by tagging along. More climbing followed, this time on the hardened mud of a bike trail that took us all the way to Selhurstpark Road and West under the pylons.

Some of you readers might remember this spot as the path junction where the two dogs have a grave, the stone has an inscription which names the dogs, can you remember the names? I can't even though I read them yesterday. It looks like another dog has now joined them, as nearby is a small oblong pile of flint stones and some flowers, no name, could be a cat, give what's their names something to chase in pet heaven.

So after such musings we took this path down to Potcomb and found a badger path, that will soon be impassible, through the thicket and back under the high tension wires to the Western Bridleway through the park. That was it really, the rest was a downhill charge North back to the chariots, after one hour and twentyfive minutes of invigorating Hashing.

Some of Bubble one remained to greet us, so we had a short socially distanced natter and a tiny bit of beer quaffing, enough for Bika to volunteer to lay the next trail.

On On ! Bambi