Way back in April, was it, Wonder Woman says "of course we can lay a trail soon, we are retired, have the time and YOU only go and play two days a week at Silsoe". Along comes July and Wonder Woman has a full time job then Ross (senior heir) flies in from San Francisco and Maria (heir-minder) flies in from Sofia - both visitors departing on Monday 5th July. Guess which willing idiot was told - "OK, you lay the run on your own between getting Ross and Maria out of bed, organized and over to the station". All this the day or so after nearly drowning in the River Great Ouse when Dragon Boat racing went slightly wrong and the Flying Ducks became the Drowning Ducks.

Anyway, Monday morning was OK with half the run laid by noon - meeting Jim our new running landlord from Biggleswade sussing out the possible venue. After the station-dump-run back to trail laying and again all was OK till the bike tyres got covered in dog-doo and bits of that went zipping past the nose on the fast stretches - riding in the wet-stuff, in which Bedpan lay down during the run later, got most of that off to act as fish food. Of course the rain then struck and the harassed hare got a wee bit wet on the way home. Things looked even worse as hare plus helper-hare sat down to imbibe some soup before the run and the heavens opened and it hissed down.

After setting up the 'ex-Ampthill' H5 sign, the odd flour arrow and sign on the road the elite of Beds hashing gathered in the car park - it was safe till after the off as White Rabbit did not appear. The intro was simple with info that there was a lot of wildlife, scenery, total of 12.5km of laid trail to follow, flour every 85 metres and few (or very few) checks but lots of bar checks to help counteract the effects of no pub bar within reach of the venue.

Silly Hash twits virtually all ran straight to a big gate with a bar from the start, MLP was heard to say "the gate was not a giveaway?". After a few more bars an actual check was found and everyone co-operated and faffed about following the falsies - Underlay at very high speed down the side of the lake behind and attached to chief 'mutt'. Eventually 5-Baah found the real trail alongside the waterway heading for Blunham, Sandy and all places east. Arrival at the old railway line (now a cycle track) found check No 2 right next to the "poo-farm" but it was not too odiferous!

Most falsies again followed then we were off over the footbridge to sort out a plethora of bar checks but eventually heading parallel to the cycle track, waterway etc and towards Bedford. During all of this Deadmeat and Pongo started to show some mid-pack if not FRB tendencies. The first 'ford or Irish bridge' of the run came and went as the water level was low but water noises were heard as some mutt swimming ensued. After yet another gate (OK, with bar check) a small track led thro' a hole in the fence and the WWW was arrived at. Some Harriers / Harrietts objected to such low-language but Women are women, Wimps are wimps and Wankers know who they are. In the end virtually all headed for the long run and continued on the way to Bedford.

The last bar check on the cycle way did its job well and Dead Meat and Pongo really were FRBs for a spell. At about this time White Rabbit came out of woodwork, seemingly had been keeping Wonder Woman company at the rear of the pack for some time after a lonely, late arrival. A lovely woody footpath then led past the Marina (boat not Morris) with several more bar checks, some slightly shoe-adhering stuff but glorious river views. Pooper took off about this time (with some coaching this guy could learn to run, try the AFF) and operational efficiency of the eyeballs was questioned - but no problem as the whole pack eventually followed. A few more round-about / turn-'em-back checks led to the second 'Irish-bridge' of the run and Bedpan did a beauty and later did totally refuse any viewing of the bruised bits - she should have been dry by the time she got home. Then it was up past the canoe slalom area, the "on-inn" and back to the car park at just on the hour.

Florence did produce the DRAY supplies and with the free bottle of lemonade donated by Wonder Woman wetness was available. The usual rambling verbal exchanges took place with the most memorable from Capt'n Fantaastic (old Paintball) as to whether he was the secret2 RA or the secret3 RA - as though it matter as his scribble pad in use all the way round was a slight giveaway.

DDs were awarded to:

• The HARES - wonderful old pair of bufties (East Lothian language meaning old retired buffers)
• Ringer - was it a birthday or something
• Pooper got mentioned in dispatches for surviving his first day of KROW experience
• Florence & Overflow for a refusal at the second Irish Bridge, qualify as wimps!

If we missed any, sorry!

ON ON
Wonder Woman and SuperMini