In hindsight, this Saturday walk was most certainly inappropriately named - Midsummer Evening Walk.

We all arrived at Gill’s Lap and there was a grand total of twenty-seven Bassets and one honorary Basset plus their owners. It was great to see Sue and Terry with Maisie, Lola and Abbie, plus their new little boy Joe (Sue and Terry had recently been on holiday to Mexico and of course had had lovely weather).

Frankie and Tony, with Pablo and Nico, and Miranda and Derek, with Hope and Dill, had also been on holiday in this country with their caravans (I’m sure you can guess what sort of weather they had).

It was also lovely to see Lin and John’s Alfred looking remarkably healthy after his very serious operation. We hope he continues to improve.

We were a little dubious when we set off as the wind was blowing at gale force. We had several youngsters with us who all seemed to love running with the hounds and generally getting on very well together. They didn't seem to mind the wind which, as we proceeded got worse and worse.

This walk consists of (amongst other things) three very steep climbs both up and down, and on the last one I managed to trip and fall over (fortunately Tony didn’t have the opportunity to take a photo as he was ahead and didn't notice). We had to put the dogs on leads at one point as there was a pedigree herd of black sheep grazing on part of the forest. We all got safely by without any difficulties. As is usual on these walks we had several stops for stragglers to catch up (I had my Annie (eleven and a half years old with me, so was last) but the wind didn’t ease up at all, in fact it got worse, and then it started to rain.

By the time we got back it was cold, wet and windy. What to do about the picnic? Not to be outdone there was a clearing near the carpark and we all proceeded to take tables, food, and drink, over to it. I must say I don't think I have ever had a picnic in these conditions before, as the rain was coming down, the trees were blowing madly and light plastic cups and even some food was disappearing off the tables, It was really cold and everyone had frozen hands, then Miranda appeared in a hooded anorak with a blanket wrapped round her! In spite of this all enjoyed the substantial picnic and voted it had been quite an evening.

(Ed. Well, this was one to remember. In it was just plain crazy, all huddled against the wind and rain and having a picnic - the surrounding countryside disappearing into the swirling mists like a Turner landscape. Once again, Branch members proving themselves a very hardy bunch. Well done, everyone who attended - including those young members who joined us. A damp sausage roll, anyone ?)