We were ere 'ere were we?

Familiar territory indeed for Saturday's live-hare run but with the threat of being caught by the pack the hare probably knew the country a little better, and by the time the first two checks had gone "the wrong way" (whatever that means), there was little chance that short of a miracle the hounds were in with a chance of catching him. There was a further delay at the 6th check which is surprising as we have passed that way many times before, but then by that point Stick Insect's ailing Achilles tendon had forced him to abandon the chase and none of the other runners had much experience of the area. So the hare was in and safe just inside an hour with the pack taking about 1 hour and 10 minutes for the 6.7k.
Meanwhile, the short runners under the firm but fair guidance of R2D2 found the hare's un-recce'd trail a little too wild to follow, with the result that they spent rather longer picking their way across the rice paddies than anticipated and were another 10 minutes or so in arriving. A good turnout though, bearing in mind that the vernacular contingent were largely absent, although fair dos to the harriets, with Crackwurst, Thorny Hing, Wildflower and Temporary Relief keeping the local flag flying and, to give full credit to our ladies, Throbbin' Hood and Olive Oyle were also up there with the long runners as well.
At the end of the circle, it was discovered that, horror of horrors, the single slab of beer provided by the hare against the departure of the beer truck (which had anyway been relieved orally of its contents) had turned into one slab and 2 cases. Thanks to Conebrain  for the Tiger Light and a nameless donor for the bottled Leo which prompted a trip down memory lane as the remains of the box of bottle openers from a birthday run about 10 years ago were distributed to the rump remaining, valiantly attempting to drink all the beer. They narrowly failed, stumps being drawn at about 9:30, due as much to the fact that most people were, not to put too fine a point on it, a bit knackered, as well as being aware that there was a drive home to contend with.
But it was fun. We should do it more often!