The treacherous winter weather had caused our December walk to be cancelled, so it was with much anticipation that members, new and old, turned up at Gill’s Lap on an overcast, but dry, day.

That is except our Hon Secretary and our Walks Organiser, who travelling together drove deep into the Sussex hinterland and became hopelessly lost - no doubt searching for Nania or some other fanciful location.

It was only when the rest of the group had completed their walk and were heading back to the car park that they arrived at the real location with Cassius and Annie in tow.

It was good that they made it, especially as Jean’s two hounds, together with three new hounds attending their first walk, meant we reached our magical target figure of thirty!

It was very evident that the pack enjoyed meeting up as they chased each other through the mud and puddles, barking excitedly.

We adopted a relaxed pace which somehow fitted this first walk of the New Year, and this allowing everyone to chat and catch up on matters.

Our Chairman, poor thing, was suffering from a fall earlier in the day at breakfast. An episode that involved a hot oven, croissants, steamed-up spectacles, and a recumbent Basset Hound!

The walk was without incident - though we did startle a few solitary dog walkers, one of whom asked if we all knew each other. One wag among us said, “No, meeting like this is pure coincidence”.

It was good to see that some new members had taken the trouble to attend this walk having found out about us from the website -and this first walk of a new season augers very well for having some very successful ‘meets’ in the coming year.