A glorious day attracted 25 hounds and a brave dachsy to Chudleigh Knighton including three ex-pack hounds from the Albany, the oldest Basset pack in the country, who strangely or perhaps timorously were not allowed to show their paces. Shame we cried.

The landlord of the Claycutter's Arms kindly allowed us to use his car park while we perambulated round what seemed to be the landfill sites of S Devon. Personally I was a bit nervous as the landlord/landlady probably normally enjoyed a Sunday lie-in but as The Pack arrived the barking grew more excitable. Fortunately leader Gay had sussed out that the pub had a new Basset puppy so perhaps all was forgiven.

The walk led under the noisy A38 to find the quiet and welcome river where, as you can see right, Gay conducted a swimming lesson to one of her hounds (Phoebe?).

There were many chases notably one by Rufus who enjoyed taunting the rest with a stick: "you can't get it off me".

Though we didn't, or couldn't, match the 47 turnout of the previous month at Burnham, it nevertheless made for another most enjoyable walk - our 84th outing.

(photos below from Linda Wilson)

The wee Dachy gave her bigger chums a rare chase or two

Bassets do like water: well Phoebe does anyway