A glorious June morning saw 21 basset hounds gather in Great Bedwyn, later joined by two more, bringing our grand total for the day to 23 hounds.  Hamilton seems to have recovered his voice and announced our presence to the world.
  We knew that this was not going to be a straight forward day as within 100 yards of starting pretty much all the hounds engaged in a synchronised mass pooping session.  This required some clearing up and the peaceful village echoed to the cries of “ poo bags needed over here….”
  Finally underway we climbed through some lovely long cool grass and into the woodland of Bedwyn Brail.  This is a lovely place and the hounds indulged in plenty of sniffing and rolling (and not a little humping) whilst we enjoyed this year’s magnificent display of bluebells.
  Leaving the woodland we went to have a look at Wilton windmill and many of us decided to stay and have a picnic. Others strolled down the hill to order lunch at the hospitable Swan in Wilton.  Shortly all of us joined up together for drinks at the Swan taking over the whole of the beer garden.  The look on people faces as they arrived for lunch and were confronted with 23 bassets flopping about was a sight in itself.
  Tearing ourselves away from the excellent local ale, lots of basset chat and the comfort of a bench in the sun we walked across Wilton Brail, admiring the long reaching views, stopping regularly to give the dogs plenty of water.  For some reason known only to the hounds one field looked particularly inviting and the customary ‘chase me’ game was played. We two-leggers just looked on in amusement – where had they found the energy?  A few more fields and a short stretch along the Kennet and Avon canal brought us back to the wharf for about 3pm. 

A big thank you to everyone who came and made this a relaxed, friendly and hospitable day.

Dianne Billing

Guy's Maude looking for a chase

This is what the Basset Hound Walkers is all about . . .

Sam Morgan sorting them out