But not a horse was to be had for love nor money on Dartmoor on the occasion of the twinning meet of the Rallye Armor with the South Devon Hunt. There was nothing for it but to takehomebred Dandy, never out of Dorset in his short life before - it looked like being one big adventure for the both of us. It was to be a double tret. Not only following hounds on Dartmore, for whose wild beauty I have really fallen since I first hunted there three years ago and wher the small mounted fields, and their friendliness, make the miles trip well worthwhile.
But we where to stay, Dandy an I, at the East Dart Hotel at Postbridge, ine the middle of the moor - it must be one of the best hunting pubs in the country: four packs of Foxhounds regulary meet ther, not to mention minkhounds and Beagles.
The Rallye Armor are the french pack, founded by Christian Perennez about 30 years ago, which hunt stag and occasionally wild boar just across the water in Brtittany. John Walcot of Foxworthy, near Poundsgate, made friends with the hunt some years ago. This joint meet, appropriately enough at the Walcot home, was the occasion of its twinning with the South Devon - as far as anyone knows the very first twinning of its sort.
Many of hunt's members had come over, five of them to follow mounted, several in the magnificent uniform that help to make French hunting so special. After a hospitable meet and exchange of gifts between the hunts, we moved off for what was to prove an active but frustrating morning. Hounds found soon enough, but made straight for a massive wood where the fields could not follow and we lost them.
How we could have done with the wonderful horn music that, when you follow a french pack, tells you exactly qhat is going on in the depth of the forest. If you ever get the chance to hunt in France, go - it's magic! The fields master, and for the day, Fergu Graham, had the difficult task of charging here and there with us, with hardly a clue to go on.
