On Saturday 23rd December Eggesford had their traditional Christmas Eve meet at the Duke of York in Iddesleigh. The hunt started drawing the valley between Waldons and Middle Week, crossing the road towards Higher Week with hounds in full cry. From here they hunted north-west along the River Okement and then up towards Parsonage Copse before heading gradually east in direction of Ash House and Ford’s Cleave Wood. They kept on the move from Beerland Wood to the south into the valley east of Wood Barton, drawing it east towards Ingleigh Green and then over towards Barntown before turning around and gradually retracing their steps back in direction of the meet.
Our 3 foot teams did their best to keep up with the hunt on foot. A fox was spotted extremely close to hounds and sabs were able to run in to cover the fox’s scent line and turn the hounds in the opposite direction.
The quadbike toddlers were out in force again, this time taking their dangerous driving up a notch by chasing our Land Rover around the lanes and then smashing the back window with a large rock. We were driving while this happened. The rock could very easily have hit our driver or navigator and caused a serious accident. Later our other vehicle was blocked in by the same quadbike kids, who tried to smash the wing mirror off the vehicle and force their way in. Fortunately the presence of an uninvolved member of the public deterred more serious violence on that second occasion.
Police were called and arrived a short while later. We showed them the evidence of the attack. The quad bikes and little white Clio which had also been involved in the attacks were still following the hunt so they were pretty easy for police to find. One of the quadbike riders was arrested after another rock was found in his pocket and he admitted to the attack. He was given a community resolution order and ordered to pay for the replacement of our window or face prosecution. He has until the 23rd of January to pay. Seeing as the hunt encouraged this dangerous criminality, perhaps they should pay for it out of the £590 cap they took that day! Or perhaps the Duke of York should cover the cost out of their own proceeds of crime.
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