Day 9 was my grande finale. I decided to skip Bedford County (too far away) and was invited to come back to Keswick on Wednesday. This is a premier hunt in North America and I was delighted to have the chance to hunt with them again. To my surprise, Tony Gammell, their wonderful and talented huntsman, offered to let me ride up with their equally renown whipper-in Barclay Rives. I accepted and had a great day following one of the best whippers- in in the country. We followed Tony and their fast American pack, exchanging comments about PennMaryDels and American/Crossbred hounds. Barclay was wearing a video cam for a documentary they are making. It was a slower day than Monday but it was a great honor for me to whip with one of the best hunts in the country! At one point Barclay took me deep into a lovely woods we were hunting through and showed me a lone headstone, in the middle of nowhere that said, "Here lies three Confederate soldiers. Deserters. Shot and Buried. May God Rest Their Souls 1864." Wow, it was amazing. I wondered about the soldier who came back to mark their final resting place. It was a quiet woods, just birdsong and the sounds of Tony hunting his hounds through the covert. I felt transported back 150 years and felt a deep love for this sport that has changed little in centuries. I thanked Keswick for a lovely day, a couple good runs, big jumps and the honor to go out with Barclay. It has been an awesome 10 days of hunting in the most beautiful hunt country in the land. Thanks to the organizers, it was great!!
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