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KENNET VALLEY HASH HOUSE HARRIERS
Mag No 270– 30th March 2008 – The Cross Keys at Lower Wanborough. Scribe - MMF
Our normal erudite and witty scribe missed today’s hash because he was off enjoying himself in some foreign place and so I am afraid you will have to put up with some old rubbish from me this week.
We had a very good selection of walkers and runners for Pauline and Clive’s hash and the weather was perfect – bright spring sunshine and a gentle breeze. One thing about hashing is that you get plenty of variety. Just two weeks ago we were wading up to our waists in freezing floods under lowering skies - it’ll probably be snowing next week. We had a very brief brief from Pauline and then we were off up the road out of the village and over a stile into a very muddy field. Here we came across a double arrow which caused some milling about and head scratching by some of the newer hashers who had only come across the circle and the single arrow before. I explained and led the way over an even muddier field and then in a loop back to the road through Wanborough. Up out of the village again and left into a footpath that climbed right to the summit. All together at this point thanks to some crafty false trails on the way up. A short run along the top road with wonderful views and then down through a farmyard through some woods and out into open fields again – beginning to spread out again by now. Then we got the trail completely wrong and started going clockwise around an anti-clockwise loop. Kevin was leading the way on the correct trail when Jeremy shouted ‘on on’ from the opposite – wrong – direction which led over a muddy stream. Kevin in his determination to get to the front again fell into the stream going one way and then fell back into it again as he tried to get out. Jolly good of Kevin to provide us all with so much amusement. After going backwards for a bit we came to an arrow facing back the way we had come and so being quick witted we realised what had happened and retraced our footsteps to the stream and were soon on the last section of the trail - a narrow road leading back to the pub.
We all managed to gather in one corner of the pub for the après with the sunlight streaming through the window which was nice. Jeremy thanked Pauline and Clive for an excellent trail and I presented the horn to Kevin for his acrobatic display crossing the stream - and the chicken (Matilda ?) to Jackie for keeping me company when I got too far behind.
Thank you Pauline an Clive for another very good trail.
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KENNET VALLEY HASH HOUSE HARRIERS
Mag No 271– 13th April 2008 – The Suffolk Arms Brinkworth. Scribe - MMF
An historic hash today as Kevin and Ann were laying their first trail and what a good job they made of it. Kevin was a bit worried that nobody would turn up as Annie and I were the only people there at 1055 but then everybody arrived in a rush at 1102. I must have a word with the staff about timekeeping.
The briefing was fun – Kevin began with a gentle courteous run through the trail signs - flour dispensed from a watering can which was novel - and Ann followed with a brisk ‘Health & Safety’ risk assessment lecture in which she warned us of the horrors of barbed wire and electric fences lurking out there waiting to get us. There was a short stretch on the road and then we ran out into open country looking anxiously about us for hazards but luckily nobody was seriously hurt. The trail led along muddy tracks and over open fields with some very good false trails which kept us together nearly all the way round. Ray would regularly leap ahead but he equally regularly found the false trails so we managed to keep up with him. There were only five of us - Ray, Jackie, Keith P, Chris (girl who came for the first time when we ran through the floods last month) and me and we chatted and admired the view and enjoyed the sunshine. There were about a dozen or so walkers but we saw nothing of them on the trail. Walker Graham was wearing the silliest hat you have ever seen; he said it was to keep the buzzards off – which is daft as Ann didn’t even mention buzzards. Just after the long/short divide the trail led into a wood where we had a bit of trouble finding the trail. We thought we were doing well until we came to an arrow pointing back the way we had come. So we retraced our footsteps to the last circle from which every path was either tee-ed off or going back the way we had come. In 20 years of hashing I have not come across that one so I took charge and led the troops back to the long/short divide and we followed the short home. Kevin later explained that one of his arrows must have been eaten (by buzzards ?) and we should have ignored a T the second time round. We were back in an hour and 12 minutes but I am sure it would have been an hour if we had not been flummoxed in the woods for a while.
The après was sociable and pleasant as always. Jeremy is in France and so I thanked the hares for an excellent and challenging first trail and Kevin presented the horn to Chris for having a P behind a pile of logs. Thank you again Kevin and Ann.
Stop press
TLK’s daughter Becky missed the hash today as she was running the London Marathon and I’ve just heard she did so well. She finished 8,694th (out of 35,000 runners) in a time of 3 hours 50 minutes and she was the 1,263rd woman to finish. We’re all proud of you Becky.
