QH3 Run 763. The Anchor, Nether Broughton. 17/06/2012

Unbelievable. Too Tuf and Chicki arrive 20 minutes before the start of a hash! Hold back the shock, they did have the hash to set as they were today's hares. We did set off a bit late to give the hares a chance to get ahead, and wait for Bugger and Goblin to get ready. A brief light shower as we started meant that Too Tuf should have been RA for the day, but you can't set a trail and be the RA. Instead, we had to line up the other curates (Bugger, IP and Butt Plug) and the shortest draws the short straw - Bugger was our RA for the day and on his appointment it stopped raining.

I've hashed many trails and done a lot of running in this corner of NW Leicestershire and the public footpaths are always hopeless. The council fulfils its duty by marking them from public highways but after that you're on your own. One hundred metres into the trail, first check into a farmyard and around someone's backgarden I only found the footpath way-marker on my way back to the check. And that's how the trail continued. Many paths overgrown with knee-height grass made the going tough. At times, after a week of rain and waterlogged fields, it was like being back in SE Asia running through the paddies. At the bison and elk farm (no Skids, not Elfs) there were many well-signed paths, but the intimidating high and well-chained gates made it difficult to guess just where the paths were.

And so onto the busy A606, made busier by cars diverting off the A46, the hares obviously expecting the hashers would leap clear of the fast moving cars. Malteaser had other ideas and took on an incoming juggernaut. Most normal people wouldn't walk along this section of the A606 and so the public footpaths from it are never used. It made for an interesting trail, well-done the hares for ensuring such paths get used once in a while.

Where's the pack gone? Picture by a lonely FRB.

The hares' may have the intelligence to make sure their footprints don't give the trail away but their dog doesn't. I was able to follow doggy prints for most of the last mile, though with diversions into the field to chase pheasants.

I arrived back at the Anchor not long after the hares and was able to direct Sweet Pea to her car in the crowded car park of six cars. Wallington turned up just in time for the circle citing family business as being more important that running the trail. Bugger had difficulty controlling the circle - Sweet Pea was put on the naughty step and it's not every day the circle get interupted by a Lancaster Bomber flying past. I believe the hares got a deserved vote of good run. This was the way I did Run 763.


We actually had our Sunday dinner in the Anchor and it was a very good roast too.