QH3 Run 764. The Sun Inn, Gotham. 25/06/2012

Venue: The Sun Inn, Gotham.
Hare: Butt Plug
Weather: Good - Bugger made RA for the night


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Just before the pack set off, a horse did a big dump right in front of the hare's car. Was this to be a prophecy for today's trail? A small well-formed pack of seven plus the hare set off with Mickleover Hashers Dobber and Lionel setting the pace at the back. A good dose of concrete slab laying the previous day had left me with a bad back and wondering whether I could keep up with Dobber. Not to worry, on up Gotham Hill the back loosened and so on to the front to help Bugger and Barritone do the checking leaving Too Tuf and Chicki ambling along at the back.

The Gotham City, Batman clock

This is one of my favourite running areas, plenty of hills. The hare did well leading us around a familiar area but not on the usual tracks. This was helped by faded flour blobs in the wood that just made those checks a little bit harder. 
The last half involved quite a lot of up (to the famous Cuckoo Bush Wood) and then down. Plenty of time stretch ones legs and take some photos such as the Gotham City clock.
We haven't had many occasions to sit outside this summer. A pleasant evening and we all managed to sit around one umbrella table in daylight until after ten. I do hope someone showed Chicki the way to the gate to get out of the beer garden. General consensus (without a vote) - Good Run.
This was the way I did Run 764.

MH3 Run 228. The Green Man, Willington. 18/06/2012.

Hares: Parker & Lady P
Venue: Green Man, Willington
Weather: Dry
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We don't do many trails in Willington and today's trail demonstrated why. Nice venue, good weather but the problem is a railway line, canal and the A50, all going E-W with limited crosing points. This was in Repton hashing territory so no surprise to have four Repton runners present again. Consequently the pack set off a great speed, Parker struggling to keep up even on his bike. I made the mistake of stopping to release some stones from my shoe and lost everyone. I saw Bugger wandering about in the distance, not realising he was lost too. We picked up flour on the canal going in both directions. After finding an unmarked check and no sign of the pack we rightly concluded we had strayed on to the ON-IN trail. Flour on the trail tended to be spaced a long way apart, moreso than the distance betwen the outward and inward trails.
The first check was found after 2 miles, Bugger was not happy. Along with other lost stragglers Wriggle and Ball Crusher we stumbled around Findern struggling to flour, checks and the right direction. Even Woggle and Seaman Stains caught us up walking. It was then up and down the canal and back to Willington.
We had a naming in the circle, one of the Repton runners turning up to the circle with shopping and confessing that she had to go home to do some baking. Welcome to the world of hashing Masterbaker! And this was the way I Run 228.

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.

Jubilee Picnic Hash (QH3 run 762/AH4 run 33)

Date: Tuesday 5th June 2012
Venue: Allestree Park, Derby
Hares: Durex (GM AH4) and Malteaser (GM QH3)
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A common memory for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations will be how wet the weekend was. What a wise decision to have this picnic hash on the Tuesday Jubilee holiday. For June it was cold, rain threatened but did not arrive until 4 pm when all the hashing picnicers had packed up and gone home after Jubilations to be remembered.
The largest local hash pack of the year, swelled by lots of children, two virgins (Roberta and Jane) and many welcome backs, assembled in Allestree Park adjacent to a big umbrella and gazebo. Most were from the Quorn Hash - much of the Ashbourne Hash obviously have more exciting things to do with their bank holiday. A big area of parkland right on our doorstep yet much of this was a new hashing area to me (see the trail as set by the hare). Nice park but pity about the local council's unbelievable mindless bureaucracy.  This was the first hash ever that I've had to write a risk assessment for! Graciously they waived the £26 admin fee because this was a Jubilee event then decided that a week was insufficient time for them to process my submission - we were jubilating at our own risk.
It was basically a winding run around the perimeter of the park with an excursion to Quarndon. I was determined to get the pack to the top of Bunker's Hill for an excellent view of the Trent Valley. A last minute change in plan spared the hounds an extra 1.5 miles and a long climb up Bunker's Hill. Instead I made good use of an Asbourne fish hook from the view point, a fish hook that if you didn't run back to the hare it meant you weren't going to find the trail home.

Talia - Queen for theday

RA for the Jubilations - Butt Plug

Copious amounts of food were provided, especially cake, as well as beer. The latter provided in a 20 litre container courtesy of the Flower Pot. An hour before the hash, the trail had been laid but I got a phone call from an unhappy Malteaser who had been standing outside the Brunswick brewery at the agreed time to pick up the hash beer only to find nobody there. No amount of cake or brilliance of hash trail would have made up for a lack of hash beer.
A decision was made to use Wallington's much travelled miscellaneous cans for the DDs and save the nice beer for social drinking.  RA for the day was Butt Plug who with his white, red and blue hair was well-dressed for the part. Talia was the Jubilee Queen for the circle and fortunately didn't decide to chop off anyone's head, even the hares', as an overwhelming majority voted for a good run. 
Bugger brought the croquet set but too much picnicing followed by darkening skies meant this returned home unused again.

God Save our Gracious Queen......

Barritone receiving his punishment

...and the hares....

QH3 Run 761. Air Hostess. Tollerton. 28/05/2012

Venue: Air Hostess, Tollerton, Nottingham
Date: Monday 28th May 2012
Hares: Too Tuf & Chicki
Weather: Hot, sunny and threatening thunder storms that went away


Eighty minutes before the hash we got a message from the hares that this was going to be "a live bare". Interesting, we wanted to know what was going to be bare. The name of the pub is a bit pretentious. True we were close to what pertains to be Nottingham Airport but the nearest we come to a passenger service is Shagulater's requests to "come fly with me". Butt Plug arrives with a car-load full of people claiming to have doubled the size of the hash. Durex pointed out that numerically this might be true but size wasn't only about numbers. His car load could also have doubled the "size" of the hash.
Diarrhoea must have been bribed by the live hares, the perceived bar across the correct trail at the first check threw us all into a tiz for a good 5 minutes buying the hares some extra time. After a very wet April followed buy a week of very hot sunny weather those stinging nettles have really grown. The hares certainly managed to find some tall ones. For Tuf and Chicki they may only have been as high as the top of their ankle socks but for the rest of the normal size (that's height) hounds they reached more sensitive parts.
A well constructed trail that got the hares in 15 minutes before the pack. Butt Plug was the RA and led the circle provisioned by the Beer Mistress (Wallington) with the most alcoholic beer available.
Run 761 was voted a good run by an underwhelming majority - this was the way Durex did it. QH3 Run 761.