QH3 Run 767. General Havelock, Ilkeston. 30/07/2012

Venue: General Havelock
Hare: Barritone
Weather: A pleasant summer's evening


The Quorn Hash tonight made a rare visit to Ilkeston in Derbyshire. Too Tuf and Chicki were there for the start of the hash though the hare (Barritone) wasn't. Anxious moments for the pack, Barritone had set out at four, was this going to be a long one? Dobber looked concerned. We also had  a visitor from warmer parts (Middle East) - welcome Alco Banana, hope to see you again next year.

Who says Dobber
 never runs on a hash?

Good to have Chicki and Too Tuf running with the pack, and even Butcher's Dog was back. Almost had the "A Team" on checking duty. In the absence of the hare the ON OUT was well marked with some strategically placed arrows to ensure we left the streets of Ilkeston quickly. A masterful display of haring with some excellent checks and plenty of flour. Most false trails were long and usually terminated by a bar. The checks kept the pack together, even Dobber kept up. Butt Plug, Malteaser and Bugger all playing their part in checking false trails, the latter, again appointed RA for the day, falsely marking a number of checks on account of poor calling. Alco Banana obviously enjoyed the novelty of running amongst so much greenery and for a visitor was not timid in doing plenty of checking. The wasteland and disused railway track south of Shipley Park was ideal for hashing. The hare finally caught us up about halfway round during a time when the pack became disorientated by the multiplicity of tracks, none of which appeared to have flour.

Chicki and Malteaser sharing
blonde moments

We were treated to the sights of the youth of Ilkeston playing football on the bowling green, and doesn't Ilkeston have a lot of pubs including a licensed chip shop! The General Havelock was an excellent hashing pub - plenty of car parking in the public car park next door and an excellent selection of beers. The water feature out in the beer garden made a splendid square for the circle to form around. Chicki was stand-in Beer Mistress, Wallington being absent, obviously still recovering from setting next Sunday's hash trail a week early. Chicki is a "glass full" sort of person, never able to go up to the bar to ask for an empty glass came back with a glass of water. Barritone was afforded the accolade of an "excellent run", not even a vote was required.


This was the way I did Run 767.  

MH3 Run 229. Pattenmaker Arms, Duffield. 16/07/2012

Pattens were under-shoes of wood and metal which were worn strapped beneath the shoes to raise the wearer out of the mud and effluence of the streets. How appropriate we should meet in the Pattenmakers Arms in Duffield on an occasion when there was copious amounts of mud on our trail. Yesterday may have been a dry St Swithin's day:

Pattenmakers Arms, Duffield

"St. Swithin's day if thou dost rain 
For forty days it will remain 
St. Swithin's day if thou be fair 
For forty days 'twill rain nae mair."

but today we got rained on! Hare (Trianal) claimed he had used all his flour laying the trail but it should be anticipated that there wouldn't be much left across the grass fields. Bugger arrived just in time for the ON OUT, fourth run in three days, this was merely my third.


We eventually found our way off the streets north of Duffield into soggy fields edging the golf course. Well-marked checks but with much flour washed from the main trail kept the pack together. In the first couple of miles I had to pass Dobber and Lionel several occasions. At times it was a bit like having a live hare but with the hare at the back of the pack.
Indeed, today we had a very experienced pack of hounds (Beefeater, Lightning Rod, Oriface, Barritone and Bugger) who all took their turn of moving the pack along at a reasonable trot. My moment of FRB glory came to an abrupt end on a particularly slippery style. Falling backwards of the top step into the fence it was fortunate that it was a wire stock-fence, rather than a wooden one, so I hit it with a bit of a spring. The bad news was it was topped with two layers of barbed-wire. Thanks Beefeater for unhooking me. I told the wife when I got home that the numerous deep cuts down my back were the result of 20 lashes administered for abusing the RA. As though I would do that!
Well done Trianal for leading us along a lot of new paths in unfriendly weather conditions, and what a lot of sheep - Barritone was purring. Lightening Rod (ne Dyno Rod) had some beer handling issues before the circle was led by Dobber in the comfort of the Pattenmakers Arms bar. Today it was a men only hash, where was the fair-weather sex?

 Hash Trail as run by Durex.

QH3 Run 766. The Mill Wheel, Hartshorne. 15/07/2012

Run 766 of the Quorn Hash House Harriers started and finished at the Mill Wheel in Hartshorne. The Hare was Gobalot assisted by Oriface on his 97th Quorn H3 hash. The pack size actually reached double figures this week swelled by two Reptonite hashers.

The weather was sunny, appropriate that Bugger was appointed RA. The first part of the trail looped back around the cricket field, sending Butt Plug off on a long false trail, before exiting the village past Hartshorne church. Hairless Hound and Soggy Jubilee injected a bit of early pace and disappeared into the distance with Lightening Rod.

I fell for the hare's cunning deception at most checks, the strategically placed blob of flour to tempt me up a false trail. Not that many checks were needed. Many paths often had the pack finding its own route, often followed by an interested co-hare who just wanted to see where the paths went.

A bit longer than yesterday's AH4 trail but nevertheless a well-constructed route.

We haven't sat outside much this summer so we took the opportunity to use the Mill's beer garden. The circle was well on its way before Chicki and Too Tuf arrived back from the trail. Even Skids who had a blonde moment by going to the Wheel Inn in Ticknall instead, got to the circle earlier. Despite the lack of sheep (it was a Derbyshire trail!) it was voted a good run. This was the way I did it - RUN 766.

AH4 Run 34. Corley Farm, 3 miles east of Ashbourne. 14/07/2012

This was a hash with a difference. Originally billed as a mid-summer campout, it was neither mid-summer (how can you decide a mid-point for something that has never started), nor a campout (as the fields were too waterlogged). However, the location remained the same, Corley Farm 3 miles east of Ashbourne, or more precisely along the bit of road just before the farm. Hare was Skip Rat and a long hard run was anticipated.
The weather was in keeping with the reinstatement of Durex as RA - lovely sunshine - and Andean Sex Beast wore nice pink-flowered trousers appropriate for an unusual hash, made from material that would look at home as curtains in a poorly furnished holiday cottage.
Totem Pole put on his war paint to protect himself from the sun and then made the mistake of setting off with the r*nners as opposed to the short-cutters (mostly identified by purple AH4 T-Shirts). After about 500 m it became clear that this hash wasn't going to be run on footpaths. At the first check we stumbled around looking for obvious paths when the correct trail actually went into a field of cows with no discernible path or exit, but lots and lots of mud. The hesitation at the first check gave Bugger, fresh from his early morning park run, chance to catch us up. From that point the pack kept well together with the likes of Malteaser, Wriggle and Wheelchair keeping up with Horse's Arse FRB on account of difficult paths to find, zig zagging through long grass, and lots of water and shiggy. Not that the trail was poorly marked. I'd always thought the only point to thistles was being a national emblem, they also make good receptors for flour in long grass.
Purple coloured short-cutters were caught about 30 minutes into the trail, possession of a dog seemed to be a qualification to be in this group (Non-Runner, Mama Rose and ASB) if you weren't called Pretty Flamingo. Then the real fun started following some surprising ASB front-running and checking. The pack was led down a spooky ancient track-way full of dead trees and very prickly thorn bushes. The only way out was via more than 45 degree muddy slopes. Unfortunately, at an unseen check, Horse's Arse and ASB led us up the wrong slope. We struggled to get up it, and we struggled to get down again. Flying Bottom wasn't on this hash but there were plenty of those! Back on the correct trail we then had a struggle to get out the other side of this deep hollow. It's my nomination for check of the year.
The ON-IN trail completed a figure-of-eight short hash which was about 3 miles long and done in 75 minutes - this was the way I did it - AH4 Run 34.
A circle was held at site with unusually good beer for DDs. The Hare was suitably awarded for what was generally rated an exceptionally good hash. Even Bugger was happy. The pack retired to the Bowling Green Inn in Ashbourne where I was left to contemplate the trail whilst Malteaser went off to do some shopping.

Dirty dirty hash shoes	Flour on a thistle
The check that took us 20 minutes to escape from	Wriggle emerging from the hollow. Bugger pulling  people up the slope

QH3 Run 765. The Plough, Ashby de la Zouch. 01/07/2012

The Plough on the Green, Ashby de la Zouch

Our first hash of July was done by a very small pack. At the start there was just Wallington, Malteaser and Durex, plus the hare (Bugger) and a co-hare (Goblin) to accompany the walkers (?). That was a real shame as this was a classic Bugger hash with river crossings, flower festival, plenty of churches, devious checks and quite a bit of previously unhashed trail.

Hash Heaven... pub with good beer and
 a cake shop next door!

We knew this was going to be hard going with just three do to the checking, and it was. No shortcut or walking for Wallington this week. At the start Malteaser found herself in the unaccustomed position at the front, no supervisory checking for anyone on this hash. Twenty minutes into the run we knew Too Tuf and Chicki had arrived, it started to spit with rain and we had our RA for the day. The rain didn't last long. This hash has excellent weather management procedures now in force. Even during the wettest June in history, did we have a wet hash in the entire month?

..still on flour

Towards the latter half, Wallington and Malteaser began to fade and I found myself running all the false trails and then having to return back along the correct trail in order to wave Wallington ON ON. No use calling him on, and I had to make sure my driver for the journey home was also heading in the right direction.
A shallow stretch of stream with an under-bridge crossing showed I could no longer walk on water but my r*nning shoes were the cleanest they've been for a month. That was until we hit that particularly shiggy bit and then a paddy field with the cows before returning into Ashby dlZ. I passed the co-hare walking by herself shortly before I got to the ON-IN. I did feel weary and no wonder with nearly 8 miles done and 1000+ calories burned (see Run 765).
Excellent beer (Shropshire Gold) and shortcake feet, Goblin's trademark treat, preceded a small well-formed circle  led by the RA for the day Too Tuf. We decided that many people had today missed a very good run!