QH3 Run 841. Poppy & Pint, West Bridgford

RUN #841

Date : Sunday 17th August 2014
Location: Poppy and Pint, West Bridgford, Nottingham (NG2 5DX)
Hares: Diarrhoea and Captain Oates
Weather: Sunny with a blustery chill
Pack size: 15

This was a hash trail where once again we got two for the price of one. With Diarrhoea as hare we expect nothing less (see report for run no. 823). We got twice the normal length of run - 8.5 miles (though shorter options/cars were available); two beer stops, and; an assault course.
Captain Oates was posing as a co-hare though clearly, after following him on a few false trails, he knew as much about where the trail was going as the rest of the pack. Diarrohea made use of the locally produced (Sneinton Mill) flour to mark the trail. This was brown and lumpy and in many places looked as though the people of Lady Bay had not enjoyed their meals the night before.
We were told to look out for the Passat Estate for the location of the first beer stop. This is not an area of Nottingham known to me but after just two miles, in the Holme Pierrepont water park, we did find Diarrhoea's car with the usual wide range of alcoholic beverages. I had a bottle of Saint Omer, a strong blonde beer of 4.8% which I'm ashamed to say the hash beer mistress (Malteaser) suggested we water down! I later discover that Saint Omer is not the patron saint of beer - there are many other saints who get this accolade the most popular being Saint Arnold.
I've jogged and raced around the Holme Pierrepont lake dozens of times but never the way today's hare took us. I did not know there are so many off-tarmac trails and an assault course in the woods. Following a shiggy-filled very smelly ravine which most hashers declined, the flour trail led us over an obstacle course, the kind that when tackled by such a bunch of unfit geriatrics usually results in a broken or at least a sprained wrist. We all survived (see photos below).
Apparently there were three nature reserves and the hare kept trying to lead us up dead-end trails to look at some grass growing.
The second beer stop came after 5.5 miles and one third of the pack opted for the 'shorter' route straight back along the road. Enema who was put in charge of the walkers arrived at this beer stop just as the main pack. Excellent timing. Alarmingly, the trail from here continued in a direction still travelling away from West Bridgford. A shower of cooling rain refreshed us. The co-hare (trying to justify his billing) was spotted laying a blob of flour on one of the final checks which caused some confusion and spread the pack out on the 3 mile dash for home. This was led by visiting Donington hashers Mother's Day and young William.
We have a RA this year (Butt Plug) who attends most hashes so one would hope our Curate (Captain Oates) is getting plenty of on-the-job training. There was a big accolade for Barritone who became only the third Quorn hashers to have reached 500 runs. I thought I got a DD for wearing a T-Shirt to match the date - 17th August Indonesian Independence Day. Butt Plug insisted it was because it had some pink bits on it. Visitors from Donington - Mother's Day and young William - were welcomed to the Quorn Hash though Notts TV star Shagulater took on the challenge of William's discarded orange juice. Apparently Shagulater was being interviewed about flying, or should I say the fear of flying - should have talked to some of his passengers!
The hares, particularly Diarrhoea, were congratulated for setting such a memorable run. That left one DD for supposedly 399 timer Malteaser and her performance on the rope walk (an award which would have surely gone to Chicki if she hadn't been away enjoying herself in Norfolk). Actually, on reflection this was Malteaser's four hundredth Quorn run. But two monster timers on one run is too much.
That's how I remembered it.