Run No. 1331 12 April 2010
Venue: The Sun
Beer: London Pride.
Location: Lemsford
Hares: Junior
Runners: 28
Virgins: 0
Visitors: 0
Newies: 0
Hounds: 4
Après Hashers: 0
Total: 32
Membership: Seriously chasing the Hare!
The Hare for this day’s Trail was a bit of a surprise to the early arrivals at the Sun Inn, they were shocked to find that tit was none other than Junior. If that didn’t surprise them, then the fact that he was setting the Trail only 15 minutes before the Pack would be off in pursuit of him would. Perhaps he still thought that we start at 19:15 Hours on a summer?
It was a good turnout for the first Monday Run (proper) of 2010, it was such a fine evening that even TC had broken his vow of ‘Hash celibacy’ to put in a rare appearance, no doubt after Spurs beat the Arsenal later that week we’ll nit see him until the 25th Anniversary?
Fartin’ Martin was there on time, & there wasn’t any chocolate eggs to eat out on Trail this week! Anyhow, after the Pack had taken a look at the dent in Hyena’s offside rear wing, the GM called the Pack together for the Circle. The Circle was drowned out by a crescendo of barking from Winston & howling from Koda that just made the RA wonder if they were on a Full Moon!
With the Hare out laying the Trail as fast as he could, there was little to say about what to expect it was out there & it headed toward the golf course on the Brocket estate! The RA knew this as he had received a text message from Junior telling him such, but still had the sense to have his ringtones turned off, it was just on vibrate so feel free to call him anytime he’s in the circle!
With a lot of local knowledge among the Pack this day, it wasn’t long before My Lil’ Sperm ‘ead & Mr. X were across the village’s single main lane & on across the metal bridge spanning the river Lea, in front of the Mill which is the very one mentioned in the song ‘Nellie Dean’! Who as Sludge can recall was a big hit with the troops out in the Boar War!
The Trail was found & it was only a short way for the Keenies to run on to the corner of Brocket Hall golf course that the first CHK was found. While My Lil’ Sperm ‘ead & Flip Top looked up on the path just inside the pine wood, the RA was busy working his way across the first of one hole on the course. It was Mr. X who found the Dust leading across the long footpath over the scenic rolling grounds of the estate to a road just about the ornate gate & weir in Brocket park.
It didn’t take long for the Trail to be picked up again, as Dogger & Chester found the Dust on the drive running around from an ornate gate & along the edge of a tall hazel hedge. A CHK a few hundred yards saw Porky Pie, Sludge & Mr. X head back off over more of the golf course as they found the Dust on the longest stretch of the Trail over toward Ayot Green, while Dogger was off course on the way toward the statue of Diana in the Flint Bridge Plantation & he had to cut across to get back on Trail.
The Dust ran down in to the valley & up the opposite side in to what remains of Cat’s Gallow wood, the pine wood that was decimated to out another golf course in on the estate, that along the eastern edge of the brocket estate, running by the A1 (M). The Pack dropped on the long climb up toward the solitary cottage & out on to the end of the spur road that was once a part of the Great North road before the motorway cut it off.
As the Trail emerged across from the Waggoners, there were some who know the Hare from old & where hoping he had reverted to type & stopped for a quick one at this hostelry. He hadn’t, so their chance of catching him & extracting a drink, as Tradition dictates, were dwindling, but they weren’t giving up hope on the prospect of a free drink!
The Dust led out to a CHK on the edge of Ayot Green, right beside the motorway bridge, from here Dogger led the way out toward the Great North road on Digswell Hill but he failed to find Dust from over the road on the bridleway through Sherrard’s wood.
Sludge took to looking down on a path in to the wood which was closer to Welwyn Garden City Golf Club, he too found nothing, it was down to the RA to pick up the Trail on one of the paths between, ironically this cut across at an angle through the coppice area to the main bridleway that Dogger was on just a little while earlier.
The Trail descended deeper toward the centre of the wood, heading down to the former Railway line from Welwyn Garden City to Wheathampstead. Sludge was not convinced that Junior would take to that long straight route, so he broke off at the first CHK in the wood to head back over in the Brockswood, by WGC Golf Club’s course. He would be off Trail for some while!
The Trail was found up on the main bridle way up to ‘Six ways’, which is somewhat of a favourite stop when running in these parts as there are 5 option left to search after coming in to the hub of the paths radiating out like spokes amongst the trees. The Pack got to admire the wooden totem-like carvings, especially those who fell for the Falsies & had to return there to see them twice.
All of the Falsies were searched, as each option had Dust visible for some distance on the trees leading away. Eventually it was No Eye Deer who picked the right choice of path, the Trail headed deeper in toward Sherrards Park wood & just as the Keenies thought that they would start to pull away from the SCBs a Held CHK was found!
It took a while for Pebble Dash, Psycho & Puddles to catch up, they weren’t as far behind as the Grand Monkey, with Ewok & Back Pack, Paxo was berated for not putting a lot of effort in to getting around the Trail! It was getting a little chilly on this bright clear early evening.
Windmill for one was glad when the RA shouted for the Pack to “Check it out!” as Sis & Psycho came into view. The rest of the Pack now opted for the option that leads out toward the Reddings, at the back of Pentley Park part of Sherrards wood, though there were a dozen options to which way back the Trail could have gone on any of the myriad of paths.
The Pack were correct in their assumption as to where the Hare had gone, the Dust led out of the wood & across the Reddings before running up a short sloping footpath to find a CHK on the top of the former railway line. Sludge, who absence had been noted a little earlier, was now back on the scene & he looked as if he had been running fairly hard to catch up from some usual off-trail exploits!
As the RA approached this part of the Trail he could hear, just up ahead of him, Flip Top having a conversation with his brother that went a little like “No, it’s as Okay to talk as I am going to get a Down-Down now!” as he used technology on the Trail!
There were three choices for the FRBs to work on, the obvious choice down the other side of the embankment to Bridge Road was the correct one, but the Hash were thrown off of the scent at the next CHK when the much fancied option of running down Valley Road was found to have no Dust down it, well not as far as anyone searched!
Sludge was called back from Valley Road & he rejoined the likes of Windmill, Skip, Bus Stop, Sloppy Seconds, Porky Pie, ARP & No Eye Deer on their way up Brockswood lane, but the likes of Mr. X & My Lil’ Sperm ‘ead, old hands at Hashing, hung back to see if the Trail would use the Cut through between two back to back cul-de-sacs, the Hare didn’t
Others wondered whether the Hare would be so cruel as to take the hash back up by the scout hut & in to Brockswood via a long steep path beside the lane that cuts the Welwyn Garden Golf course in to two parts. But Junior was going to lead the Hash up to a CHK by High Oaks road, here Sludge’s persistent looking to pre-empt the Hare paid off as he picked up the Trail down that route.
Pepé le Pew had to drag Koda back from going over the crest of the hill Brockswood lane starts up, Dogger had to bring Chester back as well. Bus Stop was among those who were impressed at some of the homes that line either side of High Oaks, stopping to admire the one with the ornate art-deco fish pond in the front garden of one property! A few of these were the homes of the designers & architects of the second Garden City.
At the bottom of the hill the Pack found themselves at a CHK on the crossroads with Valley Road, local knowledge overpowered any silly thoughts of heading toward the town centre & the Keenies headed off down to the south!
Along the way Mr. X told Sloppy seconds that these houses were built by the Welwyn Garden City Corporation, & that there used to be a light railway running along it for the WGC Brick Company that extracted clay from the local area! This long stretch of Trail allowed Mark E Mark, Lobby Lobster & Ketch Up to catch up with the very last of the back markers of the Pack.
The last CHK, for some, was at the start of the green area by the end of the WGC Golf Course. While most took to running up the serpentine like path through the scrubby wood & then out on to the fallow open field beside the Golf Course, others just carried on down Valley Road as they knew full well that they would pick the Trail up once again on the roundabout beside the bridge under the A1(M)! Perhaps they were still deluded that they could catch the Hare?
Sure enough, once over the dodgy end to the Great North road, the Trail passed beneath the motorway, where the On Inn was found & no doubt will remain for some time as it is sheltered from the elements! The Trail now just ran back off of the second roundabout & into the Village once more.
The Pack were pretty well stretched out, the RA made the mistake of leaving his bag in Hyena’s car & he had a some time spent supping at the Bar before Hyena made it Inn! But at least Hoody’s tales of Junior trying to pull a couple of girls with some (Not so) slick moves when he was p*ssed the day before made the time fly by!
Pepé le Pew, Pebble Dash & the girls had to leave early, but before departing the RA was informed that T-B-T & Sloppy Seconds were overheard talking politics on Trail! They should know the rules by now? There aren’t any, but everyone knows talking politics is one thing you can not do on the Hash!
The Circle was called & the Hare was rewarded for a great Trail that took an hour to Run! Ewok was out for her 300th Run & was presented with her fleece, to the shouts of Skin, there was not way you were going to see any nips in the air with the nip in the air there was that evening!
A 50 Run bag went to ARP, Ketch Up received his Down-Down for 1-2-1’s injury he received on the umpteenth part of Ketch Up’s ‘Stag celebrations’, seems 1-2-1 is pretty crocked & he’s supposed to be running the Brighton Marathon on the 18th of April!
The political talk wasn’t brought up again in the Circle by the RA, as no doubt everyone is fed up with that already? But if you do hear any political stuff mentioned on the Hash, be sure to let the RA know who was speaking with forked tongue!
The last Hit went to Hyena for getting the dent in his car just before he set off to go down to Devon for a break & he was no doubt a ‘grumpy old Hyena’ (how can you tell?-Ed) on the long drive down!