Run No. 1355                6th September 2010

Venue:                          White Horse

Beer:                             Mordue Workie Ticket; Adnams, Duchears IPA; Courage Directors

Location:                      Welwyn

Hare(s):                         Mr. X

Runners:                       14

Virgins:                           0

Visitors:                          0

Newies:                          0                              

Hounds:                         2

Après Hashers:            0

Total:                             16

Membership:               Damp & windswept!

           

 

                The weather forecast for the evening of this Trail was one of rain!  Porky Pie was the ‘Hash Harbinger of Doom’ as he informed everyone of the ‘tempest’ due to hit the county, the RA countered this with “It won’t rain until nine o’clock!” but only one of them would be correct by the end of the Trail!

The Hare reluctantly left the comfort of the White Horse to go around for the start of the Trail from the Lockley’s drive car park, where the GM, JM & Sis were found.  The GM called the Circle on time, then after a slightly hesitant introduction to the correct Run number, the Hare was introduced as ‘Dapper’ to which Sis said “Mr. X isn’t very dapper!”

Anyhow, the Hare explained that the Trail was usual Herts Hash markings of arrows & flour, that there were two Held CHKs & he knew where all the short cuts were & those who may require them should stick with him!  Without further ado, the Pack were ushered away toward Church street.

The Pack passed by the local chippie, across from the Rose & Crown then Vincent Van Gogh’s sister Anne’s former house of Rose cottage, she taught a the village school.  Van Gogh stayed at his sisters on several occasions between 1875 to 1876 followed the arrows to a CHK at the end of the street, on the junction with the High Street!  Porky Pie went off down the falsie along the High Street, he was soon running back the opposite way to pass by the newly restored Wellington as the Trail passed by St Mary’s Church & down the one way end of Codicote raod! 

The Trail came out of the village & led on to a CHK beside the roundabout on the Codicote road & the narrow bridge over the Mimram to Fulling Mill lane.  Flip Top began to search on the pavement along the edge of the Codicote road, he didn’t get very far before calls of “On! On!” from over the common enclosure brought him back!

Sludge & Porky Pie were On as the Dust led over the wet grass of the common, halfway across the first enclosure a CHK was found!  Only Flip Top went up the concrete drive from the pump-house to Fulling Mill lane, he soon stopped when he found a T by the gate to the road!

The Trail continued toward the far end of the first enclosure, once through a kissing gate a CHK was found just in the second enclosure.  Porky Pie was straight across to the kissing gate at the far end of the rest of the common, Sludge hesitated at the CHK as he summed up the option to search behind the bushes & trees toward Fulling Mill lane.  Porky Pies calls of “On! On!” soon helped to make up his mind to follow on behind Porky Pie.

A CHK was found on the opposite side of the kissing gate in corner of the hedgerow, Porky Pie & My Lil’ Sperm ‘ead searched along Fulling Mill lane toward the Codicote road, nothing was found & as they came back down the shady lane they picked up the correct Trail down on the junction with the ‘private road’ of Oakhill drive with Fulling Mill lane.

A Short cut was put in by the Hare to take the back markers across the common to a kissing gate opposite the start of Oakhill drive.  A steep climb up the hill put a stop to any thought of running through this residential street of some exclusive homes.

 Porky Pie was again well up at the front & he led the way out on to the Kimpton lane.  At the junction there were no less than three sets of arrows directing the Pack back toward Welwyn, again Sludge seemed hesitant to follow these.  He was not alone as My Lil’ Sperm ‘ead also didn’t think that the Trail went that way “Unless there are some new footpaths that way!” he said to the Hare.

The Trail did go that way & the Hare said that there some new ‘permissive paths’ out there & part of the Trail would utilize them!  The Pack now made their way down the Kimpton road & then were turned by a set of arrows to head up the drive to Lince’s Farm.  The Trail passed by a couple of detached homes before breaking off of the drive just before the farm entrance.

            Once over a stile in the electric fence, the footpath cut through by a paddock before coming out on to an uncapped farm track down to the St Albans road.  The first Held CHK was found at the convergence of farm tracks & the footpath.  It was around this time that back at Lockleys car park, that Lobby Lobster, Mark E Mark & Ketch Up were setting off, well it was Ketch Up’s turn to drive!

Since Sis & Lucy weren’t that far behind the rest of the Pack, the FRBs weren’t held up for long at this CHK, but there was a scenic view out over the rolling valley below them for hem to gaze at!  No one searched any other option but the footpath that ran along at between the tree line of the farm to the left & the paddocks behind the electric fence to the right, they certainly like their electric fences around here!

The Keenies started to run again, Porky Pie & Sludge were soon away as the footpath began to drop with the contour of the land, Porky Pie followed the Dust as it led up & around on to a footpath that rose in a southerly direction behind the farm.  Sludge had his doubts for the third time & began to do his usual trick of going off on his own little Hash by continuing along the footpath the others had broken off of!

My Lil’ Sperm ‘ead was again another ‘Doubting Thomas’ saying that the footpath couldn’t go anywhere , but the Hare said that it did lead to somewhere as it’s becomes the farm track of a footpath that leads all the way over to the bottom end of Ayot Bury.

ARP, Paxo, Flip Top & No Eye Deer all started off up the Track behind the farm’s stables, just as My Lil’ Sperm ‘ead & Sludge began to take to that route as well, as Porky Pie called “On!”, they would soon find out that this way would end in a Bar CHK, so it was back to the path behind the hedgerow to follow it down in to the bottom of the valley.

No Eye Deer asked the Hare whereabouts they were?  He pointed out that Kimpton was over in the opposite valley to the northwest, & that Codicote was to the north, he also added that there were some new permissive paths that should be checked out for future Hash Trails around these parts, though hopefully on a clearer day.

Just beyond the tall windbreak hedge a CHK was found at the very bottom of the long high sloping field of stubble, Sludge led Porky Pie, My Lil’ Sperm ‘ead & Paxo up around the permissive path which follows the outer perimeter of the crop field, though the going up its route between two of the fields was a little precarious as the boundary was a long strip of rough uncultivated land.

The Keenies made their way up by a solitary oak tree & on to the top of the field, then along behind the hedgerow toward Ryefield farm, meanwhile the SCBs followed the Hare as he marked a short cut on the official footpath that diagonally cuts across the stubble field to intercept the permissive path at the top of the hill.  After the long climb up to the farm track into Ryefield farm, the Hash got a good view overlooking where they had come from & it was pretty nice vista.

Right before the track led into Ryefield farm a CHK was found by a pile of old wooden chairs.  Sludge spotted a footpath marker post & he went of to the north, beside the farm.  He would be on a fairly long Falsie, which pleased the Hare immensely!  Meanwhile Porky Pie had glanced back from following Sludge & he saw the Hare mark the Trail through the farmyard, so he turned about but didn’t seem to call Sludge back!

The Trail resumed on the other side of Ryefield farm, from the CHK there the Hare made sure that the Pack followed the correct route, since they could have easily have gone wrong by sticking to the farm tack to the south west, when the footpath veered off by taking a convoluted route over a grassy strip on the opposite side of the hedge from the farm track.

The footpath turned to follow the perimeter of another field of stubble, here the Hare had warned that the going was tough, especially since the rock hard ground was made worse to run on as tractor tyre tracks had left the route covered in hard imprints.  Even though the Trail was down hill the pace dropped to a walk until it reached the level.

The weather had turned by now, Porky Pie’s predictions of rain were coming true though it wasn’t that heavy, it was just the blustery wind that made it feel uncomfortably cold.  Soon the Trail dropped down to be sheltered by a large hedge along the bottom of the field, the footpath now became a grassy strip so the Pack coujld pick up once again.

It was from here on that lots of partridges could be seen suddenly breaking from their cover to ‘escape’ the Hash!  The Pack agreed with No Eye Deer when she said that they aren’t the most intelligent of birds!

The Trail now headed southward on its way toward Ayot St Peter, a few hundred yards along this way & a CHK was found in a gap in the hedgerow at the crossroads with the footpath from Welwyn.  Sludge was first here & his lack of finding Dust toward Welwyn led My Lil’ Sperm ‘ead, Porky Pie, Paxo, No Eye Deer & ARP to continue up toward the top end of Ayot St Peter, there they found Dust but this would turned out to be a falsie!

Sludge was on his way back to the CHK after he had heard the others call on, but the appearance of Mr. X through the gap in the hedge stopped him in his tracks & he turned once again!  The Hash now followed the footpath as it turned the corner of the field & then took a quick left to head eastward behind the large property of Ayot Bury.

The Dust followed the hedge to its far corner, before coming out on to the very top of the ridge.  Now as the Pack ran down the ploughed chalk & clay soil, they could see little lights of civilisation where Welwyn nestles in the bottom of the valley.

Those who thought that they would have a straight run back were temporarily stopped, they found the last Held CHK on the farm track from Linces farm that the Hash was on earlier.  Once Paxo, No Eye Deer & Sis were in sight at the top of the hill, the Hare allowed the Keenies to resume the search for Trail & get out on as the wind & drizzle continued.

Flip Top was the only one to go off on a False Trail, as he followed the track southward toward the lane into Ayot St Peter, his calls temporarily diverted the others from the footpath leading directly back in to Welwyn.  Once he had found the T, Flip Top took to doing some ‘cropping’, which was in this case ‘stubbling’ as he cut across the remnants of the wheat.  There were plenty of the Pack who were quite eager to point this out to the RA!

The Hash made their way down across the field with animal nitrate ploughed into it, this passed a solitary oak & came down to the outer perimeter of the Veolia pumping station.  A 90 degree turn in the path led along by the water company’s fence & then another 90 degree turn took them down through the hedge & on to the end of School lane.

The Pack were on the last part of the Trail & it was ten to eight, with the light going fast on this wet & overcast evening the Hare was trying to persuade the FRBs to run the very last stretch.  A warning just to watch themselves at the end of the lane to Ayot St Peter, on what is not a really busy route, didn’t seem to encourage anyone but Sludge to break from a walk & in to a trot!

The Last part was for most a simple run by the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital & on down School lane to the High street, but Sludge fell foul of one final CHK right near the very end, that the Hare had put in beside the start of the Green, Sludge returned from this dead end choice just as the other FRBs came up to it, & the Hare marked the CHK.

Mr. X was happy that Sludge had been weigh-laid as he knew that if he was on his own, then he wouldn’t have followed the arrows around on to the High street & down through the old ford beside the road bridge, he would have shied away from this & gone through the T on the bridge!

The likes of Porky Pie, My Lil’ Sperm ‘ead, Hyena & Flip Top waded through the cold Mimram, but the Hare wasn’t sure that all of the Pack would obey the markings, so having crossed over the zebra crossing he stood in Mimram walk to see who would avoid getting their damp feet wet!

Two South Africans, from the new African restaurant, wondered what the Hare was doing as he lurked by the edge of their premises?  Mr. X was rewarded for his wait as Paxo could be plainly seen in his fluorescent top & he walked over the bridge with Sis & No Eye Deer.  Paxo is not exactly an advert for the roughty, toughty people they need in the TA!

At the end of the Trail, some like Flip Top didn’t see the arrow directing the Pack down Mimram Walk to pass the On Inn down the alleyway section that leads out by the White Horse, instead they followed Church road back to the Car Park.

The Pack changed, then headed back to the White Horse, Flip Top asked if there was away through the allotments to the Pub?  The Hare thought of saying there was, when there clearly wasn’t, but Flip Top may have ended up in trouble if he did go a wandering amongst the vegetables!

Porky Pie & ARP stopped to see what time the Chippie shuts, before coming down to the White Horse for a relaxing drink.  The returning Pack found Fartin Martin had already made himself comfortable on a sofa, he had made it to the first CHK & decided that the poor weather wouldn’t have been any good for the Man-Flu sniffles he was nursing!

            As the Pack settled into the Pub, Mark E Mark, Lobby Lobster & Ketch Up arrived after getting around the Trail having made a late start of things!  Mark E Mark found it hard to say Deuchears properly as he ordered a pint, the k sound is pronounced like it would in the word Loch, so it should sound like Dookers!

The Circle saw the Hare rewarded for a Trail, which the Curate (Mark E Mark) described as long, boring, uneventful & lots of other things that weren’t true, since it was in fact scenic & all of the pack were around just over the hour!

Porky Pie was out for completing 50 Herts Trails, though he could have been out several times i.e. for being a ‘harbinger of doom’ with his weather forecast, or he could have been out as he was ‘out gingered’ by the Barman!

Mark E Mark was out to receive his 400th Hip Flask, for which he also received a Captain Morgan’s Spiced Run & Coke!  Flip Top was out for his ‘Stubbling’ on his short cut out over the straw remains in the last field on the Trail.  The Hashit was awarded to Paxo for wimping out of the Mimram water crossing!

Flip Top was suggested as the Scribe for the Mersea Island weekend, but since he’s not attending it was deemed in the Circle that Pepé Pew would be volunteered for this task to keep the Hash records up to date!

The Pack then retired back in the Pub, which happened to have a ‘Movie Night’ just starting, it was showing ‘The Boat that Rocked’ & the one civilian watching had to fight to see the screen when the like of the JM & Sludge stood up in front of the movie!  Calls of “You in the cheap seats, sit down!” came from the RA to get Paxo to get out of the way!