Run No. 1390 11th April 2011
Venue: The Crocodile
Beer: McMullens Original IPA, Country, AK
Location: Cheshunt
Hare(s): Zing-a-long-a-max
Runners: 23
Virgins: 0
Visitors: 0
Newies: 0
Hounds: 2
Après Hashers: 0
Total: 23
Membership: Long, Long, Long!
The Pack assembled in the car park behind the Crocodile, some noticed the wall one side which had old sinks built in to it. The GM was anxious in getting the Pack to Circle up, but a few were reluctant to step outside on this fresh evening, preferring to stay within the warmth of their cars!
Crispy Bush managed to make the start of this week’s Trail, he was soon interrogated by Pebbledash as to what happened to him at her Trail from the Victoria, where he was seen before the start, wandering to Ware Town Centre but that was it! Crispy Bush explained what happened as he thought that the Trail was going to start on a half an hour after he arrived!
Eventually the time came around to Circle up, the GM carried out his duties & then introduced the Hare. There were a few groans from the Pack as he stepped forward, after the boos had subsided the Hare explained what the Pack could encounter out on the Trail. Strangely he started by stating the time food was stopped being served in the Pub
Anyhow, he went through the marking he had drawn out on the car park, one set of which were to be ignored! He added that there wasn’t much difference than any other Herts Trail & it was going to be “a short walk”!
Out of the car park & the Pack were directed ward, the majority of the Pack cut through the grounds of the Nursing Home. Much to the Hare’s annoyance in missing out the loop around the green space before the New River, the first CHK was found by the footbridge over the New River.
Mr. X & Ewok fell for the Falsie down the New River’s edge to the south-west, so an about-turn for them to tag along behind the others as Sludge led the way over the New River & on through the ornate grounds of the Whit Hern Park.
The Trail weaved its way the park, pausing by the local bowling green & then passing over an old lane to the Church, to lead around the small semi enclosed sections of old gardens, firstly heading toward where the RA & Ewok had been on the opposite side of the New River. The Trail turned back to make its way out of the front on Churchgate. Most of the Hash got through this part without any problem, but Sludge found him self being serenaded by a group of youths with a cheery rendition of “Santa Claus is coming to town!”
If the serenade wasn’t enough, one cheeky scamp said that Sludge was running for his Pension! This was enough to make Kylie laugh when he heard it! Sludge managed to follow Mark E Mark out of the front gates & then left down Churchgate, passing by the Green Dragon.
Outside of this was a sign advertising John Smiths a £2 a pint, who would want to drink that? Even the RA would refuse to give this out as a Down-Down when it was suggested as such by My Lil’ [Sick puppy! - Ed]
The Trail now made its way over the road to Bury Green road, Pepé le Pew was up with Mark E Mark & Sludge as the Keenies, by this point Limbs Sprouting was also up ahead of the main body of the Pack & they were making their way through the east side back streets of the Bury Green Estate.
As the rest made their way on to the edge of this estate to the first CHK on it, they could see Fliptop milling about aimlessly ahead of them, the Hare hadn’t abandoned the Pack, so far, & he encouraged them to go off down an alleyway on a loop through Pengely close & then back through another alley to where Flip Top had been spotted earlier on Bury Green road.
Flip Top had now moved on further up from the CHK where the alleyway emerges on to it, the rest managed to finds their way on to the proper Trail as it led off down New River Court & back down toward the New River, which was fenced off with some serious metal work of tall upright stakes.
The Trail moved away from the New River, at a point where there was a gate in the wooden fencing that replaced the metal one, this led on through to the waters edge. The Hare told the Pack to remember this part as they obeyed the multiple sets of arrows to keep them from going through to the New River. The RA said that there were more arrows there than there were at Custer’s last stand at the Little Bighorn!
The Pack made their way from Hawthorn close, facing the west they really had to peer in to the bright orange light of the setting sun, just ahead of them, on the opposite corner of a green space the outline of Sludge (or was it Santa?).
Pebbledash, Puddles, Spillage, Kylie, Paxo, Backpack, Ewok, Mr. X, My Lil’ & Fliptop made their way on by the lonely kid practising his Rugby kicks (could be the next Johnny Wilkinson). Crispy Bush followed on with the Hare.
The Trail took to Tudor Avenue, along this part of the Trail Kylie said that it seemed to be a nice estate, as it was very quiet. Perhaps it being quite is to do with the ‘Section 27 Order’ issued on the area?
Anyhow, from there Sludge had gone beyond the CHK & was searching for the Trail, T-B-T spotted him & cut out the part where the Trail drops down the verge & crossed the road, he would follow on behind Sludge as made his way on down a Falsie! They came back as Pepé le Pew & Mark E Mark had returned from checking out the opposite direction.
The Trail now entered a small, fairly new looking estate but the Keenies seemed to loose the Trail, it appeared that the arrows the Hare had set down had taken a hammering from the downpour earlier in the day. My Lil’ had managed to find the Trail on a footpath off of Woodside, but no one heard him call “ON!” as he wandered along.
The route out to a footpath running behind the cemetery, where Pebbledash said that she had an Auntie buried there! As the majority of the Pack started along this enclosed path, between the cemetery fence & the shrubby hedgerow, a glance to the left would allow them to see Mark E Mark & Sludge wandering southward through the field adjacent to the Lieutenant Ellis Way.
The RA ignored the option from the CHK by the gap in the hedgerow, he continued along the footpath to another CHK a few hundred yards along to a wider gap in the blossoming hawthorn hedge. Again the option in to the field was ignored in preference of the Route continuing by the ‘Boneyard’ & then the Sports ground to come around out an access road to the Junction with Barrow lane,
Paxo & Backpack were up FRBing on this stage of the Trail, Puddles & Spillage weren’t far behind with Pebbledash, they were soon caught up by Pepé le Pew & Mark E Mark by the time they had congregated around the CHK on Barrow Lane.
Pepé le Pew reluctant to go over the bridge spanning the Lieutenant Ellis Way below, both he & Mark E Mark ventured over the bridge to find Dust leading down the access road along by Lieutenant Ellis Way to Broadfield Farm farm, but they were soon on their way back as it sounded like “On back!” had been called from back over the bridge, but this turned out to be for those who were venturing back in to Cheshunt.
Another look down the access road ended in a T, so an about-turn for Pepé le Pew, Mark E Mark & Mr. X to see the rest of the Pack making their way on by the Glasshouses, the second group where Rentokil greenhouses for tropical plants, & one that specializes in carnivorous plants. Fliptop seemed worried about the broken pane of glass in one greenhouse, he warned No Eye Deer & those in the local proximity to be on the look out for “Escaped Triffids!”
As the rest of the Hash followed the dust down Barrow lane, it appeared to become more rural as it moved out in to the sticks. Then, as they came around the bend, up ahead was a sight that no Hasher wants to see & that was the FRBs coming back with arms outstretched to indicate that they had found a T on the footpath off to the South.
Just as the Hash began to slow up, the Hare ran past them & ushered Sludge, Mark E Mark & Pepé le Pew back down where they had been. A quick alteration of the T in to an arrow, which Pepé le Pew had to assist the Hare with, the Trail continued down the footpath contained on either side with blossoming hedgerows.
The Path turned to the east & began to weave its way back along between the paddocks to emerge from the scrubby route back out at Broadfield farm! The Trail now headed down through the edge of the farmyard to run in to the bottom of the valley, then crossed Theobalds Brook, once over the small footbridge in thehedge it came up in to a crop field.
The Trail still seemed to be running away for the On Inn as it turned southward to head around the outside of the field, passing by Home wood on the eastside. Looking back the RA saw that Fliptop, No Eye Deer & My Lil’ almost went the wrong way as they turned toward the east. A call of “On! On!” from the RA brought them around to the right track. Hash calls were stopped as Hash Hush was called when the Trail led on from the Home wood’s edge & over to the horse paddocks of Spring Farm. By the end of the farm an Ewok sized horse was found a mini paddock.
The FRBs had now reached the Held CHK where the track came out on to Old Park Ride, here the Hare handed out liquorice torpedoes in aid of Great Ormand Street. After a while waiting, & with the light fading fast, the Hare allowed the Keenies of Limbs Sprouting, Mark E Mark, Sludge & Mr. X to continue with the search, while Pepé le Pew remained at the Held CHK for Pebbledash, Spillage & Puddles to reach that point in the Trail.
It was a long way down the Old driveway of Theobalds Park before any dust was found, at one point Mark E Mark lifted up a solitary traffic cone outside the entrance of one property to see if any Dust was beneath it, but there wasn’t! In the end the Dust was found & the Hash would now embark on the longest stretch of the Trail as the drive way lipped in to a hollow of the woodland, once over the slight rise in the route, the way would continue on a steady gradient down to a CHK at the junction with the Bullscross Ride lane.
The CHK was soon dispatched by the Keenies as they made their way down the continuation of the by-way directly opposite from the drive, this led further down in to the half light in the wood around the Tesco Country club. Fortunately the FRBs must eat their carrots as they picked up the Dust near the end of the wood, here the Trail turned tack it led to follow a desire line in to the wood.
The Pack now found that the route amongst the trees wasn’t going to be straight forward, oh no! The Dust led away from one desire line, between the bushes & shrubs, to another desire line & then on to the edge of a fairly steep drop in to a stream.
The Hare had the Pack crossing the water ditch several times, including one via a fallen tree spanning said ditch, before it finally led out over the potholed moss & leaf litter covered corner of the wood & out to a pumping station on the New River.
A Falsie was found down along the east side of the New River toward the News International Printing works, the Trail would be found in the opposite direction, through a kissing gate & then on beneath a road bridge for Lieutenant Ellis Way. In the far off distance the peripheries of Cheshunt could be seen in the dusk.
Lieutenant Ellis Way is named after John D Ellis, pilot of a B24 Liberator of 577th Squadron, 392nd Bomber Group USAAF, after colliding with a B17 Fortress of the 398th Bomber Group in Nuthampstead, Herts, on their way to form a ‘bombing stream’ to attack Cherbourg, it appears that Lieutenant Ellis steered his aircraft, still fully laden with bombs, away from population of Cheshunt to crash in the meadow of a nearby Farm, none of the ten man crew survived. The B17 crashed some 28 Miles away near High Wycombe, none of the ten man crew survived either.
Back to the present day, the area on the north side of the Lieutenant Ellis Way is being redeveloped, a CHK was found by the footbridge over the New River, on approaching this it looked as if the whole thing was closed off, but on closer inspection it was just the way the wooden hoardings were up against the structure. The Trail was discovered over the footbridge.
There were plenty of CHKs scattered around on the other side of the New River, the Hare had utilized the many options on the myriad of paths from the playing field & the New River. Some kind of instinct must have kicked in with the FRBs as they made their way around the chicanes of fences to distinguish the footpath from the redevelopment work.
The Hare’s words earlier on in the Trail of “Remember this bit!” as they head off down the edge of the New River. On his way down by the New River, the RA spotted a bat flitting about in the dark of the night, it was only highlighted by the dim orange glow of the near by sodium street lights on the opposite side of the wooden fencing of Bury Green Estate, this just about made the way run-able in the dark.
The final long stretch came out up on the road bridge for College Road, there the On Inn was found, once up on the road level it was simple trot back around the bend to the Crocodile.
The time was late now, which made the RA wonder why the Hare was worried about what time food was stopped being served as half of the Pack wouldn’t be back in time, but things weren’t that bad as most were about 20:45!!!
Pebbledash wasn’t going to be able to stay, as the four letter word was beckoning for her [Nope, it wasn’t what you thought but she had to go to work! - Ed] She left a surprise for Ewok before she took Pepé le Pew, Puddles & Spillage home! This was a shame as she was looking forward to spending some time in her old Stomping ground, the rest of the Pack also missed out on quizzing her on this & if she went out with one Harry Webb* who lived on the Bury Green estate, but surely he’d be too old for her to have known?
So, she didn’t get to talk to Fartin Martin & Georgina, who had the sense to only go as far as the first CHK, due to a late arrival. There were probably a few who were jealous of that!
The GM finally called the Circle outside, & toasted the Hash after he had wished Ewok a Happy Birthday, for which she received a celebratory Down-Down. The RA sorted out the candles on Ewok’s Birthday Cake, which Pebbledash had baked & decorated as an Ewok. Being a Pebbledash made cake, the RA appropriately place one candle in the Ewok cake’s crotch area, before lighting the candles! This made the Pack laugh!
The reigns of the Circle were handed back to the RA, as Mr. X held court, while Paxo started to cut up the cake for the Pack to eat, it was a very nice cake indeed.
The Down-Downs included: the Hare for the Trail, which most did enjoy, but would have preferred if it was on a Sunday & not after a work day [Or if they were going to work –Ed]
Mark E Mark was out for lifting up the traffic cone on the Trail, to search for Dust. He asked if the RA wanted to know what was under it? Then added he wasn’t going to tell him!
Kylie was out for getting dropped off by his crewmate in her Landrover, Crispy Bush was out for his brief appearance at the Victoria & his subsequence disappearance! Then there was T-B-T, who after one pint after the first Pub on the Herts Lads’ Night Out managed to fall over in to the street & immediately said “Who pushed me!”
* Harry Webb is Cliff Richard’s real name!