Run No. 1402              3rd July 2011

Venue:                          Radwell Meadows

Beer:                             Sheppard Neame Spitfire, Burton Ale

Location:                      Nortonbury Picnic Area Radwell Meadows

Hare(s):                         Sludge

Runners:                       26

Virgins:                            0

Visitors:                           0

Newies:                           0                            

Hounds:                          2

Après Hashers:             2

Total:                             30

Membership:               Bloated!

This week some of the Pack would have the same Hare as the previous week, this may have explained why Fartin Martin was absent even when there was food available?  It was noticed that Spotted Dick & Custard were present & on time this week, was it his love of puddings that drew him along? Of course it was!

Anyhow, the majority of the Hash didn’t put in appearance until only a few minutes before the Circle was due to be called at 11:00Hrs.  There was lots of banter about this area being notorious at one time as a dogging spot, as well as the JM having knowledge of such things! 

When the JM did arrive, the RA mistook Ewok in the back seat of the Car for being one of Pepé le Pew & Pebbledash’s kids!  It turned out that neither Pebbledash, nor Puddles would be there until later on due to ‘party commitments’.

The Circle was called & a few wondered if the Trail was going to be of the same length as the week before, the Hare tried to play this down!  In hindsight the previous week wasn’t really that long, it was just the humid & hot conditions made it seem a lot further.

Back to this Trail, the JM started to get things going by calling the Circle to order, this spurred the GM to say that he had already been through these motions, not that anyone heard him.  Fliptop managed to get the Run number out by one, which is a vast improvement on some of the fiction he has come out with in the Circle in the past.

The Hare stepped forward to give his take on things out there, the part about short cuts & Held CHKs seemed to have the most attention from the Pack, then the Pack were directed out of the Car Park to the first CHK, which everyone who came in from the Nortonbury road would have seen just a short way along the lane on the corner of Nortonbury stables.

As the Hash left the dogging spot Radwell Meadows, Porky Pie & ARP drove in, being a fairly warm & partly sunny day Porky Pie was sporting a hat that made him look like a cowboy, Clunt Westwood comes to mind!

Also on the way out, the RA overheard the Hare challenging My Lil’ that he wouldn’t get the option correct from the First CHK!  As they passed by the stables with No Hunting Ban graffiti on the black boarded side, it soon became clear whether a bit of competitiveness or not, the Hare was proved correct with his earlier statement as Mr. X & My Lil’ were both caught out cross the area between the stable buildings & the car park.

“On!” was called from the footpath in the hedgerow on the bend in the lane, as the Pack made their way to this, T-B-T made his late arrival as he drove by in his car.  There were plenty of jeers, hand gestures & name calling as he continued the short way to park up.

Having clambered up in to the hawthorn hedgerow, the Pack made their way out in to the top corner of the enclosed field, the Hare was happy to see that Skip had led the way up the edge of the field & had found the Bar CHK, well beyond the gap in the hedge where another footpath branches off to run within the hedge & then out on to the Norton road.

The Kids were marshalled across the end of the Baldock road at the Junction with the Norton road, from there Pepé le Pew choose the correct route of the footpath running through the enclosed field of wild grass, this leads over to the grounds of St Nicholas Church, which is now Chapel of Ease.  This is a Church was built for parishioners who were too far away to walk to the main Churches of the Dioceses, or in more modern times used infrequently not to require a regular services.

Meanwhile Skip had made his way around to the Norton road & was heading up toward the Three Horseshoes where there was no Trail!  As the RA approached the Churchyard, Skip came cutting across from the road on the most blatant short cut seen for ages, Sludge would have been proud of that one! 

Once through the walled Churchyard, a CHK was found on the edge of Church lane.  Pepé le Pew would now fall foul of the Hare, for he too was lured out toward the Three Horseshoes!

It was Mr. X who knew of an obscure footpath hidden at the end of the lane, which makes its way around the end of one end cottages. 

So, having passed Sid’s Cottage, he found arrows & then Dust leading out on this path through the side of someone’s rear garden & out to the next CHK where the Path emerges on through the hedgerow & on to the edge of a crop field behind the cottages.

At the top of the hill there was a splendid vista over looking crop fields down to Baldock, perhaps this was the cause of Mr. X checking out toward the old Market Town?  Who knows? [Who cares? – Ed] but it would turn out to be a Falsie.

The Trail was picked up by Fliptop as he led the way up the hill toward the fenced off construction site, as they made their way through the footpath sandwiched between the hedge & the fence for the new home builds, No Eye Deer, Psycho & ARP had a good look at the homes under construction, the RA said to Paxo that he thought that they resembled Student accommodation!

The Trail emerged from the footpath & on to the corner of Green Lane & Norton road, there a CHK was found across from the Black & White Norton Post Office.  From Here Spotted Dick, Pepé le Pew & Skip were all caught out in different directions form the CHK, but the RA was on form for this one as he ran over to the small green area by the start of Croft lane, where a large carved stone welcoming people to Letchworth, home of the first Garden City sits proudly on its own.

Mr. X was spot on as he picked up the Trail as it headed out over the new capped path to the old part of Green lane path, that has “A new improved stone surface for access”.  The Dust led through the first enclosure, then though a gate in to the next section, here a CHK was discovered & the RA went off over to the west on one of the least used of the footpaths in the belief that the Hare would try & be too tricky for his own good, it would not be the case for Mr. X & Skip! 

What the Hare was, was impartial to whoever was checking out, ARP called “On!” northward along the edge of the field but would soon stop & turn around when she discovered a T just in time for No Eye Deer to notice & not be lured that way as well.

Meanwhile T-B-T had gone off down the obvious route straight through the centre of the field on another Falsie, but he would not come back from this northerly direction!  Most of the Pack made sure that the RA heard their comments about T-B-T obvious cutting across to the edge of the fallow field, Skip would have been proud of that Short Cut.

Once T-B-T realised that Psycho was running around the meadow’s edge of the perimeter, he followed Dust he found at he end of the path backwards toward Psycho!  T-B-T eventually realised that he was following the same Dust & there was no way through the thick hedgerow, so he turned about to lead the way out through the large gap in the hedge & in to the next field. 

No Eye Deer was oblivious any of T-B-T’s shenanigans as she was doing a bit of Lepidoptera watching.  Marbled Whites & Meadow Browns seemed to be the most common of the butterflies, it looks as if this set aside area is really working for the local wildlife.

As the Pack made their way down the crop field toward the north, in the distance the distinctive tops of the French Châteaux style towers of the former Fairfields Mental Hospital could be seen in the distance in Stotfold, the now closed hospital was formally known as the Three Counties Asylum in Sludge’s day, & it would be a lot closer for the Pack to view before the Trail was over!

The crack, crack noise of shotguns could be heard emanating from the clay pigeon shoot to the left of the lane at the bottom of the hill, the RA flippantly said “What’s the betting the Trail turns hanger-left?” to the Hare, as that would lead up to the shooting, the Hare said that the Trail would indeed go that way!

Ewok & ARP were at the front as the Trail moved north westward to get closer & closer to the gunfire, Pepé le Pew noticed that both of the Harriettes were too busy chatting away to realised that they had run on through a Bar CHK, whereas he, Porky Pie & Mr. X all stopped & began to head back toward Paxo, No Eye Deer who also had turned back to follow Flanders, Party Animal, Does She Knightly & Biscuit, with My Lil’ & the Horrors who were near to the Hare to see the alteration to the Trail.

The Arrow that had pointed toward the shooting had now been obliterated & replaced with one directing the Hash down toward the Norton road.  At the junction where the single track lane joins its larger counterpart of Norton lane to the outskirts of Letchworth, the Trail took to an uncapped track which leads off by the road, here a Held CHK was found.

With only Kylie & Roger the Cabin Boy, with Charlie in his wheelie bin, not being at the regroup, the Hare decided that all of the rest would cross en masse to the search the footpaths on the opposite side of the road.  Once across the road, the RA was quickly on to the Trail & picked up where it splintered off into the wooded area & away from the open space of park land.

It was along trot along the inside edge of the wooded area, it was obvious that this area is part of the flood plains as there were plenty of willows along the way as it follows the stream to the river Ivel.

The FRBs stopped at a CHK by a path leading off to the right, here the RA allowed a civilian man with his greyhound to pass by & head northward along by the stream, then a woman came walking up to the CHK.  The RA couldn’t believe his ears when Spotted Dick asked her if she had seen any Dust up the way she had come!  But to make things worse, she replied that she had seen what the Pack were searching for on the path the man with the dog had taken!

The Trail continued along through the wooded area by the stream until it came up to a CHK by a small wooden footbridge.  From there the RA took a wrong turn as he headed eastward along by a remote rustic looking cottage at the bottom of Radwell Lake campsite, as he heard calls of “On! On!” from Flip Top behind him & was about to turn around he was surprised to see Porky Pie & My Lil’ approaching him from the front.  He wondered what they had been up to?

Back from the CHK & the Trail crossed over the wooden bridge & then headed out along the edge of some meadow land as the Trail made its way up toward Stotfold, now châteaux like former Three Counties Asylum was looming large in the not so far off distance.  The SCBs were offered up a short cut from the next Held CHK by some local allotments, while they hung about to head off toward the Northeast, the Keenies continued over the park area to come out on to the roundabout at the south west corner of Stotfold.

The Trail ran beneath the underpass & over the road, it then cut through a small green area to come up to the Norton road, the Dust led along onto the dead end of the Norton road, now cut off form the main drag by a ‘Weak Bridge’ according to the signpost, that spans the River Ivel

Ewok was none too pleased to see the trash that littered the place, it looked like someone had a drinking party on the dead end of the lane, looking at the rubbish led some to mistakenly continue over the weak bridge.  On the way Ewok asked “How are you?” to the RA, he replied that he had a bad knee & a bad foot but was ok apart from that!

The Dust disappeared through a gap in the trees before the weak bridge, & took to a desire line that weaved its way along through the trees along by the Ivel.  A split in the Trail & the option the Pack would take led up to cross main road, where Hare was waiting on opposite side to make sure all Keenies were accounted for.  Back in to woodland as the Trail progressed below Boundary farm to run out above Mill House & on to Radwell Lane by the picturesque 14^th Century All Saints Church & then through horse paddock behind some rather desirable homes. 

Out of the paddock & the Trail now ran through the woods to the north of Radwell Lake Campsite, T-B-T gave it his best on the Hash Horn but the RA suggested that the sound of a strangled cat emanating from the horn was too painful for anyone to listen too.  Not only that, but Mr. X was concerned that T-B-T may do himself an injury as he was looking very red in the face while blowing the horn!

For those with local knowledge it was going to be a fairly straightforward run Inn from now on, having came down off the farm land to a lower level of the plains, the Trail cut across a triangular bit of Radwell Meadows, where in the spring you can see Star of Jerusalem flowers growing there [I don’t know either – Ed] then the On Inn was seen before crossing the tributary to the Ivel & coming back in via the small metal bridge through to the empty horse paddocks below the Radwell Meadows’ Picnic site.

The Pack returned to find Ketchup, Daddies Sauce & Jaron at the site, as well as Pebbledash & Puddles joining as well.  Having changed, the Pack brought all of their different food stuffs out & placed them on the picnic rugs laid out in the park & what a fair old spread of food it was, with T-B-T having made enough sandwiches for the Biblical 5,000! 

Psycho had made several quiches, & ARP an excellent Blueberry cake, a Lemon Drizzle cake & she got out her Buns! [Chocolate chip ones! - Ed]  Ketchup olive oil & hot chorizo sauce for dipping bread in, Chilli Pickled eggs, Skip tried the latter & was told that after the ‘farty egg’ sandwiches he would be relegated to sleeping on his own that night!

Down-Downs were thirds, due to the amount of food that was devoured, there was still a ton of it left, even Kylie couldn’t have made his usual dent in this amount of grub!  He & Roger the Cabin Boy came back from doing the whole Trail & not taking the Short Cuts came back just as the RA was sorting out the Down-Downs.

Kylie’s timing was spot on as he had found someone’s ‘Wedding Ring replacement watch’ & handed it to the RA, but the RA did not want to mention this in the Circle as he did not want to get someone in to trouble with someone else who left her phone on top of her car.

The Hare was rewarded for an excellent rural Trail, which was the right length for a Sunday!  The SCBs of Skip & T-B-T were awarded hits for their sinning, Puddles was out for being a celebrity in making the Sports section of the Hertfordshire Mercury when she played Rugby at Twickenham!  ARP was awarded her hit for “Getting her Buns out!” & exceedingly nice buns they were!  Fliptop was awarded his Down-Down for something other than loosing his watch, which was returned!

The Hashit went to Spotted Dick for asking civilians if they had seen the Trail, it seemed a popular choice!!!

Next time we picnic, we should coordinate who brings what as TB-T will be eating sarnies for a month!