| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Sep 2020 | Caroline & Hilary | Caroline / Mike |
Webmaster – not sure if it’s John Prescott’s influence but we’ve got 2-Mags this week.
Caroline’s mag
It was the start of a beautiful sunny day as Hilary and I started laying the trail and what a lovely route it was. Starting from the lovely Bakers Arms in the picturesque village of Somerford Keynes around the fields and past the pretty church, around the lakes, along the river and back through the village. We were lucky enough to see a heron and 4 pheasants on our path.
The group seemed a little confused when I said the runners and walkers were not on the same route at the start and they had to check it out and find the S or L from the pub. The walkers did find their route but the runners had to be called back when they missed their arrow.
Hilary and I ended up taking Kathy on a bespoke route as she felt the walkers were too fast for her. We were then dismayed to find that a dog walker had destroyed a lot of the flour markings thinking it might harm her dog.
Arriving back to the pub John, Viv and Sue were already back, having run the short (approx 4.5miles). Maurice was not far behind them having run the long (approx 5.5), Kevin, Julie and David who walked the short arrived soon and then Mike, Annie and Soma who also walked the short. Jeremy and Debjit turned up last having started out with the runners and made their own diversion, which we concluded when Jeremy mentioned the cows which were not part of our route.
Hilary and I were just glad when we counted everyone back in. The Bakers Arms had reserved an enclosed area for us where we sat in the sunshine enjoying our drinks. Kathy, Hilary and I had an excellent well deserved roast lunch.
On on to the next one when the rule of six will apply.
Mike’s mag
On to our third hash today since pandemic restrictions were eased sufficiently to make hashing possible, and we had a hugely enjoyable run in warm sunshine in a particularly beautiful part of the Cotswolds. The only thing which marred the day was some concern that we were not complying with the pandemic safety regulations in that we did not remain in our groups of six the whole time. Eighteen of us stood, all mixed up together, listening to the brief by our hares Caroline and Hilary. It was difficult to comply then and when, two minutes later when we were off running – it became impossible. When even stricter rules come into force next week hashing legally is going to be difficult.
Our hares had laid a trail around the lakes in the Water Park which would explain why the short trail at 4.5 miles was only a mile less than the long. Twelve ran the long, which was really encouraging, and Annie and I and Kathy and Soma walked the short. We went through the village for a few hundred yards and then right on to a very narrow foot path where we met a large family with dogs coming the other way and had to go back to let them through and then we came to a circle which had been completely scrubbed out. Being experienced hashers this did not cause a problem but we heard later the longs had spoken to someone who said they’d seen the flour and, not knowing what it was, had decided to scrub it out. Fortunately they only vandalised one circle
The trail was well marked and led down leafy lanes and across fields and paths around the lakes where we had cheerful exchanges with the runners as they overtook us – except for Maurice, who had pulled a muscle, decided to walk back with us. He and I put the affairs of the world in order as we walked – particularly about that Boris bloke as he battles once again with the Northern Ireland problem. All this while walking through the most beautiful surroundings in warm comfortable sunshine and chatting to complete strangers and patting their dogs – lovely.
The walkers were back at the pub in an hour and forty minutes only a short while after the runners. Caroline and Hilary had arranged with the pub that the whole of the pub garden was reserved for our hash and we dutifully sat four to a table, all socially distanced and had very nice people from the pub bringing out beer and chips (thank you David for the chips). Here again we did not remain in our groups – hashers are sociable by nature and sitting on your own because the rest of your group (if you could remember who they were) aren’t back yet or have gone home – would have been difficult.
I thanked Caroline and Hilary for their hard work and determination in achieving a beautifully organised hash in the face of real difficulties and they had a warm and appreciative round of applause from all of us.