Hash 626 – Pelican @ Froxfield

There have been muttering in the ranks recently about our hash mags  becoming a tad  predictable and dull.  Attempts have even been made to liven them up by talking about things like Annie’s Aunty Joan in Sunderland and the price of houses in the North East with some success.   Your scribe however feels happier with the traditional rather than the trendy and will do his best to make today’s report on Jeremy’s trail from the Pelican as gripping and unputdownable as possible despite being in traditional form.

It was a glorious June day and you would have thought that every man and his dog would have been there for a hash in our beautiful Kennet Valley.  We did in fact get about half a dozen dogs  –  large  ‘Lassie’ type dogs with long luxuriant coats who must have been suffering in the heat (plus Kevin and Julie’s little dog of course) – and 17 people.  We would have had 22 people but Margaret and John and their friends were late arriving and then were tucking into their Sunday lunch by the time we got back so we didn’t see anything of them.

The trail started in accordance with tradition up behind the pub and over the canal where the longs went down to the towpath and off towards Great Bedwyn and the shorts straight on and upwards towards Hungerford Common.  Over wide open stretches of the common and then over the railway and back along the towpath to Froxfield.  Our newer members seemed to have a bit of trouble spotting the trail marks and Jeremy, who followed us round, was very patient explaining things.  The longs should have caught up with the shorts on this final stretch of the canal but the shorts were all back in just over the hour and the first long came in about ten minutes later.

The Pelican has made a lot of improvements since were last there and the gardens particularly are lovely.  We sat chatting on the benches in the main garden enjoying a couple of pints of Ramsbury Gold (not all of us – Annie had tea).  Kevin gave the usual thanks to the hare whilst wearing the Bags which we haven’t seen since the old king died.

Things are looking up in KVH3 as we now have not only the bags back in circulation but two new hash horns as well (a pink one for the ladies and a blue one for the gents).  The aforesaid horns were presented by Kathy as she was so mortified by the fact that she had presented the last horn to somebody who never came back.