Hash 448 – Old Crown Coaching Inn @ Faringdon

We’re enjoying a bit of an Indian Summer at the moment and even though the clocks go back next week to usher in the muddy gloom and biting cold of winter, today we still had that dry cool sunny autumnal weather which is just right for hashing.

I have been laid low for the past fortnight with some pointless virus and so unusually I decided to take the seamanlike precaution of joining the walkers on our hash.

This mag will therefore include a report on how the walkers got on – which I know will please Kathy. Runners need not despair however as Jeremy has kindly given me a full report on their adventures – the highlights of which will be set out herein. So if you are sitting comfortably I shall begin.

Unusually for me I arrived just under 3 minutes late (there’s nowhere to park in Faringdon) and joined 8 runners and 7 walkers in the square outside the pub. Margaret and John arrived about 20 minutes later blaming the said lack of parking space. Nobody minded the delay though as we chatted happily in the sunshine and congratulating Fiona on her sterling performance in the London Half Marathon on Saturday. Isn’t it nice to have good runners in the hash.

GOM Brian, our hare, finally called us to order and explained that we had to get on as today’s hash was a bit longer than usual. Now, Brian holds the world record not only for laying the shortest hash ever (see hashmag 203) but for the longest hash ever as well (see hashmag 211) so we all listened very carefully.

Finally we were off up a narrow street, through a housing estate and out into the open countryside. At the first circle the walkers caught up with the runners who appeared unable to find an On On. Walkers then joined in the search and really enjoyed it. John (of John and Viv) found the trail eventually and we didn’t see the runners again until the après. The trail was thereafter clearly marked and we saw lots of interesting things like a garden full of enormous gnomes and a brand new bridge which didn’t go over anything. I was walking with James and he said it was over the Wilts and Berks canal but you couldn’t see it as it hasn’t been restored yet. We walked past a large surface to air missile too – it was on a footpath in the middle of nowhere.

Jeremy reports that the runners enjoyed running through a pretty village called Littleworth and lovely parts the Thames valley and a bracing gallop across a mile long ploughed field into the teeth of a howling gale. They began to worry however when after 50 minutes they were still running away from Faringdon. Assuming that Brian was going for another world record they stoically carried on and the front runners got back to the pub in an hour and 35 minutes.

The walkers were back well before that and had set up camp in the inner cobbled courtyard of this really ancient pub and we all eventually sat in the sunshine (in late October ! – I blame global warming). We thanked Brian for an excellent trail and Maurice presented the bags to Hilary and Fiona presented the hash horn to Jeremy for reasons that escape me.

A lovely hash again – thank you Brian