Hash 473 – Eight Bells @ Fairford

I was reminded by Mike that we had previously hashed at The Eight Bells 12 years ago. I had a vague idea that I had laid the trail and, on checking, confirmed that in August 2004 I had indeed laid the trail, though I have no recollection of any part of that trail now. I trust this is normal for someone of my age. I do recall the pub though, and that it seemed more actively supported than it does presently.

The day began with the early morning fog dissipating in the Autumn sunshine and as we (Kay and I) left Covingham, it seemed it was to be another gloriously sunny , dry day, such as we have experienced recently. But as we ascended the hill towards Blunsdon, the sun disappeared behind a bank of fog and we chided ourselves for ‘counting our chickens’ as it were.

Our group assembled before our hare, Mike, who appeared to have a light dusting of flour all about his person, suggesting a liberal use of the white stuff – no chance of us getting lost then!

We were reduced in number, 15 in total, (10 walkers, 5 runners) due to several regulars being away on holidays abroad, and Jeremy running a Marathon somewhere (good luck to him). However we welcomed back Di, Paul and Lauren, whom we hadn’t seen in c.2 months. Good to see them back!

Mike’s pre-hash briefing was short. No hazards, 3 miles for walkers, just under 5 for the runners. Oh, and to beware some old flour left from another hash group’s run, but distinguishable from our trail.

We hadn’t gone 50 yards before spotting a large clear arrow taking us up an alley, that turned out to be the other group’s trail. Never mind. We soon corrected ourselves and had no further problems following Mikes well – laid trail.

It was a trail that took us through some lovely parts of Fairford, close to lakes, and past beautiful Cotswold houses too. It was chilly but gradually the sun broke through the mist, finally giving us another fine warm afternoon.

John and Sue were at the front, and Dave and Brian at the rear of the runners group, whilst I found my position somewhere in the middle. At the conclusion John declared (based on his GPS device) that the runners had covered 3.88 miles, which had taken around 50-55 minutes. I thought it seemed closer to 5 miles than 4 , (based on my wheezing lungs and aching feet) but you never know. Mike had used the string method to arrive at a distance of “just under 5 miles”.

Several walkers chose to do the long route and were not that far behind the runners when they got back. Either we runners need to speed up, or the walkers need to admire the views more.

To round off a very enjoyable hash, the pub had laid on a free curry for us!

Thanks Mike for a great trail!