Hash 483 – Crown @ Aldbourne

David, our hare, chose one of our favourite venues, The Crown at Aldbourne, for this hash.

Even better he arranged for the little room at the end of the bar to be reserved especially for us. Kathy and I were the first to arrive on this cloudy but mild day very much looking forward to the day.

Aldbourne is a lovely village in a valley in the south slope of the Lambourn Downs. In the 70’s it was the setting for an episode of Dr Who and there is a Dalek standing sentry at The Crown’s front door.

David gave his pre-hash address, including reminding everyone of the hash signs and sent us on our way up Oxford Street. This turned out to be a circular route around the village. This is something I always approve of for villages as pretty as this. It brought us almost back to the pub before sending us off southwards along the B4172. Very soon though the route turned east and upwards into open country with fantastic views, through the mist, down over the village itself.

Up quite high now the trail flattened out, however it was hard running due to the mud and large puddles. Quite suddenly we joined a tarmaced road. It was good to be able to run again. A turn left, over a style and again clear fields down the slope of the Downs. We then ran a long zig zag route down thankfully on a mud free road and at the bottom heading back into Aldbourne and the warmth of the pub.

After changing I joined the happy throng in the reserved area. Once again an excellent hash. Well done David. Interestingly there was a glass display of, what looked like and claimed to be, an ancient crown. The plaque next to it claimed that it had been carbon dated to the 9th century and was possibly worn by Ethelred the Unready. However, the claim came from a Professor Bola de Mierda. I’ll let you do a google translation of Spanish to English yourselves.

Photos of the day, taken by myself and Matt, are at Hash Photos The Crown Aldbourne.