| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 22 Aug 2021 | Keith | Kevin |
The sign of an exceptional hare is someone who includes a weather forecast “I gather it should be a heatwave by then – hope so“ in their hash details to the GOM. Keith was our hare for today’s hash from The Trout Inn, Lechlade and his weather prediction was not far off with the day becoming warm, humid and sunny, although you would never have thought this would have been the weather we would have as the weather encountered in the preceding 24 hours was of torrential rain interspersed with thunder and lightning. Now Keith has set a precedent for all future hares’ hash briefing notes for the GOM!
A Model T Ford event was scheduled to take place at The Trout Inn today. When the hounds arrived for today’s hash there were no Model Ts in sight, these would appear on our return from hash. Said hounds gathered in the carpark for a briefing from Keith who welcomed newcomer Sue into the KVH3 fold. Keith briefed the hounds on the trail ahead which consisted two loops.
The first loop, about 3 miles, taking us out beyond Lechlade and back to The Trout Inn and the second, about 2.25 miles, taking us out to Buscot Lock and again back to The Trout Inn with the short and long divide just by thebridge at The Trout.
For the hounds that wanted to do a long trail then both loops would need to be completed and for the hounds wanting to do a short trail either loop would suffice. Keith went on to inform us that we could encounter cows on the trail towards Lechlade and if you wanted to avoid the cows to take the second loop. Keith thought the cows were quite friendly when he encountered them when laying the trail, and while laying the trail he spoke to a local lady to say how friendly they were only for the lady to say these cows are known as “the vicious cows of Lechlade” although Keith thought the lady maybe speaking out of turn about the local WI group.Upon reiterating the statement about the cows presence a number of hounds decided to avoid the Lechlade loop and head out towards Buscot.
On! On! The runners leapt out of their traps going in the wrong direction towards the car park entrance without noticing the two dots by the toilets which would lead them in the direction of the bridge just outside The Trout. Said GOM (fast walker with Julie and Lily) spotted the dots and called the runners back, this was the one only time we got ahead of the runners with most passing us by the Father Thames statue located at St. John’s Lock.
GOM was wondering what Dave Birley had for breakfast this morning as he had not seen Dave running with such vigour for many months as he bolted off into the distance with the rest of the runners. Keith’s trail took the hounds upstream along the banks of the Thames towards halfpenny bridge where we would encounter the not so vicious cows. The cows were quite timid as it turned out as they munched there way towards St. John’s Lock with the runners running around the cows. I was able to walk through the middle of the herd, it was like Moses parting of the Red Sea.
The trail continued through halfpenny bridge towards the bridge towards the parish church following the path through the church yard back to The Trout Inn and on to the second loop towards Buscot. The second loop followed the Thames path along the meandering river bank to Buscot Lock where we crossed over the lock gates passing through the grounds of Buscot church and on to the road towards Lechlade where we followed the trail back to The Trout Inn.
Julie, Lily and myself were the last returning hounds having completed both loops where we joined the rest of the hounds for the apres. GOM thanked Keith for his endeavours of laying a very pleasant trail which was unusual for a hash as it was all on the flat with the exception of the bridges over the Thames.
Lastly when returning to our cars the Model T Fords had arrived all lined up ready for inspection.
