| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 17 Oct 2021 | Caroline & Hilary | Kevin |
One wonders why it has taken seven years for KVH3 to return to Purton for a hash as today’s hash laid by Caroline and Hilary showed what beautiful trails Purton has to offer. Maybe our delay in returning to Purton is that there is now only one pub, The Angel, serving the village.
Our Hares for the day Caroline and Hilary gave a briefing at 11:00am prompt to more than twenty hashers. Some hashers were a little late arriving for the briefing who (unfortunately or fortunately?) missed the group photo including Jeremy who had to deal with a herd of cows enroute to Purton.
Caroline and Hilary pointed out the hazards, including ponies, styles and an electric fence, that we may come across along the hash. To highlight there was an electric fence on the trail Caroline had put down a flour triangle hazard warning before the approach to the fence. This is the second hash running where we have encountered a triangle on a trail with Sue setting the precedent on the previous hash. I hope Jeremy doesn’t let us down by not incorporating a hazard in his trail at the next hash. Our briefing came to an end when Caroline and Hilary introduced a new approach to a hash, we would have to find the On! On!
So off we hashers set to find the On! On! With twenty plus hashers looking for the start of the trail in all directions the scene looked like a parody from a Keystone Cops movie! Eventually Caroline and Hilary put us all out of our confusion and pointed us to the start of the hash. The trail led us to the back of The Angel and towards the farm fields behind Bradon Forest School where the lead runners encountered more confusion trying to find flour dots at a point where there were potentially four paths to follow.
While the runners were trying to find the trail the walkers had caught up and started to help with finding the continuation of the trail. At this point Colin decided he would run around a couple fields to find the flour dots, any excuse to add some distance to his run! Some ten minutes later I could hear Keith shout On! On! The flour dots had been found and I could see Des running up the hill towards Restrop with the rest of us following. The trail took us past Restrop, around lower Pavenhill, up through Pavenhill wood towards Hoggs Lane where we would come across the triangle hazard flour mark and the electric fence. Waiting for us at the fence was Caroline and Hilary where Hilary disconnected the fence for the hashers to pass over without incident. The trail followed Hoggs Lane up to Purton.
Half way up Hoggs Lane there were directions to follow the trail left and up the hill towards the houses opposite The Angel. Some of us hashers, including GOM missed this part of the trail and followed Hoggs Lane all the way up to the High Street to the One Stop shop. It was about 12:30pm by the time GOM and the remaining walkers reached the High Street. As we came along the High Street Colin shouted out of his car window “goodbye” as he passed in his car going towards Wotton Bassett, and Caroline shouted out of Hilary’s car window “you’ve missed the best bit” as they passed as going towards The Angel. I am assuming the best bit was the view behind the houses opposite The Angel looking out towards Cricklade. The last of the hashers got back to The Angel by 12:45pm to enjoy the apres although many of the hashers on this occasion had prior commitments so had to leave the apres early.
Although I personally did not count them, this hash has to be remembered for the number styles, and their various heights, encountered along the way. Did this hash set the record for the number of styles on a hash? GOM said thanks to Caroline and Hilary for a wonderful scenic hash that showed the delights Purton had to offer, I am sure we will be back soon. Sue and Kathy still have the bags and horn which may be given out at the start of the next hash!