| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 13 Nov 2022 | Des | Keith |
What a good turnout for Des’s hash at Upper Seagry. A neat little village dressed in Autumn gold, almost 20 miles from Swindon (which might have deterred some, but not today!) Great weather, strong blue skies, no wind or chance of rain and unseasonably warm (record breaking in Wales reaching 21C). It could have been mistaken for a Summer’s day except for the giveaway colours of the autumn leaves.
The village has earned many plaques for being “best kept village” but nothing awarded in recent years it seems. Very flat thereabouts, and quite close to the M4, though the village was very quiet , and the pub small but inviting (The New Inn, open in 1885).
We assembled opposite the pub for a group photo and then to observe a Remembrance Day two minute silence, which was well observed, including this time by our canine hashers, of whom there seem to be ever growing numbers. All welcome!
Our hare, Des, began his briefing and we listened attentively having been subdued by two minutes of silence. Suddenly a commotion occurred to my left; a squeal or yelp went out and I looked in the direction to see Hilary (normally well-behaved ) attempting what looked like a scissor kick, Eric Cantona-style. This turned out to have a mundane explanation. One of our canine hashers, probably bored by so much standing about, suddenly moved off, their leash catching Hilary’s leg and causing it to shoot up in the air. Quite acrobatic and seldom seen at a hash. No harm done and Hilary somehow managed to stay on her feet.
Des told us trails would be five to six miles for the long, and around three for the short. Ideal.
We would see a memorial stone to an accident in 1941 involving two spitfires, one of which crash landed in Seagry Wood, the other where the memorial sits.
We moved off en masse at the on on, but around 100 yards later the runners were struggling to find the way, so lots of hashers were milling about. Seems a car had parked over the flour but we had Des on hand to get us moving once more.
After a few flat fields we came to a lane with arrows going in two directions. I came upon Jeremy who reported John had insisted on following one arrow while he, Jeremy, felt the other arrow was the right one. Now , Jeremy has a nose for these things whilst John just has a nose. Which one to pick? Forgive the pun, hasher. Jeremy was correct, and ‘his’ arrow took us to a weir, where we stopped awhile , took a pic, etc and then circled back to John’s arrow to carry on from there. All part of the plan.
I took a picture of Viv and Jeremy running behind me. This is fairly unusual as I’m sure you would agree, so I felt it worth recording. Ahead of me though was John and Dan, the latter resplendent in the blue hash shorts jingling and jangling along. Dan resembles a friendly Father Christmas with his white hair and beard and sleigh bells! He told me some walkers made jokey comment about his Santerly attire and he had asked them in return if they had seen his reindeer. Touché.
In time we crossed a field to emerge on a lane, with a check circle. Des was in his van with his dad, and when I got there Des ‘helpfully’ asked if anyone had gone to check further up the lane.? A twinkle in his eye. Off I went, expectant of finding an arrow or two dots, but instead saw a T just around a corner. So two hundred yards back to the circle for me! Such a nice man, Des!
For me, the final part of the trail was the best. A long section through Seagry Wood. By now I was alone, no other runners in sight. A lone figure approached from ahead, walking. Maurice! A walker currently , but hopefully will be fit to run again before too long. He was walking the wrong way, and he explained he’d left his rather nice decorative carved walking stick somewhere en route so was heading back to find it, which he did.
Back at the New Inn it was great to be able to sit in warm sunshine outside in mid November, enjoying fine ale, from the Flying Monk brewery, called “Habit”, which, if it was in my local, could easily become one.
Everyone was back soon after and Kevin made thanks to Des for a super trail. Dan gave the shorts to John after a “dance of the seven veils” striptease routine standing on the bench whilst removing them. Dan’s reasons for choosing John were twofold. John had drawn attention to himself over the arrow dispute with Jeremy, and later in the pub when he couldn’t pay for his round of beers having forgotten his PIN number!
Great day, great hash. Thanks Des!
