| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Oct 2023 | David & Yo Y0 | Jeremy |
Parking was challenging at Aldbourne as they were hosting a local market on The Green. Also, this being a joint hash with North Wilts, there were a horde of them in attendance in addition to our usual motley number, but none of this caused undue delay for the start.
Julia and myself were the only Kennet Valley runners. John, Viv, Keith, and the irregulars weren’t there, and Maurice texted beforehand saying he didn’t have the time – busy packing for a trip to Nepal with Annapurna, whoever she is. He’d also run the Berlin Marathon the previous weekend.
I’m fairly sure the lack of runners can’t have been from fear of North Wilts, since most of our regular walkers attended – and all survived.
David had hobbled round to lay the short, whilst Yo Yo from NWH3 had responsibility for the long. There was a complicated flour diagram at the briefing to help explain the route, but it was all confusing and after cries of derision from the runners to get on with it the Hares gave up and so the runners set off down towards the pond and the walkers in another direction.
It was soon clear that the different flour symbols used by KVH3 and NWH3 were a distraction. KVH3 uses a double dot to confirm the trail, whilst NWH3 uses dot, dot, dot. And then there was the Fishhook which I was told none of us use. But it all worked out.
This was a lumpy trail, with long ups, long downs, a fair few moans, but plenty of unofficial stops to re-group. NWH3 are boisterous, but very friendly and they do look after each other, much better than KVH3 which has more of a ‘every man for themselves’ approach.
Halfway we came upon an official regroup with a “QT’ sign which no one understood. Yo Yo caught up with us and explained it meant “Quick Tinnie” – and there were indeed a few beers to be found in the undergrowth.
The second half was more of the same and the runners all arrived back at the pub just before 1pm – having had a final beer stop at Baydon Hill Farm. Kathy and Henry caught up with us there, the former muttering about getting lost. Finally David hobbled up, muttering about those not following his trail.
I have to admit leaving before the speeches and the Down Downs, but I was knackered and hungry. Giving blood 2 days beforehand is my excuse.
Great trail – many thanks to Yo Yo and David, and best wishes to David for his hip operation later this month.
I’m laying the next hash and it’s going to be a lot flatter.
For more on North Wilts see http://www.nwh3.net/