| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 31 Mar 2024 | Kevin & Julie | Annie |
First off I have to say this was a cracking venue, Julie and Kevin chose well. I’d never heard of this brewery nor its quirky chapel type pub. I thought it was lovely and a mental note was made to return in the summer to enjoy the garden and the street food it provides.
Being Easter Sunday, many folk were absent but this was made up for by the unexpected but welcome return of Sonia and Mike. Kevin McCloud had given them a day off from their Grand Designs project in Devizes and we were all delighted to see their cheerful faces. Mike said he’d not run since the last Hash a year ago but undeterred he gave it a go, so four runners in all.
As we gathered in the car park I observed that calling the mob to order was a bit like herding cats and then I noticed in the field adjacent to the chapel there was a field with alpacas looking woolly and regal. My train of thought was clearly on all things “animal” as I spotted Kay’s stylish tiger design wellies and Helen’s (faux) leopard skin handbag.
We set off with instructions to keep the White Horse in sight as a guide to our bearings. I have very poor spacial awareness and talk too much on the Hash so I can’t really describe it other than it was, I think, a more or less a circular route, very well signed and the gap in this bloody rain was most welcome. It was of course, very muddy in parts and it would have been very appropriate if we’d all imagined ourselves as hippos and sang “Mud, Mud, Glorious Mud”.
We passed a delightful Easter display in the village with Easter Bunnies and chicks in a little shelter festooned with spring flowers. Further on we saw new lambs and I swear I heard a skylark.
The trail was flat apart from a short, gentle climb near the beginning which meant we all had enough puff to gossip, one of the great pleasures of being a walker. Some of us like to assess the quality of housing on our Hashes and we weren’t disappointed. There’s clearly a variety of income in the Broad Town area as there were magnificent homes and shacks in equal measure.
I think The Clampetts from the Beverley Hillbillies now live in Wiltshire if a rundown bungalow with a veritable junkyard in the garden was anything to go by.
Towards the end of our walk we heard a throaty engine of a tractor and a very old specimen hove in to view. We waved and admired it as it passed and I’m sure a few of us envied the driver chugging along. We rounded a bend only to find the tractor had broken down. Attempts to push it had no effect so it was abandoned.
We reached The Chapel and just as we were taking our boots off it chugged into the car park and we all cheered.
We congregated inside The Chapel (see what I did there) and admired its charm, stained glass window and extensive beer choice. The menu here is simple, a cheese roll or a pie. I like that, no messing about with too much choice. Being a Northern Lass I love a pie, and mine was delicious but I wondered where the mushy peas were.
Keith thanked Julie and Kevin for an excellent trail and choice of venue. No shorts or horn but that’s something to look forward on another Hash.
And now it’s competition time. Without referring back to this mag, how many animals/birds have I mentioned? Answers on a postcard please, the first correct answer drawn will win a fortnight for two in the Enema Suite at Hartlepool General Hospital.