Hash 691 – Village Inn @ Liddington

I did comment to Brian on Saturday that I felt it was probably my turn to volunteer to write the mag this week – Keith must have been eavesdropping as he kindly volunteered me for the task when I arrived at the pub!

We set off from home in the “now to be expected” fog and grey skies but by the time we gathered for the briefing the sun was shining so John and Viv obviously did a fantastic job arranging that part of the Hash. We were warned about a lot of mud, slippery surfaces, deep water etc. – again this is really “now to be expected” from our winter season walks.

With a final briefing from our Hares we all set off (5 runners and the rest of us walkers – apologies as I didn’t actually count heads). Amazingly we all set off in the same direction but no-one’s quite sure what happened after that. I think there must have been about 3 different walking routes and probably as many running routes despite the fact that John and Viv only laid one of each. Various people got lost/went missing along the way although incredibly all seemed to locate the rather delicious mince pies and mulled wine laid on by our Hares about three quarters of the way round. Two lots of walkers (mea culpa) took a bit of a detour and ended up having to scale a 3-bar fence which was also protected by 3 strands of barbed wire. Different techniques were used from carefully climbing over the top to limboing underneath and through. I also have it on good authority that Mike and Annie’s family actually followed the correct route and so missed the limbo and clamber manoeuvres! 

As a slight aside Maurice gave us a fascinating history lesson – as we passed Lynch House – on where the term “lynching” came from. I won’t go into detail here but it’s well worth asking him at the next Hash. Joy also told us about some of the recent local history attached to Liddington Manor and the actual-size elephant sculpture that used to reside there.

Somehow everyone eventually arrived back at the pub in one piece, Keith manfully stood in for our missing GOM and gave a good summary of the day, thanks were extended to John and Viv for their 4^th Hash of the year (although there was some dispute from Viv that it may have actually been their 5th or 6th), the bags were awarded to Carol (for being the most lost) and the horn  to David (for being one of the leaders using an illegal field crossing and so ensuring his group had to face the challenge of the aforementioned fence).

Lovely to see both old and new faces in the group so big thanks to our Hares and wishing you and yours a happy, active, healthy and peaceful 2025.