Hash 640 – New Calley Arms @ Wanborough

Has anyone noticed that since the freeze ended the week before Christmas we have had rain almost everyday since. I was looking at the weather forecasts yesterday (Saturday 7^th January) for our hash today and hoping that we would get a few hours of rain respite and to my surprise the forecasters seem to be have been on our side. And so Sunday morning arrived and our (GOM, TBH and Lily) usual pre hash routine of going for a two mile walk took place under a clear sky where I could see a full moon, the sun was just about to break the plane of the horizon and there was a strong southerly breeze. All well and good on the weather front, however, I thought I should just check the weather forecast for 11:00am onwards and using the MSN app with all its fancy radars and simulations it was telling me that we would have rain for our hash and I was thinking of the drenching we might receive, and would we have a low turnout for today’s hash and what difficulties John and Viv may have in laying a trail in such conditions. On leaving North Swindon for Wanborough the rain started and I was thinking we were in for a soggy hash.

On arrival at the New Calley Arms our venue for today the rain had abated but the wind was still very fresh. I couldn’t see many of my fellow hashers about apart rom Kathy and Henry who were sitting in Kathy’s car waiting for other hashers to arrive, a sensible idea I thought!  Soon after more hashers started to arrive and I was more hopeful that enough hashers would turn out to appreciate our hares for today John and Viv’s efforts. Viv and John, arrived after laying their trails and briefed us on what was ahead of us and the various permutations available as to the distances we could run or walk. There were two short/long divisions to look forward to and depending what we selected we could do short/short, long/long, short/long or a long/short trail with the trails approximately between 3 and 5 miles. The ground conditions were testing with plenty of surface water, puddles and plenty of mud, and we could look forward to plenty of stiles some of which could be tricky to get over due to the weather and ground conditions. John and Viv advised wellingtons were the ideal footwear for today.

On! On! Was towards Wanborough Church. The trail would take us down Pack Hill turning south towards Liddington, through Liddington and along Ham Road, turning North down the vale between Liddington and Upper Wanborough through the church yard and back to in Inn our venue the New Calley Arms. The conditions underfoot caused a few problems. Our first kissing gate down Pack Hill was difficult to pass through as the ground had become an earthy soup and made things very slippery. It didn’t help that so many of us were backed up at this point making the underfoot conditions even worse . Simon unfortunately lost his footing at this gate and covered his trousers in glorious mud. The sight of Simon’s mishap prompted Kathy and Henry to turn back and return to the New Calley Arms. As us hashers continued along the trail the conditions would make many gates and stiles difficult to pass causing some hashers to slip and slide and cause more backup at these gates and stiles while we were negotiating our way through. As ever there is always one exception to someone who doesn’t want to queue and that was the ever agile David who would swing over a field gate on more than one occasion. The weather as it turned out was mostly kind to us with just a brief shower enroute. It was dry enough for the mud on Simon’s trousers to have almost dried off by the time he got back to the pub.

All hashers returned safely to the New Calley Arms. Viv had organised a side room for us to enjoy our apres. David had arranged for 4 large dishes of chips to be served and shared amongst us which was very much appreciated by all and were hot and very enjoyable with the accompanying condiments. I thanked Viv and John for laying the trails which were enjoyable, although in parts challenging to navigate, with lovely vistas of South Swindon, Wanborough and Liddington and it gave us the opportunity to enjoy many a house and garden. Des was away so no bags to give away today and I awarded the horn to Caroline for going to the Calley Arms in Hodson for today’s hash and then realising it was the wrong venue when no other hasher turned up. Finally, Ainslie said to me as we were following the trail today “it has been a long while since we have had a proper winters hash” and I am sure we can all agree on that. Many thanks John and Viv.