| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Nov 2025 | Des | Kevin |
St. Andrew’s Day, the first day of Advent and today was the 364th day since Des was our hare for his last hash which was from The Calley Arms at Hodson; this should have been held on the 24th November but storm Bert put a kybosh on that occasion and Des kindly came back a week later to lay the trails for his hash.
Well! A year on and how fortunate were we and Des as the weather for KVH3’s 701st hash was absolutely glorious, sunny and warm, and as mentioned, fortunate for us all because as I write this mag Sunday 30th November was sandwich between two very wet days!
A good number of hashers turned up at The Peterborough Arms, one our outlying posts, for Des’s hash who was joined along with his better half Jane. Maurice came along with Fiona and a piece of safety equipment which he passed to Des. Des’s friend Mike was also there with his dog (can’t remember the dog’s name) who would join four other walkers on the long trail. And, not to forget, Jane who was in very colourful attire and the bags ready to run this hash as she promised to do at our 700th.
Des gave his briefing and refreshed everyone in the art of what to look for when following a trail (., . ., O and ->). Des mentioned that the short trail was 3½ish and the long was 5½ish miles. It always concerns our fellow hashers when a hare mentions “ish” in their approximation of distance as more often than not “ish” means more distance not less and as we found out our concerns were not misjudged. The start of this hash would be different as Des would be marshalling us from the from front to the starting point of the hash at the foot of Clack Hill. Des did apologise that the start of the hash would start with a hill climb but after the peak it was mainly downhill from there. I am sure Des made sure to include a steep hill in his trail as he wanted us all to have a taste of what it was like on his recent trip trekking up the Himalayas!
As we left the car park Des unfurled a marshalling flag (the safety equipment, provided by Maurice, to warn oncoming traffic to be aware of the delinquents behind him!) and led us hashers from the front on to the main road, right hand side to any oncoming traffic towards Clack hill.
On! On! up Clack Hill. And what a steep hill to test any mountaineer! I was fearing some our veteran hashers wouldn’t make it but I later found out that some were assisted by Des and his van. Des’s long trail would take us up to Bradenstoke, along the Banks to Lyneham, onto Tockenham, down Primrose hill and back along the Wilts and Berks canal back to The Peterborough Arms. The walkers who took the long trail, including myself, got back to apres just before one and I did mention to Mike, with the dog, who was deliberating at the short/long divide whether to go long or short that we would be back around 12:30ish if the long was 5 ½ miles ish as he had lunch booked for 1ish decided to take the long trail which turned out to be about 6 mile ish.
As GOM, at the apres, I thanked Des for a well-marked trail which was hampered by the wet grassy conditions and North Wilts laying their trails from The Mallard using sawdust in the opposite direction to Des’s trails. I retained the horn as I thought it would be a better gift to give at the Christmas hash and the bags please read below.
Post It Note
Jane awarded me the bags in recognition of my 100th hash as GOM, something I can also gift at the Christmas hash. It will take another 8 1/3 years either for me or someone else to reach another 100 hashes as GOM!
Viv presented me with a card and a bottle of wine in recognition of my 100th hash as GOM, which was a nice surprise, thank you!!