| Date | Hare | Scribe |
|---|---|---|
| 29 Jun 2025 | Jeremy | Soma |
Jeremy was the hare for this hash and as participants, we collected beside the car park at Fairford, with everyone posing for photos next to the art installation of a giant hare named Maurice! I was surprised to hear that Simon and Ainsley had been so keen to do this hash that they had turned up at this exact spot, but a whole one week earlier!
There was a bit of a discussion when Jeremy explained that he had only laid one track of about 3 and a half miles length and which had taken him one and a half hours to walk. There seemed to be a bit of a flap-about, as some people couldn’t decide on the length of walk to take part in and then Jeremy offered to lay a shorter one if people wished… This was subsequently taken up by Kathy and Henry. Mike also opted for this shorter route, while Anne decided to join the rest of us, for the standard option.
Thus, we set off on this bright and warm day and we chattered as we walked since it had been a whole month since I had seen my hashing friends. I strode along with Anne and Julie, until I fell to the back of the queue, as usual, and was catching up with David and Kevin for most of the way. I felt that the quality of flour laying was sufficient, as we didn’t get lost, although that was probably due to Kevin and David looking for it while I chased after butterflies!
I was particularly impressed with this route as it was so picturesque, along the banks of the River Coln and we saw so many interesting wild plants and trees and butterflies that we tried to identify.
David pointed out the walnut trees and Kevin showed us an oak which had galls on it that had been induced by a parasitic wasp – called oak gall wasp.
David and Kevin also identified a black poplar tree. We saw ringlet butterflies (brown with tiny circles) damselflies and dragonflies. And there were the cinnabar moth caterpillars (bright orange and black stripped) on the ragwort. However, our observations inevitably slowed our pace considerably, and it must have been two whole hours before we reached the après at the Plough and sat down with our cold drinks.
After Kevin’s GOM speech, we were treated to the sample new t-shirts and sweatshirts to celebrate the 700th hash in September, expertly modelled by Julie, Keith and Jeremy (who did a twirl).
We thanked Jeremy for a well-laid trail and the shorts were to be given to Kathy this time as she had deserted us to go for lunch along with Henry at Lechlade.
And so ended a very lovely hash that I enjoyed very much…ON ON…