#1167 Conned in Castleton

Mr and Mrs Smith - Ye Olde Chesire Cheese, Castleton

Conned in Castleton! A falsely advertised Full Moon Hash, when it was merely a ‘waxing gibbous’ was anyhow well attended, 19 by my estimate, 17 by C’tain Morgan, so a median average of 18 attendees, late comers and hounds not even counted. New comer Seth joined us, self inflicted and not under any form of duress - his promise to come again was well witnessed.

Hash Stasher and Squiggler extraordinaire brought her father, complete with his own hash handle ‘Easy Access’. He was clearly more interested in the English Beer as he mutinied from the car park straight to the venue. He could hardly be blamed though as the pub looked very inviting and it took us some time to drag ourselves to the trail, we finally did and after a bit of weaving we found ourselves in more open country side and heading in the vague direction of Hope (the village not the aspiration).

The first major check back sucked in at least 40% of the runners and there was some sniggering on the part of the mediocracy who’s low will / low skill had saved them at least 500 metres. So far so low, could Smittie have spared us the climbing this fine eve?

Ugly man and prof showed up skid-mark-ably late and caught us well before the summit. It was inevitable that there would be a hill and we began to head up it. For a short wee while I accompanied trunks who appeared to be taking us in the wrong direction, I Think I would have followed him at least 5 miles just for the satisfaction of saying it can happen to the best of us :) Alas Copper Job spotted the trail and we were on on up.

A few hashers had held on for us stragglers and we met them half way up. It was at this point that the evening really began to present itself in all its stunning glory. Head torches were hardly required, such was the brightness of the ‘waxing gibbous’...cheers Google!

No name Jon was given the task of photographing us with the moon in the background, his enthusiasm was boundless, but unfortunately his angle of attack meant he only snapped us and the Breedon concrete works.

An impressive moon...and concrete works

Atop the hill it was Jelly babies and take 2 on the photography, cheers Debbie!! The view from the top was great Barber Booth one side and Castleton the other, both bathed in Moonlight.

The way down was tricky, the frost had not fully taken care of the recent rain and it was a fairly treacherous descent. As well as the false trails many a false hint was dropped about next week’s fancy dress run. At the bottom another falsey assisted the slower descenders then we were on over the great planes of Castleton. Monty seemed to have got the hang of the Hash and lead us to Hash Rest 2. The site of this rest was historical, some said for mining, others suggested an alter of sacrifice, more likely history will remember it as the site of an unprecedented double dose of Jelly Babies, CM was delirious.

Sugared up we knew we were homeward bound and at a fair old clip we headed back towards the Festive scene of Castleton.

The pub was welcoming and it occurred to me that country folk seem to love a Monday night in the pub, and they were out in their masses this fine evening. The landlord had put on a buffet, which would have cost a tenner a head in town , we made the most of it!

Our hare brought his missus, a mackem, no less, Match days chez Smittie must be a thing of wonder! Donkey’s arse made an appearance in the pub after been injured for a while - training for the Christmas hash no doubt!

Great run, food and company, on on!
Sticky Shaft

PS: there are still tickets left for the unsanctioned hash on the 23rd December, book now (read: turn up at the allotted pub as normal) to avoid disappointment.

PPS: on the subject of hash handles two of the disciples ‘Mathew’ and ‘Jo[h]n’ are still to be named, we could wait for a Luke and Mark to turn up and collectively name them, but that may take time, any ideas??