1358. 22nd July - Samson Letoi & Suction Cup; Druid Inn, Birchover
To chalk or not to chalk!
Twelve hounds and two real ‘uns made the journey down south
for this highly anticipated husband and wife hash setting. Mudslide brought along son and special guest
Reuben, will he come again? Can we get his name in the diary? What Hash Handle
can we give him??
The start point was Birchover but we also took in the as-of-yet
undiscovered (by your scribe) village of Winster, well 25% (three) of us did.
If nothing else this Hash proved that nettles are much more aggressive outside
of the Hope Valley.
In a sign of the times and under a clear and present danger
of the pub been shut before we finished Smittie started proceedings at 19:45
precisely. Those of us who arrived late knew the massive advantage this would
give the FRBs and sure enough it took us a whole three minutes to find the rest
of the pack wandering aimlessly at the second check.
The first section took us on a leafy lane out of the
village, some dubious markings puzzled the late comers but with the confused
front runners just ahead this ‘check back’, which had seemingly been
reincarnated to a ‘back-to-check’, posed no real problem. Better more flour
than a light dusting says I, in a passive aggressive dig at another Hasher who
shall remain nameless.
We were then on a pleasant trot up through the woods, early
signs of aggressive nettles and brambles were not really taken as a sign of
things to come. A very joyous Fish-bait
even stopped to munch a few blackberries.
We eventually arrived at the Cork Stone, as usual there was
a procession of Hashers wanting to know if they could still scale it.
Accompanying photos of these ascents will surely avoid any Mallory-esque
suggestion of doubt being gossiped around the care homes of Sheffield in the
coming decades.
Pre this Hash there had been suggestions by the hares of an
extra 2K loop for those who were willing, after last week’s excess of checking which
caused an extra 3K of running such a suggestion was met with some scepticism.
‘’We could provide a map’ suggested Samson le Toi, cue much guffaw (to mask the
fear of having to actually navigate) so after ridicule, thanks but no thanks, not
on this Hash, no siree, we mistakenly did the extra 2K loop anyway which lead us
nicely to the Nine Ladies Stone circle.
Always a nice place to visit, there were a few free spirits
camping out there, we stayed a while then continued on our merry way heading
back towards Lees Road and all taking part in Mudlside’s ‘Hash – The Movie’. We
eventually reached the Barn Farm camping area, no peacocks this week, and
headed across the fields to Clough lane where we were greeted by a check.
The route turned out to be on on down and this is where
things took a turn. Myself, Mudlside and 14 miler Jinx got ahead and found the
little path to the right, this eventually lead to a fork. Whilst supervising
the check I listened out for the others but there was only silence, soon to be
broken by a returning Mudlside, we gave the situation a moment’s thought then
went on on after Jinx.
It transpired in the pub that the group had been delaying by
a tumbling Soggy Bottom who, as well as achieving a perfect 10 for floor
exercises also managed to avoid putting a scratch on her OMM jacket, she did
unfortunately injure herself in several places and ended up with a leg held
together by someone’s head band…we wish soggy a speedy recovery!
Back with the front runners, it went; nettles, Brambles,
more nettles, wrong trail, right trail, mud, flies and on on into Winster. The three of us managed a good look at the
high street and it’s shop without noticing the Hash Rest, after a bit of
searching we found the path out of the village and followed nettles / mud and
bramble in to the valley.
Mudslide and I then went left and right to determine the
final ascent. Jinx was left to kick out the
trail. He attracted the interest of the local bull who proceed to amble after
him up the hill. As is the norm with the Hash in these events Mudslide and I laughed
from a safe distance, not really considering the potential for a trampling.
Thereafter we soon came back to the starting point, other hashers began to appear. Our greatest fears were not realised and the pub was still open. Thanks to SLT and Suction cup for a great hash!!
On On, Sticky Shaft
P.S.
6km (3.72823 miles) – Each
hasher inwardly glad.
8km (4.97097 miles) – Nods of
self-satisfaction, i.e. ‘I’ve earnt my beer’).
10km (6.21371 miles) – General consensus
that we got back to the pub in the nick of time.
12k (7.45645 miles) – Chuffin’
ell, that hare’s took a liberty tonight!
12km+ - inclusive, above and beyond will result in continued digs for weeks to come and at worst a 10-year banishing from the hash.
*These are setting distances and do not take into consideration some of the atrocious checking that occurs.
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