Search and Rescue took the battle to her home turf for our first run of September. Fourteen worthy contenders and two four legged friends took on the challenge arriving by car, bike and on foot.
Some of the pedestrians had enthusiastically tried to press gang others into their gang with promises of a post run drinking session, unfortunately they had neglected to think of the old / new adage ‘what comes down must go up’ and the thought of copious pints then dragging oneself back up the hill to Crookes significantly thinned their ranks.
Chatter in the car park was focused on flour-gate, Captain Morgan provided a welcome distraction by having a go on the bouncy castle…with his shoes on no less, he wouldn’t have lasted 5 minutes at a kids party.
The pedestrians had witnessed part of the trail on their way down, now for any less than average group of orienteers this critical intelligence would have been analyzed, absorbed and put to good use, knocking vital time off a run, but we are SH3 and have no time for taking helpful facts on board, after all we have 14 different opinions to convey, debate and pour scorn on. To prove this we checked left and right before heading down the hill to where a least two sets of eyes had already spotted the trail.
From there it was across the road and left along the Rivelin, all pretty standard up to now, but then at the next road crossing we were taken on a previously undiscovered path up toward Roscoe Bank…mmm we were running the trail of an expert. We then cut down Roscoe plantation to cross the Rivelin again, three groups set off checking in various directions until we were called back to follow the Rivelin West. After crossing the Road we followed more unfamiliar paths all the way up to Hagg Hill and into the Allotments. Was this run going to lead us to an all you can eat and drink buffet chez Sally’s?
Unfortunately not and the flour cruelly directed us right up past Jackey bank. We were now on familiar territory and headed towards the stables, the scene of previous Hash bollockings by non-hashers claiming there was no right of way, whilst stood under a Public Footpath sign. The horses neighed us along into Clough fields past an unsuspecting group from the Walkley Chapter of the Smokers Union and back into more allotments. Somewhere along this section of track we found a check, not-so-princely Labradoodle opted to do the hard checking but was beaten back by the thorn bushes, unlike in the fairy tale.
Now we were motoring, heading across Hagg Lane and into a clearing, Stomachs were rumbling and treats appeared; Flapjack in up-cycled packaging and Jelly Babies. The general method of consumption was a piece of flapjack followed by a Jelly-Baby chaser which produced a magical taste sensation, there was plenty to go around and all (but one) had at least two blasts on the FJ / JB combo. Suitably refueled and appreciative of the view we scattered and looked for the trail, five minutes passed, we reconvened and noticed the arrow, next to the HR sign pointing us in the direction we had not checked.
We were then zig-zagged down the hill, this hash had been a truly Captain Colon -esque adventure over paths we thought we knew but had never actually trodden. Hagg Lane came into play again and there was an audible groan (by one of the pedestrians) as we passed the path which would have led us back to base.
We were soon back alongside the Rivelin which we followed for half a click before crossing the road and following the hill up through coppice wood onto Coppice lane, this quickly turned into Tofts lane and we were homeward bound.
The pub was ‘Monday night’ empty and S&R had found a suitable sized area away from prying eyes for us to commence the discussion on what had been bubbling for a week or so. Of course the minutes of said meeting will remain sealed for 30 years to protect the innocent and the guilty, so no mention of what was discussed in relation to said meeting will be broadcast here.
Post meeting the conversation turned back to that evening’s hash, the twists, the turns, the wrong predictions, the false trails and indeed the snacks. `Loved the combo of jelly Babies and flapjack’, commented one, ‘The absence sugar in the Flapjack was balanced off nicely by the Jelly Babies’ surmised another, ‘Whaaat?! There were Jelly Babies?’ asked Captain Morgan.
On on,
Sticky Shaft
No comments:
Post a Comment