THE “3 COOMBES AND 2 HARES” HASH
Run Number: 394
Date: Monday 30 Apr 07
Time: 63 minutes
Distance: Actually more like 5 miles
Run Location: Ludwell
The Pub: The Rising Sun
Post Hash Drinks and Food: The Half Moon, Shaftesbury
Pub Links: To follow
Weather: Warm and sunny
HARE(S): - Mark (Jibber) Humphries and Benjy (Trip Hazard)
- Jason (Kinky Bugger) Wareham
HOUNDS
Rear Row:- Mark (Jibber) Humphries and Benjy (Trip Hazard)
- Jason (Kinky Bugger) Wareham
- Bronwen (Ronlet) Jones
- Ed (Birdseye) Sadd
- Mark (Shady) Vincent
- Graham (Hidden Depths) Plaice
- David Orriss
- Martin (Madness) Lawson
Front Row:- Terry (Walt) Disney
- Tim (Silent Running) Bryning and Monty (Alamein)
- Hilary Naylor
- Tom (Two Shoes) Gillard
Social Hounds/Hash Puppies:- Gail (Tour Guide) Sadd
- Brian (BrEW) Errington-Weddle
Real Hounds:- Monty (Alamein)
- Benjy (Trip Hazard)
THE WORDS
There was plenty of space in the car park of the Rising Sun, and a good turnout too: twin hares, ten hounds and a couple of real hounds. The Ludwell area seems to be a favourite of the Shaftesbury boys, so it was a shame to hear that Warthog was working late and was unlikely to make it. At their briefing I got the impression that The Twins (Jibber and Kinky Bugger) had laid the trail after spending time in the pub the day before. This might explain their decision to eschew such fripperies as smiley faces and marking every false trail. The distance was announced as four miles, which came as a relief to some after Shady’s epic eight or nine miler of the previous week. Our feelings of comfort were tempered, however, by the promise of wet feet at some point.
Birdseye had brought Hilary Naylor along for her first run with BH3(*). Hilary is Tour Guide’s sister, so we assumed she knew what she had let herself in for. And David Orriss from the Dorset Doddlers joined us for his second hash. BrEW was unfortunately hors de combat due to a previous hashing injury, but fulfilled his role as Hash Flash with his usual skill before returning to his car for a well-earned snooze.
[ (*) Hilary actually ran with BH3 once before – Run Number 328 the King John at Tollard Royal (On-line)]
With hounds eager to go (which one of us keeps making that whining sound?), we followed instructions and set off eastwards in single file along the left side of the main road. At the check at the first junction, it seemed very slightly dangerous to cross the road, so we didn’t bother looking on that side – lazy maybe, but correct, as it turned out. Heading north towards Middle Coombe, we reached a crossroads where Madness guessed correctly and led the pack west to Higher Coombe, before going entirely the wrong way up a steep hill. Meanwhile the pack kept going west, past what looked like a delightful path up a hill on the left in favour of a later path on the right which took us back to just north of where we’d been ten minutes earlier. (Well that’s part of the fun, isn’t it?)
It was around this point that Walt began to recognise that he’d been here before, and after we’d run north up the hill a bit farther, quite a few of us recalled Warthog’s live hash and the bit where we completely lost the trail and had to open the sealed envelope. No such pause for reminiscence for our almost-new-boy David Orriss though, who carried on up the hill searching in vain for dust. The old-timers went east though, through the trees and out across a field to a farm track and a check. Birdseye charged off downhill to the right, following a trail that petered out, leaving Ronlet to spot the blob on the far side of a stile (a cheeky change of direction from The Twins without the benefit of a check or a smiley face) from whence she led us across a couple more fields to a junction with a farm track and another stile.
A small digression, if I may be permitted, dear reader. Stiles and dogs do not go well together. Small exuberant dogs like Alamein charge underneath and get their leads tangled around woodwork, legs, and anything else close by. Larger, heavier dogs like Trip Hazard often have to be lifted over things and also have a tendency to knock people over, as he nearly did several times during this hash. It’s a shame Shady didn’t bring Dumb Blonde along this time; three dogs would have made things delightfully chaotic.
Anyway… At the stile we turned right and ran gently down through several hay fields, drawing ever closer to the stream at Lower Coombe. (That’s three Coombes altogether, and only two hares. Sounds like overkill to me.) Would this be the promised water? Well no it wasn’t, although we did get to the muddy bit where, years before, Two Shoes had lost his shoes and gained his handle. But this time the trail took us to one side of the mud and over the stream via a little bridge. At the road, Madness again guessed right and took the pack uphill and onto a steep path on the left, though a small building site and down through the housing estate in Ludwell to the zigzag leading to the main road and the pub. Unfortunately the Grove Arms wasn’t the pub we started from, so it didn’t help us much.
Crossing the road, Birdseye took us along by the side of the watercress beds. While Ronlet chanced upon a useful blob by a stile, and some of the slower, more cautious hounds kept their powder dry, his small intrepid group followed the trail through the shallow water of the beds, only to find they had to double back in the end to Ronlet’s stile. Hidden Depths entertained us by attempting a balancing act on a narrow beam through the beds, with a predictable outcome. So a few of us now had the promised wet feet, and the rest were feeling smug.
Over the stile, and Silent Running and Alamein took us across fields and a bit of road to the start of a streambed. (I learned later that there is a perfectly serviceable path that runs beside the stream.) Those with wet feet ploughed along up the stream, while those of us without were gingerly picking our way along the nearly dry bits. Suddenly a splashing lunatic barged past us, and all hopes of keeping dry were washed away in his wake. Yes, Warthog had arrived, after taking a few short cuts and running furiously in pursuit of our shouts.
The stream took us to a minor road, and after a few more checks, Alamein and Silent Running led us back to the Rising Sun. I’m pleased to report that Hilary claimed, with every appearance of sincerity, to have enjoyed the experience enormously. So congratulations to The Twins for a very enjoyable run. Mind you, although we were now back at the right pub, things weren’t entirely right, because it was shut. So after we’d changed in the pub car park, which still had plenty of space, for reasons now understood, we moved a couple of miles along the road to the Half Moon for beer and food.
MUG & T-SHIRT RATINGS
(??*) - Denotes attendance by those not Mug Rated (social hounds).
GOLD T-SHIRT AWARD (50 AND OVER)
Andy (Warthog) Goodman (194); Bronwen (Ronlet) Jones (154); Brian (BrEW) Errington-Weddle (117 + 2*); Ed (Birdseye) Sadd (110); Terry (Buggalugs) Canham (108 + 1*); Terry (Walt) Disney (104); Mark (Jibber) Humphries (90); Tim (Silent Running) Bryning (88 + 1*); J-F (Entente) Lechanoine (72); Tim (Classic) King (69); Duncan (Day Glo) Ray (64 + 2*); Jason (Kinky Bugger) Wareham (59); Martin (Madness) Lawson (58)
MUG AWARD AND CAN WEAR BLUE T-SHIRT (25 - 49)
Sylvie (Ça Va) Lechanoine (44 + 1*); John (Semaphore) Carr (42); Tom (Jock) Moncur (38); Frances (Stop Watch) Canham (35*); Ruth (Typhoon) Canham (35*); Jim (Forget Me Not) Forrest (25 + 6*); Helen (Elle) Goodman (27*)
NEED MORE HASHES OR POSTING ORDER (10 - 24)
Gail (Tour Guide) Sadd (8 + 15*); Steve (Bob the Builder) Pritchard (20); Nick (Tri Harder) Bateson (20); Gordon (F Med) Rafferty (18); John (Strider) Bryning (17); Tom (Two Shoes) Gillard (17); Mark (Shady) Vincent (17); Rowland (Pet Rescue) Stibbards (16); Lesley (Tinkerbell) Bryning (13*); Edward (The Wanderer) Vincent (12)
NEED MORE HASHES (5 - 9)
Emma Sadd (8 + 1*); Sarah Bryning (1 + 8*); Ben (The Slobby Uno ♂) Sadd (8); James (i-Plod) Vincent (7); Clare (The Slobby Uno ♀) Sadd (4 + 2*); John (Nokia) Noraika (5); Wendy Stibbards (5*)
KEEP HASHING (1 - 4)
Peter Fuller (4); Ombeline Lechanoine (4*); Nikki Brooks (3); Graham (Hidden Depths) Plaice (3); Heather Terrington (2 + 1*); Jenny Fuller (2); Patrick Ginn (2); Steve (Cloth Ears) Lomas (2); David Orriss (2); Rod (Dyno) Thomas (2); Steve Thornton (2); Chantelle Wareham (2); James Carr (1); Julie Carr (1); William Carr (1); Gabbi Lomas (1); Colin McGrory (1); Hilary Naylor (1); Fiona Ray (1); Robert Carr (1*); Sandie Disney (1*); Kate Forrest (1*); Renee Ginn (1*); Alf Sadd (1*); Fiona Vincent (1*); Janice Vincent (1*)
Price: Jibber & Kinky # 394 |
