THE “DEWLISHLY DIFFICULT TO SPOT THE TRASH” HASH
Run Number: 396
Date: Mon 21 May 07
Time: 67 mins
Distance: About 4.5 miles
Run Location: Dewlish
The Pub: The Oak
Pub Links: To follow
Weather: Drizzly but mild
Hares, Hounds and Hash Stats
THE WORDS
Dewlish, an old Celtic name, is believed to mean ‘devilish’. It is named after the stream that runs through the village, which is now called Devil’s Brook.
Driving into Dewlish we were reminded what makes Dorset such an attractive county. There are some really fine houses in the village (must remember to buy a lottery ticket), served by the delightful hostelry, The Oak. Two Shoes had nominated himself to baptise Hidden Depths in the gentle art of Haring, although, as he’d been ‘out of it’ for a few years, it would be interesting to see whether he still had the old flair.
Nothing in the briefing particularly alarmed the 10 hounds – the reference to running out of sawdust and having to use twigs and rabbit droppings for dabs was surely a joke! There would be one Smiley Face and all routes would be marked on the left, although some checks would be on the right. Straightforward really! Oh, and we could expect to get wet feet. The On was indicated in the direction of the village centre and Crazy Fool selected but swiftly lost the correct trail to Ronlet who had spotted a cunningly concealed dab just past the Norman Church by a stile. Tip toeing through cow pats, the pack made its way across a field, cautious of the frisky heifers. The trail seemed to peter out but Entente braved a precarious iron gate which lead straight to a rather wide stream, aka Devil’s Brook, which also proved to be a foot deep – hence the wet feet. Well, at least we’d got that out of the way early on – those of us who did not take the longer route around by the bridge that is.
The trail then led up to the road from Milborne St Andrew, and Walt was surprised that the dabs continued to the right, as ‘last time’ (July 2003) we had headed left…what a memory! After a couple of hundred metres we came to a 3 way split and Entente again picked the correct way down the middle. This proved to be a longish leg by the side of recently ploughed fields with a scant amount of sawdust in evidence. Fortunately a check at a hedge break confirmed we had not been haring off in the wrong direction and allowed some girding of loins (pit stop for BrEW), whilst Shady and Entente checked to either side of the hedge. This effort ended in confusion as Shady gave up the ghost, resorting to a Gallic shrug which we decided should become an official Hash sign to indicate “ Where the ****’s the sawdust?” Entente then became convinced he must be On, even though he had only spotted a couple of dabs. When he called the On right, Two Shoes was forced to hint that perhaps the trail led to the left along the side of the woodland. Ronlet and BrEW – never slow to take a hint – recced this and, whilst sawdust was thin on the ground, nonetheless shouted the On.
We began to suspect that the Hares’ parsimony with the trash had been worsened by some anti-hash sabotage. Either that, or Dewlish’s devilish reputation meant that Old Nick was having a laugh. He had, for example, erased the Smiley Face, and the Hares had to call the front runners back to a check, which took us into the wood. Here we were confronted by rather dense forestry up a steep incline, which, with the lack of sawdust, led to some fruitless checking. Ronlet only picked up the route because she could hear Two Shoes’ dulcet tones somewhere ahead and as the pack emerged, they were greeted by a bit of toe tapping by the Hares. Look – we don’t have 2nd sight!!
The next part of the trail can only be vaguely described, as the lack of sawdust continued to bedevil us and the vegetation, closely packed, confused our orientation faculties – ie we were lost! Entente seemed to have the greatest success and we were grateful for his dayglo accoutrements. Dumb Blonde was concentrating hard and barely flinched when kicked in the face by Ronlet – who was at pains to assert she had nothing against blondes really… It was a surprise when we ran out of the wood and into an area that some of the veterans felt convinced they’d seen before. Walt identified the farm and woodland where a few years ago, and in the fast falling dark, a previous ’On Badger had led the pack, stumbling blindly back to Milborne St Andrew. Birdseye confirmed this when he appeared miraculously with Tabu in tow. Miraculously as how could he have found us with so little sawdust? In fact BrEW was certain the Hares had just been going round with a big pencil and sharpener.
Drawn now to the wood opposite, BrEW confidently strode out across the field and when almost three quarters of the way over opted for the less traditional 2 fingered whistle to draw the pack’s attention to the On. At the wood’s edge and the next check, he then stupidly turned left, away from the Dewlish direction, leaving Jibber and Silent Running to confidently check to the right and west, with Ronlet , Shady and Kinky Bugger, equally confident that the footpath north was the way to go. Confidence ebbed with a distinct lack of sawdust but this was, after all, par for the course. What it really signified, however, was that BrEW had guessed correctly and he was a good 400 metres away before we twigged and chased after him. He had not spotted the diversion to the right, however, which would take us into the wood - a twisting, overgrown route yet again, which saw Hidden Depths scratching his head as he struggled to remember which way the trail went. It took us back near to where Jibber and Silent Running had been checking and then with a feeling of déjà vu, we realised we were almost at the check which had previously perplexed Shady and Entente.
Two Shoes advised that there was no sawdust for this next bit (oh really?) and to head for the footpath post where we would discover the trail. There was some question later as to whether we did, but somehow or other we ended up where the Hares wanted us to be in another strip of woodland. After a few Gallic shrugs and a debate as to whether we were now onto rabbit droppings, Two Shoes directed us down a rather precipitous slope, at the bottom of which we were required to vault what looked like a 3-day- eventing jump into a field occupied by several horses. Fine looking stock but a little too friendly for Ronlet’s liking and she took care to put Silent Running between her and the herd. Despite having been out for a good hour, the hounds seemed to pick up the pace at this juncture and made light work of the stile.
Sighting some rather fine old Dorset properties with walled gardens, Ronlet remembered that there was a public right of way between the two. The pack ran on with admiring glances and more thoughts of lottery tickets. Ducking under some tape which penned another very lively thoroughbred, once again Silent Running showed great chivalry in putting himself between horse and Ronlet and once out of this field he soon picked up some dabs and was encouraged by Ronlet’s affirmation that the pub was behind the hedge in front. This meant that we actually missed the real trail and just made a mad dash for the On In – but would we have spotted any sawdust anyway?
Back at the pub, the Hares were congratulated on an interesting and picturesque run which showed no lack of flair. In other words a fine hash, not blighted by an excess of sawdust. Neither did the pub disappoint with some particularly fine 49er. Madness had been a little ‘quiet’ on the run but this was fully justified after running 14 miles the day before and he deserved all his chips and some of Two Shoes’… On! On!
Hares, Hounds and Hash Stats
Hare(s): Hidden Depths and Two Shoes
Hounds: Birdseye, BrEW, Crazy Fool, Entente, Jibber, Kinky
Bugger, Madness, Ronlet, Shady, Silent Running, Walt
Social Hounds/Puppy Hashers: None this time
Real Hounds: Dumb Blonde, Tabu
Note: 3 new Hash Handles confirmed after the Hash for Nikki Brooks, Patrick Ginn and Paul Kadoch
Back to The Words
GOLD T-SHIRT AWARD (50 AND OVER)
Andy (Warthog) Goodman (195); Bronwen (Ronlet) Jones (156); Brian (BrEW) Errington-Weddle (119 + 2*); Ed (Birdseye) Sadd (112);Terry (Buggalugs) Canham (108 + 1*); Terry (Walt) Disney (105); Mark (Jibber) Humphries (92); Tim (Silent Running) Bryning (91 + 1*); J-F (Entente) Lechanoine (74); Tim (Classic) King (69); Duncan (Day Glo) Ray (64 + 2*); Jason (Kinky Bugger) Wareham (61); Martin (Madness) Lawson (60)
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); Tom (Two Shoes) Gillard (19); Mark (Shady) Vincent (19); Gordon (F Med) Rafferty (18); John (Strider) Bryning (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); Graham (Hidden Depths) Plaice (6); 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 (Xtra
Miles) Brooks (3); Patrick (Sloe) Ginn
(3); Heather Terrington (2 + 1*); Jenny Fuller (2); Paul (Crazy Fool) Kadoch (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*)
Back to The Words
Price: 2Shoes/HiddenD # 396 |
