THE “STEPHEN WHO?” HASH
Run Number: 397
Date: Mon 4 Jun 07
Time: 70 mins
Distance: About 7.5km
Run Location: Verwood
The Pub: Monmouth Ash
Pub Links: To follow
Weather: Sunny and warm
Hares, Hounds and Hash Stats
THE WORDS
Suitably advised and armed with a printout of the instructions for finding the RV at the slightly later time of 6.30 for a 6.45 start the hounds began to assemble. BrEW positioned himself at the entrance to the car park to ensure no one overshot the entrance and disappeared into the far distance. The car park was the usual scene of banter and catching up on the news and admiring the state of well worn (out) trainers that had seen a lot of shelf life if not actual running time.
Having decided that it was unlikely anyone else was going to turn up as 6.45 approached the hares gave us the low down on the run. Blobs to the left, right or possibly down the middle of the trail! It was to be anybody’s guess, but it has to be said the blobs when found, often discretely positioned behind a suitable post or tree, were of a good proportion and thoroughly approved of by “On Dust”. Other signs that were explained for newcomers, namely Jean-Baptiste, were the general direction finding blobs, three and you are on, smiley faces 2 possibly more ( the hares exchanged knowing glances at this point which could mean all sorts of mayhem later in the trail). W for whip in or wait (not whisky or wine). They did forget to explain the use of an arrow sign, but I guess that was too obvious even for us lot of hounds. The time for the run was estimated at 1 hour and 10 minutes and about 4-5 miles over the ground.
Time to get going and Warthog was soon on the trail with Kinky Bugger, Entente and Silent Running providing support and encouragement. It was at this point that Madness drove into view having become temporarily unaware of his position en route. Ronlet stayed behind to steer him via a shortcut back to the pack. We were meanwhile soon across the B3081 and heading round the back of a school where band practice was in full and sonorous melody. No more roads now until we were almost back to the car park. The trail soon became a mixture of gravel track, moor land and heath trail with the occasional soggy bits and some fine sand that gave a good impression of a sandy beach and just as difficult to run across, but more of that later, if I remember.
Historical Titbits from On Words: Verwood War Years:- The Stephens Castle Quarry produced many tons of sand and gravel to make units for the concrete Mulberry Harbours used during the allied invasion of Normandy (operation Overlord)
Once into the forest and heath area the checks came thick and fast with the lead constantly changing as the false trails were good and long and those that ventured down them soon went from first to last and had plenty of catching up to do. Jean-Baptiste seemed to very quickly get the main idea of Hashing although the volume of the calls was often rather limited. Warthog had an uncanny sense of where we were going and picked up many of the correct trails heading out across Pistle Down and into Telegraph plantation where Birdseye had a couple of good calls before disappearing down a number of false trails. It was around this stage that the Hares started to become less obvious and BrEW noticeably absent. Some cunning relaying of the trail was being undertaken and at one point we were faced with two smiley faces from one check. Jibber and Madness with some careful delaying tactics managed to find the right trail which after a few more checks took us to a view pint overlooking what we decided must be “Hampshire”. There was some doubt as to which direction we were looking as there was not even a glimmer of sun to indicate west.
Although there were no long and laborious hills to overcome, the Hares made good use of every rise and fall in the area by means a tortuous route that had us seemingly going round in circles. At one point confused by two calls of on on along two parallel tracks that eventually converged we had a breakaway group of Silent Running, Jibber, Walt and Madness all sure they were on the right trail competing with Birdseye, Sloe, Warthog, Entente and Kinky Bugger. A cunning ruse that worked to perfection.
Now we were confronted with signs for Stephen’s Stone. This afore mentioned rock was up a wet and squidgy trail that was found by Jean-Baptiste and Birdseye and atop the rock was a whip in. As we all gathered round there was much discussion about who Stephen might have been and why he would have left this large rock in the middle of nowhere. I don’t suppose he could have moved it anywhere else even if he had tried!
Some More Historical Titbits from On Words:- In 1220 STEPHEN'SSTONE was recorded as LE HORESTONE and was a boundary point in this area so could be a BOUNDARY STONE..
- Legend has it that STEPHEN'SSTONE, a solitary block of stone in WILD CHURCH BOTTOM has a GOLDEN CASKET beneath it. It is said that it measures 6M X 3M X 3M approx.
So there you are then!
Warthog as per his namesake in the wild, being profoundly attracted to mud decided to jump feet first into the deepest, gooiest patch of mud, landing a bull’s eye lump right on Silent Running’s kneecap. I suspect he was aiming higher than that! Ronlet now scurried around the rock laying the trail back the way we had come and off to the beach (Sand Pit) where we struggled manfully on and checked out a few more false trails before we crossed a small nature reserve and so to the back of the local school playing field where once again the trail was cleverly disguised and Jibber and Entente guessed wrong and had to be called back to the correct trail which was straight across the field and then the main road to the car park. Here we met up with a bunch of the local lads who were very curious about what we had been doing and how far we had been, but not so keen as to give Hashing a try. It would appear that for the youth of today it is more fun roaring round the car park in your Renault Clio and having a life threatening fag or six. Some things don’t change.
The Hares were applauded for their trail and use of numerous cunning ruses to keep us guessing. A good trail was enjoyed by all and it was well worth the effort of travelling that little bit further to see some new country. Maps were handed out to show us how to get to the On On at the Monmouth Ash and once we had cooled down we were soon propping up the bar and ordering food which duly arrived and was consumed with gusto. We were reminded that the Hash Thrash was at Entente’s and that salads and drinks were required.
Hares, Hounds and Hash Stats
Hare(s): BrEW & Ronlet
Hounds: Birdseye, Entente, Jibber, Kinky Bugger, Madness, Silent
Running, Sloe, Walt, Warthog, Jean-Baptiste Blandenet
Social Hounds/Puppy Hashers: Not this time.
Real Hounds: Not this time
Back to The Words
GOLD T-SHIRT AWARD (50 AND OVER)
Andy (Warthog) Goodman (196); Bronwen (Ronlet) Jones (158); Brian (BrEW) Errington-Weddle (121 + 2*); Ed (Birdseye) Sadd (113); Terry (Buggalugs) Canham (108 + 1*); Terry (Walt) Disney(106); Mark (Jibber) Humphries (93); Tim (Silent Running) Bryning (92 + 1*); J-F (Entente) Lechanoine (75); Tim (Classic) King (69); Duncan (Day Glo) Ray (64 + 2*); Jason (Kinky Bugger) Wareham (62); Martin (Madness) Lawson (61)
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); Patrick (Sloe) Ginn (4); Ombeline Lechanoine (4*); Nikki (Xtra Miles) Brooks (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); Jean-Baptiste Blandenet (1); 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*)
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Price: Ronlet & Brew # 397 |
