Twas a very brrrrrrrrrrrr morning as hashers,18 in all arrived at the venue,just like penguins we huddled around in a close hash circle for warmth. One hasher however, Miss X-bitz went for bear hugs from any male hashers who had been abandoned from the circle,What can we say ! Next our two hares appeared, Twin Peaks and Blobhoblin, and it was noticed that Miss Peaks had a radiating smile on her face whilst Blobhoblin was a whiter shade of pale. One hasher could be heard to utter "look at the state of them, where have they been and what did they do"?
Anyway, the hares give out the usual instructions along with a new sign, an Ahh stop -more later. We set off from the car park only to face the hazards of Shag-Pile and Swooner arriving, late of course. In true hash style we carried on leaving them to catch up which didn't take long. Within five minutes we encountered mud, glorious mud followed by water. How thoughtful to return to having clean trainers even if it was only for a few minutes.
Suddenly we were scaling the dizzy heights above Pinhoe in snow and also looking for flour marks - or green flour marks to be more accurate! Soon, still climbing, we entered a snow field. I remember seeing pictures and reading about snow fields in the National Geographic. This scene high above Pinhoe though was some what disappointing.
Leaving the snow field behind us we continued climbing up the snow covered Devon Alps until at last we reached the "AH" stop. We all looked but could not find anything to AH about until Blobhoblin told us that horses came to the gate to see them as they laid the trail. Maybe the farmer had seen our two strangely clad hares and removed the horses so as not to scare them when more strangely clad hashers arrived later.
Before leaving the AH stop, Miss Peaks (being one of Devon's more considerate hares), informed us of ice on the next part of the trail. When asked if she had done a risk assessment the hashers got the following reply: "If you don't fall over you're alright. If you do fall over its your own bloody fault". Well you can't have it fairer than that!
Referring back to the AH stop, we agreed that ah was more appicable to the ice ridden surface on which we were now running... or was it skating? I'd never taken part in "Hashing on Ice" - a truely different experience. Once clear of the ice the hares rewarded us with a sweetie stop and three varieties of sweets to choose from. That stopped the moaning!
Next came what can only be described as "Mud Bath Alley" with the only difference being bath tubs are on level ground. This particular bath was angled at forty-five degrees and not in our favour! It was like climbing up a well greased conveyer belt. Once at the top there was a very welcome hash halt where we were all able to recover from our climb of the Devon Alps.
It was at this point where several hashers (three muskateers), took a non hash route otherwise known as a short cut. It was reported that one the said 3 having come on the hash with a map.
When we finally arrived back home Spockybitz informed us that we had been on a mini A2B to make up for yesterdays cancelled A2B and that we had covered over 8 miles.Then horror set in as may hashers noticed the lack of the beer meisters car!! Tampa, one of the short cutters, has gone home we wailed. Then, as if by magic, his car zoomed into the car park with Emerald armed with a tin in which was sliced up cake.
Soon all was well again with by now happy hashers digging into cake and swallowing beer. No hash is complete without a naming ceremony and we are thrilled to announce that Rob is no longer Rob but is delighted with his new hash name of "Shag-pile". We will leave you to wonder why??
Next weeks hash is at Lympstone Village Car at 11.00hrs