As the hashers arrived, by bike and car, we were all amazed as Woodpecker drove in the car park ON TIME! Apparently she was followed by Dr Jekyll who had no idea where she was going. Groucho gave us our instructions with a few excuses as to why it was two and on and that one of the long, short splits needed to be expained when we got to it???!!! This could be interesting!
On On and soon we had the first long, short split. The short cutting through the undergrowth and arriving out on a nice long flat track where we all met at the regroup. It was at this point the one of the first fines of the day was noted, namely X Bitz wearing her t-shirt inside out! But why? you may ask, well, because it has SPOCKY BITZ on said t-shirt.......impersonating another hasher, tut tut!
Again we split into long, shorts with the shorts having not seen any flour for a while, eventually coming across another check, was Groucho economising with his flour? At the check, with Puss, Tampa and X Bitz checking, it was soon called by X Bitx only to be called on back by Groucho, he'd forgotten to mention the trail was laid only on the right and this was in fact where the longs would be appearing from.
Once the trail was called we soon appeared at the Obelisk viewpoint where you could see almost the whole of the Exe estuary, glad it wasn't a foggy day!
Our descent began as we set off again with the pack quickly becoming very confused. With Imelda checking one way and Dr Jekyll checking the other, neither finding any flour????? As usual Groucho had sent us 'off road' and straight down the hill through the undergrowth. As we all safely reached the track at the bottom of the hill, this was where the fish hooks began in earnest! With the frb's bearing the brunt of mmost of them, Boots, Imelda and the like, lots more faces got them too, Menage a Trois, Tuned In even Tampa couldn't escape some of them even with his 'shoelace tying' technique!
We soon arrived at the sweetie stop where we found the sweets hidden in a bush. Much munching ensued and then as if by magic a Mad Max appeared! Apparently he ended up in the wrong car park, so after following the trail, with a few shortcuts, he caught us up. He didn't have long to rest before we set off again, the longs in the direction from which he appeared, the shorts on a less steep path. Once again the fish hooks kept us together before a nice stretch of running past the On Home. The sheriff of the day, Boots, along with his able side kick, Spocky Bitz, handed out a few fines while we drank beer and ate nuts.
On on to Spockys trail from Stowford Cross next week, which he was reminded of by Boots just that very morning!