Sunday, October 26

AutumnGathering - Pinkery, Exmoor - 24-26th October 2014

Pinkery quite remote and we were glad to be following a camper van with an "on-on" sticker in the back window for the last few miles, as the road wound upwards into low cloud and mist. Once there, we found ourselves free from the modern trappings of wi-fi and mobile phone reception, which was great until we found ourselves in need of communication with the outside world as Paperwork wasn't feeling too well.  There was a proper phone in the building for use in emergencies, but it was soooooo quiet that Paperwork and Sorepoint found it difficult to hear what was being said, but the outcome was that paramedics were dispatched to sort him out.  Fortunately, following a precautionary ECG, all was well and the evening continued with a bring and share supper, lots of beer, Karaoke and chat.
On Saturday morning, there was orienteering and after lunch it was the main Hash of the weekend with a long and short option.  The long ranged anywhere between about 10 and 13 miles, depending who you spoke to and the short  6 to 7 ish.  It was muddy and hard going in places, with the shorts managing to do a double loop of a field due to people in the know (with maps) insisting that they were going in the right direction, when they weren't.  All part of the fun.  Eventually we reached the pub where we had tea before shuttles back to base.
"Cocktails" was the fancy dress theme of Saturday evening.  There were down downs celebrating the shenanigans of the weekend so far (plenty for Oddbitz who was celebrating his 71st Birthday) and generally the evening was quite civilised, mainly because everyone was tired and the beer had run out due to overconsumption on Friday evening.
Everyone appreciated the extra hour in bed on Sunday morning, except for those with children for whom Sunday was just a long day.  We went to Simonsbath for the usual City of Exeter Sunday morning trail, joined by some old faces and some regulars who had travelled up from the home patch.  Again, it was picturesque scenery as the trail took us through woods and along the river, before heading back to the car park for the final circle of the weekend, with cherryaid down downs -  particularly appreciated by Titbitz who had mixed her drinks a little too much the previous evening and was feeling rather delicate.  Finally there was a naming for Katie, Arthur and Josh, who became Fancy Liquor, Tearaway and Armless respectively.  Groucho also received his 70th Birthday card from the hash.
We finished the weekend with a roast dinner in the pub before saying our goodbyes.  Thanks to Spocky and team for organising another enjoyable Autumn Gathering.
On On!




Sunday, October 12

Frying Pans Car Park - EJ - 12th October 2014

There must have been a horsey event taking place near Frying Pans Car Park, as we could hear a tannoy system when emerging from our cars. Perhaps this was why several hashers lost trail as they thought they could hear someone calling on on when, in fact, it was something entirely different? The pack started off together, but soon came upon a long/short/walk split with, confusingly, the walkers and longs heading off in one direction while the shorts went in another. Only four hashers braved the long and there was no chance of keeping up with Cousteau and Imelda, so Twin Peaks and I quickly found ourselves on trail alone. EJ had done a great job with the markings and we were able to navigate our way across a bog and through some woods without too much difficultly, but we did wonder where everyone else was. We came across another two long/short splits, but decided to stay on the short with a view to hopefully finding the rest of the pack. And we did. We found them at a sweetie stop. Chipmunk and Rocky were doing a good job of stealing all the sweets despite being told that the walkers hadn’t arrived and would probably like some. The walkers never appeared and after a while the pack decided to continue without them, only to find them a little further on having completely missed the re-group. The pack remained fragmented, but there were clear marks and everyone found their way back to the car park. Beer, drinks, crisps, nuts and circle time followed.

Back at the car park - since the walkers never arrived at the Sweetie Stop!

Sunday, October 5

Uphams Plantation - Woodpecker - 5th October 2014

It felt like a decidedly chilly morning leaving Exminster, but with the heater deliberately turned on  to cold for the journey onto Woodbury Common, we were pleasantly surprised when we got out of the car.
Woodpecker had taken time and trouble to lay a walking route, but no-one was interested in it, so we all did the main trail, which wended it's way off the beaten track and into the trees on a number of occasions.  Fortunately, Woodpecker had used large blobs of flour to mark the trail, usually on a conspicuous tree stump or thrown against a tree.  There were a number of fish-hooks which the whole pack were encouraged to do, (unless they didn't want to) a couple of re-groups (which apparently you didn't have to stay at if you didn't want to) and a sweetie stop where we all enjoyed exceptionally chewy sweets and the peg(s) were changing hands quite frequently.
The longs set off through a bog and back again to re-join the shorts before admiring the model aeroplanes being flown before the On Home.
A well laid and enjoyable trail for a lovely autumnal Sunday morning.

Sweetie Stop

Message from Groucho

Groucho wishes to thank everyone who came along to the barn dance and last week's hashes  He says, "I was bowled over by the response; the words and the cards of kindness.  I hope everyone had a good time!"