City of Exeter Hash House Harriers

It felt a little cold for the end of May and most of the pack had, wisely, dug out their winter attire.  Menage a trois and Bear were substitute hares as Lilo had gone on holiday, but at least she had left them a map (of sorts); perhaps this was where the hares had the idea that the short was 3.5 miles and the long 4.5?  By the end of the trail I’d done nearly 5.5 and I hadn’t checked wrong!  It was unfortunate for the hares that they had forgotten to bring the flour and other trail essentials and had to take a trip into Sidmouth early on Sunday morning to stock up.  Fortunately they had remembered the sweets, mainly chocolate, so it was a good job that the temperature was only 13.5 degrees (without windchill).

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No, not really, but two important announcements.

First the Autumn gathering is now open for registration.  Spock has arranged for us to spend the weekend at Charterhouse, near Cheddar, on the beautiful Mendip Hills.  Its about a 90 min drive from Exeter (so less that last year!), and promises to be an excellent weekend.  Fancy Dress this year will be a sea-theme!  See the link here.

Secondly, the next Sunday lunch hash will be on 28th June at the Beer Engine, Newton St Cyres,which is under new management (hooray!).   We will need to know names of who wants lunch by 14th June.

A double birthday hash this week, with one of the youngest (6 years old) and oldest (!) hares.  Runner Bean and Tamper both had birthdays this week, and many months ago they decided to lay a joint trail at the Obelisk, near Mamhead.  They had both laid the trail earlier that morning, following Runner Bean’s very exciting birthday party (with bouncy castle) the day before.  A good sized pack turned up too, and it was good to see no.2, and Larks, She's Ready, Lisbian and Hairy Mollusc making a reappearance.  After we set off, there were two latecomers - both with babies... Coffin, Emelda and Annabelle, plus Hole-in-1 and her new 3-inch puppy!

The drama started before the opening circle with an accidental coming together of Chipmunk and Runner-bean, with Runner Bean coming off worst, with a bleeding nose.  Spocky advertised this year’s Autumn Gathering and the hares lied about the topography of the trail.

A small pack of 14 (15 if you count Annabelle) of us this week, but it seemed as if we wren't even going to make double figures as we waited patiently at Newton Woods.  The early arrivers had helped a "normal" couple to jump start their 4x4, which kept us occupied as the late comers got stuck behind a tractor blocking the lane.  About 10 mins late we set off, with a quick loop around the land opposite the gate, before heading off deeper into the woods.  Not easy ground to run over, with really deep ruts, anthills and sticks to avoid.  But there were plenty of fish hook sna regroups to keep the pack together.

A few familiar faces were missing this morning; perhaps tempted elsewhere by the beautiful bank holiday weather(!).  Fortunately, the rain stayed away for the duration of the trail, with just a little drizzle as we were driving off afterwards.