Run 1057A
Saturday 3 September 2011
Villa Perna, Orebic
The Croatian alternative to 1057
Hares: Shagpile & The Count
HASHERS: 15 APRES: 1
A fine effort at running - at sea level
Match that for a View Check, Flitwick
Double Entry uses ice to cool off after
a long hot day of camera avoidance
Every time you lay a trail there has to be a first. For this 1057A Hare, a couple. First time I've had 5 beers before doing a trail reccy 1,000 miles from Beds and then got up before dawn to lay it with the assistance of a stray mutt who took us round the whole trail and then took his reward in pork chops. And first time I've been seriously concerned about the risk of cardiac arrest (all lower case) during a run. A 16:30 start was too early - it was still 30C - but fitted in well with the restaurant booking I seemed to remember making. And the villa was tucked into a steep hillside: there had to be lots of up.
The only non-starter was soon to be christened Sue. 15 others, a baking dozen from H5 and Kojak and All-Nighter from Sarajevo, took the beach road west into the sun, through a wind-surfing school and a check that fooled many, including this Hare. Still west, still by the Adriatic, we lose Underlay who decides it's time to take the high road and, prompted by Hare Shagpile, take a long cut to meet us later. Capt F and Kojak find a bar and talk themselves out of the correct turn (up steps and through a back yard) before we eventually climb to meet Underlay.
Up the road with the pack still together despite the complete lack of number checks (banned under local Health & Safety regulations) we at last find the off-road track that leads further up but east. Past shot-out cars, through a goat herd, and on to superb views across the bay to the beautiful isle of Korcula it goes, up and up to the aptly named and, we found out the following day, excellent Restaurant Panorama.
Heroic efforts from Bangers, Nik Nak and Double Entry (a trio famed more for their ferry trips than running) and also All-Nighter, Lady P, Custard, Tarzan and Whitby Jet who took the whole thing in good humour and rarely called for oxygen.
Such was the enthusiasm of Capt F and Kojak that at first they missed the turn to the steep downward trail back to the villa, but they lead all back safely, much to the relief of our insurers.
Sue was named Golden Globes despite protesting to the bitter end that she is no hasher, a point she disproved by kneeling in front of the RA - not for the first time I'll wager - and drinking beer from a mortar shell. Rapid went on to prove that his particular brand of RAing can survive a week in sunny climes and Sarajevo supplied much needed beer, water and ice as well as the shell. To round the day off nicely we were given a demonstration of some of the many talents of the newly crowned 3rd best reggae dancer in Croatia and then went on to honour the beery booking of a table for 16 at the local restaurant, made by yours truly the previous evening.
Wonderful weekend, extended by many of us and thoroughly enjoyed by all. Many thanks to Lady P for arranging it.
On back to Beds
And the bike treasure hunt
COUNT ROADKILL
Guests All-Nighter and "Why Were You Named" Kojak
Apres at Villa Perna
Golden Globes with drinking vessel of choice
Put on a bus in Dubrovnik and told to get off at Orebic for our villa, Bangers, Double Entry & Nik Nak managed to stay on the bus for a ferry trip to Korcula, an island off the Croatian coast. No one knows who insisted on taking the pretty route but all were complicit. Needless to say all went on the boat trip the following day to ... Korcula.
CROATIAN STORIES 2 (What goes on tour, goes in Wurdz)
Nik Nak, The Count, Spotted Dick and Underlay left their beds early one morning, turned left out of the villa, past the 1057A On Inn and climbed over 3,000 ft to the top of Mount St. Illya. Stunning views from the highest peak on the peninsula. As Underlay said: "Soon after we started we were dripping with sweat, when we finished it was so hot the sweat evaporated before it could drip".
CROATIAN STORIES 3 (What goes on tour, goes in Wurdz)
"The newly crowned 3rd best reggae dancer in Croatia" is Capt Fantaaaaaastic (although Tarzan should also claim credit if that's the right word). The Dubrovnik Radisson adopt strictly high judging standards so the title was well deserved and prompted an impromptu dancing display in the style of Fat Controller complete with headgear.
Not to be out done The Count slept with Double Entry.
