Run 1265

Monday 22 June 2015

The White Horse, Arlesey

Hares: Clap Trap and Knobber

HASHERS: 17  APRES: 1

This week, the Hash gathered under the thatched gables of the White Horse in Arlesey, a hitherto unmolested pub if our Receding Hareline is to be believed. Having laid the trail immediately beforehand, the Hares returned to the pub soaked, after being caught in a downpour while putting the dust down on a final loop.
After a brief debate as to whether FDC should wear a Birthday Hat or not (he didn't), the pack left the pub car park at electrifying pace and headed south along the High Street, rumoured to be the longest in England, and certainly feels like it even if it isn't. Capn F, Scooper, Muddy Waters, Count Roadkill and Ringer checked out the falsies while Lady P slipped un-noticed by the rest of the pack down the alley leading to the riverside meadows. By the time the perceived FRBs had found the trail, Lady P was sprinting away on the other side of the railway bridge and towards a check. But the Hares had put checks where the various trails crossed, and Lady P picked up on a false trail allowing the pack to catch up before continuing along to Laurels Grove.
Two left turns, the second being a check where Double Entry took the false trail towards Oldfield Farm, led the pack across the meadow where mares and their foals were grazing, over the footbridge across the river, and to the site of the old Three Counties Station, which was the transport connection by tramway to the Three Counties Asylum, and also the distribution point for products from the adjacent brickworks. None of those entities exist anymore, the brickworks now being a landfill site, the hospital a housing estate and the station closed in 1960, the tramway having been lifted in 1953.
By this time, the soft going under the long stretches of trails had taken it out of the pack's legs, and due to the threatening sky and advancing time, the pack decided to return to the White Horse instead of covering the last loop which would have taken the pack towards the Green Lagoon (the home of the "Arlesey Bomb" fishing weight) and on which the Hares were soaked laying the trail. In doing so they passed the sites of some of the many pubs that were once open in Arlesey:

• The Mallard (1850-2002) (formerly the Brickground Hotel) now a pre school nursery
• The Crown (1863-1985) now flats
• The Star (1845-1994) now an Indian Restaurant
• The Three Tuns (1845-2005) now housing
• The Rose and Crown (1865-1994) now a residence

Luckily, the White Horse (1805) is still open and serves some decent ales. In the circle, down-downs went to:

• The Hares
• Scooper and Muddy Waters, for being young FRBs
• Lady P and Knobber for unauthorised sausage transfer in a veggie box
• Tarzan for cycling from London to Brighton

On-On
Knobber and Clap Trap