A plethora (surfeit?) of three hares Easter Bunnies set the trail in Rowney Warren but were barely (no jokes about the activity of bears in the woods, please) sufficient to stand in for Shagpile and Underlay, who had picked the location. We all wish Shagpile a speedy recovery and hope that he and Underlay can join us for a beer soon.

It was a large turnout that circled-up before the run where Ringer reminded us of another bank holiday in Rowney Warren 10 years previously when Muddy Waters took exception to the behaviour and dress-sense of fellow hasher Ring Peace (see photograph from the 2007 archive). He had barely finished when the said Muddy Waters arrived in person, and he had to rewind. Also featuring in the pre-run line up were Skidmark who was presented with a birthday hat and the hares, who were decorated with festive bunny-ears and hashits. Under the bright green of the early foliage and the cloudy skies, hashers heard about the dangers (familiar to all those who previously visited) of dog-poo and bicycles, before venturing across the road into the realm of the mountain-bikers.

The trail consisted of a figure of eight featuring two loops; the first, extending north-west, made undulating progress beneath mature pines and between newly-planted saplings and flowering gorse using the same paths that the cyclists use – though none were evident so late in the weekend. Despite a few fishhooks (strategically placed by the hares on the tops of hills) hashers made short-work of this part of the run and were soon accumulating (in dribs and drabs) at a health-check [is this typo ... scribe] near the car-park where we'd begun (no danger of folk going directly on-inn when there's no Inn). We were briefly joined by G-String, who was looking after Eithne [t'other way round ... scribe].

Off again, hashers penetrated the "walkers only" part of Rowney Warren where there seemed to be fewer evergreen trees – more beech and birch lightly attired in their new leaves. After reaching the boundary, the trail continued along it through more open country affording glimpses of the secretive Defence Intelligence and Security Centre and the occasional whiff of onion from the My Fresh processing plant. At one health-check [joke perhaps or merely ignorance ... scribe], young ankle biters revealed a clear primate descent by swinging from branches, later they came across purpose-built swings in a play-area, deep in the woods. No time to tarry though, as the trail lead On-Inn to the car-park, very close to the one-hour deadline.

In the circle, down-downs were awarded and hashers were lectured (paradoxically) on the evils of drink by Captain Fantaaaastic. Edwina was cautioned to observe number checks and Lost Cause commended for his warm-up routine. Hashers wished Skidmark such a good "Hashy Birthday" that we sang it twice and Ringer organised a re-enactment of the decade-old Muddy Waters confrontation, using Bangers as a stand-in (casting him on the basis of his loud trousers) (see photo). Count Roadkill was also castigated – for what, your author cannot recall but has no doubt that he fully deserved it – before Rapid Withdrawal dropped a clanger by wrongly accusing Ringer of failing to ask Thongo's opinion on the run. Oh how we loved turning on the RA.

It was surely no big surprise that so much beer, cakes, sausage and so many Easter-eggs were consumed, that it could have been a teddy-bears picnic. Thus it was really about six o'clock, when we all went home.

On On

Catch It, for Clap Trap and Blow Felt