Run 1376

Sunday 16 July 2017

Roadkill Towers, Great Barford

A Walking Treasure Hunt

Hares: The Count and Lady P

HASHERS: 33  ANKLE BITERS: 4  MUTTS: 3  APRES: 9


In the gardens of Roadkill Towers


That winning team in full


RA assures CRK that the shirt doesn't mention his age


Pecker after a dip in the pond weed


Some old faces looking young


Goneril banishes "day after" feeing


Deca Mug for Princess Theakston


Pecker explains river exploits


... the Count briefs a Hunt Team


Thongo had some thoughts on that


Count blows out the candle on his first lifespan


Down-downs for the birthday threesome


Ukeman Leroy serenades the HM


Subby keeps her valuables between her legs


Shagpile gets his grapes at last


Golden and with a shorn Jack

As a pretty good excuse to pull a few hashers together and have a few laughs, I think that worked. By no means a classic hash, in fact not a hash at all, it did manage to pull together over 40 of us of all shapes and sizes, all ages and abilities. Great that Shagpile could clock up his first "run" in a while, and good to see Flo and Wolla Bollox their first in a few years.

But all did not run quite as smoothly as we'd planned. We said we'd do a little food and it was therefore a bit disappointing that our oven went on the blink a few hours before the kick-off. Lady P had a Posh-Nosh-cakebakers-catering reputation to uphold and worked like a demon in a woodpile [are we shure that's ok .. ed] until after hashers arrived, to produce a super spread that just about fed the turn-out of about 30% more than we expected. The grub was widely praised, so we got away with that one.

We had a so-called Treasure Hunt format -– mile and a half walk around the village seeking the answers to 28 often cryptic questions with a 90 minute time target – and managed to send off 11 teams in pretty good order (should have been 3 per team but one had 4.5 hashers and Zingalongamax was on his own). It was a warm but cloudy day, forecast dry, so of course 15 minutes after the last left we had a good half hour of steady rain. The RA was one of the very few to set off with umbrella in hand: could this have been one of his cruel jokes? A band of non-hunters – Lush, Steve and Goneril "fresh" from the latter's birthday party, Mo with a Mini- and 2 Micro-s, and the always good to see Donut and Ward 10 – joined the food-eating, as opposed to food producing, hare in the beer tent to feel sorry for the hunters, who all arrived back with soggy answer sheets but largely happy. So we got away with that one.

We also said we'd lay on a bit of booze for the weary troops and, according to those well laid plans, this included a few bottles of sparkly wine, all neatly stored in a cool-box. But never one for multi-tasking or delegating, your host left out the vital ingredient of actually telling anyone it was there. Perhaps if I hadn't mentioned it we might have got away with that one too. Hey ho.

One little escapade that was not planned involved Pecker and swimming, so we might have guessed. Confusing weed and sludge for water, he said "You've got a swimming pool at the bottom of your garden" and went for a dip. That bloke's a one-off.

Meanwhile back at the Hunt, the cards were marked, the scores counted and the winning team announced, and yes it was one of the teams that snuck in an extra member that took the honours. Alex's Toddler Tiddles scooped first prize with 25/28 and a Highly Commended for Shuffle Cock, Frau Krafty Rot, Flo, Wolla Bollox and of course Nicey.

The RA found time to have a pop at a few people before awarding the blushing and beautiful Princess Theakston with a deca-mug for 10 runs. Speaking of which, and adding to the "good to sees", it was indeed G2C Good Head at the hash with Bell End Too.

There were 3 birthdays, two of them notably round, and drinks were awarded to Goneril, Pecker and Count Roadkill, the latter being singled out for special treatment with the addition of a superb hash shirt. Thanks very much hashers. And thanks also to a number of hashers who marked the occasion with spectacular but unnecessary generosity.

To round off Leroy kept us well entertained with a ukulele singalong accompanied by Zingalong on mouth harp. This went especially well after Golden found the sparkly.

All in all, a lot of fun and a good time was had by all.

On On to Baldock ... tomorrow.

THE COUNT