Date =                            29^th August 2016

Run Number =            1691                                                                                                                                     

Venue =                        Chez My Lil’

Location=                     Welwyn Garden City

Beer =                           The Sawbridgeworth Brewery Golden

Hares =                         My Lil’

Runners =                    22

Virgins =                       1

Visitors =                      0                                        

Après Hashers =        0

Newies =                      0

Hounds =                     1

Total =                          24

Membership =             Dealing with the Devil’s Nuts!

The early overcast clouds & the rain they brought had cleared before the Pack arrived.  TBT OBE was early enough for an eleven o’clock start, which was funny as the Run was due to start at Noon!  Seems that his electric bike goes a bit faster than he expected?

So, TBT OBE had a swift one from the Barrel before the Circle was called, Mr X too had a swift one when he arrived at 11:30 on his old fashioned peddle-it-yourself bike.  This week saw the long awaited return of Pebbledash & Pepé le Pew & it only took seconds before the first innuendo was dropped – how we’ve missed her wit!

Tent Packer & Mrs Mallet arrived, he came up to the table under the gazebo & produced a bag of Pork Scratchings, announcing it was now "A proper Hash breakfast of Ale & Pork Scratchings!"

Tent Packer now stood in for the absent GM & JM, both being away on their Hollibobs!  He got the Run Number correct, with a little hint, then it was over to the Hare.  My Lil’ said that the Trail was a short one, due to it being washed out by the overnight rain, the Hare added that there would be short cuts & then ushered the Hash out of the back garden gate.  When the gate was opened Psycho & Skip were found to be coming up the garden path [Steady there Pebbledash! – Ed]

Just beyond the low green metal front garden gate an arrow pointed the way to the end of street, the Hare then suddenly stopped & said “Oh!  I may as well take the dog!” & so went back to go & fetch Lola!  Unbeknown to the Hare, the Hash would have a Virgin on the Hash& that would be his mum Margaret, who would accompany Mrs Mallett for a fair part of the Trail.

Some thought that there was another Virgin at this Trail, but it turned out to be Sloppy Seconds eating what looked like a cat, turns out he's now growing a beard!  To compete for Hash Santa?  Could be Battling Santas again??  In their absence, Pebbledash & Pepé le Pew didn't realize that Steve wasn't another Virgin Hasher.

Milf led the way on down to the Chequers Roundabout, just before this a CHK was found.  Milf peeled off to search the small enclosed park area behind the tree-line, meanwhile Mr X used his Local Knowledge & he ran down the shallow ramp for the subway in to the center of the roundabout, where he picked up the Trail on the Chequers’ Field side of the roundabout, the Trail led up by the bus stop & to an arrow that pointed the way over the road to head northward through the long spinny.

The FRBs followed on behind Mr X as he led the way on the northbound desire line within the wood, Mr X then encounter a dog walker at the far end & told him that if he saw any white Dust then he shouldn’t worry as it was just flour, the old guy replied back that he hadn’t seen any out in the Chequers field to the west of the wooded strip.  #confused.com

A now bewildered Mr X lost the Trail & came to a halt as he couldn’t find the Dust.  Milf, Tent Packer, Steve, Colin, Sparky & No Eye Deer arrived, they too were equally stumped until on very closer inspection the remnants of the washed out Dust could be seen like a stain on the trunk of a spindly tree. 

Kylie arrived just as the faded washed out remnants of blobs of Flour out were through the wild grassy field of the fallow area between the industrial estate to the north & the housing estate to the south.  The path waved its way around through the scratchy bramble patches to the west then to turn southward not far from the transformers for the main line railway from Welwyn Garden City to Kings Cross.

The FRBs began to catch up with the SCBs, who had taken the Short Cut with the Hare on the due west path from the Chequers Field road, the Trail now led along behind the housing estate on the gap between this & fenced off the main line railway.

A CHK was found at the corner of where the estate back gardens finish.  The RA arrived in time to see the likes of TBT OBE, Tent Packer, Sludge, Colin & Sloppy Seconds had all been lured further southward on a Falsie down beside the railway line down the western edge of the cropped wheat field.

It was also mentioned to Mr X that the likes of Sludge, Sloppy Seconds, Tent Packer & TBT OBE were all short cutting over the stubble to get over to where Pepé le Pew & Milf were 'On Trail' on the eastbound path beside the fenced in estate.

To compound things for TBT OBE he appeared to be checking his GPS on his phone!  A couple out walking their pooch thought it was amusing to hear the RA's calls of "Short Cutters!" over to those now running diagonally through the crunchy stubble.  Not a place for old Hash shoes where the sharp cellulose could come through any week points, luckily for Colin he had new shoes on that morning, which he admitted in front of the RA!

The path turned through a kink in it route as it follows the outside of the wooden fencing before leading on through a flooded stretch, which showed how much of a deluge there must have been, those with a longer stride could straddle [Whoa there Pebbledash! – Ed] the drier sides & pick their way through!

A CHK was found on the small wooden bridge at the southwestern corner of Creswick plantation, where the Creswick Brook flows.  Ketchup & Jaron were among the FRBs who fell foul of the Falsie straight ahead to the east along the bottom edge of the wood.

Mr X was back to utilizing 'Local Knowledge' as he said it would be a loop through the Creswick plantation, where the Hash would have to cross the Creswick brook by way of a narrow concrete dam, sure enough it did go that way!  The Pack’s calling surprised the kids playing in the wood as Sparky led the way amongst the trees on a clockwise turn to come out beyond the earlier T to join the SCBs on at the next CHK, found by the southeastern corner of the plantation.

The earlier Falsie & now the loop made sure that Little Hole, 2-1-2 Maureen, Whatever She Says, Psycho, Mrs Mallett, Flanders & Margaret were not far behind the Keenies.

Searching again & Sludge was happy to follow Mr X after the Hare told him here was no Trail on the path directly out to the east & on to Chequers, & while others chose to look on the south bound path through the fields toward Woodhall Farm's drive in the distance, Mr X was keener on searching the other, diagonal path over the rougher ground to the edge of Chequers.

Sure enough the Trail was picked up by Sludge & Mr X, care was taken to cross the road to Hatfield, then on the east side an arrow pointed southward along the footpath & cycleway but it wasn't far until another arrow directed the Hash in to the eastern half of the Creswick plantation, separated by the road.

Now there was some proper Hashing, off tarmac & it was course that darted all over the place between the trees & the small pockets of less densely populated patches in the woodland.  A couple of makeshift stick camps were passed by, as well as some rubbish before the Trail came out of the wood & on to the farmed land of Hatfield Hyde part of the Salisbury estate of Hatfield House.

Sludge & Steve were off through the northern hedgerow to the smaller field up by southern edge of the urban area of Welwyn Garden City, only to find it was a Falsie.  Stephen came back to the CHK but Sludge was not to be seen until the Proper Trail would be found up to the north & out in to the next field, where he could be seen scuttling along behind the homes on Boundary Lane!  This road is name so as it was the boundary between Welwyn Garden City & Hatfield, the A414 now does that job.

Sparky was thrown of the scent at the CHK, there are plenty of permissive paths around the fields south of Welwyn Garden & Ascots' Lane, he would come back after Milf took pity on him & she called out to him "On back!"

The whole Pack now made their way out through the northeastern corner of the field, a bit of care was needed as the Trail came through the hedgerow & down the few steps on to the narrow Hollybush Lane, needless to say that this narrow single lane has the aforementioned evergreens on either side to the south.

No scratchy prickly holly to the north as Holly Bush Lane becomes residential, the Keenies followed the Trail anticlockwise around the small bend to head northwards up to the junction with Howlands.  The Trail turned westward, in the direction of the 'On Inn' but things would not be that simple, not with this Hare, this was proved as Mr X pointed out to Colin the arrows that showed the way down an alleyway to the south.

With the Hollybush Pub now behind across Howlands, the FRBs ran the snicket between the homes to come out on to Ladygrove there they would meet the SCBs of Whatever She Says, Psycho, Flanders, Skip & 2-1-2 Maureen led along by the Hare.  The Hash would be led on to Linkfield where the Trail crossed straight over the road & on to another passageway, then on to the short dead end of Dry Croft to come out on to Boundary Lane, where a right turn would lead back up toward to the On Inn.

Upon return to Chez My Lil' the Barbeque was lit, but in case there were hunger pangs there were precooked chicken legs on offer & an assortment of snacks, Ketchup the produced some goodies he purchased from his visit to the Bennington Chili Festival that weekend!  The 'Devil's Nuts' & a Carolina Reaper mayo, Mr X was given a packet of three [Clam Down Pebbledash! - Ed] Carolina Reaper chillies! [Cue Johnny Cash's 'Ring of fire! - Ed]

Kylie soon had watering eyes as he tried the Devils Nuts, Mr X thought they were great but he does eat vindaloo & hotter!  Meanwhile under the Gazebo, Skip & Margaret were getting to know each other in the cooler shade, the sun was blazing in a now almost cloudless sky.

Even without Paxo, the veggies were served first & what a feast it was.  After barbequed food, there were ice creams & then Psycho's test piece of a ‘Rainbow cake’, though one person noticed that the yellow was between the orange & red coloured layers of sponge!  Pointing this out when she had a large kitchen knife in her hand was living close to the edge!

Down-Downs went to the Hare for a great, & yes, a short Trail [Thanks RA for arranging the weather! - Ed] after it was washed out once.

Sloppy Seconds was out for looking like Chas or was it Dave, with his new beard, or was it competition for Christmas weekends Secret Santa?  Margaret was out for being this week’s Virgin Hasher.  Colin for his new shoes, from which he duly followed ‘Tradition’ & drank out of!

The pack were doing fairly well with the Ale, though the Hare & Host was now calling out like a Cockney Barra-boy "Paand aan icescream, you get a free Pint!"  Some set off & missed Jaron getting the last remaining half of the Pack playing Chinese whispers, which raised a few laughs.  Though there were a few cringes as Mr X ate the mealworm he was given by Jaron!

Just as the Pack though they could move on, out came a bottle of Port, plus a bag of the third type of Pork Scratching, these came with a warning about the producers not taking any responsibility for any broken teeth!

With the two bottles of Port gone, again it was looking like it was definitely time to go, until a bottle of Glenmorangie appeared, the Hare may have regretted this later, for he was photographed asleep in his chair!!  It was now that Milf said she would drop TBT OBE off, as it was deemed more sensible for him not to ride home but to pick his bike up the following day!

At the end of a great day, Skip wanted Margaret to join us on the Glampout weekend, My Lil' wasn't so enamoured with that thought!