It was kind of “good news - bad news” story when we gathered at the Ward Four School in Sitapaila Panchayat for our weekly ramble last Monday. How so? Wel..... It was good that the weather was beautiful all day long - but bad that a real beast of a storm was brewing right over the area where the hares had laid the track -- but good that it all cleared up at the last minute and for the first time in, several runs we looked to stay dry - but bad that the road going into Sitapaila looked like the Nepalese Army Tank Corps had been doing maneuvres on it, - but good because that ain’t too many tanks - but bad because the last hole before the school could damn near swallow anything smaller than a Land Rover – but good that Russell managed to haul the beer in anyway despite that last hole - but bad that the trip shool the suds to a froth -- but good because we don’t care about that anyway, as long as it is cold - but bad that only 17 harriers plus two youngsters and a dog showed up - but good because that meant more beer for the rest of us - but bad that we had Cruikshank back as one of those to drink more beer.. (but his Timbuctoo joke changed that to a good).. - and finally bad in that if I have to go on another of these mountain treks I’m going to get Nike Cheney to organize it — complete with a couple of Sherpinis to provide some pleasure to compensate for the pain.

Well, anyway it was nice to stay out of the paddy fields and rivers of the valley - as long as one did not mind the notion that the trail went three vertical paces for every horizontal one. Right from the beginning when the Goughs led half the pack on a long, out-of-the-way but beautifully laid false trail (“Oh Roberts would never lay another back-check,” said some fool), the head and tail hashers never saw each other. We were strung out over the hillside, for the duration, and couldn’t get it together again until happ hour back at the ranch. With DK (did I really need to say that?) so far in the lead that he could have been running next week’s hash, we tracked over the mountainside - mainly upwards it seemed.

The HM saved us all a lot of trouble by chasing off on several false and non-existant trails. As we neared the summit of the mountain Frandsen found paper leading around the front but DK still managed to hold the lead by the simple expedient of going right up over the top and down the other side.

At the last check before the descent Roberts tried his damndest to get us all off the track, and it took a sacrificial run by Mike Scholey to prove that we had reached the turning point. In the meantime the arse-end of the troop saw the leaders milling around at this check and took a short-cut straight down to where they unsurprisingly enough found the paper and headed through HMG’s forest toward the valley floor. Thus rallied, everyone dashed down through the wood’s -this time with Dibley in the lead - barreling along at such a pace that he went right through the last check without a blink. No matter, the trail was straight on and we coasted into the final stretch where a crowd was fast assembling to greet us. Even though we were fewer in number than usual the camaraderie was particularly good this time out.

NO WELCOME, FAREWELLS THIS TIME AROUND
Hashit and Walking Stick......were not awarded this week which may indicate a very good run since we were all so’ busy trying to stay on the trail that no one had an opportunity to make a fool of hiimself or perform any self-injuries,

Hash No. 95 - Hares Nedegard & Frandsen... Hoo-boy - looks like a Scandahoovian delight. To find it, take the road towards Godavari - about 5 km beyond the Ring Road and just beyond the village of Baregau (Special note for Russell & Robinson - when you reach the top of Phulchoke Mt. (2762 m.) you’ve gone too far.