Hares. Looks like Towed is slowing in his dotage. We'll just have to sing slower.

A rare shot of the walkers, caught on the limits of the GM's camera optics

If that trapdoor would only open

Hands off and I'm still upright!

Not a place for engineers

Virgins to a person

No Hashit photo today. We've already had quite enough of Towed, thankyou

On a dark and stormy Saturday afternoon an amazing 48 Hashers braved the weather and turned up at Ramkot to see if the Hares could find a different trail from previous occasions. At around 15.10, despite the fact that Apple had not yet arrived, the Master called the circle to order. The Hares appeared a little uncertain, not only about the run but also, since Towed pushed Custard Tart into the circle for the Run Briefing, as to which members of the family had set the run. Eventually it was established that Head Chopper knew something about it and a briefing of sorts ensued. Eight checks were announced with 3, 5 and 7 holding. The walkers would join the runners at checks 3 and 5. The GM then asked for clarification on the rules for setting false trails and it was established that false trails should be, and had been, only set from checks.

The Hares obviously interpreted the On-In as Check Zero as the pack were sent off straight away on two false trails before Grumblewald led off up the hill on the correct trail. From Check 1 the walkers headed up the road for Holding Check 3 and the runners headed off to the west. Run Crafty found the only false trail from Check 1, but from the wrong end as he had still been rummaging around at the bottom of the hill looking for the correct trail from the On-In. Virgin George (or was it Steve?) found the paper from Check 1 and again from Check 2 despite some strong calling from Keeled Over who had fallen for the false trails laid up the hill.

Holding Check 3 was set at the back of a school with some interesting cultural stuff around which, being an engineer, I have no clue about and, once Apple and Sona had arrived, the pack were invited by Head Chopper to “check it out” (hmmm . . is there something different about this that I haven't noticed? - GM) . Confusion reigned as there were many paths to choose from and no-one left at the check could hear what was going on because Duckbill had scared the wits out of two cooped up chickens who were voicing their concerns in no uncertain terms. Grumble it was who eventually found the trail leading south and up through the forest. The path soon ran out and the pack were left to find their way through the leech-infested undergrowth to Check 4 at the top of the hill. From here, Tom, Grumble and Virgin Steve (or was it George) managed to lose themselves inextricably for a brief time whilst Jedi and Yogi Hare led the way down the correct trail to Holding Check 5 on a small grassy area with excellent views of Swayambhu and the rest of the valley. Some chose to visit the Gompa from here whilst the rest just milled around, lobbing leeches at one another whilst waiting for stragglers Patricia and Custard Tart to be guided in by Tadpole.

Keeled’s mate Pete found the way from here, once again heading up and through dense scrub to Check 6 which fooled no-one (except Pete and Yogi Hare) and on to a very practical location for Holding Check 7, tucked out of the way to avoid desecration by the bunch of scraggy brats that had been lurking around when the trail was laid. Grumblewald, however, decided unilaterally to shift the location of the check to the main junction under the trees on top of the ridge. Cheers and applause greeted Socksucker’s eventual arrival and the pack then headed off - down being the only option available.

Jedi and the GM missed the turn off the road and claimed to have found a superb check location (the photo, below left, captures only a mite of its magnificence - GM), presumably as a justification for being lost. The rest of the pack followed paper all the way down past Check 8, through the river and on to the long run home. All in all, a superb run, brilliantly set with the right mix of cunning, eye for the natural beauty of the countryside and the offer of cultural interest for those inclined that way. (Obviously Head Chopper should be part of the haring team more often - GM)

Once everyone was safely back the circle was called to order and the Hares faced the judgement of the pack. Complaints of not enough hills, leeches, or false trails ended up with a score of 10.0 being awarded which, with the appropriate correction factors applied by the Master, ended up as a real 9.9.

A fresh haul of virgins, Americans to a man, were welcomed: Joseph, who is a teacher at Lincoln, as is Melissa, both of whom confessed under pressure to being friends of Jedi. George, Christina and Steve who are all Peace Corpse and admirable replacements for the recent exodus of North Americans from the hash.

Other down-downs were awarded as follows:

• Patricia and Tom for coming back
• Socksucker for making his dad proud (That's ma boyeh! - GM)
• Mouth Organ, to the relief of the pack, for leaving (but only for 5 weeks - there’s a down side to everything!)
• Other Holidayers: Lil, Dead Dog and Barry, along with real leaver Jedi who has two weeks to go. The pack were treated to a stirring rendition of Sir Cliff’s 60’s hit “Summer Holiday” by Towed and the Master before this lot were allowed to drink
• Crashers: 69, Socksucker, Custard Tart, Patricia, Mouth Organ and Nate Heowl.
•Grumble for being chief leech flicker at Check 5

Joseph then sneaked on Melissa for throwing her shoes at a leech but then it came out that Jedi had told him to tell on her so the three leech freeks were duly chastised.

Hares for next week’s run were then requested, with offers of a run in Norway by Handphun being politely declined. As this discussion was going on, Handphun’s handphun rang - Martina calling up for some obscure reason so the Master took the call. It was finally decided that the Master would set next week’s run somewhere in the valley and Jedi would set her farewell run the week after.

The final business of the day, the Hashit, was then brought forth. Nominations of the Master for forgetting his camera for the second week in succession, Socksucker for doing the whole run (is that a suitable sin?) and Handphun for taking calls in the circle were dismissed in favour of Towed, but I can’t remember why as no-one wrote it down!

Thanks to the Hares for a run and to Mrs Rotter and Towed Under for the brilliantly fantastic superlative hash catering.