Expectations were high as roadblocks and fleets of royal limousines suggested that Crown Prince Paras might be paying his first visit to the Himalayan Hash. It was not to be and all that the GM’s chariot passed as it closed in on the on-in site was Towed Under and a car full of horrors creeping away in the opposite direction.

It was a Lao Lover hash on the first day of spring — exploring some new territory and crossing familiar areas to the north of Kopan monastery. Pyataar, spelt Paiyutar on my map, has been the regular LL and his Lover’s on-in spot since they moved house a couple of years ago. Maybe for not much longer however, as the land has just been plotted out to build houses on.

After delivering the news that it was to be a 6-check hash, lead hare LL must have slipped back home for a quick snooze as this was the last the runners saw of him until the post-run circle. His Lover did turn up to nudge the runners in the right direction around the half way point. Meanwhile the pack followed the initial paper off to the west as Hurry rushed in on his motorbike complaining that Pyataar had moved further away from Kirtipur since his last visit.

I will not bore you with every twist and turn, but paper was hard to find after check 2 as Night Owl, Run Crafty and Keeled searched far and wide in completely the wrong direction. The pack eventually regrouped and after holding check 3 on a knob, made its way along the nameless khola east of Lasuntaar as shown in the above photo. This area was last traversed by the HHHH 42 hashes ago. This time it was strangely devoid of non-hashing humanoids and the peace was only broken by plaintive cries of on-on coming from the far distance. It was Heme who must have done some drastic short-cutting to get so far ahead. With the usual culprits of Towed and Grumble missing most participants stuck to paper and it was certainly a pleasure to wind in and out of interesting gullies and along steep banks until the trail led back up through the inevitable pine forest to the Kopan ridge and down to the start-cum-finish.

The circle started in earnest a little later. Itchy, Dead Dog’s Dad (3D?) (yep, that'll do nicely - GM?), DDD’s missus and younger son, and Keeled were the first to get it as they were sprayed with beer by the GM for failing to get up off their backsides and join the circle. Sitting Duckie got a down-down later (and her hash name) for the same offence.

The GM, in his inimitable style, interrogated virgins Kirstine, Trine, Melinda and Nina. He complimented Melinda on her hairstyle — exactly the same as the GM’s! — after which members of the circle pointed out who was the better looking of the two. Isaac was coaxed into the middle of the circle with his Mum and downed a coke for returning. Visitors Li 'Tokyo Rose' Ouyng — GM of the Chendung hash — mumbled on about something or other for a while as GMs are wont to do.

Next on the agenda was the important issue of Chris W’s hash name — an issue that had been attracting attention on the webshite recently. The suggestion from his predecessor Fast Forward that Chris be christened Jumble Balls was categorically rejected for not being logical. After some discussion the moniker ‘Beership Down’ was arrived at. For the record the etymology of this is Chris Warren – rabbit warren – Watership Down – Beership Down. There’s real hash logic for you!

Other miscellaneous down-downs were dished out to:

Without any hesitation the Hashit was awarded to Going For A Burton (no-relation), for being the only Burton on Hash 1370.

Thanks to the hares for the super momos, and Mrs Rotter for the standard snacks and don’t miss next week’s run as it’s stalwart hasher Run Crafty’s last outing with the HHHH.