Hash 1080
1080
Those of us with the foresight to have arrived early at the Red Lion were privileged to have a parking spot in front of the pub - whereas reaching the rear car park involved a test run for the Kop Hill Climb (24 & 25 September, www.kophillclimb.info for further info) Once assembled, our hare Matt called upon Roger to demonstrate for those who had failed to attend my hash (your names have been noted) the meaning of the flour-mark that looks a bit like this -->||
Clearly Gerry must have missed this, as when we finally (and literally) ran across this on the hash, he failed to do so thinking it was a False.
Anyway, enough waffling preamble, time to get to the point - this was a terrific hash across wonderful countryside, but with a dirty great hill in it to spoil things. Off we legged it down the Icknield Way (or the Icky as PRisboro' locals know it, right Barney?) where sadly local oiks had kicked the flour out. Did I mention my kids live in Risborough? Then a left and on up the marginally less harsh western flank of Kop Hill, but only to about halfway, where we swung left again and parallel with the ridge. Hitting the road, we crossed and the inevitable Himalayan-style ascent began. This was a climb without oxygen, so by the time we had all struggled puffing and blowing to the top of Whiteleaf Hill it was time for a welcome regroup.
Along the side of The Hangings we ran, to the long-short split above Green Hailey Farm (can you tell Matt gave me a map?) Shorts descended to Ninn Wood whilst us longs headed way over to Knighton's Hill Wood and Grim's Ditch. Now at one point as we were running along, a shriek went up. Who could it be? No prizes for guessing it was Jo, but what was the problem? "Something's biting me! It's in my bra!" she screamed. Will she ever learn? We scrambled to try and keep Gerry out of earshot, whilst Ade gamely offered to help, explaining that his hands were nice and warm. Thankfully whatever had been nibbling ceased to do so, and on we galloped.
I won't bore you with a full list of woods and coppices, so suffice to say there were a few rotten falsies, lots of terrific glimpses of views across the Vale Of Aylesbury, not too many more hills after the big 'un, and a descent to Whiteleaf that inevitably took us across the Golf Course; where was the GM when he was needed? Oh, and at one point we came across some raspberries, which provided a welcome snack.
Back at the boozer there were chips and beer, so all was well. And finally let me take this opportunity to remind you all that the Hash Summer Bash and Shakespeare's Way Relay takes place at the end of this month - Sunday 31st July, all stages of the relay have runners allocated BUT more are always welcome to accompany them (especially me as I am currently running solo!) so come and see me if you haven't signed up yet. And for those not running, the rendezvous point is Cookham at the top of Odney Lane, from about 13:00 onwards, so bring family, blankets and picnic and enjoy a lovely, warm (hopefully) afternoon by the river.