Having got out of work early, I actually had time to check the weather before heading to Wheeler End; 7 C feels like 7 C. Perfect, I can wear a short sleeved top. Arrived at Lane End, hmm doesn't feel like 7 C … oh, it's 5 C and feels 2 C. Ahh well I'm sure it will be fine, but can we get moving .. soon .. please!
OK so it's undulating but not hilly, muddy but not as muddy as Kev's hash (!!), about 5.2 for the longs 3.7 for the shorts … yes, yes ,yes can we move plea … ohhh, ohhh … BC not the infamous Butt Check making a return? Phew, apparently not, it's just another way of telling us the Hare made a wrong turn and we need to double back. And at last we are off .. or is that on? Anyway we're moving.
A quick dash cross the motorway (on a foot bridge .. no major incident declared) finds us at a surprisingly early Long / Short split. Andy then gives us the good news that tonight we have a race for chips and hopefully there won't be too big a gap between the shorts and longs getting back. The shorts go straight along the road (away from the pub) and the longs turn right and track along the motorway for a while before turning left.
Now this is where or when it gets interesting, because despite the odds, the Hare seems to have been telling us the truth. There were no b'stard hills, there was a bit of mud, but not too much, it was becoming a very pleasant, moderately fast run. We tracked through farmland and woods towards Bolter End, turned half left and then completed three sides of a square before continuing on to the outskirts of Lane End where the aroma of the local Indian restaurant playfully teased us (this led to a brief discussion around the pros and cons of eating before running - for the record, I'm against it, but had compromised my standards by scoffing a biscuit before heading out).
So back to the run, which now had a little section through Lane End although for some strange reason the first blob the checkers found wasn't the one we were meant to be following (had we found a blob meant for the shorts?); the co-Hare taking great pleasure in telling us where to go. And it was more gently undulating slightly muddy going until we reached the motorway.
It now got slightly muddier and err .. slightly hillier but really, truly it was a pleasant, if by now decidedly chilly, hash. We ran through more farmland (Fryers Farm) and more woodland (Great Wood). Apart from an on-back at the bottom of a lovely hill (it was worth doing the on-back to run down the hill again) and just about taking out several hashers when I kicked up a large branch it was all fairly uneventful.
Having safely made it back to the cars (by the way, endomondo reckons I went 5.5 miles which with a couple of on backs and a couple of checks is pretty much what Andy promised) it was with some distress I realised my fingers were so cold I couldn't actually do up any buttons, but happily there was a warm welcome in the Chequers. There were also chips - for those of us who were patient! It started slowly, with a couple of bowls inhaled almost instantaneously (That's it? Surely there are more coming? Andy, is there more coming?) And for those who waited .. more came .. and then more and more and in the end ab-solutely loads. Thanks Andy (and Gerry) for an honest hash and a great pub.