We who had known and hashed with Peter Mitchell for many years were all shocked by his tragic cycling accident. A fine idea of Lesley and David to pay a small tribute to Peter by setting this hash in his honour.
Fulmer is at the edge of our hashing area and would involve a fair journey for many of us hence it was comforting to get a good turn out on this one of the first chilly evenings of this winter season.
David called the assembled to order and told us it was all good news this week…………. No nasty hills like last week, not as far to run as last week and we would soon be back at the pub for a side order of chips served by Peters wife Rieco.
There was a twist though………that it would be a quick pace and at every “P” (for Peter) found it was to be the first four hashers to the back of the pack.
The trail set off immediately right out of Fulmer down a track to a field where the first “P” of many was encountered, across another field and another “P”, up a bit of an incline and another “P”, pass some real cool pads and another “P”, eventually even I found myself briefly at the front of the hash until the next “P”. The only thing that punctuated this was a herd of young calves whose curiosity slowed us all as they ambled back and forth across the trail.
After much back and forth along our relentless “P” trail we find a road and scuttling along this country lane it seems to go on and on as all the checks are soon found and called on due to the voluminous quantities of flour marking the trail.
Finally the trail is called right off the road and enters Black Park near Upton Farm and a choice of a long or short run. In need of a break the choice is an easy one. Our band of eight short cutters set off with hare Lesley in the opposite direction to the rest we soon find ourselves at a check. Ahh chance of a more leisurely pace and those “P” checks are far easier to cope with in our small group.
A couple of checks later and something is wrong……………..no flour, Lesley is sure it’s the right trail but the rest of us are not convinced. Pushing on Lesley is sure we can turn right and rejoin the trail and eventually we emerge at the edge of the park and follow the road to find the next check at a crossroads called Langley Corner.
Checking it out we push on down Cherry Tree Lane, Lesley commenting on how much easier it is to lay a trail by car!!!!
The long trail added in an extra loop in Black Park, and then, as there was a danger of us being back by 8.45 and impromptu extra loop was added up to the back of Pinewood studios (where quantum of Solace was filmed).
My fellow hashers had a clear hunch (or thirsty feeling) we were heading back to Fulmer and shortly after the next check the ON-IN was liberally marked in flour. It was still a fair plod and more ON-IN before we got back to the Black Horse.
Many thanks to the Black Horse for allowing us to pack their car park and enjoy their hospitability and to David and Lesley for spreading massif quantities of plain flour around Fulmer for our weekly penance.