Oh what a beautiful morning… It certainly was.  Wall to wall sunshine.  A bit chilly, so the gloves were on.  It was great to see Twitcher back in the circle after a very long absence. 

We set off down the lane opposite the pub before turning right onto the footpath that ran along by the hedge.  The footpath we had spent ages looking for on a previous hash!  Straight across the  next lane and on towards Basset Manor.  Across the next road until we finally turned back at a 45% angle towards the road.  It was along this stretch of footpath that we came across an amazing collection of steam engines.   A traction engine was building up steam and a family were maintaining a Tiger Tractor.  They were glorious, as were the old-fashioned caravans that stood all around the area.  Hotlips had difficulty pulling us away and we only left because she promised us something even better. 

Along the main road we came to the Maharajah’s Well which had been renovated and shone in the sunlight.  A group photo was a must before making our way into the park next door and gathering round the wooden elephant on the site of the old bandstand.  The pub was only a few hundred yards away but we had to run another pointless loop.  After all, that is what Hashing is all about.  We set off north along Cox’s Lane then turned off right along the footpath to English Lane.  Then we headed south east along the lane through Oakingham Bottom before turning back south along another footpath to come into the edge of Stoke Row.  At the Crooked Billet we posed for a photo by the rotting classic cars before running past the interesting flower arrangements (ornamental cabbages in wheelbarrows).   Just after the pub we turned off again and ran through the beautiful woods again before re-appearing only 200m further up the road from the pub. A small loop round brought us into the pub from the opposite direction. 

On On

Hares:  Big Stiffy and Hotlips

Hounds:  Uranus, Comet, Wimpey, Lemony Snickett, Ratatouille, Zorro, Gnome Alone, Cheap Date, Twitcher, Professional Peach, Noddy, Bas, Jan and Chris

Date:  26 November 2017

Distance:  5.9 miles