Normality Restored & Utter Plagiarism

TVH3 The Words for 14th August 2023  

The Sea Trout, Staverton  

Run No. 1982

HARES: Bobbiball & Man-Pig

 

Who wuz there: Bobbiball, Man-Pig, U-Bend, Forrest-Stump, Perry, Archangel, Tamsin (Miss Ing), Piltdown Man, Georgy Porgy, Checkmate, Coldtits, Slip-on-Me, Satnav, Ablesemen, Beefy, Fukarewe, Ernie, Rise 'n' Shine, Twiggy, Broadshit, Scott, Wetfart, Fallen Woman, Hotlips, Zoot, Sharon and returnees Shitfaced, iPoo'd, Flasher & Runner Bean. Also a pre-hash guest appearance at the bar by Only Here for the Beer......literally. A total of 30

 

Circle

The first sign of a return to normality at the Hash was the reappearance of Shitfaced as GM, after a four week absence, U-Bend can enjoy his retirement from formal Hash duties.

 

In Smellie's absence, there was no recruitment drive for Hares. Fallen Woman put in a plug for South Hams Hash on Wednesday 16th August as she is the Hare. SH4 will be commencing Wednesday's trail from Trucker's Field in the Teign Valley (junction of main road and Trusham turn off very close to Forrest-Stump's abode). There is a marquee, beer and plenty of parking.

Beefy also gave a plug for his Hash in two weeks' time. This, too, will be in Staverton - at the Railway Station. It is a "bring food to share" event where we will be assisting the station staff in disposing of any beer left over from the weekend's Rail & Ale festival.

Over to the Hares. Bobbiball wanted a show of hands for food - 10 takers. This was relayed to the bar. Man-Pig briefed the trail:

"Shorts' to the left. Longs' to the right. Walkers' stay here".

Hotlips queried the distance.

"Last month the Longs' was 4.64 miles".

Last month? TVH3 haven't been here for 5 years!????

The Hare went on to state that tonight there would be: no rockfalls, no ropes, no water and no sand. Hopefully, this time, the pub would still be open by the time we returned!

The Trail

Bobbiball's original plan had been to set his trail from the Manor Inn, Paignton. He had arranged this with the pub over a month ago and they had "put it in their book", or so he thought. On rechecking 10 days ago, yes, the Manor Inn confirmed that they had Haldon Hash booked in for Monday 14th August.

"Err. No. It's Teign Valley Hash".

"No it's definitely Haldon Hash".

"How on earth..... can you accommodate two hashes on one night?".

"No, it's just Haldon HHH".

Bobbi was now bereft of both a trail and an on-down.  So it came to pass that we ended up at the Sea Trout in Staverton.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And so it was that Man-Pig shamelessly relaid SH4's trail from a month ago. It was so good that the hare thought it deserved another go.

The Longs' trail was a fairly simple loop and predominantly off-road. The Long's comprised Flasher and Runner Bean back to their FRB'ing best. Other FRB's included Beefy and Fukarewe. The balance of the Longs' comprised Ernie, Miss'ing, U-Bend, Archangel with Man-Pig sweeping. A couple of early checks kept the pack together as the trail led up and across Moothill Cross towards Kingston House.

At the highest point, we were treated to some lovely views across the South Hams countryside before we embarked along the public bridle way north-west towards Sparkwell.

 

A back-check just past Sparkwell Farm, a lovely Georgian House, had the pack reunited as they headed due south on a public footpath, initially past an allotment and then across a couple of open fields. At Bartonhill Cross another check had the FRB's running up and down hill but not straight across and onto an obvious (but seemingly unmarked) public footpath. Inevitably this was the correct route.

Within 200 metres we joined up with the Shorts' trail. Ahead of us was the Walkers' trail. A simple up and back down Barton Lane - a public footpath across fields and a path that we have been down many times before; usually with Poacher as hare. But that was a long, long time ago.

But Barton Lane was not the destination for the Longs' and the Shorts'. They were going almost due west and heading for Fursdon, passing Ablesemen, Slip-on-Me and Satnav on the Shorts. 

 

Another check and we were on another bridle way. This time towards Abham. Yet another check had us back on tarmac for a short uphill to Abham and the first arrow on the trail. This took us left and along our final bridle way and our final check before the long road descent to Staverton Station. Here we caught up with Twiggy and Rise'n' Shine.

The final section of our trail took us right, over the level crossing, and then immediately left along the banks of the Dart. Georgy Porgy, Piltdown Man, Checkmate and Coldtits hove. 

A peaceful canter along the river bank and past Staverton church and the On-Home sign.

All back by 8.45? Not quite. Only 200 yards short of the pub, the magnetic attraction of a free book stall halted Piltdown and Georgie's progress. Ablesemen, Satnav and Slip-on-Me were on the Shorts which was a longer trail than their usual option of the Walkers', but they said that they enjoyed it. 

 

Tail-end Charlie was Archangel who was walking the Longs and taking in the scenery and wildlife, most notably bats. When laying the trail I had the good fortune to have my path crossed by a squirrel, a rabbit and, best of all, a deer but no bats unfortunately.

Down-Downs

It has been a long time since we have run from the Sea Trout. About 5 years I think. The principle reason for this is that the pub had been shut for quite some time. Going back, perhaps, 15 years or more, the Sea Trout was a regular TVH venue. And, deservingly so as there are so many good trails to be laid in the surrounding area. The abundance of potential trails has not been lost on other Hashes as both Ashburton hash and South Hams Hash have run from here over the past 4 weeks.

Matt, the bar manager, and his team made us very welcome laying on soup and chip butties; additionally, providing the Down-Downs before we'd even asked about them. Excellent service.

And so to the Down-Downs, Forrest-Stump presiding.

The first two Down-Downs went to the Hares; simply for a scenic trail. Beefy correctly interjected to say that, by rights, the Down-Downs should have gone to the SH4 Hares from 4 weeks previously....plagiarism personified.

The next Down-Down went to Birthday Boy, Ernie. He downed a glass of water - as he was driving - which was slopping around in the child's wellington boot.  All the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order.

The fourth Down-Down went to Fukarewe. Why? He got to a check and proclaimed, "It will be down here. I live near here and there's a great track down here". There is, indeed, Fukarewe but it wasn't  part of tonight's trail as a crestfallen Fukarewe returned from having encountered a cross. Hence a note for, "Un Fukarewe".

Ernie's water meant that there was still a half pint unallocated. Who would be its recipient? Forerst told the short story of a helpful Harriet who turned out not to be very helpful at all. Forrest had forgotten Perry's lead.

"Has anyone got a spare lead?".

"Yes". Answered the helpful Harriet. It was 7pm. This was just as well as, after 20 minutes foraging in the back, front and under her Landrover, she concluded that she didn't have a spare lead after all. Slip-on-Me got a note for the forgetful one.

Next week

Next week's Hash is at Sandridge Barton (the new home of Sharpham Wine), Lower Well Farm, Waddeton Road, Stoke Gabriel TQ9 6RL  BRING CASH. The Hare is Pisswell.

On-On to next week.