TVH3 The Words for 28th August 2023
by Man-Pig
Staverton Railway Station
Run No. 1984
HARE: Beefy
Who wuz there: Beefy, Man-Pig, Shitfaced, Forrest-Stump, Perry, Smellie, Coldtits, Slip-on-Me, Satnav, Ablesemen, Pisswell, Ernie, Melon Picker, Soapy, Palmolive & Beeflicker
Circle
Shitfaced
welcomed a smaller pack than usual to Staverton Railway Station car
park. Amazingly, the pack was so small that most of the Hash managed to
park in the small car park. Beefy was the Hare for this now, almost
annual, post Ales & Rails Beer Festival Hash run.
Shitfaced
asked Satnav for an update on Teapot who has contracted sepsis.
Basically, there was no update. Man-Pig asked if anyone had any more news
regarding Winfield but, again, no updates so over to the Hareraiser -
Smellie. Currently we're OK for Hares up to 5th October. There then
ensued discussions about red dress runs with Soapy, Melonpicker and
Forrest all volunteering to lay more trails. Splendid.
Over to the Hare - Beefy.
"There are two Long/Short splits. the Longs is about 5 miles. The Walkers 1.2 miles. Shorts about 3 miles".
There
were then some instructions about what to do if you saw a Network Rail
symbol on the ground in flour. I think everyone ignored this and plumped
for the "easy to understand" OH symbol.
Most importantly, there were plenty of beers left over from the beer festival!
The Trail
Despite
being at almost the same location as our Hash from a fortnight ago,
there was virtually no duplication of the trail. The Walkers had a short meander and appeared to be staying on the north bank of the Dart. The
Longs' and the Shorts', meanwhile, were directed over the level
crossing, past the mill and up into North Wood. But would the auspicious
1984 trail have any Orwellian dark undertones? As it turned out, the
only darkness was a lack of natural light towards the end of the
trail.....torches next week per chance?
Almost
as soon as we entered the wood, the dots had us bear sharp right and up a
long broad path before deviating left and up again. The trail took us
up to almost the highest point of North Wood and the first Long/Short
split. I rather suspect that it was only Man Pig and Beeflicker on the
Long at this point.
We looped around the top, past the remnants of
survival bashers before getting a little off trail just above
Dartington. Soon we were back on trail and encountered Forrest Stump and
Perry.
The trail was incredibly well marked with closely spaced dots of
flour. Just as well as it was decidedly dipsy in the woods. We
encountered Soapy and Palmolive at the edge of the wood as we headed
north-east and downhill to the second Long/Short split.
The
second Long had us on the upper path running towards Stillpool Coppice
and thence towards Deer Park. At the edge of Deer Park, a dot on a cube
of timber had us pass through the stone wall and down to the banks of
the Dart heading due west. The Stillpool was very still. There was no
water in it at all!
The trail followed the outside of the wall until
dropping down to the edge of the Dart. It was quite steep in places. At
least two fallen trees made natural bridges onto an island but there
were no marks so this was not our Orwellian challenge. Eventually, we
exited at the same point at which we entered the wood.
Back
at the car park, all was not done. Both the Longs' and the Shorts' were
directed up towards Staverton. The trail then took us into the
chlildren's playing area, around the cricket field and then onto
the duckboards behind the tennis courts. We haven't been on these
duckboards for years. Across the pedestrian level crossing and the On
Home sign with Beeflicker, Forrest, Palmolive and Soapy not far behind.
Another
lovely trail. Thank you Beefy. But the best was yet too come; our
own private mini- beer festival. What a perfect way with which to round
off the Bank Holiday weekend!
Down-Downs
Forrest-Stump
was our RA for the evening and he had a lot of stories up his sleeve.
First up was Ernie on a parking charge. Initially, Ernie was at the
circle after having double parked on the road. On entering the usually
full car park, he spied two spaces. A quick disappearing trick and he
was back with his car; now nicely parked and closer to the bar! A note
for the "double parker".
Almost
immediately, the second down-down was awarded to Pisswell. She had been
last to arrive back at the On-Down as she'd been for a swim...and then
complained that the river was cold! Hold it in you hand Mrs Murphy.
The
next Down-Down went to Beefy for another excellent trail but somehow
the tables got turned on the RA so it was a double-down-down for the
Hare and the RA.
Poor Ernie was still trying to give away his birthday hat from a fortnight ago but we'd run out of Down-Downs.
We
concluded the Down-Downs by thanking the railway volunteers (George
& friend) for staffing the bar just for us and then invited them to
join us for our "food to share".
And,
with low numbers, there was plenty of food to share. Two very nice
flans, courtesy of Pisswell and Beefy I think. Forrest had brought some
Tandoori chicken - but wanted the bones back! The Harriets had also done
a fine job of bringing more nibbles and taking control of clearing up
operations. It all worked rather well so a big "Thankyou" to Beefy for
both Haring and organising the scoff.
Next week
Next
week's Hash is at The Warren House Inn, Postbridge (assuming that they
will have us - apparently, the last time that we tried to arrange the
On-Down there we were not welcome!). The Hare is, once again, Pisswell.
Sterling service.
On-On to next week.
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