Run #2059
The Park Inn, Kingskerswell
HARE: Shitfaced & friend (Man-Pig!)
Circle
A
good turn out again this week. There was one announcement that
membership is now due. £30 for the year (what a bargain!) to be paid by
the end of January. Weekly payers can carry on giving a pound to
Pisswell or Beeflicker.
That
concluded, over to the Hare (or is that Hares?) for tonight’s
briefing. A Walkers, a Shorts and a Longs, with two long/short splits.
No sweetie stop but there was a curly sausage for a fiver waiting for
those who wanted one back at the pub afterwards. Nice!
Trail
And with that we were off…. A couple of early checks slowed up the FRBs as we left Kingskerswell behind.
The
first L/S appeared at the base of the steep incline up past the
quarry. A few opted to take this route but the longs ploughed on
towards Newton Abbot, stopping briefly only to ensure that Poacher
wasn’t having a heart attack. Fortunately he wasn’t, so on we continued.
I
didn’t see Poacher again on trail so I was mighty pleased to see him
back at the OD when I eventually made it there! Slightly distracted by
what looked like the festive train of lights, but it actually turned
out to be a pack of Teignbridge Trotters. We missed a check taking us
up some steps into Milber. I called a happy ‘on, on’ to the Trotters,
but didn’t get much of a response.
Once
in Milber, we headed through a network of residential roads, but
always climbing upwards. This was going to be a toughie tonight I could
feel it. Man-Pig seemed to predict when we needed some helpful
guidance and appeared at various checks (there were a fair few of them)
to ensure we went the correct way.
We
hit the woods, and I said a fond farewell to Beefy, Wet Jonny and
Beeflicker as they flew off up over the uneven ground. Behind me, I was
aware of the torches and occasional chatter of Pisswell and Missin.
A
bit of a surprise check had us heading back into residential Milber
again but we soon found ourselves back in the woods and popping out in
familiar territory for me, on the ridge track at the top, heading
towards Coffinswell.
Somehow,
Beeflicker was in my view now so I caught him up and we ran this
section together. On arriving in Coffinswell, we carried on ahead and
then came across an arrow on our left at the bottom of a footpath. ‘Oh
dear,’ I said (or words to that effect) ‘I think we have missed a mark’.
So back we went, and up we went, and up we went some more. By this
time, Pisswell and Missin (who had clearly NOT missed the arrow left)
were long gone and we were climbing the lonely road together. Beeflicker
stepped it up a gear and soon it was just me again, although I could
hear Beeflicker’s reassuring calls and see his torch light up ahead.
At
the eventual top of a very long and steep climb, we went right on to a
footpath through a field. I could see Beeflicker, but who else was
there? It was the co-Hare Man-Pig on his way across the path to locate
the lid of his flour container. ‘Great trail!’ I called. This was
hashing at its finest.
Through
the field and down a very gnarly and slippery woodland footpath, I
came across the arrow I’d seen earlier, only this time it was correctly
marked on the right! ‘Hooray’, I thought. I was really glad I had gone
back.
By
now, my legs were beginning to tire. Having been ill for a number of
weeks, I hadn’t run more than about 5K, so this route was testing me.
But I pulled myself together and carried on through Coffinswell, past
the Linney Inn which looked very inviting.
Up
ahead, I could hear talking and see torch light. One was definitely
Beeflicker, but who were the others? I pushed on to catch them up, and
did so just as we reached another gnarly and slippery footpath, marked
on the right. It was Pisswell and Missin, with Beeflicker. It was nice
to see them again.
So
up we climbed, and then down we went until we emerged from the
footpath to the primary school. We knew we were nearly back then – just
a quick run along the main road before we were directed left, and then
saw the happy ‘OH’ mark.
Great trail and nice to be back in Kingskesrwell again after a bit of a break. Thank you Shitfaced and Man-Pig!
Down-Downs:
Fukarwe - for disturbing the peace with 70’s soft rock and lots of
yawning in his wagon. Threesum –for bragging about her imminent
Caribbean cruise. Man-Pig – for a brilliant trail, despite marking a VP
out in the dark. Pisswell & Poacher – for a near death experience
(Poacher) and I’m not sure what Pisswell’s was for?
Next week:
We’re at The Bell in Bovey Tracey, circling up in the Station Rd car
park with Pocket Rocket’s virgin lay (with help from Poacher).
ON ON to next week, Well Hopped x
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