Run 454 - 1st July 2001 - Farlington Railway Triangle

A bright a sunny morning met the depleted band of hashers who assembled on a deserted industrial estate in Farlington. Robin brightened up the proceedings by turning up in his Morris Minor 1000 now fully restored - Well done Can Man!
As the fateful hour approached the gallant hares Peter and Hugh looked despondently around knowing that their trail laying efforts would only be appreciated by a small band of faithful hashers, 6 runners, 2 walkers and 2 hares! Probably the smallest pack this year. It must be said that as we can always rely on Graham to turn up it would be less than gallant of us not to award him the nickname of Old Faithful.
A brief into by the JMs and a similar intro by the hares and we were off following the flour which led us fairly shortly over the train line by way of a footbridge (even hashers are not that silly) and into a nicely laid out estate reminiscent of the West Bank after a nasty altercation between opposing forces. The trail then led us through an artistically decorated underpass and onto the canal at Hilsea where the first check gave us plenty of opportunity to get lost in the maze of trails in the scrubland. Due to the extreme heat the pack did not attack the trails with the enthusiasm which they are noted for but kept at a gentle amble.
As the pack was so small it appeared that each member had their work cut out checking trails and soon we came upon the Hilsea ramparts with the abandoned lock ups beneath.
Although the trails were well laid and the spots fairly obvious the hares still managed to have us chasing our tails. At one point they had us crossing the A27 by way of a footbridge only to run around the bottom and then back on a big false loop. To make matters even worse we then came back upon the same check later in the run!
I have often mused upon it in the past but run number 454 made me reflect once again What do hashers do with their spare time to know about little paths behind deserted buildings and industrial estates? As these trails never appear on maps do we have a band of shady creatures skulking around these area by night as our pack members? Probably.
Well back to the trail. I could not in all honesty say that we went down this trail and back up that one for the obvious reason that most of the time the pack was hopelessly lost (except for Mussolini who kept muttering - Oh now I know where we are). We eventually came back to the footbridge check after a nice jog around Hilsea roundabout and back along the canal. The trail led us back to the first footbridge over the canal where a brief informal regroup was held until the pack came back upon the tunnel and into the West Bank again. The On Inn was spotted and as one man (well 9 men and one woman, Well done Rasta Pru) we bounded back towards the chariots.
As we collapsed with heat exhaustion near the car the masters awarded Pete Colgate the hashit for wearing the most outrageous sunglasses (new nickname - Shades) but were forced to fall back on the whip as Simon had forgotten to return the Hashit and Jill had the spare!
Apres hash refreshments were taken at the Manor House with their exotic gardens of spectacular dried grass. Many thanks to the hares. Humble Scribe