Run	Date	Hare(s)	Description	MapRef	1:50000	1:25000	1:10000	More
890	2018-03-04 11:00	Hairbrush	Lavington Common Car Park	SU949187

The "beast from the east" that had threatened to spoil our fun was nowhere to be seen in the almost warm hazy morning sun as a decent sized bunch of hashers gathered in the familiar car park.

No one new and no visitors, so straight into bygone news, I think Vixen said something about how David Attenborough was the first person to catch the Spanish Flu while playing Dungeons and Dragons with some guy called Garry.

Then we rushed off in the direction indicated by the Hares, a big mistake, as we were soon retracing our steps in the opposite direction, southwest across the road on to Lavington Common. Purely by chance Bika chose all the right ways to go, taking us on a clockwise loop to emerge at the crossroads.

A small group, Bika, Two Ferrets, Old Faithful and Bambi were suckered into heading northeast up Cathanger Lane before the rest found a better trail on the road back to the chariots. Before getting back to the car park for a very short hash the trail headed on the footpath north to Main Wood Cottage, across the lane (just yards short of where Old Faithful had got to on the falsie from the crossroads check) and headlong into Main Wood.

We were quite strung out by now, that is until we hit two fish hooks in quick succession. The first caught Bambi, Bika, Old Faithful, Dr Blood, Prancer and Olive Oyl, while the second caught Popeye, Two Ferrets, Snake Charmer and Dag, leaving Pocket Rocket all alone out front until he lost interest in hashing and started throwing sticks.

Now we re-crossed the lane and headed into the northern part of Duncton Common in and out of the rhododendrons and tall majestic pines heading southeast. Shiggy bog is the predominant surface in this area, the pack slowing to pick their way through the sink holes, all except Bika that is, who ran out of patience and with great bravado charged pell mell through the quagmire demonstrating the way to do it.

Then suddenly we emerged from the trees into the open heather which was just as treacherous however, importantly, heading southwest towards home plate.

It felt like we had been out for a long time, except that the watch revealed that as we reached the On-In an almost optimum time of one hour and five minutes of well mannered hashing had taken place.

We circled up and remembered to thank the hares this time before being admonished for a lack of vocal communication. There were no strange or unusual matters to occupy our attention, so the Hash-It was presented to Dr Blood to celebrate his first hash of the year and the imminent arrival of a grandchild that was on its way out into a brave new world as we charged off to The White Horse in Graffham.

We settled in to the warmth of an open fire, quaffed ale, and admired the still life paintings of wine bottles and fruit that decorate the walls.

On – On ! Bambi.

See: track