Run	Date	Hare(s)	Description	MapRef	1:50000	1:25000	1:10000	More
949	2020-08-30 11:00	Mussolini & Pancsi & Snake Charmer	Eartham Woods	SU938106

Hashing in Eartham Wood is a bit like playing chess, we are all very familiar with the board however no two games are exactly the same. As the Hash develops the places that we have already been and where we are bound to return make the question, " here next?" more and more interesting. This of course is a purely hypothetical notion since the modus operandi of most hashers is to try and keep up with whoever has found the trail while the thought of cracking a can at the end gradually takes over their brain.

Three hares and a dog had turned out on this delightful morning and laid flour while yet again a person, who we assume identifies as a female, was observed methodically removing the trail. Pancsi engaged her in his usual polite manner, something along the lines of "Oy! yoo! what the el are you doin?".

Expecting a conversation revolving around poison to follow, he was surprised to hear "it's this flour yer, the dog's eatin it and it clogs im up". Pancsi thinks that's a good result as it puts an end to the dog leaving deposits all over the woods.

In any event the lady had little impact as we did not notice any lack of markings later on.

As hashers arrived, one hare, Mussolini departed, I did not ask why, leaving Snake Charmer and Pancsi to be our bubble monitors.

With little ado about anything, glistening sphere numero uno sped out in the dappled light of the high canopy of super tall beech, North towards the heart of the wood.

The elation of glorious running here, along the wide avenues of a natural cathedral, saw Bika disappear towards Mary's Wood while he hallucinated a trail.

Meanwhile the rest of us checked out real flour and headed East into the heavier flora of the wood. Bika had just managed to catch up when we hit a fish hook that caught Bika, Kinky, Bambi and Spiderman.

Next we headed South on a long charge downhill to meet Stane Street, the full shade and soft loam giving way to the glare and hard chalk of the Roman road.

Unsurprisingly another fish hook had been thrown into this section, which caught Kinky, Bika, Sinbad and Sonic.

We all knew where we were, on this ancient path and again it was not surprising that we made the climb to the seat at the seven way junction at the edge of the wood.

A bit of nattering here, deciphering the lettering that is carved on the stout oak signpost behind the seat.

As with many times in the past, this was the pivotal point of the hash, no one is going to continue on up The Gumber, so it is either North or South, today it was South into North Wood. (Confused? well so is OS where the position North Wood changes with the scale of the map).

Anyway, back to the tale, here we were pleased to meet Popeye and Meg who had playing catch up, big time. Popeye had not noticed the small print in Spiderman's email asking all regardless of bubble to arrive by eleven, ignorance is no defence me lud, we rest the case.

Seeing as how we had now been out for a good long time we were pleased to follow Kinky as he made an unlikely series of correct choices all West back to the chariots, reaching the On-In after one hour and fifteen minutes of viral hashing.

The picnic area off the car park was perfect for a distanced gathering, where we gave thanks to the hares and realised that Pink Flamingo and Spiderwoman were missing, thank goodness for mobiles.

We wished canman a Happy Birthday for the next day, he is really ancient now.

There was some quite serious discussion on the subject of how we organise viral hashing, we must have been sober for a change.

On On ! Bambi

See: SM's track ... AND ... photos