After seemingly endless weeks of lockdown, nothing could beat the joy of West London Hashers getting back together again to run around the streets of Pinner, as envisioned by our hare, Mad Cow. Realising that most of us wanted to minimise the running aspects of the evening to concentrate on the drinking part, he thankfully provided us with a short (~6km) trail ending up near the park – which was already full of other groups of non-hashing drinkers. Being April Fool’s Day, we should have been prepared for some surprises, but it took some of us a while to realise that Mad Cow really had replaced his usual sumptuous gourmet drink stop buffet with a box of chocolates. Luckily there was plenty of beer to keep the socialising well lubricated, not that the assembled hashers needed much encouragement.

Final pre-lockdown hash of 2020 hared by Pope, complete with Santa hats and a few fairy lights.

Our first WLH run after lockdown #2 was hared by Wacker, and took the pack around the streets and parks of South Kenton. The customary WLH drink stop was provided, but unfortunately the pack had to forego the usual hospitality of the Windermere pub, which unfortunately remains closed during the current restrictions.

Our traditional annual fireworks run was hared by Man Magnet, with firework and drink stop assistance from Pickled Fart.

This year’s Halloween Run was hared by Casting Slouch and took us around the spooky, and somewhat muddy, interior of Richmond Park. And what a run it was, with abundant shiggy on the first stretch making the going somewhat treacherous for the unwary hasher. Did I mention drink stops? Casting Slouch had laid on no fewer than four drink/treat stops, each manned by a ghoulish helper and providing a range of alcoholic refreshments, including jellies, cocktails (some variant on an Old-Fashioned, as I recall), cider++, and good old beer. Treats included brownies and spiced pumpkin cookies. And the hare sensibly kept the trail to a reasonable length in view of the difficulty of getting around Richmond Park in the dark, and the need to spend some time socialising at the numerous drink stops. (Note for future hares: no hare has ever got a down-down for setting too short a trail.)

It was generally agreed that this Halloween Trail would be a hard act to follow. Well done Slouch!

Run around Harrow-on-the-Hill, hared by Roadkill.

This weeks run was hared by Minge & Tonic, and took us on a tour around some of Twickenham’s highlights (and lowlights). We finished up for a drink stop on the riverside, opposite Eel Pie Island, after which the pack split up into smaller groups and headed for the local pubs for what will be our last indoor socialising for a while. Come 10pm, we were all chucked out of our respective pubs, but this was not the end of the evening. It turned out that some how we had not managed to drink all the drinkstop beer at our first attempt, so Minge & Tonic invited us to reconvene back at the riverside to rectify that oversight. Many of us gladly accepted that invitation.

Run hared by Stayover.

Trail map credit: Sir Humpalot

This weeks staggered WLH trail was hared by Contour, assisted by Last Tango, and took us from Strawberry Hill station, via a twisty route though the Crane River Park, all the way to Richmond, taking in a riverside drink stop by Richmond bridge.