Our hash on Thursday night did not get off to an auspicious start. Five minutes into the trail, after a series of apparently random arrows and checks (see map below) the pack found itself looping back to the Triple Crown, our startling pub! Hooray, thought some of us, the prize for the shortest trail ever goes to hare Generator. Now time for some serious drinking! But it was not to be. A chalked On-On outside the pub indicated that the trail continued into the wilds of Richmond. To be fair, from that point onward, the trail was quite well (if somewhat eccentrically) marked and most of us managed to navigate round a scenic route, encompassing the Old Deer Park, Thames towpath, and Orleans Park to end up at a riverside drink stop.
At the drink stop, in addition to a warming glass of port, the hare served up some very tasty Stilton tart and chocolate truffle cake, both of which were were well received . Then back to the Triple Crown where we were welcomed by a totally bonkers, but very friendly, landlord, who was clearly very pleased to have the extra custom on what would otherwise have been a very quiet weekday evening. RA duties were ably performed by Whacker, and down-downs duly dispensed. One lucky returnee hasher was delighted to be invited to drink his down-down from his, until then, pristine new running shoes. Apparently it didn’t taste too bad. Social drinking continued into the night and the landlord was persuaded to put on another barrel of beer, so a good outcome all round I would say.