Here is a map showing locations of some of the WLH runs during 2016.  Clicking on a run location will allow you to view the trail for that run.

Hopefully this will be helpful if you are a hare trying to decide where to set your next trail.

To tear a group or eaters and drinkers away from a perfectly serviceable pub offering dinner and beer combined for less than £5 is less than gentlemanly, to encourage them out into the cold is even less so, but this was Funky Gibbons lot for Hash 1426. Starting in close proximity from a tube station however was a welcome change helping to avoiding the 2.5 hour homeward journey endured by various hashers the previous week.

With the presence of visitors confirmed, Post Anal Drip began his explanation of the bizarre feature of hashing in San Diego – mainly that they were very fast hashers as the proliferation of Kenyan distances runners running out of the 11 kennels frequently led to confusion. Stayover explained this later in crystal clear terms only a legal mind could master…

A brisk on on to the left, down and over some main roads soon placed the pack in a number of fiendish but well marked checks before taking the clean trainered and (for the most part) un-torch equipped into the dark, the long cold dark muddy mess overlooking North London, at times lending wonder to where, exactly, one & the pack could be. Up round and through the passage ways however and one could be left with no doubt as the regroup permitted a wonderful nighttime view of that continual theater of disappointment, Wembly Stadium.

Down down and through some backyards into a stop for some well deserved and very welcome refreshments in the form of those well known January treats of jelly babies and Licorice all sorts, but more importantly the nip of gods own supply, just to keep the chill out, you know?

Back through the off road, through what should have dirtied the footwear of all, through and over more fields, (but no dogging locations this week) and then back to the inn, for dinns, and downs.

As a relative newcomer to the sport there are two things learned this week. 1) Never wash your trainers and then take them to the hash/never wear new socks either. 2) never eat the ‘mega’ size curry before the down downs start, not unless the rennies are close to hand.

As the pack had consisted of many ‘men’ who, frankly don’t know what cold means only 3 hardy Scots set forth in shorts, and for such a heinous crime such as showing the English up, were promptly reminded not to do so again… as was highlighted, the carpet was clearly designed to hide and potential re-visitations from the Mega curry, but thankfully this went untested.

Lessons learned, humm, now to apply them…

On On

Watering Matilda

This trail evoked a double first in run write ups, it inspired the first ever run write up in verse, appropriately by Shakesbeer and a second run write up from Kenny. Perhaps this makes up for Pope’s run the previous week that failed to inspire even a single write up!

First the words of the immortal Bard:-

Thus appointed, I know that I can well
tell the tale of a hash set in Hanwell,
In the wilds of Zone Four
where the transport’s a bore,
thus requiring all hashers to plan well.

So with Rambo performing as hare,
we were told: “Bring dry socks and shoes (spare),
a strong torch, and a bit
of a First Aid Field Kit.”
(That’s for Pope, just in case of a scare.)

From the Viaduct did the pack dash
with an “On On” their torches did flash.
But a gloomy canal
was the threatening locale
where The Optimist almost went SPLASH!

Through the shiggy, the mud and the dark,
past some barbed wire and then through a park,
in a golf course, o’er ridges,
and somewhere near Three Bridges,
we all ran, vainly seeking a mark.

At each check from the front of the pack
the hounds ran, seeking forth in the black.
But the hare – tricky bloke –
was just having a joke.
Every damned time we had to turn back!

And then each of the pack had to choose
’cause the hare clearly planned to abuse.
Jump the stream, or get wet?
An amusing vignette…
It’s no wonder we needed dry shoes.

‘Neath the viaduct built by Brunel
(Though in darkness who really could tell?)
came the cry of “On Inn!”
and each hasher did grin
for the end of that cold, muddy Hell.

Then came Circle with singing and jeers
and the swift distribution of beers.
First our dear Rambo drank
so the pack could says thanks
for the hashiest trail set in years.

Also Kenny was chosen and cursed
and soon drank, having worked up a thirst.
FRB at the end,
she just could not defend
her rash boast of: “I’ve never been first!”

Also Shakesbeer (though memory’s hazy)
and then Stayover’s hat, which looked crazy,
then came Tablewhine, Ryde,
and The Optimist’s slide,
and Yam Gurning got one ’cause he’s lazy.

The way home caused a near self-destruct.
Every train from that station was fukd.
Though the trail did not lack,
please let’s NEVER go back,
‘Cause the trip home from Hanwell just SUCKED.

That’s the tale of the huffing and puffing,
and the Circle of bullshit and bluffing,
Now your scribe is set free,
though I think you’ll agree
that they don’t call her Shakesbeer for nothing.

Now, Kenny’s Prose

It was on a dark, dark night on a dark, dark river, canal, football
pitch, dogging spot, park, alley, street and golf course that, Rambo
laid a terriffic off-road route through a surprisingly rural Hanwell.

It was shiggy to the left, shiggy to the right. Shiggy all over
Optimist when he fell in the brambles and then again in the stream
(not quite the wet bush he was hoping for)! Mad Cow also enjoyed the
terrain and was spotted taking to all fours.

Tablewhine and Ryde were reunited with some long lost (before Xmas)
property – a merkin and associated head gear, whilst Stayover
was also reunited with his “Slapper on Tour” hat.

If the Canadian, Shakesbeer is anything to go by our economy is going
nowhere fast as it took her 49 hrs to get from Canada to Heathrow.

May the hash grow in strength from now and forever, Amen.

Escaping Metro-land (courtesy of WikiPedia)
Some abhorred Metro-land for its predictability and sameness. A. N. Wilson observed that, although semi-detached dwellings of the kind built in the inner Metro-land suburbs in the 1930s “aped larger houses, the stockbroker Tudorbethan of Edwardian Surrey and Middlesex”, they were in fact “pokey”.
He reflected that:
as [the husband] went off to the nearest station every morning … the wife, half liberated and half slave, stayed behind wondering how many of the newly invented domestic appliances they could afford to purchase, and how long the man would hold on to his job in the Slump. No wonder, when war came, that so many of these suburban prisoners felt a sense of release.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

With only 362 days remaining until the end of the year WLH3 convened on a mild dry night at Wetherspoons Village Inn, Rayners Lane.
Wacker defied such “predictabilty and sameness” with a deftly laid trail of uncertainty within the Rayners Lane ~ Harrow-On-The-Hill ~ South Harrow tube station triangle or referred to by the local youngsters as the PinHarr strip. Of note is its “twinning” with a similar area of Brazilia.
The quietness of the suburban streets was soon shattered with the usual hash cries; the constant orange glow of the sodium street lamps was pierced with white light from head and hand torches.
The trail took us to towards the “mysterious” east through one or two residential streets in the direction of St Mary’s church on Harrow Hill. However the trail veered left through West Harrow Rec, renowned for its plentiful high quality grass, on this occasion none of it in use!
The trail then passed through West Harrow heartlands and onwards towards North Harrow and on on in the Pinner direction passing through Yeading Brook open space and climbing up The Ridgeway to reach the high point and left down the Rayners Lane hill. A short cut with a bit of “blind” chiggi did not catch anyone out under the distant watch of Wacker.
Kenny following her down down for jingle bells on last weeks run had repacked her bum bag and was running all the way with only one jingle bell! Next week a silent night!?
We entered Pinner returning via Cannon Lane where at its southern most end the trail literally seemed to have “done a runner” through Roxbourne Park, where a Close Encounter of the Thora Hird kind was just avoided, High Worple and past the Art deco ex Odeon Cinema now the Zoroastrian centre.
Back at The Village Inn Neil (currently unnamed) as a frontrunner seemed undaunted at leaving NutSucker (or Netsucke as Word Spell check would have it, whats a Netsuke you may well ask… go figure for yourself!) behind from the run start. Later Nutsucke and FreeLoader arriving “On Inn” together some 20mins after the main pack, both claiming injuries!
Outside under a canopy at the back of The Village Inn, lights on press button timer’s, simple JD style austerity, downs downs RA’ide by MadCow.
Sinners were; Hot’ N ‘ Juicy (visitor), Neil (pimping out?), The Optimist (blind bastard(both correct!)), RoadKill (malingering bastard) , Bhopal (lost property), GayLick (Lack of Navigation) , Nutsucke (lost property), Pope (second guessing) and Laura (Sugar Daddy?!).
A few SB’s, a few curry’s plus free beer for £5.75 and then back out to ML.
Thanks to JD’s bar staff.
On, on to The Viaduct with possible bat sightings!
The Optimist

The WLH3 Doomsday cult met for their last run (well we’ll know at 11.11am on Friday 21 December) in the mesmeric location of the Grosvenor pub in Pimlico. No passports were required as the pack were left to ponder if our last ever hare, Eagermount – ably aided by Queen Viper, would set us on the path to spiritual transformation. We were assured by the Hare it was going to be a short journey to the end of the world, with no false trails along the way, so with the divine intervention of the RA to clear the rain clouds off went the pack towards the river at Vauxhall.

A cunning first check left all but the most hardy hashers wishing the world would end. No-one took the easy way out and jumped off Vauxhall Bridge so with the valiant efforts of the few front runners the pack was off and running again past the sights you would not want to see before the end of the world. The drab culture of the Tate Gallery; the boring home of Channel 4; the towering edifice of London’s finest gate keepers at New Scotland Yard. A rather dubious double false trail in St James’s set the pack off looking for sanctuary outside Westminster Cathedral (surprisingly not full with the Pope’s imminent arrival) and then finally off to the very end of the world – Pimlico council estate.

Safely back in the Grosvenor, Hash Cash decided that all should repent and donate the last of their money to the WLH3 raffle with the promise of a bottle of virgin blood for the lucky doomsday hasher. The start of the galactic alignment then began to manifest itself to the tuneless lament of Martian Matron as the bar was transformed by food and more food and even more food – in fact as much food as has ever been seen on WLH3 since Mayan times. Replete with full stomachs the assembled hordes paid worship in the final circle.

Amongst those honoured were Eagermount and Queen Viper as the first lambs to the slaughter and lo it was deemed a good run. A weary traveller visiting from Las Vegas – UFC and virgin Jim from Des Moines Iowa were made to suffer warm ale and West London ribaldry. Casual was returning to donate his wealth to the Hash as he no longer had need for worldly possessions, along with hash groupie and drink scrounger Daisy. The remaining relic and former Mayan Hash RA, Drain Oil, then blessed the circle and opened the gate to hell.

The global reach of WLH3 was then laid bare with tales of sin, debauchery and drunkenness in London, Brussels and beyond. Spare Rib, Dingo, Optimist and Stay Over all guilty of crimes and bringing hash shame. Tales of further debauchery over the years – a mooning Periodical at the Finnish/Russian border in 1996 (he was wearing the very same trousers last night ); Pope’s n*ked escapades in a bar in SE Asia over 30 years ago and Love Deuce pole dancing in his memory. Finally sanity was restored as the WLH3 worshiped the God that is Rolf Harris. On 20 December 1969 Two Little Boys was number one so it was singalonga Rolf with lookalike More On. Amazing. As the final climax to the evening Stay Over was voted Hash Slapper of all time before Mad Cow was honoured for spending all the hash funds. We don’t need them in 2013 do we?

Finally a big thanks to Paul the landlord for the food and the many free beers donated for the circle – Cheers

On On
Wacker

The pack assembled slowly and quietly. Clearly some Hasher’s, on approaching the pub, sensed the funeral like atmosphere. “Who died?” was not a helpful question to ask the bar-staff who seemed suitable overwhelmed that more than 10 people were in the pub at the same time. Butt Plug was the hare for run 1420 which saw over 25 Hasher’s and a couple of yet-to-be-named returnees gather.

Waddling-off in the direction of Bushy Park we first hit the usual suburban obstacles of lamp-posts, car doors and dog poo. However “tis-the-season” the crazy Christmas lights of Teddington drew some “oohs & aaahhs”. Some Hasher’s are easily distracted. On entering the dark, misty fields of Bushy Park, Skylark remarked it was “like a film, how atmospheric?”…unlike the pub.

There was a distinct shortage of loud “ON-ON’s”. I know I’m new but if you’re up front leading the pack make sure the calls are loud so we know where you are and check that someone is following you! The trial was great though. Meandering through the park in the dark was a lark. The obstacles were also slightly more fun: deer, ponds, ice and the sheer darkness…or as Skylark called it, atmosphere.

Stayover had been complimenting Butt Plug on his previous drinks stop most of the way around. Everyone he spoke to must have heard about it. He’d mentioned it about every 250 metres. Towards the end though Stayover slowly realised that there wouldn’t be one. The compliments soon changed to moaning about every 25 metres.

On arrival back at the pub “the Wake” had cleared but the depression hadn’t lifted. Things soon livened-up though when a loud yelp echoed through the venue as Dingo attacked the pub dog. Dingo claims not to have seen it but others say it was a pre-meditated assault. Luckily the pub didn’t have a cat, otherwise Dingo would live-up to her full name.

The down-downs were slowly consumed. Perhaps the dropping temperature iced-up the ale on its way down the throat. Stayover was annoyed with the lack of an RA and continued to moan, clearly he’d still not got over the lack of a drinks stop. Ian & Matilda were our returnees who are perhaps now overdue a naming. Ian seems to have missed the drinking point of Hashing by claiming to be allergic to ale. I think The Pack may require medical documentation to prove this.

I liked the trail though, well done Butt Plug.

See you all next week.

Next Week.

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This was hared by Rent Boy who did a good job despite having to work within the constraints of having to get the pack out of Richmond Park before bullets started whistling around our ears. Tango was fashionably late and, wisely, aborted an attempt to follow the trail upon reading the notices on the park gates that old deers were being culled using high powered rifles; the Richmond Care Pathway as it is known locally. Anyway, the run write up proper, below, comes courtesy of Pope and is uncharacteristically succinct; normally Pope does not belief in using half a dozen words when a thousand will do and bore everybody senseless at the same time. On On FF

Good run in Richmond park and Petersham Meadows with a self-financed beer stop at the Roebuck. Nobody was shot mistakenly instead of the deer as part of the cull (although there were some suggestions of tying antlers to a certain hashers head). We had 10+ visitors primarily from the Dog’s bollocks New York hash and two virgins. The pub despite not being pre warned about Down Downs gave us the beers for free. Downs Downs were short and sweet .
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