Run Details

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2485 - The Jack and Jill Inn, Clayton

Walkers:
The venue was the Jack & Jill, nestled at the foot of the Downs. The Hare, Whose Shout, had planned 3 alternative routes for us! This was really thoughtful, as not all walkers are capable of long distances, and some are not capable of hills, and some are not fond of cows… and some just want to get out there and really stretch their legs a lot! So we set off, about 10 of us, on the Runners trail to start off along the Underhill lane. Lovely hues of a deepening red sunset before us lured us on, as we strolled between hedgerows along that quiet road. Rounding a bend in the road, we headed North along the lane that leads past Danny House. After a short distance, the pack decided to split up, with the speedier ones heading on towards Danny, and us slower beings taking a footpath to the West. We went over a stile at the side of someone’s front drive, and across the field ahead. It was very well grazed, but at least the sheep had been able to get something to eat, unlike the fields we had been seeing in previous weeks, burnt brown in the drought. BTB seemed very familiar with the terrain, and so we were delighted to be guided by his expertise. Leaving Hautboyes Farm behind, we crossed more fields, passed along the edge of a wood, and came to a well-made track at Coldharbour Farm. Turning North, up the track, with some well-kept houses and gardens there, we went further up the side of that wood, until a right turn took us away and towards the A273. At the road itself BTB suggested that we had time to go further, and stay off the busy road, to which plan we all agreed. Going past the Green Burial Ground, we soon came to a railway bridge, where we turned again, down a cinder track. A couple of trains sped past, but were hidden behind the verdant trees and bushes along the cutting… And so coming to the road, almost opposite the pub! - OOD

Runners:
With a request to get names down early for the pub to know, or perhaps because everyone's holidays had ended, a 30+ pack gathered at The Jack and Jill Inn. Being the last run of September, the sun had just dipped below the horizon as we set off W towards it up New Way Lane, although not after some confusion at the check and marks found opposite at the footpath parallel to the railway (reading OOD's report, it looks like FRBs may have caught the tail-end of a walks' route). Checks up New Way Lane would see the pack taking the second footpath S about 300m before a check in the woods would see the pack bunching back up, the hare lost and convinced someone had removed his toilet paper. Following a temporary 'live trail', the S edge of the woods would be skirted around (true trail 'somewhere in there', to quote the hare!) until picked back up at the gate, with a rather confusing Check AND Arrow mark partway down the hill really confusing everyone and seeing WT running back up that hill (unnecessarily). A sharp turn N in the path would be ignored, the hare instead deciding that the pack should scramble up the hill (literally 'scramble' as everyone was on all fours up a dust-slippery 45 degree incline); LS would be too quick for me to get the obligatory swing photo, running straight up to the check and (along with PW and myself) stupidly checking up another steep gradient SW towards the peak of Wolstonbury Hill when true trail was the other way. With the same path picked back up, trail continued snaking down and around N, then E, back to the corner of New Way Lane. A fishhook here would see a little confusion as more headtorches could be seen further back but the last r*nner was sure they were the back and that that must be wa*kers - as it turned out (back at the pub) those headtorches belonged Bouncer, Gromit and Rocks On. Continuing N along New Way Lane, the main pack would head up the track to Danny House whereas the back 3 would instead carry on along New Way Lane. Around Danny House (for most of us anyway!) and through the fields would see another fishhook turning FRBs around; this time, LS and myself would see a lone headtorch behind us and (convinced that I hadn't seen PW since the 45 degree hill) we two would return to him, stretching out the pack just that little more. Trail would continue E, over the road to Danny House, before turning back to and S down New Way Lane. E along the footpath, that the back 3 would have taken only a few minutes earlier, another FH would see the pack now bunched up again, before SE down through the fields to Brighton Road (A273) an On Inn, albeit with a diversion into the adjacent field and a little gate-hopping! - Nasty Nips


Back at the pub...
… and assembled in the Function Room (I've hared from here a few times and didn't even know this existed!), I noted that my usual "Here's to the Hare" had to be replaced for Whose Shout tonight with "The Grand Ol' Duke of York" due to the inclines and declines we saw! Next up, and having last week pointed out our oft-Down Downing each other, it was of course Bouncer up. The charge? Why, he'd done his 1200th hash. Actually, it was some weeks back but I kept forgetting, even with Post-It Note stuck to the front of my book! 😀 DD to "Get a Life" of course. Only a few steps away, Bouncer was called back for the 'sin' of being forgotten about at one of the FHs, accompanied by Pondweed who had likewise been forgotten at a later FH but managed to catch up when RIB, LS and myself spotted his lone headtorch off in the distance; DD to "DD Song". A Lost Property charge was levied (AGAIN) to Psyclepath for leaving his water bottle behind (AGAIN) after a recent hash; nomination to PD, and DD to "10,9,8". Virgin "Just Gina" would then be called up, answering the questions as Long: Yes, Hard: Yes, Who: Peter (WS), and Again: Yes; DD to "She's Alright." Handing over to Wilds Thing to award the Numpty Mug, WT would note that the 'actual' Numpty Mug is with "that guy who used to come all the time and who's shagging that girl"! Reference, of course, to Lily The Pink (the other Numpty Mug being with Fridge); Numpty Mug award to WS for losing his way on his own hash! DD to, of course, "Stupid". And, before details of the hash and the toast would be given, WT also gave a quick update on KIU and WB, who everyone was glad to hear have now bought a house Down Under. And so endeth another great hash. - Nasty Nips