At the start circle the General Menace announced newlyweds BFG and Mrs Teggy-winkle and ensured that they had the traditional tin-can adornments plus a very fetching veil for BFG. Whereas most of us had turned up dressed as hashers a few had risen to the occasion so here’s a shot of tweedle-dum and tweedle-dee. They reminded me that this had originally been described as a “Weeding Hash” so they must have ditched their flower pots at the last minute.
The Gritty-Arsed Fox took over and announced the routes, saying something about them being designed for a quick run as there was business to do “on the hill”. She strongly advised the laggards (anyone slower than Helles Belles) to go short as the long route had no on-backs. Off we went right while the longs went elsewhere.
Immediately we noticed that the short (unconventionally these days) did indeed have on-backs. By the time we caught back up we were at a footpath level crossing of an obscure branch of the Chiltern line with a style either side. Mr Chips began to assist all the ladies to cross these styles. His motives were unclear but he might have been exacting a fee in some potato-based currency.
Not long after that we hit the Ridgeway and went left. Half way up the hill a detour was needed as Scribbler had driven up with a carload of goodies. A few of us were recruited as beer-bearers and carried the goodies to a small summit where a classic view awaited us. Soon, the longs were visible in the distance and it did not take long for them to arrive, after which we tucked into the beers and prosecco. It was time for another round of congratulations for the newlyweds and plenty of photos.
I had recently read a trash were Helles Belles suggested we might not want to recruit any large groups. So we better keep this photo to ourselves, or at least blank-out the booze.
Then it was a straight run to the On-Inn and the pub. Once there it was time for a notably short GM speech, more congratulations, drinks, cake and chips. Zac was let off the hook for speech-making but we can always get him on each anniversary.
At this point in the writing of a trash I start worrying about font size. Sooper’s algo reproduces your average Scribbler writeup down to 6 point. Not good for older readers so I’ll stop here.
Many thanks to team Nicky for putting this together and to Zac and Charlotte for providing the occasion. Just case it wasn’t clear, I know that every one of us wishes them all health and happiness.