Flashing, dashing and hashing in Little Totham

A hash full of dangers and hidden meanings

My new satnav announced that I was to bear right on to Dee Arsey road (D'Arcy) and then left on to With Am road (Witham) so I arrived at The Swan pub in Little Totham chuckling to myself and fully prepared for more chuckles with the Mersea Island Hash House Harrier Runners. 

They never disappoint and as we waited to get the run underway 'Whowears' entertained us by announcing that people often wonder if he wears any shorts under his anorak and suddenly lifted up his coat to show us. There was a sharp intake of breath and some hands rapidly raised to shield eyes and a collective 'phew' as tonight's little red shorts were revealed!

Gentleman in red
'Whowears' demonstrates his inimitable sartorial finesse

The pub looked so inviting as we left some behind to enjoy an evening looking at life through beer coloured glasses. 

We won't be long!

It was 'on, on' however and we were soon off the road and running through the wheat fields surrounding the village. It was quite tough work running on the uneven ground now that it has become hard and dried out with the hot weather. 

Tonight's Hare gives out last orders and warns us there is good news and bad:
good is that there are no nettles (this proved an untruth)
bad news that those with a wheat allergy would have to beware (I think we all developed this allergy by the end of the evening)

Lots of animals were enjoying the cool of the evening and they looked quite perplexed when herds of harriers came thundering past. Dogs barked and whined, geese and swanlings (in-joke) hissed and hooted and some poor horses looked frozen to the spot at such a bizarre sight.

Bleeting fools - it takes one to know one!

Has a Hasher found the heat too much?
No it turns out to be a lake sized aerator

I'm telling you - mine is the brightest top here tonight!

Demonstrating 'on on'
(if you ever find yourself in the same colour top as this runner then change it immediately - you have been warned!)

It was a long run this evening which goes to show that villages with 'Little' in the title don't necessarily imply a short route.

Runners often encourage other Hashers
to search for the pile of sawdust

Lady in Red
That wheat packed a mean punch when it was catapulted at you by the runners
in front

There were some fast runners this evening and I dropped back a couple of times to catch my breath as I am finding the dust from harvesting and ripening crops quite irritating this year. I think it must be really difficult for hay fever sufferers and if you are a runner too that must be misery.

We are still enjoying light evenings and beautiful sunsets

You can see how spread out we become but Harriers use loop backs and
checks to keep the field together

There had been rain at the beginning of the evening but none while we were out and as the sun set the sky began to turn a beautiful rose colour.

The big sky of East Anglia looms over the
searching Hashers

Lots of the fields have now been harvested which means that you get more room to run but the surface is uneven and the resulting stubble can be quite sharp but it is all in a day's work to a Hasher.

The idea is not to hang around waiting to see if it is the right way!

Our 'Hare' looking after his all ages 'Hashers' 

Our Hare took pity on me and told me that the 'Jelly Babies' were about to run out and to get over quick to bag one. I caught the tail end of a conversation about nicknames on this blog and I joined in wondering who was making them up. Clearly I am still incognito but once or twice I was asked if I was the photographer putting things on the web. I have absolutely no idea who is doing that and I think they should stop immediately!

We never leave anyone behind but I have a feeling
that runner ends up working twice as hard as the rest of us because
every time they catch up we move off and they don't get a rest.
Click on the photo to see there is a runner there.

The 'Hare' had hoped that we would not be put off by having to go through a field where clay pigeon shooting was in progress but he didn't mention that we would also be meeting scary dogs and risking death by running past tractors loaded up with hay.

Our youngest runner taking on a tractor!

Making friends with a labrador - what we don't realise is that
we are about to enter the field where clay pigeon shooting is taking place.

It was soon time to run 'On Home' but before we got there we were treated to the most beautiful sunset and a double rainbow even without the rain. Spectacular.

Once we were back at the pub we were soon enjoying our drinks and the talk became quite fruity all about cherries, raspberries and roasted nuts.

We were amazed at the youthfulness of the Mersea Island Hash House Harriers in their photo of 1998 taken on Mersea Beach, especially 'On On' who was stunning in her leopard print bikini, which David showed us (the photo not the swimsuit). 

Another great Hash - every one a different one and all brilliant.

The Stats:

Mileage is 5.5 - I was having so much fun I forgot to turn on my watch

The things people say!

• Everyone was wearing green dresses and I just stopped myself slapping her bottom as she bent over to do up her shoelace because I remembered my wife wasn't wearing black shorts (I think we all know who that was!!)
• "There's no bed in there" (our Hare impressing us with his knowledge of the inside of a shed!)
• We missed the last of the three Peaks because we got lost using his new satnav device (always blame the technology!)

Finally, I just wanted to give a special shout out to Rebecca who ran with us despite having run over twenty miles in a 24 hour relay and Parkrun at the weekend and earned herself this lovely Thunder Run medal - congratulations Becci you are a wonderful runner and a great inspiration.

'On On' Becci