Newcastle Hash House Harriers Run No. 857

So I land in Newcastle upon Tyne on Tuesday evening after a 19hr flight – bored but excited. As I settle down in my small hotel room at Jesmond, I look up at the print out of important numbers that I had been carrying on me. Right down at the bottom of the list is a table which I had taken out of the Newcastle Hash House Harriers site. I walked up to a nearby public telephone put in recently exchanged 40pence and dialed for Keith “counterfit” Hudson only to reach his voice mail.
First day’s meetings got done early enough giving me sometime to check the distance and directions from Jesmond to The Victory at South Gorsforth. 1.3miles of walking distance, not too far at all. And with the Wednesday evening run starting at 7pm I had enough time to get running.
So off I go, asking around for directions to find the pub. I am dressed in a bright red Bangalore Hash Tee, black undershirt, shorts and complete with gloves and skull cap. But its not uncommon to see runners and bikers despite the 6-8deg temperatures.
There is no noise in The Victory when I enter and I check at the bar for a counterfit and receive a blank response. I walked out and waited. “you aren’t looking for the Hash, are you?” a bright young lady had walked up to me from inside the pub.
As I sat down chatting with Sue, the speedbump the hashers began to trickle in – counterfit, left hand job, incontinence, Obelix & Whatsarong. The run started at 10 past 7 with counterfit explaining the hash signs:
Circle is a running check, circle with a cross is a run-in check, square with a dot is a FRB check (the FRB strikes a pose as he waits till the last one passes!) and a T is a false trail. In 10mins time we were running along the river is some dense, dark, cold, slippery forest area with headlamps to help us spot the chalk. There were many checks along the way to keep us interested. In the 4-5mile run, we passed through four lanes, parks, the boulevard, a golf course, more dark, slippery forests and passed innumerable quiet, red-bricked houses with thatched roofs. Totem joined us mid-way during the run.

The circle was short and with so much cold around the butts needed no more ice and the Bud’s didn’t need no chilling. As I joined the circle in singing the down downs, I felt at home and already connected to the Newcastle hashers… So far but still so close…
I was treated to some fine pale Ale – the Timothy Taylor’s Landlord and the Pedigree at the Victory. The Landlord had an unmistakable mint herbal lingering taste, so different from the lagers of Bangalore!!
On On now to the Edinburgh Hash House Harriers…