Get Wild in Wilderness Weekend

The Bangalore Hash was in Masanagudi, the Elephant territory for the Independence Day weekend… We were hosted by Mahindra resorts, a beautiful forest property in the foot of magnificent Nilgiri hills.

Day 1 - Run No. 534 – Jumbo screw-up run
Three Hash Booses full of Hashers were smuggled across the Karnataka border to get “Wild in the Wilderness”. The hares had plans to get us high and the evening run took us high up nearby hills for some spectacular views. The herds did chase the hashers on many occasions, but they were herds of cattle and not Pachyderms and the hashers survived the Jumbo screw-up.
Circle Points:
· Hares – Beep Beep, Flame thrower, Sky High & Pervert Producer iced for laying the wild trail in the Masanagudi wilderness, even as Half moon gave a demonstration of the jumbo sized latex umbrella covers
· Rigor Mortis was charged for stiffening up early in the morning and getting everyone late
· Hybrid was charged for being competitive at the Urban Stampede; he complained that “Unintended Acceleration” was the cause. However, the charge was not ‘recalled’. Vinnie the Pooh also joined Hybrid on the ice for making the legal charge
· Our dear Sponsors - Flame thrower, Sky High & Hybrid were iced for their generosity
· Loan Shark & Roopa were iced for not being able to hide their curiosity regarding Beep Beep’s perfectly shaped blobs. Beep Beep cooled himself on the ice as he explained these damsels, how he used certain ‘un-used assets’ for marking the trail
· Virgins – Roopasree, Anshu, Anup , Suresh, Roopa were iced for having turned up at the Hash
· Pox Docs – Roshan, Dinesh, Suresh & Manjunath were given the Rx-only Hash medicine – the amber syrup
· Beep Beep welcomed the Bangalore hashers on behalf of the first family of Chennai. CM Karunanidhi look-a-like ‘No H2O no Hair’, Stalin look-alike ‘wrong circle’, Azhagiri look-a-like He-Ma and Kanimozhi look-alike Kate were iced as Beep Beep walked the hashers through the history of the polygamous CM and his kin
Live Junglee beats over barbeque got us out of our cottages to dancing, beers, party and dinner in the eerie settings…

Day 2 - Run No. 535 – Jumbo Jumbo Jumbo Ass run
On this Independence day, the hashers were packed into Booses and driven up Kalhatti in search of the hares for the recovery run. Some ran, others ambled, while few others rolled down the Nilgiri hills, till they chanced upon loud trumpets and 3 elephants!!! On seeing the BH3 hashers, the Jumbos did a quick hair-pin turn and scurried into the bushes!!

Circle Points:

· Hares – Half moon, Vinnie the Pooh & Crushed Nuts were iced for surviving the Elephants and the Elephant dung while laying the wild trail
· Amit joined them for complimenting the run
· Dinesh, Roopa and yet another Roopa were invited on the ice for ‘not coming’
· There were some British who stayed back in India after Independence and 63 years on, He-Ma, Wrong circle, Vaseline, Friction Nipples were iced for not ‘Quitting India’
· Michael Muthuraj Richard was given a well deserved down down, for hosting us at Casa Deep Woods. He was christened “Squirrel Heart” by all and sundry. Raju & Suresh joined him for more down downs
· Half moon and Jingle balls were iced for using their bikes to look for the tigers in the jungle
· Flame Thrower,Sky High, Pervert Producer, Jingle balls, Vaseline & Push Mush were iced for mis-managing the Wild weekend
· Ex-GMs led the circle to sing the national anthem in chorus to celebrate the 63rd Independence day!

On On

Copy Paste Weekend

If I were given a chance to Copy-Paste, I would copy-paste the last weekend to a lot of upcoming weekends. There were runs, rides and long drives; hills and trails, rains and sun. There was sweat, slush, shivers and spasms. There was mom’s food, chats and Beer. There were friends, family, near ones and very near ones. We were extravagant and we were thrifty.

It was complete on most measures; on the measure of time - 'was 23rd April to 25th April.
Friday evening started with the actor screaming ‘sweet leaping Jesus’. This was followed by a quick trial and buying a new Schwinn Searcher Sport – a hybrid bike for Shreya from Track and Trail. Shreya immediately felt comfortable enough to ride it back home in peak traffic!

We answered Sabine’s call to run at Nandi and woke up at 4am to drive to Nandi hills. It was a pretty bunch – Sunil, Sabine, Sindhu, Shreya and Jaggi. We ran up, in short sprint bursts to the top and jogged our way down.

The evening rains in Bangalore are making the early mornings very pleasant indeed. Shreya and I cycled about 16k inside and around the GKVK campus. We snaked around the gravel roads, the fields, the new roads around the campus – was beautiful.
The perfect finish – a hash run at Hoskote, joined by Raghu, Shreya and the rain gods came down visiting. The Beers and the drive, set a perfect stage for the IPL finals.
Ctrl+C… Ctrl+V??

Rehashing Nash Hash at Araku - as it unfolds

Day 1 - 23rd Jan, '10: Sun n Sands at Vizag

Savoring in, the view from the hotel room, overlooking the beach, the pier, the speed boats from the luxury of a perched up, A/c room at Rishikonda Beach Resort at Vizag.

Run1: In true mismanagement style, the rego happened an hour late and it did take a while before the 150+ (no one knows the actual numbers) got into yellow tees. The run was laid by the Hyderabad hashers. It was a bloody run, right over some hills we could see from our resort. The trail was thorny, rocky, slippery and marked somewhat. Shreya and I stuck to the runners trail. After we had survived the first 7k or so, the trail ended at the shore. We ran towards the distant lights of the resort, in fading twilight, along the shore. Check this trail hugging the shore-line. It was awesome!

Well, if you thought the run was mismanaged, you should have seen the circle!! Can the hashers be civilized to queue-up? Yes, they do anything for Beer. So there was, this never-ending line in front of this one Beer keg! The circle was a quick one - the Malaysians were iced (they were a bunch), the hares were given down downs over the announcement of the 5am (yes, 5am) start the next morning. The theme for the pardee was 'the 60s'. People didn't party much back then, I suppose. There wasn't much of a party.

Day2 - On On to Araku...but first the 'rail check'

Rail Check - Sunday, 4am!

Wake-up call, so we could get packed to leave by 5:20, to catch the train to Araku at 6:50. Ok, so on on we went in 'booses' to the station.

We march into the railway platform like kids on a school excursion - in a single line, in pairs, in uniform, with no luggage/money, packed lunch in hand and in total nonchalance. But hey, make no mistake, we weren't kids (atleast kids have some brains) we are Hashers who don't.

Well, the plan was for the AP tourism guys to save two unreserved compartments for us. That didn’t happen and the hashers settled down (albeit noisily) in the reserved compartments. The problem was it was not reserved for us. So, when the guys with the reservations came in, there was high drama – some were elbowed, others were reasoned with, most were ‘adjusted’. All was well, till there was a railway announcement for all people without tickets to move out of that Kirandul passenger. Ha ha ha, and we stormed out of the train, making a lot of noise. The song and dance continued outside the station too, till we waited for the booses to take us to Borra caves.

Borra Caves & Run 2:

We strolled into through the Borra caves – stuffy with all the limestone, stalactites, stalagmites and the bleaching powder (to keep away the bats). After spending an hour or so in the caves, we were ready for the run, which started at 11.
The trail took us up and down the hills of Araku. The runners looped some extra, while the walkers ambled along. We climbed hills, some steep ones, crossed little streams, walked on field bunds, through a 300mt railway tunnel, along across a railway bridge, a water stop, before we climbed and climbed a never-ending uphill trail taking us to the Ananthagiri hill resort for lunch and the sacred juice.

It was a tough one for Shreya I would think – the walkers also stuck to most of the runners’ trail. She did have a lot of Tamil MH3 hashers for company. It must have been an 8k for the walkers, I took 2hrs for the 12.5k!!

The circle was very entertaining – first Hyderabad hashers Venki Charade, Obelix & Chicken shit took turns with the horn. But the honors should go to the Malaysian hasher with his ‘Engineer song’ that went “Ah-hum titty-bum titty-bum titty-bum”. Shreya was iced & given a down down with the “She’s alright” song.

A 30km drive took us all weary hashers to our Haritha hotels at Araku for some much-needed rest. We were ready to rock at dinner time – the Mr. & Miss. Nash Hash titles, the Hash skits and the party.

Day 3 – The Ball breaker
The ball breaker is a very long run in tough hash trails usually in the range of about 20kms. Jugy & Navin wanted to do a 35k as a part of the training for the Auroville marathon next month, and I decided to join them. So we ran a 15k in the valley on the road towards Orrisa border and then did the Ball breaker. The BB was about 15k or so, taking a good 2.5hrs up and down steep hills. We completed another 3.5k and back to finish our quota of 37k for the day. It sure was good time-on-feet training, nearly 5.5hrs (1:45+2:30+0:57) at the end of which I had begun to cramp.
Pick a spot in a map, land there, pick a direction and run. While we ran the first 15, I saw this hill with a patch of bare earth and wondered how it would be to run up that. In less than a couple of hours, we were actually doing just that on the ball breaker. At the end of the ordeal, I had 2 bruises, one wet and muddy right shoe to show off as trophies!!

And while I was busy with all the mileage, Mrs. Phatphatia was baptized “loan shark” at the circle (her 5th hash run). It was a Hyderabadi cusine with biryani, dahi vada, puliyogare, gongura chutney, etc, etc.

The tribal dance show replaced the Dance hash and the party, we hit the sack early after a continental dinner. We missed the recovery runs to catch the early flight out of Vizag. On On

Countryside Overdose

Saturday Northern Loop

9th Jan 2010: This was 'my' virgin route. I was always wanting to ride up this loop from Hebbal > Devanahalli > right on to the Devanahalli Hospet road > Gummanahalli > Bagalur > Hebbal.
This loop is about 80kms and we took 4:05hours to do it. 'We' on this ride were me, Venkat and Dinesh; the bikes were 2 Giants and a Rockrider 8.2.


The route is fantastic, ideally one should cover the distance to Devanahalli on the Airport road in the wee hours to avoid traffic. Once in Devanahalli and off the highway into NH207, towards Singahalli, you get into some neat countryside - fields, villages, good rolling roads and limited traffic and with it the fresh air, the visuals, the sun.


The route offers multiple possibilities for loops of different distances. Roads have been freshly laid right upto Bagalur, the rest is a fast highway anyway.
We stopped on the way back, at Yelahanka for breakfast and I rode right back home for a shower and well deserved lunch.


Sunday South-East Loop

Some lovely countryside trails off Sarjapur road at the Run No. 518 of the Bangalore Hash, hared by the Sarjapur Sultan (Ravi a.k.a private soreass), Navin and BFG.
Run report copied straight out of the Hash trash and pasted below:

The first run of the year namely ‘the prickly aunty run’ started with a remarkable 55 hashers along the country side near Sarjapur road. Pleasant weather as compared to the snow in various less fortunate places around the world; we enjoyed a very bright and a beautiful afternoon.

As usual we commenced with a false trail which nearly resulted in the entire pack heading out of the in-trail. Awesome. But BFG somehow guided us correctly back and in no time we were off into open landscape with lots of bushes and tree cover to confound the hounds.

Some excellent false trails - but by now of course, most people had twigged that it would be a right-hander, so only the extreme dimwitted (of which there were many) hounds went chasing off in the wrong directions at the checks.

Nice water stop on the edge of a field after which those with more energy than sense went off on a long loop and the smart ones amongst us headed directly back to the beer - only to find it missing somewhere in the bundu. Luckily it reappeared before a full riot got underway and all was well.


A well laid trail by BFG and gang, and pasta and cake by Mamma Mia to celebrate the New Year. Well we really had a very good time indeed.

The circle led by the GM went on as follows:
-Hares BFG, Private Soreass, Vinie the Pooh and Crushed Nuts were cooled off on the ice first for laying a really horny… oops thorny run
-Finger-In was very pro-active to flash her new shoes and very keen to drink beer from them and so she got a down down as well along with Cheap Dyke for not wearing his cheap old shirt to the hash
-A few harriots namely Sticky Sex, Pyramids and Take Your Pick demonstrated that they were hottie harriettes by wearing really warm jumpers in the sun so were officially chilled and brought down to the normal temperature by the beer.
-Virgins Smita, Chandan, Dinesh, Manish, Romilla and Ayub were given a taste of ice as well
Sushila (who was implausibly, in view of her full head of hair) accused of being Halfmoons big sister enjoyed a beer along with Halfmoon for trying to mislead us
-Arvind was given a down down for being in his best girly attire and arriving at the hash on a girly bike too
-Few returners Useless Prick, Red Hot Chilly Peppers and Discount were reminded that they cannot get off so easily without getting iced
-Mamma Mia was iced for serving up such excellent Hash Food along with along with Take Your Pick who was celebrating her 25th birthday (again)
-And last but not the least Private Soreass was promoted to Sergeant Soreass for participating in a really long (don’t remember the miles but really long) biking event but for not completing it. Also for quitting his job for another really long biking event.

Run, walk and cycle weekend

"Run, walk, cycle this weekend?", if you are asking, "what's new?” scroll down, the pictures tell a decent story.

Oct 10:
Spirit of Wipro 09 - My third podium finish this year, after the 7th at Auroville marathon & 4th at Hyderabad. My 44:11min 10k earned me this shining medal.

The Spirit of Wipro saw hundreds of wiproites out in the Sarjapur road to celebrate with families. For me it felt good to finish off in the second place, coming from behind and taking the last guy with less than 200mts to the finish line. It was the perfect photo finish (ironically, without the photo).

Some press coverage here.

The Diwali Hash:
There was no time for celebration after the SoW (I still managed to do a bow-and-arrow Bolt style on the presentation dias), I had to leave immediately to join Sunil, Meher & the David couple to hare the Diwali Hash at Chandy’s farm, off Kanakapura Road. Sunil had managed this to perfection and there was not much haring left when I reached the farm. I did help with the Beer, burp!!
In the middle of the holiday season, the runners were on a holiday too and decided to walk the trail. In keeping with the Diwali spirit, the hares had devised interesting check cards, with instructions to the hashers to hop, oink, dance – all in the Diwali spirit.

(pics courtesy: Abnash. More pics here)

The spirits were kept high with Sangria at the water stop. The evening was spent with crackers, sweets, yummy food, lots of amber liquids & banter with the running buddies.

Oct 11:
Bengaluru Cyclothon 09 – Bangalore was the chosen city to host the 50k event. The BIEC was perfect to dock the cyclists. My nephew Rishabh (the 7yr old is my inspiration, has more medals than I can ever get) also participated in the 2k event. Although the amateur race was reduced to a mere 27k (from the 50k to the 36k first), it was worth the effort for a chance to ride on the otherwise busy NICE road. It was a shame that, just as I was getting into rhythm on the undulating course, I sighted the finish line.
The kids event was chaotic, with children speeding on not so safe exhibition grounds. Long wait before the start, unregulated people on the tracks, and the authorities clueless on the route, etc added to the pitiable state of affairs. We were lucky to have gotten off without major incidents.
I finished my 27k in 50mins wishing it had lasted longer.

In the pic: Aryan, me, Venkat, Rishabh

More pics here.

Chennai Pondi Relay ver 3.0

Date: Aug 14-16th 2009
Total personal effort in 3days: ~10k run in Chennai on 14th, 2pints, 10x200m sprints with the baton, 50k bike ride on OMR & ECR, 15k noon run to Pondy, 4pints, 8k Heritage run at Pondy, more pints.

Key Highlights:
Red Dress Run: 14th Aug, 5pm
* Late start, fading light, bloody long for a run without a water stop
* Run on streets, along crowded beaches was not pretty
* With the light dropping the trail was barely visible. Jugy, Zach and I ran back on our own having lost the trail
* Yours truly iced for representing BH3 filling in for the absent BH3 GM
* The party at Green Meadows was high on decibel levels & low on IQ levels, as teams tried to figure out what the team captains were strategizing

Chennai – Pondy Relay Run ver3.0: 15th Aug, 6am
* Horror start – First, Horror Zubin actually started the race at sharp 6, the hard, long baton in hand. Second, the Hyderabad runners van with Obelix and some 10 other runners ended up in the ECR toll booth and not the OMR toll booth!!
* Arun, Sunil, Jugy & I ran our guts out in short bursts; Arun ran out of turn a few times too.
* The Obelix van joined us about 5k later and we finally got some more time between turns to catch some breath.
* Our team finished our 10.4k in some 43mins or so.
* Amidst a lot of attention from team mates, Jugy & I put our bikes together, changed to spandex, changed shoes and were off on our bikes
* The bike ride was excellent. OMR has some flat stretches, it was an overcast day & the breeze was light.
* We made good progress, stopping only once during the entire 50k stretch. Except for a stray incident of a tractor trying to mow us off the road, ECR was friendly too.
* Reached Radha’s farm at Kalpakkam in about 2hours for some fab breakfast of omelet, idly, pongal, watermelon juice
* Packed the bikes back in and sprinted the second leg when our turn came. This time more organized, less frequent, but nevertheless as lung bursting as the first one.
* Then we hopped on to the car, with Vinod at the helm and headed to the last toll bridge on ECR as we entered Pondy, with an estimated 12-15k left to the finish.
* Jugy, Sunil & I started running (at 12:30, it was blazing heat) the last leg, Jugy dropped out & hopped on to Abnash’s car after 5k or so, Sunil dropped pace after about 7-8k or so. I finished the agonizing run at Nalla beach.
* Met some very snobbish hashers who were very reluctant to offer a lift in their car (to the adj St. James Court) for the fear that my sweat would stink worse than their beers. I farted in the car for good measure – phat phatia
* The baton reached to the awaiting hashers in 8:20hrs – jerking at an average of 4:11mins per km for all of the 120km!!!
* BBQ, dinner, party, football on tele, dance floor, KF pint at Nalla beach resort and back to Ginger well after midnight

Pondy Heritage Run: 16th Aug, 9:30am
* This was where the hashers were given treatment they are not used to
* Run started near the Gandhi statue. It was to be flagged off by the CM of Pondy himself!!
* The police made great efforts to clear the roads for us. The trail was very well marked with chalk, but the FRBs just couldn’t get the police van out of the way
* And yet again, Zac, Jugy & I lost the trail and ended up running the last few kms off the trail
* It sure was a hot day and a long trail for the recovery run
* The circle was at a beach resort, the cherry on the top was the Ballad by Mike(?) – the One of Each reproduced at the end of this post
* Lunch was served with the amber fluids at the Mahindra Zest Big Beach Resort. What a lovely place that was!
* The drive back from Pondy was a blinding one – first by the heavy downpour, then by the headlamps and finally as we neared Sarjapur by the lack of street lights

Reported in the press on the 18th. Linked via the MH3 site here
More pics here
Sing the Ballad Chorus before signing off… (full Ballad here)
Zac started filming – “Which way do we go?”
Leather Coater said “It’s this way.”
Red Stud answered “Where”
Arul said “That’s a long one, the longest one I know”

On On…

The American Independence Outsourced Run

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
And thus on the 5th day of July I jumped on my cycle to place claim to my ‘certain unalienable right’ to attend the Uncle Singh’s Not American Independence run in Bangalore’s countryside. Well, since the 4th July run was outsourced to Bangalore, someone had to goof up on delivery and it was one day late!
I have hared runs in the past in this territory and knew the approach from Devanahalli. But I dug the map out and figured that there was a much shorter way via Bagalur and decided to try it on my new set of wheels.

The roads are laid recently and there is very little traffic to worry about. So, if you want to do a 70k loop from Hebbal, you should try this. Head North from Hebbal towards BIAL. Take the right at Bagalur cross > Bagalur > You will hit a T-junction, take the road that goes towards Gummanahalli (2km) & Yediuru (5km) (not towards Kannur) and then take a left on the Hospet-Devanahalli road to Singanahalli. From here Devanahalli is about 10k.
The run site was near Singanahalli.

Reproducing the run report by Vikram (Illiterate) Ram for two reasons – one, such well written hash trash, two – me lazy.

...but we all, like, got these really cool t-shirts with this kinda neat pattern thing (ugh; can't believe I just said that; score).

Anyway, the Scribe is back from holiday but was distracted from the setting and specialities of this Run, first by a certain charming lady who is back from her holiday (with tigers), and then a certain other charming lady who fretted over what to pack (or not) for her impending travels, with FRB-spouse, to the Leh Marathon.

Still, it was observed that a record turn out – some 60 Hashers large and twee – made it to a trail muddled by many checks, checkbacks, falsies and fishhooks which kept the pack together across several acres of farmland and those ubiquitous eucalyptii. There was a vodka/melon stop.

Followed by Part 2 of what was, in fact, An Astonishingly Long Run...at the end of which, and courtesy a miscalculation of rations, many people perished of starvation.

Circle charges:

• Hares Pervert Producer, Crushed Nuts and Crude Sick for what they accomplished by way of terrain and chalk.
• The United Colours of Horrors, comprising of Idiot, Meghana, Eric, Simran, Rohan, Yohann, Siraj, Chilly Filly and Pygmy.
• Queenfisher for voicing concern that she hadn't been iced in ages. As that situation was remedied, Raw Sex held forth on the 9th August Run and the dinner-do after, the Pondicherry relay run, and the so-on and so-forth. What Queenfisher did not melt down was given over to
• Virgins on Ice For The very First Time: Satish, Fareed, Nikhil, John, Roopa, Durgaprasad, Lekha and Amit. Welcome!!!
• Crude Slick was re-assigned to ice for introducing a self-confessed “marathon runner”. Disgraceful!
• Idiot, Karin and Krish, and some others whose names elude us, were honoured for being Born in the USA...or something of the sort.
• Mama Mia, Kumkum and Idiot were feted for the dubious distinction of being Three Generations of Hashers In The Same Family. Say...has anyone noticed just how much beer Idiot gets to guzzle?
• Phatphatiya (me, me!!) and Lekha were congratulated for getting Engaged (not to one another)
• Pervert Producer was acknowledged for Sponsoring Those Super Cool T-Shirts.

GM and RA led the hymn. Just as we thought thought it was over, Perv Prod set off a surprise display of fireworks. Must have been all that sulphur: the skies opened and everyone drove home in a massive downpour.

I did manage to hitch a ride back in the beer van and escaped almost all of the massive downpour. On On…

Run No. 878

Run No. 878 starting from Obelix’s home in South Shields was like a tour around the suburban Cleadon. The trail took us to the Cleadon Mill – ruins of a haunted (?) windmill from the 1800s. And when we were tired looking for the flour in knee high grass, we were shepherded down the hill and back up again near the water tower. It was quite a bright sunny evening and the group was split with a few of us FRBs breaking away in front. But soon speedbump and I were lost and got back on trail after a few anxious minutes.
With all the historical sections done with, in the beginning, we jumped at the chance to short-cut when lubricunt offered the shorter route back to the circle.
Back at the circle, we were treated to some mushrooms and bell peppers BBQs. And while we were soaking in the amber liquid and barbeques, we were treated to some spectacle in the Obelix’s backyard – a near complete rainbow.
More pictures and colors at: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/manoj.bhat/ObelixNHHH
Ps: It happened on Jul 17th, which means I am in namma Bengaluru. So you can pick up the phone and call ;)

Totempole NH3 Run

A day after the Blaydon race, was another treat – a fantastic run no. 877 with the NH3. It started from the Totem Pole’s backyard, into many hills in and around the Hetton park area.
Faceplant, speedbump and I managed to get to a few FRB checks. Back at the circle in Totem pole’s house, I was charged for sitting at the FRB checks which earned me my visiting hash name, Disposed Phatphatia.
The wheat beer, Schneider Weisse and lemon pickles brought back memories of home.The photos here: http://picasaweb.google.co.in/manoj.bhat/NHHHAtTotemPoles

The Causey Arch Run

Maybe they didn’t mean it when NH3 bid me farewell at the circle on Run 859, ‘cause I was back to Newcastle, to New Kent Hotel and to NH3 for the first run in June, Run No. 876. The English Summer was in - a heady mix of cool breeze, bright sunshine and intermittent drizzle, near perfect for some long countryside runs.

The Bullocks family were setting the trail in the Durham countryside starting at the Causey Arch Inn & Keko’s Restorante & Pizzeria on Marley Hill. Counterfit offered a lift and we had enough time for some Guinness. It was quite a cold summer evening and I missed my windcheater.
We were about 15 runners and were rewarded right at the beginning – spare balls to pick up! I filled up my pockets with some dimpled balls scattered on the field close to a golf course. The lush green fields and the weather had also inspired some love making along the trail earlier during the day! We piled some miles till we reached the site of the Tanfield Waggonway station.
So there was this railway line that passing under us at the station. Little did I know the history of this line.

Here’s some trivia for you guys - Tanfield & Causey Arch:
The wooden tracks were built in the 18th century to carry coal from the Tanfield colliery to the Tyne side. The wooden wagons were pulled uphill by horses and then gravity carried them to the riverside, the speed being controlled by horses harnessed behind the wagons. Horses then carried the empty wagons back on the bye-way.
930 waggons passed everyday, that’s 1 in 20secs, with some 50yards between them.
Because of friction, the wagons often caught fire and had to be pulled out.
The Causey Arch is the oldest surviving Railway Bridge and was unprecedented when it was built in 1725.

We ran through FRB checks, Molly Pollys, checks, criss-crossing the tracks several times. It took us through some flowery fields to the BS (aka Beer Stop), where we polished off the last drops of some bitter pints.
We joined the walkers in the last stretch to the On-Inn. We warmed ourselves over some Pizzas, I went for the only veggie option – the Ortalano and some more Guinness. The discussions were around the upcoming Balydon race. With the lasses taking the 2 extra numbers that Nick had to spare, would I miss that race narrowly? Did the mountain bikers that we passed on the home stretch, have a prophetic implication? Only time would tell, Stay tuned!
On On
Pics here and more Causey Arch on wiki here.

The 'National Geographic' Charlaw Run

The Charlaw Inn NH3 Run No. 859

The Newcastle H3 puts in an additional run out in the countryside on the first Sunday of every month and that gave me a chance to squeeze one more.
Billy was driving from Jesmond and offered me a ride. The run was to start from Charlaw Inn in Edmondsley on the way to Durham. Billy’s navigator, Marian was out in London and I, barely knowing how to read the signs and the map, was to step up and do the job. Little wonder then that we got lost on our way and on my advice (very indianish but effective) stopped at a post office to ask for directions.
The run was hared by knickerless, Bellox me & Talking B – the family hared run. There were the regulars of the NH3, but lots more walkers. It felt great at the start of the run - the cool breeze, the endless fields, the windmill on the horizon, the hash jokes lifted the spirits.
The run quickly took us off the road into the fields and woods. There were some steady uphill sections and the path in the woods ran along a creek for a while, we jumped up and over fences, cattle gates, fallen trees and floating timber. There was a Beer stop about mid way at a local inn, the Wardles Inn and we set off again after the hydration.
The Animal Farm
It wasn’t difficult to find the right trail – do not go in the direction if you hear the hounds barking or if the sign says “beware of the bull”. We passed some deer, rabbits, highland cattle and some wild hashers running all over the place. In many places the earth was soft and it was near impossible to keep the mud off the shoes. I had managed to save my shoes almost till the end, but was duped just once by some grass over a slushy patch and went in ankle deep into cold mud.
The Farewell
I was honored again at the circle, with a down down, a complimentary NH3 tee-shirt and cap. Thanks NH3 for those wonderful runs and for being such a shit-hot host. On On…
Rest of the photos here http://picasaweb.google.com/manoj.bhat/NH3CharlawRunNo859

Ps: The title of the post is inspired by someone who has made a few appearance on visorview in the past and made it to the finals of the NatGeo Misson Navy... hats off!!!

Run Kennedys

Obelix, Watsarong, Lubri, Counterfit, Billy, Marian, Lubricunt, Speedbump, Inncontenance, LHJ, HJ, Knickerless, Yohoo Banger, Totempole, Phatphatia – that was the entry that went under Run No. 858 at Kennedy’s at 8:25 on Wednesday the 25th Feb '09 (that is 1day short of 3yrs since I started running with the BH3. It's in the archive here).

For me, it was one more run made easy by the Hashers. My directions were simple – walk 700mts to the Jesmond Metro station. Be there at 6:10, look for a pretty lady in running gear (read, Speedbump) and she will guide you to the run site.

The run did start off well – with cops stopping by to check if the flour was WMD and I saw off a pint of Guinness before the start. The run was in South Shields and close to the sea, but the hares – Obelix, Watsarong and Lubri made sure we saw none of it. We ran through many red houses shouting our on ons. Many “Molly Checks” (a U-turn sign, upon reaching it everyone turns back and goes right back to the hare, circles the hare and gets back on the trail) and Triple FRB checks (same as FRB check only done with 3 FRBs) kept the pack together. And then there were “three on ons” - 3 flour dots in a row to indicate the right trail where the FRBs shout on-on-on.
The closet we got to wildlife was a toad that was living dangerously. Thankfully none of the hariettes were looking for the Prince Charming!

Customary down down were given to the hares at the circle. I got a down down for being the flasher on the run. It was Spitfire in the circle and I got back into the on-inn and tried the NewCastle Brown Ale and the Johnsmith.

Many thanks to Speedbump and to Billy and Marian for driving me back to the hotel. Marian even got out of the car into the cold night hug me a goodbye. On On…
Photos here

Hash Bash at New Lanark

It was Run No. 1187 of the Hamilton Hash, Run No. 1465 of the Edinburgh Hash, 14th trail weekend for the Bras and Pants H3 on Sunday, 22nd Feb in the cotton mill village, New Lanark in southern Scotland.
No, the brasandpantsh3 is not a “consortium of pub-going loose forward women” but is the “Brewery Runs Around Scotland & Pants because you are panting for a beer” Hash House Harriers… Read on…


I missed the train to Edinburgh on a Saturday morning by 30secs and as I cursed the fat-b!%&#-behind-the-counter for issuing my tickets late, made my way out of the Metro trying to look for a cheaper than full-fare (44£) option. Not the best way to start the weekend you would say.
But Edinburgh changed it all – the train ride itself offered some wonderful views, on either side on the window ;) From the moment I stepped out of the Waverley station into Princess street, I was surrounded by historic spires, parks, castles and museums. Even a non-event like walking to the hotel turned to a memorable experience.

I took a tour bus in the evening and visited the castle and the Scottish Parliament. The locals were friendly and were more than willing to help a ‘slumdog millionaire’ find his way around. One couple even offered that I should try a Falafel and recommended an Israeli place for me to try one. All this while, though, I was still working under the assumption that I would somehow find my way to this little village of New Lanark the following morning for the run.

In hindsight, I would have never made it, if I hadn’t seen a mail from Sheryl Valentine (!!) from the Edinburgh Hash offering to drive me to Lanark. Without leaving anything to chance, she offered to pick me right from my hotel lobby all the way to Lanark. We stopped briefly at the Gillespie home to pick up Alan. While Sheena (aka Sheryl) treated me to some coffee, Alan showed me around his vintage car collection – a 1936 Talbot, 1960s MG, and a Jaguar – all tenderly housed in his garage. It turned out that they had visited India in 2004 and run with BH3 as a part of the prelude to the Goa Interhash. She fondly remembered how the cops had stopped the traffic for some 200 hashers who had turned up then.


We drove for nearly three quarters to reach New Lanark. The hashers were from all around the place – the EHHH, TNT Hash, Hamilton Hash and the Aberdeen Hash. The brewery run had left most of them in various state of sobriety and drunkenness and one with a black eye even.
The pics tell you the story of the run – fantastic trail along the Clyde walkway taking us through the World Heritage site - cotton mills, a hydroelectric power station, the spectacular falls of Corra Linn and the Corra Castle.
It was looking very touristy till we saw flour going right down a steep, slippery path, right into the river!! A few of us did try to work our way around it, but the Hamilton hares had made sure there were no shortcuts. With my shoes worn over my neck, I stepped into the freezing cold waters of the river Clyde. My feet frozen and shoes dry, I made it to the other side. We ran some more till we came to the Bonnington dam (?) passing a few more falls before heading back. It must have been about 7-8miles in all. It was teeth chattering cold in the circle. The GM Megasaurarse and the RA cuckoo ensured that we stayed there long enough for the cold to reach our bones. I was given a down down for being foolish enough to come to a hash run from half way around the globe. I did have my share of true ales – the Burton Bitter & the Biere Speciale while the RA with his bunny cap went on with his stories.
Sheryl Valentine led the circle to sing all the songs (incl. the nipples on the tits one for the harriettes). Many of them were new to me. We went on then to the On Inn in the village, a warm place called Clydesdale Wetherspoons Inn for some Guinness and lunch.
There were so many things that should have fallen in place for me to make it to the run, many thanks to Sue, the Speedbump for all the directions and to the Gillespie couple – Sheena and Alan for escorting me to and back. I had to really stretch out Alan hospitality to take a lift right back to Waverley.

Pics of the run are at http://picasaweb.google.com/manoj.bhat/EHHH

Videos of the circle are here, here, here and here...

On On...

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…