Insolvent

A run memorable for an almost unsolvable check about 15 minutes in, turning a short flat summer run into a 2-hour marathon.

Last-minute hare Dram marked trail well out from the parking lot opposite the Duke of Edinburgh Activity Centre near the Wishing Tree, initially heading toward the impeccable public loos where front runners Liberace and Creme Brulee missed a check (possibly because of some ceremony taking place at the temple) and headed off into oblivion. Dingaling and Golden Balls, meanwhile, discovered trail going down to the channelised river and out toward Hong Lok Yuen. Here it dived off trickily, crossing the river and weaving through San Kiu across gardens, then up the long flight of steps to Wai Tau.

Here the lost FRBs caught up, including virgin Matt who had been brought along by CB, and the fun began. The fiendish check had about 10 options and they were all exhaustively checked, especially the ones heading back towards Lam Tsuen. The hare said this was a short run, right?

Nobody could find a sausage.

There actually weren’t any sausages. But somebody missed the most obvious route through the little park where, on the opposite side, a large Dram-sized arrow proclaimed the way. Quite who made this elementary blunder I recall not, except that it was somebody who should have hashed better. So there we were just a few hundred metres from the start as the crow flies and 45 minutes on the clock.

On we soldiered, along the interminable concrete paths of Wai Tau, through the rural-urban sprawl of Tai Hang and on toward the nullahs of Nam Wa Po, one wild goose chase after another. Then, surprise! There was the hare sat in a little shelter near Kwun Yam Temple with a bag of tinnies. Most welcome on a sweltering evening.

Should be a straightforward trail back now. But no. It led us farther north toward Wo Hop Shek and over the railway to Kau Lung Hang. By this time the pack was fracturing significantly, GB heading home along Tai Po Kung Lo, others doing a creative short cut at Hong Lok Yuen and Walky Talky and No Rough Stuff deciding – bewilderingly – that trail would lead into the HLY estate. It actually led to the spaghetti underpass junction at the roundabout and back along Lam Kam Road. It is thought that Golden Jelly and Back To The Future were the only hashers to complete the full trail.

Was there food? I seem to recall so. Good effort by the hare at short notice. — Golden Balls

Hare Dram

Runners Liberace, Creme Brulee, Matt, Dingaling, Golden Balls, Golden Jelly, Back To The Future, others?

Non runners ??