HASH 1556 – 1557 SLAPTON (& environs) PRE-XMAS HASH
The eagerly awaited SH4 pre Christmas weekend was here at last! Twenty or so brave/foolhardy souls descended upon sleepy Slapton Friday evening and, having claimed their bunks, made their merry way down to the Queens Arms for a meal, then back up the hill, via The Tower Inn, for an early night 😉🤣 (Ed. True athletes know how to prepare. Say no more.)
The rest of us arrived next morning and we all enjoyed a warming carrot & cumin soup before venturing outside to Circle Up, ready to participate in the A2B trail (Ed. never more ready – and, thankfully, places more reliance on legs than vocal chords…).
Blown Off brought us to order, informing us that the trail was laid in sections by: Rizzo & WGAS – 1st leg; Nice Buns – 2nd leg; Rusty – 3rd leg. (Ed. careful pre-emptive apportionment of blame?)
So off we went, with an immediate split, the Longs & Shorts not meeting again until the 1st beer stop, which was situated somewhere between Slapton & Frittiscombe. Rubbery manned a dray brimming with goodies. Rizzo, showing great improvisation skills, took to using a rusty saw from the back of Rubbery’s van to cut the cake (Ed. Girl Guiding at its finest!) .
Suitably refreshed, we set off again, heading for Frittiscombe then on towards Start Bay. Somewhere along the way, Rizzo decided to sabotage the trail and put in an impromptu arrow, sending several hashers on a shortcut straight to the 2nd beer stop at The Church House Inn at Stokenham (Ed. admirably efficient hashing), missing out on a Wild Blonde or a Stumble Bee at Stokeley Farm shop & brewery. The Longs then headed out towards Beesands (Ed. and beyond…), then Kernborough, and on to B at Chillington, whilst the Shorts took a more direct route, almost reaching Widdicombe, then heading back along the A379 to the Bear & Blacksmith at Chillington.
There was quite a variation in mileage achieved: topping the leader board, with 15.7 miles, were Triple Top, Nice Tackle, Dirty Nights, Anchor Man & Fob Jockey, who all followed a non-existent trail, almost ending up in Hallsands; 12.5 miles was the average for the Long trail; around 7.5 miles for the Shorts.
The pub was very welcoming, with a roaring fire and good beer – so much so that Doggy Style had difficulty getting us onto her minibus for the trip back to the centre. (Ed. what, and forego a few more hours in the company of that wonderfully comforting and festive seabird taxidermy? Unbelievable.)
Once showered & dressed in our Christmas outfits, most notably Tradesman’s Entrance as a naughty elf and Shaggy and Dirty Nights in sparkly little numbers, we awaited our RA, Overshot, who teased us with a countdown to RA time. He regaled us with stories of the previous night’s shenanigans and misdemeanours on the day’s trail – way too many to list here (you had to be there!) (Ed. deftly swerved, Yeuck.)
Down Downs went to:-
- Rizzo, WGAS, Nice Buns, Rusty – Hares
- Triple Top, Nice Tackle, Anchor Man, Dirty Nights, Fob Jockey – Geographically challenged
- Olive – took 30mins to find 2nd pub on Friday
- Tradesmans Entrance – problem finding centre
- Rubbery – Draymaster
There followed a tasty evening meal, then Taskmaster-style quiz courtesy of Fluffy Dice & Silly Shunt. Thanks to Jules for her rendition of Roald Dahl’s ‘Three Little Pigs’. Rubbery and Nutcracker did the honours as Mr & Mrs Claus, distributing the Secret Santa gifts (Ed. a surprising number of which remained mysteriously unclaimed on Sunday – Nice Buns was still valiantly attempting to repatriate them at the following Wednesday night’s hash…). Then we danced the night away with Overshot’s disco.
Sunday morning we blew out the cobwebs with a Hair of the Dog run, laid by Muckspreader & Pull the Udder (Ed. a treat of wake-up run, taking in quiet lanes and some private land boasting lush coastal views in crisp, sunny conditions) then back to the centre for an amazing cooked breakfast, lovingly prepared by Twisted Sister,Rubbery and Over Exposed.
What a great weekend 🙌 (Ed. emphatically seconded!!)
Thanks to the organisers 😃 (Ed. 👏💖🙏)
Photo credit: Rubbery
Photo credit: Rubbery
Photo credit: Nice Tackle
Photo credit: Rizzo
Photo credit: Rubbery
Many, MANY more photos of the weekend’s displays of athleticism and general festive silliness can be enjoyed here: SH4 2025 PreXMAS Lube Party photos Fri 28th & Sat 29th November and here: Hash 1556 Sat 29th November 2025 PreXMAS Lube Run
👣