Latest / The Discussion Podcast / The Lunch Discussion - Hashing through Cheshire: Pub Runs, Pints and Country Paths

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The Lunch Discussion - Hashing through Cheshire: Pub Runs, Pints and Country Paths · The Discussion Podcast

0:00
This is the Late Late Lunch Show with Rod Maxwell. Supported by... That's for,
0:07
you, Rod. Tower bed learning in nature's playground. So today on the Late Late
0:11
Lunch Show, I'm delighted to be speaking with Bill Burgess from the Cheshire
0:15
House... Cheshire Hash House Harriers, easy for me to say.
0:19
This is a group of people I came across on a dog walk and I was thinking,
0:23
this looks fun and this looks like it's good community building and they're
0:27
also getting fit at the same time.
0:29
But I wasn't quite sure what it was all about. So I'm delighted that Bill Burgess.
0:34
From Cheshire Hash House area is here.
0:36
Good afternoon, Bill. How are you? Good afternoon. Yes, very well, thank you.
0:40
So let's talk about hashing, as it's called, I think, to begin with.
0:44
My little research has told me that this is something that's been around for
0:48
some time and has legacy back in sort of the subcontinent. Is that right?
0:53
Yes, it started in, I believe, 1938 in Malaysia.
0:59
And in Kuala Lumpur and it was a started by a group of British colonial officers and expats and,
1:09
and I guess it was probably modeled on hare and hounds but we'll get into that
1:16
in a little bit more detail.
1:18
And that's when I saw you, it had that pack aspect of it because you were working
1:24
together in teams, I think. Yeah, very much so.
1:27
But in terms of worse, say, fox hunting or something, what is the objective
1:34
of it? Because you go out in different groups, don't you?
1:37
We tend to, we go out in different groups, but only because some of our members
1:44
are now getting on a bit and tend not to run so much.
1:47
So we have the main pack, and we have a group that calls themselves the dissidents.
1:52
So they run a bit of a shorter distance, and then there's walkers as well.
1:57
So we're very inclusive, and it's really a social club.
2:01
In fact, hashing worldwide, people tend to know themselves as a drinking club with a running problem.
2:12
And it had that lovely sort of jovial aspect about it.
2:15
And I also did notice people of lots of different age ranges.
2:19
And as you mentioned, you alter things that people can do that.
2:23
But when you go out, what is the objective? What are you trying to do?
2:29
Ah, right. Well, it's really, it's social running. So I think you can think
2:32
of this as a kind of precursor to park runs, but there's no timing.
2:38
There's no kudos or anything other than getting a tick for having done a run.
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And so we start from a pub somewhere in Cheshire. So every week we go Tuesday,
2:50
7.30 in the evening, somewhere in Cheshire.
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And people can find that on the Cheshire Hash House Areas website.
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And we start at a pub.
3:00
And go for a roughly the main pack does a five mile run and i'll talk about
3:05
the mechanics of that in a bit more but and then end up in the pub for a social
3:09
chat and a pint or two and that's it,
3:13
right well we'll we'll be back with bill finding out more about what hashing's
3:16
all about and specifically the cheshire hash house harriers um after this break.
3:22
You're listening to the late Late Lunch Show.
3:25
Back to the Garden Childcare, where little explorers grow naturally.
3:30
You're listening to the Late Late Lunch Show on Radio Alty, Rod Maxwell in the afternoon.
3:33
And today I'm delighted to have in person with me Bill Burgess from the Cheshire Hash House Harriers.
3:39
And this is essentially, Bill, you were saying a running club,
3:43
but with a very strong social element of it and very doable for people of different ages and abilities.
3:50
Yeah, perhaps what I should do is explain how hashing works. So.
3:56
The great thing about it is that even in the main pack, people of different
4:01
levels of fitness can run together as a group. And that's what makes it work so well.
4:07
And the way it works is that a hair will set the course. So normally it's done
4:13
a day or two before we go out running.
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And typically it'll be chalk marks or tissue hung in hedges,
4:21
which will dissolve in the rain. So it's eco-friendly.
4:25
And they'll set a course of about five miles five and a quarter miles sometimes five and a half.
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And the thing about it is that every time you come to a junction,
4:37
which may maybe three ways the hair will set markers for the way forward but
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they will also set false trails,
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so what that means is that the fitter runners have to go and check the false
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trails as well as the main trail,
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and when they when they find when somebody finds the main trail they'll shout
4:59
on on you know which is the typical hash call,
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and there's quite often a back marker or the hare will shout you know for example
5:08
come back left come back right on on straight on and the whole pack then comes
5:12
back together so it means that the less fit people can stop at the junction,
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and this can be anywhere you know it can be you know styles with two ways or
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you know we run cross country anywhere in cheshire and in any weather.
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So, you know, it's a bit of cross-country running, social activity,
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and anyway, that's how it works. So, there's false trails, and that brings the pack back together.
5:38
And is this something that is done nationwide then?
5:42
It is. In fact, it's done worldwide. A quick check, and there's about,
5:46
I don't know, 1,500 hashing groups worldwide.
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When we spoke earlier, I mentioned that I'd worked abroad in Saudi Arabia,
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and there were even hashing clubs in Saudi Arabia.
5:57
Really? where they were hashing out in the desert and so setting trails there
6:02
obviously there aren't hedges and things to hang people hang things in but you
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know they would lay they would use flour for example to mark the course and,
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so yeah that so they're everywhere in the world well we're talking we're talking
6:14
about it's called hashing we're talking to bill burges from the cheshire hash
6:18
house harriers we'll take a break and be back with him and find out a little
6:22
bit more some of the benefits of being involved in this type of activity,
6:26
you're listening to the late late lunch show with back to the garden child care
6:31
where little explorers grow naturally.
6:34
So, Bill, right from the off, I can see so many benefits of it because there's exercise involved.
6:42
It brings people together.
6:44
It allows people with different abilities to take part and not feel like they
6:49
are slower or whatever because there's built-in alliances to that.
6:55
What are people getting from it in the club And.
7:00
How fit is the club in terms of, not in terms of health fitness,
7:05
but the actual camaraderie in the club, if you like?
7:09
Right. Well, I mean, that's the whole point. It's really about social activity
7:15
and keeping fit at the same time.
7:18
And there are lots of people who
7:19
go off and do things together in small groups, you know, like any club.
7:22
There are people so for example i have a small subgroup we go off skiing and,
7:28
next weekend there are several of us doing a half marathon that the you know
7:32
so these are these are sort of side things they're not part of the club but
7:35
people get together and so several of us half a dozen of us are doing the the
7:39
sandstone trail half marathon next weekend,
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so you know there's lots of lots of people do that sort of thing there are there
7:46
are people who go out cycling together as well so you know it's a social club
7:49
with fitness at its heart and well and fitness and a few drinks you know that's
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that's that's really it so,
7:57
benefits is camaraderie and keeping fit i mean i know there's running clubs
8:01
that we've got in the area that run from pubs and again it's the same type of
8:05
thing when did the cheshire hash house harrier start then what's the what's
8:09
the history of this club it's been going 40 years
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and in fact the the the founder,
8:15
lives a few doors down from me alan jones and he started it with a few other
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people. I wasn't around then, but...
8:23
But anyway, it's been going a long time and through over the years,
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it's had hundreds of members, you know, people who have come and left and,
8:33
you know, retired and stopped running.
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And so, yeah, it's been quite a successful club. And the nice thing is that
8:41
you can have all age groups, almost all levels of capability. Absolutely.
8:46
I mean that's what's so great about the mechanism of hashing is because it's
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not a race you know because people you know that that,
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uh the the group won't go off well generally speaking we're not supposed to
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but we'll wait for everybody at the back you know so so it's a bit soft start,
9:03
but as i said the very fit people can go off and check for the false trails
9:07
and the not so fit people can congregate at the checkpoints and have a chat,
9:13
do you know something so quintessentially english about this,
9:16
or certainly British about it, isn't it? I think so, yes.
9:20
Although we actually have one of our members left to go to Germany,
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and we have regular meetups every year or two with the group in Germany.
9:29
So, you know, it's not, you know, it is and of course they're predominantly
9:33
German members in the German clubs. Yes, of course.
9:38
In some ways, it is one of the cheapest forms of exercise you could do,
9:43
because you're you're you're you're using public pathways i assume yes yeah
9:47
what's amazing about it is
9:50
you know before i started uh hashing i hadn't realized just how many wonderful
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footpaths there are across cheshire it's quite incredible,
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cheshire is absolutely brilliant for this,
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you know you can run you can run just about anywhere go to any pub and it's
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amazing how you know you can create a five mile route from there yeah and you
10:11
know with lots of false trails as well there are one or two places where it's
10:14
difficult to do that, but,
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By and large, you can create brilliant trails around Cheshire.
10:19
And we go from one edge of Cheshire to the other. Really?
10:23
So, yeah, right from, you know, the Peak District. So this, tonight,
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for example, it's a Tuesday night. We're running from the Winkle Brewery.
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Where's that? Well, above Macclesfield, you know. Right, okay.
10:38
In that direction. Okay.
10:41
But right over to the Peckforton Hills. Oh, beautiful. So, you know,
10:45
all across Cheshire, different place every Tuesday.
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And that's the thing I find, even with Ultrigan, for example,
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I've often said on radio that when I was working and living here first,
10:57
but I wasn't here during the week, I was thinking, you know,
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there's not much community, there's not much,
11:03
I don't feel I'm close enough to the countryside, et cetera, et cetera.
11:07
And then when you spend some time here, you fall into community groups,
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you realize you've got the whole, this beautiful countryside in your backyard.
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You don't need to move. Funnily enough, we have even, we've done quite a few
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hashes in Ultrigan Town Centre and it's amazing how you can get onto the golf club, the golf courses.
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And, you know, there are bits around here that a lot of people don't necessarily realize are there.
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And of course, hashing, because we're constantly, you know, the hare is trying
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to throw people off the scent with false trails we'll often find the most obscure
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little alleyways and yeah,
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you know try and make it more difficult for the hash so they have to hunt around
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for the route well take a little break and i'll be back with bill burgess from
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the cheshire hash house harriers talking about this uh would you call it a sport i guess it is is it,
11:55
i suppose so it's a social running activity yeah i suppose it is that is a sport
12:00
you know of sorts it's a sport that involves a pint if you wanted to that can't
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be a bad sport at all and we'll be back with him a couple of minutes time.
12:09
You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show. Back to the garden childcare,
12:14
where little explorers grow naturally.
12:17
You mentioned something there, Bill, that I find was actually just even dog
12:22
walking, which is it gets you out and you find parts of even the town that you didn't know existed.
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You find these walkways that are public but are not very clearly marked.
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And even around Ultringham, take you into large parts of it that are leafy, green, et cetera.
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That must be one of the nice benefits of doing hashing, is that you get to discover
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and to tread the paths of areas around Cheshire. Oh yeah, it's amazing.
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And as I said, the hare is always trying to find obscure footpaths.
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So we do tend to, you know, in places like Ultringham, there are some very obscure
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footpaths. you know, some of which are a bit overgrown and the hare doesn't
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mind taking people down there.
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And, you know, so you have to get used to running through nettles at this time
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of the year and brambles. So clothing is important.
13:18
And would you say from the experiences you've had, because how long have you
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been doing this activity?
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I've been doing it, I don't know, eight years, nine years, something like that.
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And would you say that the level of access...
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And the ability to run through the country in public pathways,
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et cetera, is still generally good.
13:40
Well, in Cheshire, it's very good. I think the various Cheshire authorities
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are pretty good at maintaining their footpaths by and large.
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There are a few which get completely overgrown, but there's an awful lot that
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are kept open, especially when you get into the Peak District,
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for example. or, you know, there's certain areas where they're really good at
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looking after the footpaths.
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But by and large, pretty good. And I assume you picked, you stay on public bridleways,
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paths, et cetera. You never stray on to just, you know, farmer's fields or anything like that? No.
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I mean, if we go through a farmer's field, it's only where there's a footpath through it. Yeah.
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And of course, you have to be careful of livestock as well. That are going to
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be in there at the time, yeah. I mean, that's another thing is quite a lot of
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people take their dogs with them and the dogs absolutely love it, as you can imagine.
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So anyone who's done a park run will know how excited the dogs get at the prospect
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of a park run. But it's the same thing on a Tuesday night. The dogs are raring to go.
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But, of course, livestock, you have to keep them on a lead when you go through
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those fields. And the hare will usually check that out beforehand.
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Well, it will have done so.
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You know what? My dog would be useless in this because he stops any new area.
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He stops all the time for smells.
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And so I, I would be constantly stopping to wait, wait, wait on them.
15:02
In terms of the clubs that are doing this across England primarily, is it UK-based as well?
15:10
Well, there are a lot across the UK, yes. I haven't done it,
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but I think if you looked up your local hash house harriers,
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there will be clubs all over the country.
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And do you do activities across clubs?
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Is there ever any sort of competitions or anything? Well, there's never,
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because it's not competitive, but there are club meets occasionally.
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In fact, there are international hashing jamborees.
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I've not been on one, but there are jamborees where 1,000, 2,000,
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so I believe, I'm not an expert in this, but I believe several thousand people
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will turn up to somewhere,
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I don't know, Canada or wherever, USA or wherever they organize it.
15:56
Right, but today we're talking with Bill Burgess. He's from the Cheshire Hash
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House Harriers. Would you say you're based in Ultingham? Where would your base be?
16:04
We don't really, because we're at Cheshire and we can run from any pub.
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We don't really have a base. But I guess Nutsford is probably our… Your spiritual home.
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Probably, yes. But technically we could run from anywhere in Cheshire.
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So a spiritual home should theoretically be anywhere in Cheshire.
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Anywhere in Cheshire. We'll talk to him about hashing and we'll take a break
16:30
and be back with Bill in a couple of minutes time.
16:33
You're listening to the late late lunch show with back to the garden child care
16:38
where little explorers grow naturally,
16:41
You're listening to Radio Alty, it's the Lately Lunch Show, and the discussion
16:44
today is about a sport, a hobby called hashing.
16:49
And before you get carried away, if you've been listening, you'll know it's
16:52
a form of running in groups and you're running a course.
16:56
And it reminds me a little bit of orienteering as a Cub Scout,
17:01
because you used to have to find certain symbols and then move from symbol to symbol.
17:06
It's got that sort of element about it. Yeah, it has that bit.
17:08
I guess it's a bit less sophisticated than orienteering but you know the idea
17:13
is there navigating in a loop,
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you know back to a pub do you ever get anybody who is a bit naughty and and
17:22
maybe throws the scent in a different way maybe takes one of the uh the guides
17:27
that the um the lead person has put.
17:31
Yeah, we have had that, but the hair knows where they're going.
17:35
So there's always somebody to guide you. But yes, people have done that in the past. Have they?
17:40
Just to put people off a little bit. Well, this is non-hash members who've seen,
17:45
that's what I thought you were talking about. People will rub out the marks occasionally.
17:50
Walkers, for example. Yeah, yes.
17:53
Because one of the things that you have to be really careful of is,
17:56
because if we do a chalk arrow
17:58
somewhere, you've got to be careful not where you put it because if you put
18:03
it out somebody's side somebody's house in the wrong place they might think
18:07
it's a mark for some you know burglary coming or
18:10
so we're really we're quite conscious of that so we will put them on pavements lampposts and,
18:16
street furniture typically you wouldn't want that would you the scene of a crime
18:20
to have been based on a hashing mark exactly and then bill what,
18:26
attracted you to it i mean i'm thinking for for people who are maybe coming
18:30
new to an area or people who have retired um or change in their their life cycle it's a good way to,
18:39
a stay fit but meet new people and explore the area what got you into it well
18:43
it was exactly that i i retired and i had been in a road racing club and,
18:52
i wanted to find a running club and funnily enough i had an injury and my local
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physiotherapist therapist said oh do you know there's a running club in,
19:03
in your street so i went and knocked on the door and and got into hashing just.
19:10
That was how I got into it. So I just wanted to keep fit, and I didn't fully
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appreciate at the time the social aspect of it, which has been phenomenal.
19:18
And then the good thing about, say, walking or running is that initially your
19:24
cost to entry is quite low. You basically need a pair of trainers.
19:30
Running shorts, or even just joggers.
19:33
So it doesn't take an awful lot to get going. No, absolutely.
19:36
And, you know, 10 quid for a couple of drinks at the end of it.
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But, you know, it's all very, it's very informal.
19:43
And you don't, you don't need, the only thing I would say is because we predominantly run cross country.
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I mean, we do run in, in towns as well, you know, often mixed,
19:54
mixed terrain, but I would say trail, trail shoes are rather than just ordinary
19:59
trainers. Yes, something a bit more sturdy.
20:02
Yeah. So, for example, last week we were, or the week before we were up White Nancy.
20:06
So you know you definitely definitely need uh trail shoes for getting up there
20:11
yeah that's a lovely view from up there it was fantastic yeah so i'm thinking about,
20:16
if if somebody's out there and they're thinking well you know what i i need to start,
20:21
getting fit again i haven't done anything in a while the the thing that might
20:25
put some people off is well i'm not particularly fit and therefore with that
20:31
do i need to have a certain fitness level before i start.
20:35
They've got to be able they've got to be moderately fit so i think if you know if you've,
20:39
if you've done couch to 5k for example i think if you're if you're if you're
20:44
a couch you could you know you could join the walkers and then move to the as
20:48
i said the dissidents who run a little bit further and then,
20:51
and then join the main pack the dissidents i love that you don't have to be
20:55
you don't have to be very fit to be part of the main fact you know they're not we're not,
21:00
olympic athletes or anything like that. And as I said earlier.
21:04
Because there are all these stopping points, every time you come to a junction,
21:07
there's a check to check which way it is. So people have to go out and search for the right route.
21:13
So it's really stop-start. So you don't have to be very fit at all, is the message.
21:18
So as long as you can do a sturdy walk, for example, at a reasonable pace,
21:24
or you can do a couch to 5K.
21:27
And the level of orientation required. I mean, if you're somebody who can get
21:31
lost in the Ultrigum Town Centre. Well, you see, you're not on your own.
21:33
You're part of a pack, so you get lost with everybody else. Yes. So, no, it's...
21:39
It doesn't happen very often that people get lost. The people who get lost very
21:44
occasionally are the very fit ones who go herring off thinking that they found
21:49
the right route and then discover that they haven't.
21:53
Somehow they think they've found a second mark, which gives a clue to what the right way is.
21:59
And I guess the bonus of that at least is they've done a bit more running and it keeps them fit. Yes.
22:05
So people do occasionally get lost. And do you do it all year round?
22:10
Every Tuesday in the year. Pretty much. Every Tuesday. Whatever the weather.
22:15
So when we were talking about gear earlier, obviously in winter,
22:19
we're wearing winter running gear.
22:22
And we've been out in hailstorms and all sorts. And once you're out running,
22:28
you don't notice it. Yeah, yeah. It's like playing football or whatever, isn't it?
22:32
It's a bit like the old saying, there's no such thing as the wrong clothes.
22:36
You know bad weather it's just bad clothing it's the wrong clothes yeah yeah
22:40
um i'll take a break and i want to talk to you,
22:43
about a little bit about retirement about easing into that because this is obviously
22:47
maybe helped you as well so uh we're speaking today to bill burgess from the cheshire,
22:53
hash house harriers and it's it's i've learned so much i have to say when i
22:57
saw you guys out and i was with the dog i thought there is a group of people
23:01
having a good fun but i could see that it was,
23:06
able to accommodate different levels of capability. And I thought that was really nice.
23:10
We'll be back with Bill in a couple of minutes time.
23:14
You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show with Back to the Garden Childcare,
23:19
where little explorers grow naturally.
23:21
So, Will, can I ask, you're now retired in some form, are you?
23:26
I'm completely retired, yes.
23:28
And has being part of a group like this helped with that transition and having a social group?
23:37
What have you got from being part of the group? Yes, it's been fantastic for me.
23:44
I came back to Cheshire and didn't really know anybody because,
23:49
you know, my work colleagues were in different parts of the world.
23:53
And so this has given me a complete new social group of like-minded people who
24:00
like to keep fit and like to go for a social drink afterwards and a chat and
24:06
various other activities.
24:07
So it's been brilliant for me.
24:09
Yeah, and we are lucky in Cheshire, in the South Manchester area,
24:15
where there are lots of different types of community groups,
24:18
activity groups, running groups, etc.
24:21
Because, I mean, I was the same back in 2016 when I suddenly retired.
24:25
I realized that the people I'd spent the last 20 years with were nomads like
24:30
me. We were working all over the place.
24:33
Very few of them, if any of them, lived here. So you suddenly find yourself, where's my new group?
24:38
And that's where something like this can come in. Yeah, yeah,
24:41
that's definitely what's happened for me.
24:44
It's been very good and I've made some really good friends doing this and they're
24:50
such a lovely bunch of people as well.
24:52
And I guess in some ways it's,
24:54
being part of it and supporting it because community groups are quite unique
25:00
in the way that they're run aren't they i mean i find that compared to a corporate
25:04
company it's a very different
25:07
entity it's a very different culture but it needs everybody to play a bit of a part
25:12
it must be just nice to contribute to a group as well yes i mean in fact one
25:17
of the things is that we take it in turns you know there's no there's no hard
25:21
and fast rules but we take it in turns to set the hash.
25:24
So, you know, everybody has to contribute by doing something at some point.
25:30
Is that pressure doing the hash?
25:33
Not really. No, I mean.
25:38
You have to put a bit of time aside, you know, for example, you know,
25:41
a Sunday morning or a Sunday afternoon to go out and set the hash for the Tuesday night.
25:45
So get all the chalk marks. So that can take a couple of hours.
25:48
So there is a, you know, There's a bit of effort in doing that.
25:54
But people tend to do it in pairs with a hair and a back marker as well so that
25:59
nobody gets lost. So going in pairs, and of course, you're not just running
26:04
the course, you've got to set all the false trails as well.
26:07
So what I didn't really explain is how the false trails work.
26:12
So typically what you do is on the right route,
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the on route, you'll set a marker at 50 paces and a second marker at 100 paces from the junction.
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And on each of the false trails, you'll put a marker at 50 paces.
26:30
So the checkers, all the hash, have to go and check all the false trails.
26:38
And of course, you don't know that you're on a false trail until you've found
26:42
the first mark and then not found the second mark. I see, I see.
26:47
So that's what's so clever about it. So you have to, so the fit people,
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the fitter people will go and do all the checking.
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And, you know, one of them will find the correct route because they'll have
27:00
done, you know, the 100 paces and found a second mark.
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And I guess if they haven't come back to you and they're at the checkpoint,
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then you know you're on the right route. But if they're coming back the other way, they will.
27:11
The people who've done the false route will tend to, they'll congregate back at their junction.
27:18
And the checker who's found the right route will shout on, on,
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straight on, or on, on, right, or on, on, left, or whatever it is.
27:26
So the rules are quite simple in some ways. Really, really simple. Yes.
27:31
And that's important. But so coming back, doing something like this,
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a group activity, it's not like you're a team.
27:40
So it's not like you have the pressure of performance in a lot of ways, do you?
27:45
Absolutely not. you know there's no timing or anything like that it's not competitive
27:50
it's all about staying fit enjoying the company,
27:53
and enjoying the i guess you know for me i love enjoying the cheshire countryside
27:57
as well and and you know there's a bit of the challenge of finding the right
28:02
route you know there's there's a certain amount of,
28:05
a small amount of of kudos in finding the right route and and it's quite funny
28:10
if you know as a checker you keep finding the wrong routes and you'll find that
28:14
you've done seven miles instead of.
28:18
Five miles and and does it mean that every time you go out you're running a
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totally different route or do you run parts of routes and by and large,
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i mean people obviously over 40 years people have set routes from you know there's
28:33
only a certain number of pubs in cheshire so you will occasionally repeat a route but somebody,
28:40
who's who's done that route will, for example, run it in reverse or make changes to it. So,
28:45
And predominantly, we're running a different route every week. Wow.
28:51
There's so many footpaths across Cheshire that there's no shortage of places
28:55
to go and run. There really is.
28:57
I'm going to take a break and come back and find out how, if you're interested
29:01
in hashing and the Cheshire Hash House
29:03
Harriers, then how can you get more information, sign up and take part?
29:08
I'm speaking with Bill Burgess from the Cheshire Hash House Harriers. I've nearly got that.
29:13
And we'll be right with him in a couple of minutes time.
29:17
You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show. With Back to the Garden Childcare,
29:22
where little explorers grow naturally.
29:25
So Bill, from a personal point of view, do you have particular favourite runs?
29:30
Not maybe the specific run, but the area or the pub?
29:35
Oh, that's a difficult one. I just love the variety.
29:39
I have to say, I particularly like places like Bollington because there are
29:47
so many little alleyways and ways up, you know, up to White Nancy,
29:51
which we did last week. That's a lovely one to do. Yeah, it's a lovely spot.
29:54
And the one we're doing tonight from the Winkle Brewery, that's a lovely area
29:58
as well. So that's rather good.
30:01
And I take it there'll be somebody who'll be using one of those track devices
30:05
so they know how many steps and whatever and maybe log the run, do they?
30:09
Well, I think everybody has their own, you know, smartwatch these days.
30:12
So, you know, we all do that.
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And there's a little bit of kudos, you know, using Strava, if people are familiar with that.
30:19
So we give each other kudos on Strava. But that's about it, really.
30:25
So, yeah, I like that. And just so many beautiful places in Czech.
30:28
Delamere Forest is one of my favorites as well. So if you set a route in Delamere
30:33
Forest, there are so many ways. It's actually very difficult to set a hash there
30:37
because you can imagine there are so many paths. Yes.
30:42
It's quite difficult to set all the offs, as they're called,
30:45
rather than the ons, you know. Yes.
30:48
Yeah, the sort of false trails. False trails, exactly. So they're known as the offs.
30:52
And then, I mean, we are blessed here with big estates as well,
30:58
country estates and forest parks to run through.
31:02
But you mentioned doing some urban ones like round Aldrigan.
31:06
Have you done sort of a Greater Manchester sort of canal type one before?
31:11
Well, we've done, there are lots of runs where we run, you know,
31:14
where canals are included on the, on the run.
31:18
But of course, they tend not to have, you know, you tend to have quite long
31:22
stretches on canals. Yes. So you don't want to do too much on the canal because
31:27
you want to set, you want to get to a junction where there's a false trail,
31:30
you know, or you put a false trail in then.
31:32
So if people are interested in this and this interview has tweaked their interest
31:37
or curiosity, how should they find out more about the hashing or the Cheshire
31:42
Hash House Harriers specifically?
31:44
Okay. Well, I think if they just Google it and go to the.
31:50
Cheshirehashhouseharriers.co.uk, we have a website there and it shows you where the next run is.
31:57
And people are welcome to turn up.
32:01
There's no formal club membership, but if you turn up,
32:07
give you a name, you'll get a tick, which is, that's all you get, a tick for a 10 hit.
32:12
And then you can join in and people will make you feel welcome.
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And as we were talking before, sort of prerequisite might be that you're a fit
32:21
walker or a good 5k runner. Yeah, that would be. A decent 5k runner.
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Yeah, reasonable 5k. You know, we have people who, you know,
32:30
lots of people in the club also to do part runs as well.
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So, you know, if you can do a part run in 35 minutes, for example,
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which is not a very fast time, then you'd be fine with hashing.
32:43
Or you can just do a good walk as well. Or you can do a good walk,
32:46
absolutely. Absolutely. Well, it's fantastic, I have to say.
32:50
As I mentioned before, there's something quintessentially English about it,
32:54
but it's also got that modern-day community engagement, cross-generational feel.
32:59
I think it's quite unique and possibly was well before its time, Bill.
33:04
I think so, yeah. I mean, Park Run has, I suppose you'd think of it as an early
33:09
version of Park Run. Yes, of course. Which is quite a community thing as well, you know.
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But without the competitive element of the time, you know. Well,
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good luck tonight and enjoy your run.
33:21
And have you got a favourite pub out of all the runs you've done?
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Well, I think the Winkle Breweries, they do, in my opinion, in some of the best beer in the UK.
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Fantastic beer, really worth visiting.
33:33
Well, we must look that up, the Winkle Brewery. There you go.
33:36
Bill Burgess from the Cheshire Hash House Harriers. Thank you very much indeed. Thank you.
33:41
You're listening to The Late Late Lunch Show. Back to the Garden Childcare,
33:46
where little explorers grow naturally.