Tuesday, July 1, 2008

DeathMarch of Pilisvorosvar - Hash #898

Hare: Baldric

Note- The trash should have been written by NFG (new french girl???) Bea who is still working on her master opus on last weeks trash so Bangcock has thrown himself on to the gernade.

It was a rather small but select group that showed up at Battyhany ter on this absolutely beautiful Sunday. There was Baldric (the Hare du jour), myself (Bang Cock), St. Anus, 10 Minutes Late, Hot Flush, Three Times A Wienie, Frustrated Frog Legs, Bea and Pia. Baldric and I made a brief foray into the supermarket to but eater and food to make sandwiches for after the trail. (We knew we would end at the micro-brewery in Pilisvorosvar and they don’t serve food.)

We hopped on the HEV and rode one stop north of Margit hid where we got off and caught the “Red” train that came by about 12:10. The train is excellent and it took us out to Aquincum cutting off to the east along part of last week’s trail. About 10 minutes later we arrived at Pilisvorosvar just as the lady ticket collector arrived to collect fares. When she learned we were getting off there she just shrugged her shoulder and indicated we should forget about it.

Dismounting we gathered for a long rambling series of fairly confusing trail instructions from the hare. (Little did we realize that this was setting the tone for the trail.) We finally had “light bulbs” glowing over our heads [HEAD-WHO SAID HEAD?] as we understood which way we should start out. Baldric and Wienie took off with the backpacks containing the rest of the water that we had not removed and the food to jog to the brewery and leave them there while the rest of the pack walked to start the trail until they caught up.

Stumbling along the RR tracks we came to the main road and found a check. Sussing it out we turned left to follow flour. Passing a gas station we bore left starting up the street. Just past the crest there was another check. The trail led down a small but picturesque lane and as we continued along our Hare and Wienie rejoined us. Then those running, Hot Flush, Wienie, BC and Baldric took off along the lane and down a looong stairway at the end leading to a small square in front of a church on a main street. Off we went to the left for a long straight till the trail took us on a right turn up another street which meandered along and eventually ended at a path leading into the woodlands and up, and up, and up, and up. Wheezing and gasping, crawling and stumbling we finally got out of the gully and took a side path that eventually brought us to a small road. A bit further along we came to a Hash Hold mark and rested there until the rest of the pack came up while we debated the translation of the sign finally “agreeing” that it referred to St. Steven’s pine trees inside a split rail enclosure. The view was nice but pretty much blocked by trees.

The pack caught up and we milled about some more finally taking off down another path taking us to a dirt road. Here our Hare took us up a very steep face of a hill to see the view of a lovely Cell Phone tower. From the top we could see that we could have simply walked around the hill and walked up rather than scrambling up the treacherous gravel face.

Coming down the back side of the hill we once again took the dirt road, being passed by several mountain biker going the other way.(They were going down. We were still going up. Who are the smart ones!) The road took us to a truly beautiful out look from a grassy field. We all stopped and took pictures. By this time we were beginning to realize how long we had been out on the trail (almost 3 hours) and were beginning to wonder if it would ever end.

Onwards we trudged along a path coming to some sort of a monument by the remains of an old stone house at the base of yet another hill. There was a check and knowing who our wiley Hare was I decided to check the path leading up the hill. Near the top I hit flour and continuing on I found more trail marks and called “ON! ON!” I looked back and saw Bea had followed with Frustrated Frog Legs and they were about 60m behind. Suddenly they stopped. They seemed to be waiting there. Suddenly FFL began waving me back. I called that I was on trail but the wave back continued. I started back down and reached Bea partway down. The rest of the pack AND THE HARE were calling us to come back. We did so only to go back to the stone ruins to take another path back up the other side of the hill to get to the same spot I had been in before.

From this point things began to fall apart and the trail took on all of the aspects of a “Death March”. We continued to plod through brambles and over fallen tree limbs along an often disappearing path. At last we met up with the Hare who pointed us down hill at a place where there was no path. At least we were in the shade as we went slipping and sliding down the hillside coming to a trail along the bottom. After another 15 minutes or so we came out of the woods. Here we lost trail and the front runners including the Hare but finally with the advice of a helpful little lady we were at least pointed in the direction to where we would eventually come to a main road with a bus route. As we came down out of the hills along the street we again found flour and started to follow the trail back to the start after calling Baldric to verify that was what we should do. (over 4 hours on trail)

We passed a little shop where a young girl was selling ice creams through a window and some of us tried some. At this point we arrived at a bus stop where a few people were waiting and St. Anus decided enough was enough and he had to get back to town so he left the group. (Needing food I was compelled to leave rather than dicking around for another 45 mins at least. With the bus minutes away I felt it was better than leaving it up to the fates. 25 mins later was back home)

We did run into an interesting sight here. A young man came bounding across the road wearing some sort of articulated footwear that propelled him along like a mountain goat. It was a diversion and by now we needed one.

We trudged back along the trail; across the road by the church; up the loooong stairway; back along the asphalt roads and after another 20 minutes or so were back at the gas station. Following the Hares instructions we continued on past where we had met this road at the start and fortunately met the Hare, Hot Flush and Wienie. From here it was only a short hot dry walk along a side street and through a small alley that brought us out on the road just up from the micro brewery.

Once there the beer was cold and delicious and the sandwiches we fixed for ourselves were most heartily appreciated along with more and more cold beer. About this time we realized that we had best get moving to catch the 19:10 train back to Margit hid. We finished our last sandwiches and beer; cleaned up and struggled back to the train station about 15 minutes away arriving just as the train was pilling in.

We boarded the train and proceeded to take over the aisle in front of one of the doors where Baldric proceeded to run the circle. There were numerous offenses with much sharing of the large beer we had brought with us. Of course Frustrated Frog Legs, our Song Meister, continually amazed us with his repertoire and the variety of songs he selected for us to sing. The other passengers in the car were extremely tolerant of these activities and when the ticket taker finally arrived, he didn’t quite know what to make of us and finally just threw up his hands and moved on. The train stopped about 100m short of Margit hid and walking to the tram stop we literally ran into Mama San who was on her way to meet a friend and go to a museum (or did she say a sex shop???). At any rate we had made it back to Budapest after a very long tiring but interesting day.

In closing I must comment that Baldric once again laid a very picturesque, imaginative and interesting trail. The only problem was that he really laid two (2) trails and had us do them both the same day. No trail for an ordinary hash should ever be more than 2 and a half to 3 hours long MAXIMUM. This was a great trail but was definitely punishing and towards the end the fun factor was gone. Without the cold beer and good sandwiches at the finish there “could” have been a lynching!!!

Despite the difficulties of the day, on the train returning, we were once again laughing.

ON! ON!
BC

1 comment:

Jen in Budapest said...
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