Not a bad turnout for Fred & Jerome's suggested venue of the newly revamped Hare & Hounds which has seen a few transformations since my early years in Marlow drinking with the Marlow Mafia, one of whom it turned out is now running the place.
Amanda, Kate, Fred, David, Doug, Duds, Jerome, Jules, Steve (Spider), Steve T and myself assembled ready for the off. Dougy made a welcome return to the throng looking well stocked up on calories from , we were told, a diet of Guiness, cider and Irish potatoes. We duly set off up the Happy Valley route out towards Marlow Common. As we headed through the woods towards Danesfield the sensible group kept to the higher ground while some of our more enthusiastic members for some reason contrived to run up and down a few more contours. David & Dougy seemed to be a little concerned as to how far we were running away from the pub while Fred was giving instructions to turn right to do an extra loop when she really meant left. Luckily the leading group hadn't heard her anyway. After skirting the ex-RAF housing estate at Danesfield and dropping down steeply through the woods, we turned sharply back on ourselves, heading off towards Bockmer End. At his point David & Doug decided to graciously accept Jerome's instructions as to an alternative shorter route home while the rest of the group ploughed on to do that little bit extra. All in all quite a pleasant little circuit past Bockmer End Farm, eventually to return along the same footpath that we started on down Happy Valley.
The girls seemed to be very impressed with the trendy new interiors of the Hare & Hounds and were soon busy arranging when they were all going to meet up there for a girlie get together. The boys were more intent on the practicalities of arranging the excessively high tables and chairs together and wondering whether the beer was going to be OK. Turned out the beer was OK, except that is for Jerome's lager, which was a bit on the warm side. Unfortunately Duds must have had a sudden giddy turn on his high perch and managed to knock Spider's pint over whilst reaching for the Cheese & Onion. John the landlord duly appeared to politely mop up his brand new tables and was probably quietly regretting that he hadn't gone for the spit & sawdust look instead. Luckily he failed to recognise me amongst the mob, so I kept a low profile.
Amanda thought that the place might be good for our end of season run, though I'm not sure whether that's a definite or not. Fred mentioned that she wanted to book The Frog again for our Christmas bash.
Next week we're going to try a new venue - The Flowerpot at Aston.
It's on the other side of the river, so to get there, take the A404 and then the A423 towards Henley. After the turning to Hurley on the right hand side, about 3 miles further on, turn right where signposted for Aston. The pub is about a mile down this road. If you want to, you can park on the north side of the river at Mill End, then cycle (or run) across the weir & lock to the pub. It's difficult to park at Mill End - there's a public car park half amile along the road to Hambleden on the left hand side.
I've volunteered to plot a route, which Jules says must include some hills, so see you there.
By the way, because of the failing daylight, we will start the run at 6.45 pm.
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