Fortress Hill

Wharf Road Sitting Area

Hares - Teabagger and Torched Testicles

Hashers - Chris C, CUTR, Gobi Lo, Snatch Catcher, Octopussy, Winky Twinkie, Pole Dancer, Indyanus, Tight Lips, Screwtop, Friend of Wai-chee, Brother Anus, Free Rider, Hopeless, Kannot Finish, Free Wheel, Pong, Pipe Rider, Macau Drunk, Mother Teresa, Wai Chee Kok

Write-up - Gobi Lo

TB and TT are the only people I know who moved to HK for work but decide to move back to their home country to give birth to their little one. And so it is, another (temporary?) farewell run set by departing LSW hashers.

With staggered starts and an unpredictable work schedule my LSW runs are usually a solo affair. It is a good thing that I actually crave the solitude that night runs bring. After a 40-second hash run briefing from Torched Testicles (and a 40-second briefing from Teabagger about how TT "lost" his keys only to find it in his trousers' pocket *cue TB rolling eyes*), I set off into the dark.

Through the streets of Fortress Hill and up the steep slope to the first check which, unsurprisingly, I got wrong. I went up the steps only to back down, and then up to the road to another check which I got wrong again (I went up the steps and up the road, only to have true trail going down...). Rinse and repeat. I literally got the next 5 checks wrong - talk about a streak of bad luck!

Up more steps, then a shiggy bit which some of the LSW runs usually bring us through, then onto the stream next to the Chinese International School. Lots of back and forth as markings were sometimes sparse and invisible (we should include "Do NOT use coloured chalk especially blue chalk for night runs" in the Guidelines section of our website) but miraculously I found the first Rambos / Wimps split.

Up on the very short R towards Monkey Buttress (climbing crag) then a re-join with the W, and another check. Here I bumped into Kannot Finnish looking for the next bit of flour. After a couple minutes checking all possible avenues it seemed to dawn on Kannot Finnish that I was actually just starting on the trail whereas he was finishing up! So he told me where to go, and said "Good luck" a little too ominously.

The second split was on Sir Cecil's Ride with the R taking me up the steep shiggy slope. More kerfuffle-type back and forth, lost trail, no markings, etc. Some epic shiggy. Then to the Mount Butler HR Radio Receiving Station with a cute chalk drawing of a camera (hash view), and then it literally went downhill from there.

Skirting around the fence and trying not to place my hands on the razor-sharp barb wires, I gingerly stepped down to the "trail". Well, it wasn't so much as a "trail" as a "Oh sh*t I am lost but I need to take the Rambos down to the contour trail so let's just bash my way through and hopefully no one dies" kind of trail. Spoiler alert - no one died. I think.

Onto the usual river, then down to Sir Cecil's, only to have a weird orange marking with arrows pointing both left and right. I checked left, because surely the hare would be sensible and wanted to end this already-too-long run and wouldn't want to take us past the quarry... but oh gawd, no flour on the left so it meant a right, all the way to Mt Butler Road! Past the quarry... and down to Moorsom Road. I was grumpy AF at this point but then out of the corner of my eye I spied a little green twig that moved...?!

It turned out that I found my first Ramulis rotundus, an adorable green stick insect! It was right next to the road about to be squashed by the whizzing cars so I picked it up ever-so gently, and headed back to A with it. It was a very, very long walk back to A but hey, it's not every day that I get to save such a cute stick insect.

I got back to A just as everyone was packing up to head to the bash. I heard there were a few brave foolhardy souls who did the Rambos route, and that was why when TT saw me coming back in, he smiled sheepishly and gave me the meekest fist bump I've ever had.

Thank you hares for an epic LSW adventure! Safe travels, and best of luck for the new addition to your family. I'd still pick a stick insect any time over a child but I'm probably the only one who thinks this way. On On!

p.s. I released the stick insect (which my 5-year old nephew named "Crispy Mac") in a safe, undisclosed location.

Rambos 9.75km

The Wimps 8.63km

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