Monday 6 December 2010

With Plenty of Money and You

Here is yet another example of worthy contribution by the now already well known and established secret Co-Contributor Tickpleaser. This covers the run he and I set in and around Mödling on the 28th of November, covering a pretty area which is small parts of  the Naturpark Föhrenberge and parts of the Liechtenstein hill (not the country of the same name!)

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Cometh the hour, cometh the man. Or so they say.  Well, all the signs were not good that this would be the case for run #1495 after the Hares had to change the D-Erections a few days before, due to a proper run taking place in Mödling on the same day. Perfect planning, as always.  Safe to say that there were a few more participants in the Adventlauf than the Hash.  But we all know who had the better time, don't we?  The weather was perfect with the first winter snow freshly fallen and reminding us that Christmas is finally around the corner.  MTG was not there to tell us exactly how many days it was to Christmas as he had disappeared to spend the weekend in Zagreb with a few other turncoats (or seasoned travelling Hashers, depending on your point of view).  With three Zagrobians celebrating their 70th birthday, plus a 77th to boot, the Zagreb Hash makes even VH3 seem youthful - which as we all know is quite an achievement.

The run started in a car park on the outskirts of town just next to the forest and sure enough went straight on up and into the trees. (Where there's a hill, there's a Hash?)  Thankfully for all concerned the destination wasn't the Anninger, at 650M the tallest hill in the region, and the trail soon turned right and on to the top of a ridge, before a steady walk down a lot of steps and with a great view of the aqueduct that supplies all you lucky Vindobonans with nice fresh mountain water. En route, the hares Marie Tamponette and Tickpleaser showed their obvious inexperience (I change that to imcompetence, Note Marie Tamponette) by forgetting where they had laid the trail just a few hours previously.  Luckily there were enough hardy souls present to take charge and lead the bewildered pair on towards their own markings. 

The Hares had wisely (and somewhat surprisingly) remembered to use a dash of polenta here and there so the markings were visible despite the patches of snow and other cold stuff.  The run skirted along the valley floor next to the Mödling-Hinterbrühl main road (Brühler Straße) and, surprise, surprise, then ran up the hill the other side to the top of a second ridge.  Thankfully most of the pack failed to notice (or more likely didn't care) that the trail was very similar to one a year or two ago from the same Hares, and sure enough it went past the Schwarze Turm, that slightly strange tower come unusual house, which sits over Mödling brooding like a fat maiden aunt at a wedding.

The promise of a Gluehwein stop was enough to get the straggling line of Hashers moving again, following The Famous Pimpsqueak -  whose keen nose (or was it local knowledge?) had already sniffed out the impending stop.  Sure enough, a few minutes later all were happily warming their hands round their mugs thanks to a small Weihnachtsmarkt next to a church on the way down to Mödling itself.  From here it was a short trundle back through the pedestrian zone and yet another Weihnachtsmarkt, with a final walk uphill along the Goldene Stiege and back to the car park. Needless to say, the beer was for once properly chilled thanks to the Austrian winter weather and those hardy few who braved the On-After left Gasthaus Bockerl to find their cars under a few cm of new snow which very politely waited until the end of the circle before coming down to earth.

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Love is in town!



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