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Tag: Hash Kilt

Running in Rotterdam

Published on 6 May 2023

So this Saturday I went for a run in Rotterdam. As is the case for most out-of-town runs nowadays, it was a run with the Hash House Harriers, the FILTH H3 kennel, on this occasion. I had run with them before, when they set a trail in Liège, but this would be my first time with them on their home turf.

The start was at Rotterdam train station, and we were promised run of about 20 km, and a couple of beer stops at breweries and taprooms: a challenging run, but right up my alley! After giving the hare a ten minute head start, four running harriers gave chase. Some others went straight to the beer stop by public transport.

After almost 8 km, we arrived at the Stadshaven Brouwerij for a first beer or two. Although at some point we were very close, apparently, the hare was already enjoying a beer when we got there.

After giving the hare a head start again, we took off as well. This time, we came nowhere near the hare, since he put enough distractions on trail, like a weird art garden, and plenty of nice views.

Just when it was starting to rain, we arrived at beer stop number two, Kaapse Kaap, the taproom of Kaapse Brouwers. Distance run up to that point—including lots of ‘checking’—was 19,7 km, and we were still a couple of kilometres from the start/finish…

Since we almost reached the promised distance, and the weather had turned, it was suggested to end the run then and there. However, three of the runners still were up to run the last part as well, so just five minutes after the hare, off we went!

Another five kilometres—definitely not the shortest way—brought us to our third and last beer stop, Brewpub Reijngoud, after just missing out on catching the hare! From there, we just walked the last 300 m to Biergarten Rotterdam for the closing Circle, after 25,2 km in total…

Fittingly, there they were serving a beer with on the label a hare chased by hounds, in turn chased by a huge hare… Perfect end of a great day!

London Trip – Day 3

Published on 28 January 2023 
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If you want to read about this trip from start to finish, instead of in reverse order, click here!

More Hashing & Hammerton

Another day starting with a breakfast buffet! Not to fuel me for a morning of museums this time, but for a mid-day run. Today I ran with another kennel: the OG London Hash House Harriers. I packed all my stuff, put on my running gear, checked out, and headed to The Golden Fleece, where the run would start at one. More nice hashers—and some familiar faces from Thursday—a lot of banter, again a really nice, touristy trail, and of course some beer at the end…

After the run I still had some time—although less than planned—to check off a few more beery places on my list. Caps and Taps and Indiebeer are primarily beer shops, so an excellent opportunity to buy a couple of cans to take home. Of course I also had to taste a some of the beers they had on draught…

My last stop this trip was the Hammerton Brewery, a microbrewery in Islington. Unfortunately the kitchen was closed, so I had to forego the pizza I was hoping for… The beers and cracklings were nice, though!

Eventually I made it back to St. Pancras International in time for my Eurostar back home.

So long London, is has been a blast, and see you again in a couple of months!

Done reading about this trip? Resume reading my blog in the usual order!

London Trip – Day 1

Published on 27 January 2023

Waterloo & West London H3

The last time I was in London for more than a couple of hours, is almost four years ago! About time to visit it again, so today I finally found myself once again on a Eurostar under the English Channel. Lots of queueing—the train was full—but at least the biometric gates now worked with my Belgian comic strip passport.

Since I didn’t have time for a coffee before my departure in Brussels, and because I had a bit of time to kill before I could check-in in my hotel, my first stop in London was at Redemption Roasters for some—apparently—prison-roasted coffee, and a piece of banana bread.

My hotel for this trip is again the very conveniently located—right next to the station—hub by Premier Inn King’s Cross. I’ve stayed there once before, returning from one of my Scotland trips. A swift check-in, change into my kilt, and it was time to hit the town!

First up was Mother Kelly’s Bottle Shop & Taproom in Vauxhall. Their taprooms had been on my to-do list for years, but somehow I never made it… This one has 33 beers on tap, so it wasn’t hard to find some beers I liked! The music I didn’t like that much, so after two beers I moved on.

The second stop was the Waterloo Tap. The bar is part of the same family as the Euston Tap, my usual last stop before boarding the Caledonian Sleeper, so I kind of knew what to expect: a nice selection of keg and cask beers. I wasn’t wrong about that, but the venue itself was so much more open than the Euston Tap: it was basically a rather narrow railway arch with windows put in on both sides!

Then it was time to visit BrewDog Waterloo. At that moment it was still the newest London BrewDog bar, but that would soon, very soon, change… I’ve visited BrewDog bars of all sizes, but this one is just ridiculously large: apart from the bar space itself—with 60 taps—and a micro-brewery like we’ve seen in other Outposts, this location also has a separate coffee bar, an indoor ice cream van, a hidden cocktail bar, a podcast recording studio, duckpin bowling, and a slide! My stomach was still on Belgian time, so I seized the opportunity to give the Vegan Allstars menu a try, and had a portion of Loaded Skins.

I didn’t want to eat too much, because the next activity on the schedule was a run, with the West London Hash House Harriers. In The Old Star pub I quickly changed into my running kilt and shoes, and off we went! As usual when hashing, I met a lot of nice people, and as luck would have it, it turned out to be a very tourist friendly trail!

The last stop of the evening was BrewDog Wandsworth, for its Equity Punk (pre-opening) night, that just happened to be during my visit to London. So yes, from now on until the next one opens, that is the newest BrewDog bar in London! I managed to chat to some people I’ve been reading on the EFP forum for years, and some I had met before. It was a really nice way to end my first evening in London.

Belgian & Dutch Nash Hash

Published on 1 August 2022

Belgian Nash Hash 2022

In one of my FyneFest Trip posts I mentioned how the Glasgow H3 gave me a hash name. I also mentioned my home kennel—BMPH³—might have to say a thing or two about that…

Well, the weekend after my return from Scotland, it was already time for the Belgian Nash Hash: a yearly, weekend long event for Hash House Harriers, organised by a kennel of the eponymous country, but open to hashers from all over the world. When I arrived at the checkin, I did in fact receive a badge with my new name, but—ominously—with an asterisk next to it…

So after quite a bit of running—and a bit of beer drinking—in the beautiful Condroz, I was called into Circle. There I was confronted with what had happened in Glasgow, and as expected, the RA and the rest of BMPH³ didn’t agree with it, and deemed I needed a new hash name. After some debating, in true courtroom style, I was eventually found Kilty as Charged, which will henceforth be my hash name. The official naming that ensued, involved quite a bit of beer and flour… A lot more than in Glasgow, where, by the way, I will always remain Out of Kilter!

Dutch Nash Hash 2022

A couple of weeks later, there was a nash hash in the Netherlands, which would be my first foreign nash hash. The location was The Hague, and the weather was once again great. Only a few hashers from BMPH³ attended—the Dutch Nash Hash coincided with the German Nash Hash—but I already knew a couple of the Dutch hashers, and in general hashers are a friendly bunch anyway, so I felt comfortable quite quickly.

As a Belgian hasher, I’ve been quite spoilt when it comes to beer, and it came as a bit of a shock—especially after finding a home-brew in the welcome pack—that the only beer on offer was ‘Big Beer’, i.e. Heineken and Amstel… Since, as a matter of principle, I refuse to knowingly drink beers by AB InBev, Heineken, Carlsberg, Asahi, etcetera, it required some creativity to fulfil my beery needs during the weekend. Luckily, I had done my research, and prepared a list of craft beer bars and shops in The Hague. As luck would have it, those places were never too far from where the pack was, so I was able to sneak off every once in a while to get a proper beer to enjoy with the rest!

Oh, since the home-brew in the welcome pack wasn’t cooled when we received it, I just took the bottle home with me. I drank it a couple of days later, properly cooled, and it was actually quite enjoyable!

… and it all led to my first marathon!

Published on 26 May 2022

Yep, that’s right: I ran my first marathon, the full 42,195 km! Well, I say ‘ran’, but unfortunately had to walk quite a bit of it… In despite of that, I was far from the last one to finish, contrary to some of my previous runs.

This was not a normal marathon though, but the infamous Beer Lovers’ Marathon in Liège. That meant, at the numerous supply points, we weren’t just given water and energy snacks, but a serving of beer as well! Curiously enough, with all the running, you don’t even feel the alcohol… Oh, most people were in some kind of theme appropriate costume as well. Can you guess who I was supposed to be?

Training

In preparation for this marathon, I also participated in a couple of other runs, although they were more like trail runs, so in nature, instead of the urban environment of this marathon. These runs were the Marathon Zoniënwoud (21 km), Brussels Nature Run (27,5 km), Trailberg (21 km), and 15km van Sint-Lambrechts-Woluwe (25,5 km).

Okay, that’s enough running for this blog, I promise the next post will be about travelling and beer!