The Hilly Side Of the Island

             Sometimes, driving around this island, one gets the impression that the entire place is one extraordinarily flat slab.  I make this claim spending most of my time on the northwestern side, so those of you elsewhere who find my opinions uninformed… yeah, you’re pretty much on the money.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve seen the hills out there but overall I would persist that it’s a flat land.  At least I used to.  This week, Pauline set the run way out east at the end of Prince Charles Drive, basically the most eastern point of the island.  At that point, right on the beach, right at the water, everything seemed so very, very flat.  But the moment the hash began and we all set foot onto those roads heading inward, the hills rose to meet us.

            The day was a beautiful one – sunny and breezy – and the hashers were all coming together at the eastern gazebo.  Once everyone had arrived and all of the items had been handed out, the trail commenced along the coastline and than cut in and up after a check-in that led further on the coast.  The first hill was a moderate one and the correct route off of a check-in led further up the hill and than – for every hill that goes up, one must come down – the hashers found a long downward slope past a couple of barking dogs behind a wall just high enough to keep them at bay.  At the bottom was Eastern Rd. where the trail continued off a left turn and than, after another left turn, - for every hill that goes down… - the hashers made their way up one of the steepest hills around.  Luckily there was a box at the top and everyone took a moment to catch their breath and rest their heart rates.  

            As we took off once more, we came to a wall where a road outlet used to be and hopped over and began westward once again.  Another three-way check-in came up shortly and not only was Frank was the sole person to pick the right path, he even picked up the backcheck and found the proper trail a solid five minutes in front of everyone else.  Soon enough though everyone was on track, the backcheck was long past, and we found ourselves on a very long road with many rolling hills heading south that seemed to stretch on forever with the occasional check-in that kept us all going forwards and a box that was welcomed even though it lacked any shade.  This finally allowed all of us to catch up with Frank who had been single-handedly investigating all of the check-ins.  After the box the trail continued in the same direction until another check-in, complete with backcheck, that sent the hashers east again now that we had all gone far enough west.

            A quiet neighborhood road with no check-ins until the end of the road where we all made a right turn and than a left so that we continued east towards the ocean once again, the water now looming ahead of us.  Another long stretch of road, now flat and lacking check-ins, and we were back at Eastern Road where the flour marked the trail curving to our left and than, across the two lanes of blacktop, the On-In blazed bright against the brown background of the dirt that quickly gave way to sidewalk, than sand, than water.  It was a short sprint back to the gazebo but nobody put the heat on as the never-ending up and down of the hills had exhausted most of the hashers out on the trail that day.  A beautiful trail and a nice run, if hot, but the hills made for a run that will not be forgotten by any of the leg muscles anytime soon.  Pauline, a great run and a great lesson in the topography of Nassau.  I, for one, will not be commenting anytime soon about the flat lands of this island.