Freshers Trip October 2009
From ICCC
People
- Tom "Can't turn corners" Haywood
- Alistair "Missed the takeout" Cott
- Rachel Fox
- Antony Farrington
- Harry "Broken" Wood
- John Phillips
- Rik "Evil Vodka" Williams
- William "Bed of cans" Eldred
- James Ward
- Fiona Ashman
- Luke Foreman
- Jean Benard
- Holli Pritchard
- Ben Stopher
- Rory "Also Broken" Fyffe
- Ralph Evins
- Natalie "No Swims" Staffurth
- Tom Leeman
- Oliver Carson
- Robert "Microwaved sausages" Macrae
- Jim Pullen
- Tim "Steeplechase victim" Burne
- Amie "The pinning rock" Young
- Mark "Put it awaaay" Wardle
- Paula "Here to drink" Volkmer
- Terry Chambers
- Sophie Gore
- Rob "Tony the Tiger" Tuley
- Claire Browne
- Dave McCraw
- Patrick "Sober" Clissold
- Liz Knowles
- Tom Corke
Trip Report
After a rather straightforward 6 hour journey, the first of the minibuses arrives at ‘the hut’, somewhere in North Wales, where they met with some ex canoe club members from Imperial. Unfortunately, all of the beer was on the second bus so a long and agonising half an hour ensued before the second bus arrived. Older members insisted that the catastrophic time delay was due to the bus having to go south of Birmingham- a no-go in the eyes of most of the club members.
Once both buses had arrived and were sufficiently unpacked, the relentless drinking began and continued until the early hours of the morning. Special appearances were made by Rik’s Chilli Vodka and the fundamental Sainsbury’s value Gin. Slowly people began to drift off to bed, with everyone being tucked on their mattresses by about 4am.
The following morning a reasonably long lay-in was permitted until about 10, when the call of the sausage, bacon and egg sandwiches beckoned. After a speedy breakfast provided by Ali was had, kit was packed and the group of round about 30 left for the Glayslyn- a relatively easy river to paddle to ease the freshers in slowly. Despite the torrential wind and rain the night before, the river had failed to rise considerably so a slightly rocky descent was had, but only one fresher managed to swim on the top section. After about 2 hours, the groups got out of the river to look at The Aberglaslyn Gorge. Then, only the bravest of paddlers (including two freshers) returned to their boats to attempt the grade IV section of an otherwise straightforward river.
Most of the group made it down the falls without too much of an issue except slightly hairy pin from Tom Leeman. Luke also had a fairly eventful descent, having ample opportunity to practise his rolls and giving his helmet a few new scratches. Surprisingly, the only swimmers were some of the more experienced in the group. Those who weren’t too knackered after their first attempt tried the gorge again, while the others got changed and waited for them to finish. Others faffed deciding whether to attempt it, then having a go, then getting out, then walking back to the top, then having another go, then talking about how badly they’d messed it up, then finally getting changed and packing the boats.
After the successful morning, with no kit or freshers being lost, the majority of the group decided there was only one thing to do- head to the pub for a nice comfy seat and a pint. A few of the ex-student decided they were going to brave another river and so headed off to find one that was suitably difficult. The majority of the group proceeded to a small local pub where they proceeded to oust all of the locals and entertain the bar staff for a few hours. During this time a small group (Ralph, James, Tom, Rachael and Luke) returned to the hut to start work on dinner- the legendary ‘hut chilli’- after finding a shop which sold any form of knife. Sadly the welsh description of a “sharp kitchen knife” alters to what most others say- when they say ‘sharp knife’, they really mean ‘blunt knife’, which was quickly discovered by those who had to chop the mountain of peppers, onions, chillies and mushrooms.
Soon after dinner was on the go, the rest of the group arrived back at the hut , and once again the drinking began- starting at around 5 o’clock and largely finishing with a lot of tired, drunk people at around 12.30. The stream of alcohol was only interrupted by the dishing up of the dinner and subsequent tidying up.
During the course of the evening, there were of course some formal procedures that had to take place. First of these was ‘The Ladder’ for all freshers and those who hadn’t previously visited the hut. Unfortunately it was largely uneventful, with the entire group making it up without too much of an issue. This was swiftly follower by an ex-presidents match as it was noted there were 7 ex-presidents of the club on the trip which must have been a record. Again, no mistakes were made by the old pros. This then led onto a few games of ‘body parts twister’ where some original anatomical regions were dreamed up courtesy of Patrick and Rory. The list featured some of the necessary essentials such as ‘tongue’ and ‘nipple’ but also included some surprise body parts such as ‘gooch’ and ‘septum'.
As if all this excitement wasn’t enough, there was still some time for a few games of Circle of Death and Peer Pressure where again the Chilli Vodka reared its ugly head along with some equally novel spirits such as Crème Caramel and Sherry, courtesy of Ralph’s parents. Again the evening finished in a fairly messy manner- which was evident the next morning....
Everyone enjoyed an extra hour in bed thanks to the clocks going back on the Saturday night, but still no-one managed to get up for the early morning mission. At around 8.30, everyone was dragged out of bed for a speedy breakfast and tidying of the hut. Remarkably, all the jobs were done and everyone left the hut in search of a suitable river by about 9.30. The initial plan was to head to the Gwyrfai but upon getting there, it was decided that there wasn’t enough water in it. The plan was then altered and the Conwy was chosen as the next best option.
We proceeded to a nearby lay-by where everyone donned their kit before returning to the minibuses to go to the get-in. Whilst changing an appearance was made by “the angry farmer” who Tom swears has been there every time he has paddled the Conwy. He made sure we knew we weren’t allowed to get out on his land, and then decided to follow us to the get-in where he stayed to watch us all start paddling the river....obviously he had nothing better to do on a Sunday morning. The descent was relatively straight forward , with plenty of photos being taken at different places. After the easy section, some of the group decided to paddle further down a slightly rougher stretch before getting out just after “the angry farmer’s” land. Everyone re-assembled at the Conwy Falls cafe to load up all the kit and start the journey home.
The journey was again very pleasant with no traffic and the only pit-stop being for the necessary fish and chips / pizza dinner. The first minibus arrived back at SK at about 10pm, followed by the second at around 10.30- just in time for last orders.
A big thanks is in order to Tom and the trip organisers/ minibus drivers from the freshers for a wicked weekend.
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