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| Reviews & Photos | Gower October 2010 | |||||
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On the Friday afternoon, we left Brighton for the Gower, as this was the first Canoe Club trip of the study year everyone was pretty excited. The journey there in the minibus was extremely eventful, after getting trapped in the M25 traffic jam we all needed to go to the toilet. A few toilet stops and a Burger King on the way we managed to get to our nice warm chalets, Lee’s Audi Group having arrived half an hour before. We were too late for the Pub; however we made up for it by boozing and dooming it up in the chalet to early hours as Marco and Mike soon turned up, charming our neighbourhood with our singing. Dave soon discovered singing about the Old Chicago store and discovered that singing, “A woman came in asking for some post-it notes. Some post-it notes from the store? Yes, some post-it notes is what she asked for, and I said 'yes they're 99p per pack on aisle 12', and she said 'thank you'” Didn’t really raise as much laughs as asking for scaffolding and receiving an erection. Saturday began with a lovely canoe club breakfast, then soon after a bit of faffing, we drove to Llangenith and went to the beach next to the Hill End Campsite. The Surf wasn’t that clean, with waves coming in rows of two or three, and proved to be a little challenging, however I managed to get on a few waves on the Pyranha Stretch, discovering what Lee was on about when he was talking about using a stern rudder and high braces. My highlight was managing to carve a wave for the first time. Marco’s was probably taking the girls out surfing on the duo and Danny was extremely impressive and enthusiastic in his first Canoe Club trip. Overall Saturday lit the candle of hopefully the beginning of my first big kayaking love, that of the Pyranha Stretch. After getting showered, washed and watching Grand Designs, we all met up in the Bar, followed by drinks, food, pool, the random shot game and more drinks. After hanging around there for a bit we returned to a Chalet and went back to drinking again. On that day James discovered and carved our new temporary treasurer, a Pumpkin equipped with Matt’s helmet and Matt’s Notebook and club purse to replace Real Matt, we called him Pumpkin Matt. Sunday morning rose to a really sunny day (still cold) and after another nice breakfast (of which I made the toast!) we went out to Llangenith, Hill End Beach again. The waves were a lot nicer and a bit bigger and spread apart. I noticed the first-timers really getting to grips with kayaking, Owen did his first outside combat roll and we were all brushing through high waves as if they were not there. Marco was out with the Duo again and, discounting the awful die-hard like collision I had with another kayaker surfing towards me, it was a really nice day out on the surf. James, Josh, Hannah, Beryl and I took the Duo out on the sand dunes which was a nice bit of fun, sliding down some steep slopes. We all made it back to Brighton safely, I, aching all over, collapsed in my bed thinking about how awesome the trip was. By Sammy Jones |