GIAG 2014
Saturday, 4 October 2014
4 hours sleep saw me feeling surprisingly fresh at 7:30on Saturday. Lots of running around and frantic battery charging ensured that the necessary faff occurred (shit weather predicted for the morning) and Brendan and I arrived at chapel last at half 9. Everyone was quite ready and equipped (we just about had enough oversuits for everyone; 37 people is a lot of freshers!) and vehicles were piled into, seeing us leave at 9:45. We were in the thief for 11:15, with some defecting to Bernies due to lack of space. After food, we set off for Birkwith, arriving at about half 1. We abandoned Mike at the gate, then he tried to moonie us and we drove at him, so he jumped onto the bonnet and rode up the hill lying on the windscreen (“I’ve left a skid on your bonnet”). By this time the weather had cleared up, and the threat of sad floody times had dwindled to very unlikely (hooray!). Nathanael found his wetsocks and wellies in Peacheys car, causing him to be happier than Ive seen him for some time.
After substantial faff, I set off with John and 6 freshers to Birkwith. We saw the canal, no one complained about anything, everyone was happy and no mishaps occurred. Going well so far. Old Ing proved to be equally lacking in misfortune, but the freshers then learnt that they were definitely going to get wet and many fell into the (quite deep) pools, receiving encouraging laughter from the rest of the group. All had a good time and enjoyed Racer bars. Still going well. We set off for Brow Gill and Sophie (fresher, geologist) got foot cramp so we sorted that at the entrance. Soon we were at the rope climb where everyone did well and no one fell off. The letterbox and the rest of the smaller sections also proved to be no obstacle. We got to the ladder pitch in quick time, and everyone succeeded in putting on a harness correctly. However, by this time the days efforts were showing in some members of the group. 4 freshers climbed the ladder excellently (Sophie was particularly fast), but 2 didnt quite have it in them so John set up a z rig and he, Nat and the rest of the freshers got hauling. We were back at the vans for about half 6, where Matt had set up an awesome gazebo effort with tea and hot dogs. After adequate consumption, Mike discovered that I had taken his stop hostage to hasten the return of the pair of wellies he had been borrowing from me.
We set off back to Leeds in due course after necessary faff. In response to Lyndie saying “Peachey, youll never overtake in that vehicle and inspired to go faster by The Shamen and The Prodigy, Peachey earned much cred after overtaking Chris and then Lincoln twice, with the attempts on Lincoln being particularly good efforts. Overtake 1: waiting at traffic lights, Peachey goes in outside lane and cuts in to block off Lincoln. Lights go green, Peachey cuts forward in front and then stalls right in front of Lincoln. Lincoln then overtook us. Not to be thwarted after such a spirited effort previously, Peachey went for number 2: bus going into outside lane has blocked off Lincoln ahead, Peachey in outside lane overtakes Lincoln, cuts in just in front of him and undertakes bus. The race to the chapel was then decisively clinched! When Lincoln arrived he chased Peachey around a lot and kicked him. Understandable. We still won though. Curry and Chemic followed. Overall, success!
Comments
*wetsocks and kneepads
Nathanael Dalton
Sunday, 05 October 2014