Freshers Trip-amondo.

Being a super busy student of the englishes and the historiessss I have neglected this Freshers Report! *hangs head in shame* Second year sucks balls compared to being a fresher!!

Anyway, on to Freshers Trip. 

Having managed to arrange possibly the biggest freshers trip we’ve ever had, LUCC set off from sheds with, 2 shiny new mini buses, a very large van, and Grog’s car. Needless to say, some classic boats got dragged out of sheds to provide everyone with an actual kayak! So, drove to the scout hut, an odd experience not being stressed and surrounded by snow as we arrived at Ulverston in the Lakes (post-exam trip stresses were a distant memory thank god!!) and having had to sacrifice the Malt Kiln this year, we settled in to our scouting home for the weekend WHERE THERE WAS LOTS OF POLYSTYRENE- Tolly was in some sort of phsycological hell and threatened to hurt anyone who did anything to him with it (he looked more serious than I’ve ever seen him, so we took him for his word). Also, we love scouts, they’d kindly left us a dual bike, minus brakes, which was the perfect mix of dangerous and fun, even if it did say “The Savil-inator” on it : naughty scouts. Liam, having a serious case of FOMO (fear of missing out) had raced us up to the Lakes spontaneously, with him, Earnie, Grog and Wallerbingbang planning a dawn raid on a river (this naturally never happened as we went to bed at 5am, horrifically drunk, with Liam racing back, still drunk, to Kayaks North West in Runcorn for his 9am shift- LOL)

Rhys & his gangster 'S'

So, freshers games, spoons came with the added danger of carpet burns and the introduction of danger spoon N.B it wasn’t very dangerous unfortunately. I proceeded to write everyone’s names on their heads, largely because I kept forgetting them and a little bit because I wanted to use my new sharpie! So, we got really drunk, had fun and as the early hours crept up on us, decided it was definitely time for a torch ‘rave’ with pumping music- the grannies next door loved us the next morning. Louis was loving life creating strobe lighting with the torch can I just say. Oh Louis. We love you.

Jaunty Grog, very jaunty. 

SATURDAY
Standard breakfast sausages from Cap’n Tolly, still containing more unknown substance than meat, but we can live with that! Then it was off to paddle on Consiton for the morning. It was a great morning doing some skills, trying to act like rocks and eddies so freshers could try and pretend they were on a river (never quite works….) and then after rafting up in a giant circle which took far longer than it should for a group of university educated students, the International drinking rules were still being enforced and the usual running over kayaks occurred. Lesson of the weekend: do not say the M word whilst on a lake, press-ups on top of floating kayaks is seal-like, ungraceful and hard. After lunch, we separated into our groups again, had river signals talks and tips on how to swim, and then paddled off to start The Crake. Lesson 2 of the weekend: Paddling to get somewhere on a lake is hard/boring, we need to invest in club jetskis for this purpose. 

The tree filled Crake claimed many victims BUT NOT IN TOLLY’S GROUP OF AMAZINGNESS. Just putting it out there. Meandering down the mostly flat river was good eddying practice and I couldn't help thinking ‘THIS IS SO UNFAIR, no wonder I was so swimmy last year, The Greta is positively Zambezi like compared to this!!’ Tolly’s group, of Tols, Gayham, Adi, myself, Fresher Meg, Harry, Big Tom and Molly eased our way down, laughing at my cheeky roll which I still say was a result of my looking out for the freshers (!) and just generally loving life apart from when trees decided they would take up the whole river. Cheeky portage after taking the wrong fork, but cruising down and arriving first at the bottom above the weir/rapid/get off, we were a very happy group! Other groups were not so, a few had epics, Maeuve ‘smiley Mcswimmer’ broke the social secs records of 5 swims apiece from last year, no hard feelings! But apart from a minor back injury from Tom, all was hunky dory. 

The last rapid took AGES, and when I say ages, I mean, ages. A nice slide down a weir, bimbly, then a rapid curving the the right was enough time for… Tolly to technically swim whilst rescuing a swimmer, Maeve to miss THREE throwlines, our group to fall victim with our first few swims, and for my arm to bruise from hanging onto a tree in an eddy directing people to the get off. But- it was super fun! Getting off, having a little laugh at the freshers who, after watching people brazenly strip off at the side of a road, tentatively began their first ‘get naked on a road’ LUCC experience, and eating Malt Loaf omnomnom all finished the days paddling off nicely. A trip to the worlds poshest supermarket was in need and after that it was just a waiting game for the lush chicken stew cooked up my Gaby and Molly! Liam and Rufus joined us for the night as the drink flowed again. Escaping to the pub in search of awol fresher Big Tom, Grog, Thwaites and I slipped away for a quiet pint, well we had hoped. Grog had different ideas… Ooooof course he did! Getting us involved in a sensitive domestic argument, NO GROG THIS IS NOT THE TIME TO ASK THE ARGUING COUPLE TO CLARIFY THE RULES OF POOL! It was nice not to have to fight for toilets, but we soon returned to the scout hut after failing at giving aforementioned couple some counselling- not sure we’re really the best club to be resolving relationship issues?! Rest of the night= drink, categories game, sleep.

SUNDAY
Waking up to not the greatest water levels ever, we decided after some faff to paddle the Leven- a first for many existing members too which was fun! Such a good river choice!! The flat sections allowed for skills practise, whilst the rapids/drops/BACKBARROW kept it interesting and good fun!  We kept it a slow pace as we were paddling quite a short section, and despite swims and a few wobbly moments, everyone kept smiling and thanking the weather gods that is wasn’t cold. All I can say is- great choice Dom!!! 

Backbarrow was possibly the best part of the entire weekend! With those not paddling it (freshers, and some not quite wanting to tempt the swim gods) standing above us on the bridge, we proceeded to paddle down in loose twos and threes (also, possibly the most casual manner I’ve ever approached a G4 drop in) with most styling it/having cheeky rolls. Ben Waller performing the highest high brace I’ve ever seen in my life, and even Liam ‘I’m a big deal now’ Chambers getting qa wet head experimenting with the meat line. SO MUCH FUN. It was helped by bridge supporters playing what was effectively pooh sticks, just with kayakers, running from one side to the other, cheering as each paddler came out the other side. I live for the applause, applause applause! Swimmy Schn took 2 runs to keep a dry head, but props to her for actually telling us she swam or we would’ve had no idea she was so far ahead. After a few runs, and despite the kayaking craving still humming in the veins of all those in dry kit, we got off the river, got changed, had yummy lunch and then invaded a rather posh looking riverside bar. 

The journey home was interesting…. In the van Rhys, Adi and I were discussing the usual topics whilst trying to stay awake, it was just out of the corner of our eye, that we caught sight of one of the minibuses behaving suspiciously. I shall say no more, but the phrase “Quick, Gaby’s asleep” has never preceded such a rampantly risqué, daring feat- and that’s saying something!!!

Anyway, you know the ending, unloading boats, faffing with minibuses to get people home etc etc.

Well done to all involved for such a huge, epic and different freshers trip!!!

Wally and the Robots, Spud and the New Potatoes, and Gather and Tolly’s groups who definitely had nicknames but I genuinely can’t remember! Anyway, thank you group leaders, seconders, drivers, organisers, Jak &myself for being gameshow hosts &  basically everyone! Well paddled newbies, we look forward to seeing you get awesome and ‘huck some gnar’ because this is definitely a phrase we use in relation to our paddling… 

xoxo

Gossip Gi… oh wait no, just me, JJ AKA Hannah AKA ½ the SocSec team.
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P.S We'd have more photos if Earnie pulled his finger/SD card out and uploaded them, but we all know they're in the vault now, :P and the vault is where they shall stay till the end of time!

Post-Leven Group Photo