We finally all got together in one place. Dave Fairweather, Dave Goadby, Beth Hume and myself. The plan was to do something as a group, that would allow us plenty of time to chat, plot and plan. Naturally something paddling related would have been great, but with the lack of water (Its the summer now, don’t you know!) and not having the funding to allow us to head over to the Alps for the weekend, we decided to come up with something a spot more relaxing (?) we headed to the Peak District to go climbing.
The reason for this get together? – Yes you’ve guessed it, we are heading out to Japan!
I had agreed to idea of heading to Japan, after a slightly drunken conversation with Dave Fairyweather at last Decembers Gene17 weekend. Over the following few months, with emails and text messages bouncing back and forth, we finally ended up getting our little team together to all met for the first time! We at least thought that it may be a good idea, even though by this point we had already booked the flights. And thanks to my step-sister Sally, we had already secured a baggage allowance upgrade.
After the climbing we all headed over to Beth’s parents house in Nottingham ‘to do some planning’ what this really turned into was mucking around in the pool and an acclimatisation session in the sauna. Followed by a few beers and a BBQ. When we did get up the following morning, we did manage to get some things organised, deciding what kit to take, and the general areas to visit, and most importantly our mode of transport when in Japan. All that we need to do now is work out what rivers to visit. After that the 2 ‘real’ paddlers went to HPP for a couple of hours of squirt and play-boating, while both me and Dave Goadby went off for a Sunday afternoon visit to see our respective parents.
Tune in next time and we may even have some kayaking images to show you!!!!