Reunion Weekend- The untold blog post because we didn't want to scare off the freshers in our of
A trip after the long summer to rekindle friendships before the yearly arrival of a new lot of freshers. It didn’t start well, I’m ngl. Heading up north in trusty GUSA 7 after a classic Morrison’s shop, I (Cinnamon) noticed a smell in the air and a puddle forming on the floor. My pack of tenants had indeed been thrown about in the winding driving and pierced half the cans in the pack. Many items indeed fell victim to this event, including John’s jumper, where the only appropriate response was to shotgun the wounded tenants.
On arrival, in the pitch-black night, we pitched tents in a carpark just off the road, fighting over patches of grass to peg our tents down, before sitting around a flashlight in our attempt to replicate a campfire.
Day 1 of boating was a very pleasant scrape down. As we got off, the heavens opened. I’ve been in Scotland for 4 years now, and I’ve never been so drenched from rain to follow in the next few hours. We pulled up into a layby and took a moment to gather strength to pitch our tents before it got dark, and us, drunk. With all hands-on deck we pitched tents just off the path next to a river (remember this part for later), with some folk deciding to cut their loses early and opting to sleep in the bus. We all trundled along to the Wetherspoons in Fort William, where it seemed everyone in the town had also seeked refuge their too. After emptying our boots, and wringing out socks, trousers, and pants, in our sad and sodden states, the only option was rounds of drinks and a lot of food. Everyone got lit very quickly.
In our now merry states, and the rain still pouring, we decided to head over to the Wet West Ceilidh. En-route, Nick and Rebecca almost met their fate when the trolly they were sitting in almost collided with a car – this wasn’t at all the car’s fault, I was also pushing the trolly. With no cash to hand, we decided to fake it until you make it, and snuck in without paying…
Surprise surprise, they noticed! Most folk were sent away to get cash while Iona was physically manhandled by two people and dragged back out, while they fetched her brother to pay for her. As we sat in the warmth of the ceilidh room, we were asked by multiple people if we had pitched our tents just off the road and by the river, because the path was currently flooded. Our tents were being washed away with a flooding river. Wee shoutout to Jade and Hamish for rescuing all our tents at this point while the rest of us had cut our losses and decided to party the night away since we had nowhere to sleep. At the end we were named and shamed for not paying as it was a charity event (we felt quite guilty at this point). Afters was at the local pub, where Iona and John got kicked out for stealing drinks (not sneakily AT ALL), lots of folk disco dancing, and we met Bren Orton (pro kayaker apparently).
Once they closed everyone had dispersed with little communication, so I stole Morrison’s trolly with a Newcastle boy who then wheeled me back to our van in it. When I opened the van, half the folk were trying to sleep upright. John then woke up and christened a lot of belongings and seats in the van with some unpleasant smells. Steve returned just after, describing how he’d almost got into a fight and then took an unknown man to hospital. Nick and Lewis were hotboxing Steve’s car, so together we tried to set up a tent by the side of the road in a nettle bush. Our tent still had a puddle of water inside from the flooding incident.
Next morning Iona and Rebecca had returned after spending the night in a kayaker’s van (no cheeky business occurred, they were merely seeking refuge from the no tent situation). Everyone in the van had barely slept. Nick and Lewis bought Steve breakfast to make up for sleeping in his car. My Morrsion’s trolley lay abandoned on the other side of the road, in the bushes. The general mood was thriving. For day 2 of kayaking we went to the Etive and a whole three beans were keen to kayak. Steve’s descent of Triple Step claimed one of his shoe’s hostage for a while, but it was eventually returned.
After everything that had occurred, we packed it up, packed it in. Despite the series of unfortunate events that had unfurled that weekend (they were continuous), I had a constant giggle on because it was all just quite tragically hilarious, and one of the most memorable weekends with GUCC to date.
