Nic
Strata Poster
I start by saying that I have no photos. Sorry. I'm, sure someone'll post some later though
Sat morning, Ed and I woke up at 6 to head off for our first stop of the day - Ian's house. This was a bit of a challenge considering we'd been out on the booze with Jake and a mate from work the night before. We arrived at Ian's with 10 mins to spare. After a short wait, everyone was there so we piled into 2 car's - Ian's hire car and the "Car of Rah". The crossing was spent trying to do various crosswords in The Sun as a group effort... then feeling really ashamed when we failed.
Once we got on the island, our first stop was the little coaster at Sandown. I'd not looked it up before arriving, so had no idea what to expect. It was described throughout the weeeknd as a "Go Gator Deluxe" and that's probably a fair description. We didn't need to have 10 laps on it though. Eugh.
Next stop was Blackgang Chine. We started off with the water slides (as they were about to close) then went for the coaster. It actually looks quite exciting when you see it. Sadly, when you actually get on, it isn't. There's one overbanked turn that's very steep that was quite cool and a bit unusual... but apart from that - Meh. We then spent the next couple of the hours in the park doing what can only be described as immense faffing. The most whored 'ride' of the day was the slides in snakes and ladders - particularly number 4. It's awesome! Or, it was until Rich broke Rach by pushing her down it a bit too hard. The other highlight was trying to see how many CFers we could get into a tube slide at once. There were 2 slides, so we had to try them both
It was an utterly silly thing to do, but bloody funny all the same.
After Blackgang, we headed west to the Needles. We got the cable car down and had CFs first ever beach party
We even had cake courtesy of Rach and her birthday! We whiled away a bit of time with stone skimming before heading back up the cliffs and heading to the campsite.
When we arrived, the campsite was crap, so we decided to go for our reserve choice. We arrived to a near empty field (with a play park!), found somewhere to pitch, then were greeted by the owner who was very friendly and pleasant - even to us lot! After heading into Ryde for some food, it was back to our newly erected palaces (or slums, in Brad's case!) where the carnage began. All I will say is that throwing up in a hedge is not a fun game! hehehe
This morning, we all eventually dragged ourselves out of bed, packed the tents up and headed for Robin Hill. No credits here, but they do have an awesome toboggan run (similar to the one at Oakwood), so was worth the visit. There was much faffing including letting Stone Cold loose on the giant wind chime, and playing "I Spy" whilst all collapsed in a heap on the grass. Oh, and chucking conkers at eachother is always good for a laugh.
It was then time to head back to the mainland. We just scraped our way onto the earlier boat which would make the afternoon less stressful. After popping back to Ian's to collect the Vadge wagon, we headed for Pompey. I'd seen a pic of the coaster previously, but didn't appreciate just how big it is until seeing it ni the flesh. However, it is the most pointless coaster I've ever been on. It's essentially just 2 massive helixes with a couple of bumps inbetween. Ah well, it's another one to tick off the list I guess.
As I've already done Hayling Island (and by this point, had 32p left) I decided it was a good idea to head home. I'm sure the others will let you know how they got on while they were there.
So yeah, all in all it was a fantastic weekend. Its trips like this that really prove there's more to CF than coasters. They were almost an incidental past of the trip, and not nearly as important as the faffing and general sillyness. Cheers to Ian for driving me around, and to Rach for being fantastically organised. Thanks to you all for making it a really fun weekend. And remember... "Get on up, when you're down, baby...."
Sat morning, Ed and I woke up at 6 to head off for our first stop of the day - Ian's house. This was a bit of a challenge considering we'd been out on the booze with Jake and a mate from work the night before. We arrived at Ian's with 10 mins to spare. After a short wait, everyone was there so we piled into 2 car's - Ian's hire car and the "Car of Rah". The crossing was spent trying to do various crosswords in The Sun as a group effort... then feeling really ashamed when we failed.
Once we got on the island, our first stop was the little coaster at Sandown. I'd not looked it up before arriving, so had no idea what to expect. It was described throughout the weeeknd as a "Go Gator Deluxe" and that's probably a fair description. We didn't need to have 10 laps on it though. Eugh.
Next stop was Blackgang Chine. We started off with the water slides (as they were about to close) then went for the coaster. It actually looks quite exciting when you see it. Sadly, when you actually get on, it isn't. There's one overbanked turn that's very steep that was quite cool and a bit unusual... but apart from that - Meh. We then spent the next couple of the hours in the park doing what can only be described as immense faffing. The most whored 'ride' of the day was the slides in snakes and ladders - particularly number 4. It's awesome! Or, it was until Rich broke Rach by pushing her down it a bit too hard. The other highlight was trying to see how many CFers we could get into a tube slide at once. There were 2 slides, so we had to try them both
It was an utterly silly thing to do, but bloody funny all the same. After Blackgang, we headed west to the Needles. We got the cable car down and had CFs first ever beach party
We even had cake courtesy of Rach and her birthday! We whiled away a bit of time with stone skimming before heading back up the cliffs and heading to the campsite. When we arrived, the campsite was crap, so we decided to go for our reserve choice. We arrived to a near empty field (with a play park!), found somewhere to pitch, then were greeted by the owner who was very friendly and pleasant - even to us lot! After heading into Ryde for some food, it was back to our newly erected palaces (or slums, in Brad's case!) where the carnage began. All I will say is that throwing up in a hedge is not a fun game! hehehe
This morning, we all eventually dragged ourselves out of bed, packed the tents up and headed for Robin Hill. No credits here, but they do have an awesome toboggan run (similar to the one at Oakwood), so was worth the visit. There was much faffing including letting Stone Cold loose on the giant wind chime, and playing "I Spy" whilst all collapsed in a heap on the grass. Oh, and chucking conkers at eachother is always good for a laugh.
It was then time to head back to the mainland. We just scraped our way onto the earlier boat which would make the afternoon less stressful. After popping back to Ian's to collect the Vadge wagon, we headed for Pompey. I'd seen a pic of the coaster previously, but didn't appreciate just how big it is until seeing it ni the flesh. However, it is the most pointless coaster I've ever been on. It's essentially just 2 massive helixes with a couple of bumps inbetween. Ah well, it's another one to tick off the list I guess.
As I've already done Hayling Island (and by this point, had 32p left) I decided it was a good idea to head home. I'm sure the others will let you know how they got on while they were there.
So yeah, all in all it was a fantastic weekend. Its trips like this that really prove there's more to CF than coasters. They were almost an incidental past of the trip, and not nearly as important as the faffing and general sillyness. Cheers to Ian for driving me around, and to Rach for being fantastically organised. Thanks to you all for making it a really fun weekend. And remember... "Get on up, when you're down, baby...."
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