EVENTS & NEWS

New Members Weekend: from a new member’s perspective.
By Catherine Nobes  October 2010

Having recently moved to Bristol, I was eagerly waiting the New Members Weekend to get a taste of what the Avon Outdoors Activities Club and Bristol’s surrounding countryside have to offer me, a 23 year-old graduate. I soon discovered this to be an array of interesting characters and a lot of fun.

Each groups’ first words turning up at the Youth Hostel in Llandesuant were along the lines of ‘Bloody hell Rob, where are we!? We’re in the middle of nowhere! The pub was at least 10 miles back,’ but he soon placated us with pizza after pizza and the new members began their introductions, seeming to be a mix of those who fondly talked about climbing Kili, and those who admitted they hadn’t done much walking before but have had many years practice putting one foot in front of the other and now was the time to try it in the proper outdoors. When everyone had turned up (minus a few who had made their excuses but blatantly didn’t want to miss the X Factor) and been allocated rooms, Rob let slip we were in for an 18k walk the next day and we said our goodnights and went off to bed.

Saturday started fairly early, with everyone easily ready by the 10am leaving time. Marching at a fairly quick speed up towards the reservoir, Rob promised us a nice little hut to shelter in, only to find guns being pointed at us and the hut an Afghan stronghold. Everywhere you looked heavily camouflaged army men popped up, sometimes only giving themselves away with a cheeky wink (or at least in Louise’s direction). Disappointed not to get some shelter in the cold wind but impressed with the army’s fancy dress skills, we started heading up to the ridge only to be thwarted in less than 10 minutes. You know when Rob gets blown right off his feet in front of you that it is time to grab hold of your hat, and in my case a rather tall man’s hand before I (at approximately half Rob’s weight.. well almost) got blown off altogether. Making our way back down past the army hut, we decided the wind wasn’t going to die down anytime soon and headed back towards the hostel feeling a bit defeated but making the most of the scenery by walking the lower horseshoe which turned out to be a great walk especially as the clouds cleared to show us just how beautiful the valley and hills actually are. The route took us to  back down to the hostel for about 3pm via some extremely muddy/ swampy paths where Anne managed against all odds to keep her pink socks pink, and those who were hardcore headed straight out for another walk whilst the softer core had a cream tea and watched Crimson Tide on video, (the shame). Rob soon got his troops together and had all the vegetables in a pot for dinner in record time, whilst the others got back to tales of a farmer coming at them with a pitchfork to chase them off his land and an interesting river crossing involving a log.

Eventually it was dinner and it was a squash round the table! For most it was a one utensil at a time job, not having room to extend both elbows! Much wine was drunk and birthday girl Sian got presented with a cake that raised some eyebrows. What was it? A mountain? Ah a tent! Abi put up with a lot of abuse but got a lot of love from Sian for that cake. My remaining memories of the night largely include many many Nigella Lawson impressions from Louise, Dave, Sue, Martin and Louise showing off their dancing prowess and Heidi performing with matchmakers and bumping both door frames on her way out.

Sunday got off to a slow start, out of the hostel by 11am, losing a few people to chest infections and mountain biking and sheer losing someone off the face of the earth (don’t worry she is now accounted for), and the rest of us finished our weekend with a waterfall walk in the sunshine. The weekend felt complete as we all overtook Rob on the journey home, even Emily in her ‘more hairdryer than car’ Peugeot 109, as he cursed the almost full saucepans of food on his back seat.

A wonderful weekend where Rob made us feel welcome by handing out nicknames like Pugwash, Forest Gump and Scatter Cushions, and thank you Rob and Roland for introducing us to the beauty of the Brecon Beacons.