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Fromeside Expo 2005 (a review by Taters and Mustafa)

 

This is a review of the 2005 summer expedition to the idealistic Gorge Du Tarn in southern France, where the sun shines and it (almost!) never rains.
We set off from Woodhouse park on a fine day (for Britain that is!), on a coach commandeered by a German driver on at the start August, and drove to Dover.  On the way we helped out some London Explorers who needed a lift to the Gorge Du Tarn, and boarded the ferry to Calais, the boat journey was quick and it seamed we were in France in no time.  The core part of the journey was taken up by the drive from Calais to southern France probably around 17 hours!  But we passed the time comfortably by playing Monopoly, Cluedo and the like!  We changed busses in Paris for – as Comer put it, “exactly the same coach!” - due to no apparent reason. We arrived in the Gorge Du Tarn according to schedule and proceded to check out the accomadation.

We stayed in a chalet situated right next to the Tarn itself, a medium sized river with clear water perfect for a dip! – Unfortunately the water was a bit cold and took a bit of getting used to!  While we stayed in the Gorge we did many activities such as Acrobranching – climbing around in trees (sounds fun doesn’t it!), caving, mountain biking up a real big hill, barquing – taking a trip down the river in a boat, canoeing on the river, visiting aqualand – a water park, walking to the top of the mountain and caving.  Around all these fun activities we still managed to check out the local nightlife (which was pretty poor, by the way, but we amused ourselves and ate ice cream!).

  On the last night we wore shirts and ties. We were all dressed very smartly, and were ready for the night ahead. The leaders were great; they went out into the small town and looked for ingredients that are very special to us British. They bought carrots, potatoes (Taters favourite), gravy and other ingredients. That’s right they cooked us a Roast Dinner in a little town in France even fit for the county commissioner himself. And a lovely meal it was (Well done leaders, we are proud to have you as our own). We then went out for the last night in style. In our shirts and ties we were, walking the town where for the last time we embraced the local nightlife.
The journey back was much more sedated than going there, with most of us sleeping the time away and watching Wayne’s World and listening to the Wurzels over and over again. On the ferry back we bought our duty free shopping. At 4 o’clock in the morning we were eating a full English fry up on a ferry travelling around 21 knots.                   

We then dropped the Londoners back to their neck of the woods. And drove on to our destination ‘Woodhouse Park’ Bristol. We stopped in the nearest services for a quick toilet break, something to eat, and a fine British news paper. We got back to Woodhouse Park earlier than predicted. We got of the coach and had a good old stretch. Everyone’s legs, backs and necks were in half but it was well worth it due to our amazing Expo in the Gorge Du Tarn. I think once again we have to thank the leaders for making this trip a special one and for organising all the activities, groups, and all the other things on the ever growing list, cheers Guys. So there you go. That’s a Fromeside Expo for you. Very fun, exciting, and of course different but in a good way. As us Fromesiders Say: