I’ve no argument with the name of the event, they don’t come much madder than this one!
The weekend started for us on Friday night, heading over to MK after work. After checking in, the rest of Friday night was spent in the bar next door to the hotel chatting and making acquaintance with some of our fellow “mad” weekenders.
Saturday started with a good breakfast in the pub, although we were careful not to eat too much as the first activity was “Airkix”, the indoor skydiving experience. The last thing you want re-circulating in the wind tunnel is your bacon and eggs (or in my case porridge)! The Airkix was the least physically demanding of the activities over the weekend but one hell of an experience and the bit I was most nervous about. After some instruction and, a dry run to practice our positions in front of an audience which caused some hilarity, we each got two one-minute “flights” in the tunnel and experienced the feeling of freefall with the assistance of an instructor, remembering to smile for the camera occasionally. The outfits we were given for the session were not exactly the most flattering ever, Stephen made the point that we spend years trying to get rid of the “handles” on our hips, and then they go and give us a suit with them sewn in! Half asleep when I went in, I found it was the perfect way to wake yourself up on a Saturday morning!!
Lunch was a quick bite at the KFC, with the National Karting Competition scheduled for the afternoon. I’m not a karter, so I opted to book an extra-curricular ½ hour on the climbing wall in the Xscape centre instead. This is a 43 foot high wall made to look like a real rock-face, with bolted on holds. The wall area has a 1st floor viewing gallery but there is something distinctly odd about being halfway up a climb and still be at the same level as the spectators! After finishing there we headed off to the karting track where we were just in time to watch most of the semi-finals and the final of the competition.
Saturday night and most of us had a table booked at a tapas bar in the Xscape centre where Kirsty did her best to get us thrown out by blowing bubbles everywhere with the bottles of bubble mixture she’d brought with her! Moving on from there the next stop was a pub with a live band who were pretty good. People drifted back to the hotel at varying times, we gave up at about 12.15, but apparently some stayed and went on to a nightclub, not getting to bed until around 2am. Nutcases!
Sunday morning and an early start to get to the Sno-Zone for some ski-ing lessons, indoors on real snow – how cool (literally)! Breakfast had to wait to be sure we got there on time, and at a hour at which I would normally hope to be still laying in bed thinking about getting up, I was on the ski-slope trying to stay upright! I’ve not been downhill ski-ing before, so was booked in for the beginners’ lesson. I only fell over once in the hour long session, unfortunately that was actually while I was standing still waiting for my turn to come round. The biggest challenge for me being trying to get off the travelator back onto the slope which is much easier said than done! All too soon our hour was over. Breakfast at Wetherspoons followed and was very welcome after working up a good appetite on the ski-slope.
After checking out of the hotel and some relaxation time at the pub next door, we headed off for the last activity of the weekend, the Aerial Extreme. For me at least, the most taxing activity of the weekend physically and mentally. Basically it is an assault course (think along the lines of the Krypton factor) but at a higher level – rope swings, seesaws, climbing walls and balancing logs in the air. You are on a safety line at all times so in no danger of falling very far, but somehow that doesn’t make it much less scary. Jumps from one platform to another at a distance that wouldn’t bother you if they were at ground level, suddenly become much more difficult! Once the first level was completed we had to make the decision whether to carry on to the next, higher and slighly more difficult level, I joined Stephen, Tim, Matt and Rich on that one. At the end, the others opted for the quick descent by jumping off the tower on the end of a rope with a speed restrictor. I went for the slower method of the stairs, strangely enough needing an instructor to accompany me for safety reasons!
That just about wrapped up the weekend for us all. Despite the aches and pains, I am already looking forward to next year.