DISCLAIMER: The forewritten work of art was completed whilst on a certain Alypbus on route to down town Cham and the author cannot be held accountable for poor handwriting. FACT.
Once upon a time, as all good stories must start…. A long day of packing and admin and routes and internet research and laminating was finally finished with nothing else to do before our summer, hopefully sunny, holiday began but sleep!!! With an early morning (middle of the night) rise looming over us Ben and Chris decided at 8pm that it was time to sleep! OK, so technically it is actually the 20th at this point but there is no way Faye is getting away unscathed from this one…!!
I persuaded the boys to stay awake for a few more minutes to wait for Faye so we searched hard on google for some last minute refuge and camp site information (Laura!!!!) 9pm came…. 10pm came… This called for some serious blog abuse to Faye who had apparently decided to pack her bag approximately 6 hours after she was due at mine! 10.30pm came and Dave and I headed out to try and find them lost in downtown Verwood! Just after 11pm we finally managed to escort Faye back to my house to find Chris and Ben in their boredom had started a game of Frisbee with my coasters!!! Finally sleep could be upon us, but one look at Faye’s bulging bag and the four carrier bags she had stuffed in her arms, made us realise that that was a far away dream as we fought for the next hour to contain her kit demons before ruthlessly evicting half her kit! Finally got to bed after 12…
Holidays soon… too soon! Under 3 hours was not enough sleep! Chris, Dave, Faye, Ben and I squeezed into the car at 4am, smug with the knowledge that the others had met at 2.30am! Not so happy though about the fact Jess would still be asleep! After only one false start (Dave!!!) we were on our way yeah!
The airport went very smoothly, we met the others who had been there an hour earlier, checked in and boarded without loosing anyone! How boring! (ps that was not to tempt fate; maybe discount that last statement!!
The first flight for Chris and Callum… Chris obviously distracting himself with all the giggling and dodgy photo taking from the gaggle of five behind us on the flight while we tried to catch some sleep.
Landing in France we strolled off the plane into the sunny heat… ok maybe not… RAIN!! Who ordered that!?! I’d definitely found a better forecast the day before! The challenges started with Ash completing a somersault on the ring of the shuttle bus, risked assessed by myself as Jess ran away! This got me thinking about the next challenge… Mr Transport Shelton, on finding the man holding up our sign at the arrivals gate had to embrace our welcomer with a friendly hug! The sense of relief on his blushing face was evident as he scored a hug with a petite young blonde instead of an old hairy Swiss man as anticipated! Point 1 to Adam! And then the Alpy Bus to Chamonix brings me to here and my surprisingly neat writing despite the disclaimer. Good roads in Switzerland and France! I thought it might stop raining if I wrote this diary and didn’t look out the window but it would appear the rain obviously thought I was neglecting it as it is now torrential… booo! It didn’t stop half the passengers in the bus snapping away though as the other half tried to sleep, of the rocky steep cliffs lining the roads, their peaks mysteriously hidden in cloud. The odd waterfall bellowing out the cliff face as hanging valleys that would make any geography teacher happy! Mmmm 27km still to Chamonix. Time for a snoozzzzzeeee…..
The scenery got more spectacular as we drove on, the road crossing steep gorges. Some did try and sleep but Chris was continually wolf whistling at everyone was we passed….! Bring on the marmots! Soon we spotted the Christ Roi statue on the hillside so we knew we were approaching our destination. The campsite was quite small but had a games room which was an advantage as it was raining still. We has the smallest pitch ever but managed to cram 4 tents on before banishing Jess to a different pitch next door on her own!
Scoping out the area next: Jack and Callum went to locate the train station while Adam the transport manager scoped out the table football! Everyone was impressed with Chamonix’s cuteness! We explored the town for a few hours sussing things out for tomorrow before a long awaited dinner at Midnight express! Mmm…. The dinner of choice was ‘steak frite fromage’ baguettes. Dave missed out though as he was feeling ill. We trained back and taught the concept of planking to Jack before trying to re-enact ‘Harry potter’s puppet pals with the awesome new fingers puppets I purchased!
Next came diaries, coffee, pick up sticks, duplo crowns and cards… I can’t believe we’re all still awake! Or most of us anyway! Day one done!
Mel
Diary take 2
Very early start, with Ashleigh’s lift leaving at 2.30am. We arrived at Gatwick at 5.15am with an hour to wait for Mel and her lift. To be honest at first I was terrified of the prospect of flying and became more nervous the nearer I got to the plane but it was actually okay as was a very smooth flight apart from ears popping when descending. After a perfect landing at Geneva, the group voted in favour for Adam to hug the Alpy bus greeter which he completed. After about an hour and a halves drive we were dropped off at the campsite, les ‘French for squirrel’. After setting up the tent in the rain we caught the train to Chamonix for a scouting trip to check out food prices and enjoyed a nomable baguette which was yummy! (Apart from Jack’s overdose of mayo). At 6pm we got the train back to the campsite for a long evening. Bring on the trek!
Callum
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