It’s an exciting week for us! Anglesey begins this bank holiday weekend, our week long surf trip away and for the first time we’ve swapped the cornish coast for the north welsh coast. Here’s the brief of what’s going on during the week.

Let’s begin with Day 1. We are setting off on Saturday the 26th of March, a nice and early start at 6am! However the night before on Good Friday we are packing Cars and getting kit ready from the boat shed at 7pm. We’ll soon be on our way leaving the East Midlands and traveling cross country to the North Welsh Coast.  And if you’ve been to last years Wales trip you know there are plenty of rivers to paddle on-route in the East of Wales. And as such we won’t be wasting this opportunity, by paddling some white water rivers. More specifically we’ll be doing the Lower Tryweryn, a grade 2 river with plenty of rapids keeps this short paddle and interesting run and a good way to get into the spirit!

After paddling the final last leg of the journey is to finish traveling past the welsh coast to our accommodation and basecamp for the week. Anglesey Outdoor Centre. This purpose built bunkhouse offers us the perfect place to cook, relax and chill for the week. It also benefits from on-site bar, but also is self-catered so we can keep to ourselves most nights. It is also in fantastic location to the beach being a simple 10 mins walk down, so no need to load vans or cars, it’s a simple stroll down.

If we are ever in need of shops or other amenities we are 10 mins drive and half an hour walk to HolyHead, which is abundant with supermarkets for all the supplies we’ll ever need!

So once we touch base and set up rooms we’ll venture and gather supplies at a near supermarket.  As most years we are going to pool£10 each to pay for an evening meal per night (apart from the planned meal out) breakfast and lunch supplies. Each meal per night is cooked by a team for the others, and we are planning simple but classic meals, including spaghetti bolognese, curry, Dan Myers World Famous Chilli and others. And for breakfast it’s a case of cereals, tea/coffee and lunch is sandwich fillings, crisps and cake bars, so student friendly! As mentioned we’ll be having a team meal out on night, ‘ought to be nice.

So day one really begins on Sunday, and like most outdoor holidays we are restricted by the weather so we can’t provide a full day to day schedule. But we’ll be scouting out some surf to paddle on and most head down to Rhosneigr and the bays around there which are recommended places. And we’ll learn the basics of surf kayaking and have a go for the afternoon.

So what else have we got planned for the week! During the day we’ll plan to spend most of them at the beach, surf kayaking and ‘beaching around’ however we have some plans to venture away from the surf. We’ll be visiting the old harbour town of Conwy and it’s impressive castle and historic walls. The town also has small streets full of pubs, cafes and shops and a harbour side, home to Britain’s Smallest House.

Surf Kayaking is all depending on the surf, there might be too little or too much. So we have some contingency plans if this occurs including paddling more rivers back in Snowdonia or hiking around the national park itself, as it remains an hours drive away but provides more opportunities to paddle.

So let’s turn to the evening plans. We have plenty to keep us entertained during the evening at the bunkhouse. Punch night makes it’s return! An evening in which we brew up our club’s own recipe punch, passed down from social sec to social sec, it’s resulted in plenty of memories made and forgotten! Were also planning a games night and a cinema trip! On the other end many of us still have dreaded course work, so to share the pain together we’ve dedicated a ‘dissertation night’ for all the work to be done and to collectively drown in our sorrows. And as mentioned before we are planning a meal out.

We also have plans for some outdoor activities. The centre we are staying with run many activities on the island, and due to our group size we have some discounts of such activities, so keep an eye out to see what we might be offered!

So that’s all we can we’ve got set in stone, after all this is a relaxed trip and we don’t rely on agendas from other organisers.  So we can take each day as it comes, be it we all want to throw ourselves off the northern hemisphere’s longest zip line or visit in the national park its a collective holiday!

With this in mind, it’s best come to be prepared. Pack some clothes you don’t mind being in the outdoors in, be it mud or sand. We could end up a full day out in the National Park so pack accordingly. Also in terms of budgeting your finance please bear in mind the cost you’ve already paid was for the travel & accommodation, it’s not included the food or activity cost. While we keep food at low cost by pooling in together and no activity which costs is mandatory just bear in mind we’ll be eating out one night and be doing some activities which might cost, be it entry into Conwy Castle to Cliff Walking.

If you have any questions or comments feel free to get in touch with the 2 event organisers on Facebook or e-mail them at canoe@lincolnsu.com

Until Saturday!, Happy Paddling!