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2003 Gallery
| As usual, we started out with a round of golf,
Beermountain style, in Staines (Lammas Park, for those interested!). The
round was won by Jazzy, with a draw between Baron and Toad.
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| Our trip down was via the usual Caen route, this year on the
new Brittany Ferries ship (which we thought was probably great if you are French
trucker, but the bars were far too small for anyone needing "beer
space" on the journey). We used 1 large motorhome (delivered for us), 1 x
Audi A4 LM as the Emergency Response vehicle, 1 x Honda CRV as the Carrefour
express, and a Range Rover with trailer for the bar and general team duties. The
Audi A4 LM was specially equipped for Beermountain in the UK and included disco
emergency lights and over 1000 twinkling lights inside! |
| The set up was trouble free with a pitch we could not quite
believe - it seemed to be almost on, rather than next to the track! Very
noisy.... |
| Theme night was a corker on Friday - this year it was Terry
Thomas, although this seemed to translate to most of the team as a sort of
"Bentley Boy" style. The general view was to repeat this theme for at
least the next 10 years to avoid having to reinvent oneself all the time! The
jury is still out on the best moustache this year. |
| We brought down all the usual gear - paddling pool for the
Paddling Pool Safety officer, bar for the Barman, BBQ for the Chef - most of it
in a trailer which worked very well in that it was a secure place to store all
our kit. |
| Toad had been busy during the winter months on his new vision
for Beermountain and the 21st century. The result of all that strategic insight?
The Beermountain Beer Tower. Chef assisted with on site construction, and at
10.20 Friday morning they managed to spark up the pump. The "Mark I"
was so successful that "Mark II" is now already on the drawing board
for 2004...expect a news feature soon. |
| One other new feature this year was the daily replenishment of
t-shirts each day. Although actually a production error, it meant that all your
really need to bring down now are some flip flops and swimmers - all else is
provided by Beermountain (and Carrefour!). You might like our new team motto -
"Carrefour will provide"! |
| The team calculated that it saw more racing this year than in
the previous ten combined! The result was obviously a great one, and we dressed
for the finish as might be expected. Our race was supported by a lot more
information than usual - not just Radio Le Mans (well done chaps) but also Eurosport in the motorhome (great for in car shots and crash replays), and one
of Mike's mates driving that yellow Porsche GT3. We didn't think it was possible
to send text messages at that sort of speed! No one asked us to act as the official adjudicator for any
mountains this year. Possibly our camp site were not as mountain orientated as
on Houx Annexe, but we did do a small bit of building ourself. This year it was
Mr Disco's job to "top out" - his 10th year in a row - well done
Jazzy! Toad added a sound to light set up behind the mountain for added effect
on Sunday night. |
| No one asked us to act as the official adjudicator for any
mountains this year. Possibly our camp site were not as mountain orientated as
on Houx Annexe, but we did do a small bit of building ourself. This year it was
Mr Disco's job to "top out" - his 10th year in a row - well done
Jazzy! Toad added a sound to light set up behind the mountain for added effect
on Sunday night. |
| The pool was safe as always - apart from the hours of 10.00pm
and midday when the Pool Safety Officer was asleep or drunk or both. To begin
with, some were nervous swimming with a 240 volt motor running in the pool
(wired by Toad), but most seemed to relax after a few beers and go for a dip or
a paddle each day. |
| We had a great trip CD this year - the Wild Otters (it's a
very very long story!) |
| Most of the team were fined for certain offences during the
week. Jazzy and Toad had to sort out Baron, who seemed to think he could dish
out "ear pulling" whenever he wanted - here he is on parade for his
crime - presiding is Judge Jazzy! Meanwhile Buzz was fined by the local Jean
Claude's at twice the limit... |
| A few shots of all the fellow campers and wandering spectators
around us, many of which had no idea about the finer points of beer towers or
mountain construction! |
| The return journey was a good one - no motorhome to worry
about, so quick progress. We had to split with Buzz and Baron at Sees. The main
party headed for Caen via a cultural stop at the Pegusus bridge - we were not
the only ones with this idea. |
There you have it - a vintage year! Ed.
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