3 weekends ago the lads were dealing with the matter of "The Stag", in preparation for this past weekends big event (Which more will be written on as there was very much a car theme to the Niksters wedding).
Of course, due to the "law of the stag" we are not at liberty to reveal many of the finer points of the weekend, but one thing that we can include is a review of our trip to Quadmania located near Dunoon in Scotland.
The Saturday morning activity was the 2 1/2 Hour "Big Quad ATV Trek". After very detailed instructions on the use of the quads, we set off teamed up with the other groups that were out for the morning. We were taken up, down, across and so on round a field at a disappointingly sedate pace to begin with "to get the feel of the bikes". Then we set off on the trek, still together with the other groups.
Just as it was beginning to seem a little dull, we separated from the other groups and set off on our own. Immediately having to hang ourselves off one side of the quad to stop it from falling into the pond which dropped sharply to our left, then swinging sharply to the right down a steep incline into a stream. "Brilliant" we thought. The rest of the trek followed a similar vein, with alarmingly steep inclines up and down on both grass and narrow paths, some medium-high speed sections and some "technical off road".
Needless to say there were some comedy moments. At one point, there was a shake of the head by the instructor and a comment asked of my being a bit of a "throttle jockey". Also as we stopped for one break, (Sideways) Matt couldn't contain himself, jumping off his quad and shouting "You can get them very sideways", unfortunately, the ex-marine instructor was none too pleased with this remark and made it quite clear that sideways was not an appropriate direction of travel. Our cards were marked, didn't stop us though.........
The afternoon activity saw us dressing up in rubber and getting to terms with a spot of "gorge walking". Despite some of the party worrying themselves nearly to death and enquiring of the validity of there life insurance in event of injury from such event, this was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Not a typical lads activity, but the opportunity to muck about in a 6 Deg C water brought the kid out in all of us (o.k. some more than others....) as the group made it's way up the steep and narrow gorge through the Scottish forests.
All in all, Quadmania, comes highly recommended from "The lads". Professionally run, nice people, a good mind for safety but at the same time understanding that people are there to enjoy themselves. See Norwegian Wood for a review of our choice of acommodation in Scotland.
