OK, so now that I have (almost) recovered from the weekend's exertions, I'll give you my take on the weekend...
Unlike Ben, I actually had the day off work (for the first Friday since this event started, back in 2006). I had actually taken the week off in order to get my first Criminal Law Assessment written up and out of the way. As I had only managed to do so at 2:30AM on the Thursday (deadline day), I did allow myself a pretty long snooze on Friday morning, resulting in my arriving at Alton Towers at around 4PM instead of 2PM as planned, after an unusually clear run up the M5 and M6 (aside from the changeover between the two motorways - but I have only once in my life not had to queue there).
When I arrived, I noticed that there actually appeared to be free parking spaces. Quite unusual for this event. It was notable during the whole weekend that numbers were down on last year (both amongst the YBN crowd - I think we numbered 22 - and the wider membership). I guess that the combination of the high price point and the current financial climate put quite a few people off.
Anyway, checked in and was given the usual BN goodie bag. Beach bags were given away in previous years - we only got a BN carrier this time around, containing all sorts of naturist-related stuff. I still haven't fully examined the contents of mine. I met a few people from YBN in the bar, as well as Anastasio (who had arrived on Thursday), and we just chatted over a few drinks and took advantage of the free WiFi that Alton Towers had made available this year.
On that Friday, Andrew Welch was giving a rather cringe-worthy countdown (sorry Andrew, if you're reading), over the tannoy, to 6PM when the event officially got underway and people were allowed to be nude. A few of us did resolve that we were going to go, in Ian's words, 'bollocko' all weekend after the criticisms that some older members had laid against YBN in earlier years (regarding the number of us dressed in the evenings. I still maintain that naked disco dancing is bad and wrong though) and so a few of us headed back to the rooms to get undressed before heading back to the bar. The waterpark also opened for two hours at 6PM, so we alternated between there and the bar area until 8PM.
I personally couldn't wait to get back into the waterpark. It contains the UK's longest and fastest watercoaster - the 'Master Blaster' - which is a pretty awesome ride. It's murder on the backside though, if you manage to ground out in the tight turns towards the end!
There are also hot tubs (one indoors, one outdoors), a lazy river ride, leisure pool, beach area, beach bar, kids area, more flumes, and lots of other things - including the multi-part, multi-route outdoor ride known as 'Flash Floods' and a huuuuuuge tipping bucket that you can stand under and get absolutely drenched. Force of the water will knock you flying if you stand in the wrong place!
I did go to the rip-off buffet at 8, before heading back to the bar. It was £16.95 this year for passable, if not brilliant, food. I consoled myself by eating five courses...
Drinking continued until around 2:30AM for me. One of my roommates, Chris, had arrived around 6PM and I remember us looking around at 2:30 and realising that everyone else had gone to bed. Entertainment consisted of a cabaret singer who, sorry to say, wasn't particularly good (in my humble opinion, of course). Some livelier music was then put on, but I didn't do any dancing because, as I have said, naked dancing is bad and wrong. No, really, it is. Well, aside from when Jenna pulled me and a few other guys onto the dancefloor for a few minutes... she was apologising for that at breakfast the next morning!
Spent most of Saturday in the waterpark and a large part of it trying to find out what had happened to Natalie (my other room mate) - who was due to get there on Saturday morning. Turns out she had a mishap involving a black bag and some milk - long story.
We went to dinner at Ye Olde Star Inn on Saturday night, as Ben has already said. Natalie finally managed to meet us in there. It's a great pub - great atmosphere, good food and good prices.
After managing to extracate my car from the teeny-tiny car park (we did have to block each other in) we got back to the hotel and managed to get Natalie checked in. Got undressed again and rushed down to the pub quiz - which we did pretty well in, but alas did not win.
Went to play some air hockey and some video games for a while in the arcade after that. The picture of Natalie and Jenna on the motorcycle racing sim would probably be worth a fair bit...
There's still something very surreal about playing House of the Dead 4 au naturel too... We then headed back to the bar until about 3, I think. Just chatted and drank and laughed... did more of the same back in our room, after we noticed that the bar had shut and that everyone else seemed to have gone to bed. Went to sleep at about 8 until about 10, so missed the group photos, unfortunately. Still, we got two hours in the waterpark before the event finished at 12PM and it was time to leave.
Chris, Natalie and I went back to Ye Olde Star Inn for lunch on Sunday. I think we were all showing signs of sleep depravation. Natalie fell asleep on the table. Someone from the next table remarked that he would not be having the soup!
I then drove them back to Stoke on Trent railway station before making my long trip back south.
So, yes, a great weekend with great people. I will definitely be back in '09, assuming it happens again for a 4th year. I do have to admit that I spent most of my weekend with quite a small circle of close friends, away from the main group for much of time, so I don't know whether those who chose to dress in the evening were bothered by other members again this year. I can't say that I actually saw much of the Saturday disco. I know that one or two cheeky posts to the BN forum were made on my AA1 (totally tongue-in-cheek) about the fashion for dressing gowns that seemed to have developed amongst a number of older members this year.
Anyway, yes, I heartily recommend it to you all. Fantastic time had by all, I think.
I also fully recommend a visit to the second edition of Splashdown, coming up next summer. Details of which I will post momentarily...
Cheers,
Michael
