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Reunion 2002
When? Friday 17 May - Sunday 19 May 2002
Where? The Old Bakery, Youlgreave, Derbyshire, England
The 2002 Reunion was the first to be held in "neutral" territory, so to speak - none of us actually lived there. We all wanted to continue the established tradition of never going to the same place twice, as this would keep the reunions fresh and exciting, and let us relive the old times in new surroundings. This year was my turn to take charge of proceedings, and as we had already been to Cambridge during Andrew's term in office, I had to pick somewhere new. We had already been east (Cambridge), south (Canterbury) and west (Bath)... so how about north?
I've always enjoyed the scenery and countryside of the north, and I thought this would make a pleasant change from the weekends we had so far spent in cities. I had to pick somewhere not too far north... in the Peak Dictrict would be best, not too far to go... somewhere with reasonable B&B accomodation... close to attractions and walks... reasonably close to civilisation and the middle of nowhere... A-ha! The Old Bakery in Youlgreave, near Bakewell, fitted the requirements perfectly. Many thanks to the chaps at Google.
So it was that on a sunny Friday in the middle of May I strode into Cambridge city centre to meet up with Andrew and Stuart - Stu having travelled up the previous night and stayed over at Andrew's. I would have met up with them Thursday, if I hadn't already booked tickets to see the latest installment of Star Wars! We had a nice spot of lunch at The Regal, then went over to the Starbucks by the river and sat out in the sun with a crossword and a coffee (or tea, in my case). It was so nice we were very tempted to hire a punt out, but we resisted, as time was pressing on. Andrew drove home while Stuart and I walked back to mine, got in the car, and drove over to Toft to pick up Andrew and their stuff. And so we headed off to the Derbyshire dales. Listening to a spot of Alan Partridge along the way.
We reached Youlgreave with no problems at all at about 5.30pm, and successfully squeezed into the back yard without damaging my car (which was already sporting a lovely crack in the windscreen that was, rather unnervingly, slowly spreading). Any worries about what the accomodation might be like were soon put to rest: it was a lovely old Victorian-esque house, with two nice twin bedrooms and a living room thrown in. All the houses in the village seemed to be of a similar period - a real stereotypical small village in the dales untouched by time or government housing policies. The owner was very friendly; she did say "Hokey Cokey" quite a lot though. We watched a bit of the test match, as well as a small dog in the yard which was on heat and desperately trying to get it on with another dog five times its own size, before Iain arrived around 7ish - he found a place to park, and finally the Roper Road Four were reunited!
First order of business was to eat, so we headed over to the pub almost directly opposite us, The Bull's Head, and supped upon very tasty food whilst catching up with each other's news. Afterwards, we headed off to pay quick 1-pint visits to the other two pubs in the village, before heading back and getting some nice hot sleep.
Click here to read Part Two
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