Clockwork Efficiency For Press Gang Expedition

Doncaster 23-29 Pirates 07/08 October 06

It was with some trepidation that I left home to join Marshy & Curnow for the inaugural voyage of the reformed Press Gang. Destination Doncaster via Newquay & Durham Tees.

In spite of the Apocryphal tales of previous expeditions, the weekend ran like clockwork & my fellow travellers maintained a decorum, not generally associated with such cut-throats & plank walkers.

The BMI 737 left bang on time, & before we had finished a light breakfast, washed down with a quite drinkable red, we started our descent to Durham Tees.

The Tardis was ready & waiting, and in a blink of the eye we were booking into the faded Edwardian splendour of the Danhum Hotel in Doncaster. A short Taxi ride & we were at Doncaster's compact but well equipped ground.

Doncaster's compact but well equipped ground

Woll Jnr. cheers the Pirates off the field, while Iva trys to hail a cab

Marshy waits patiently for Curnow to re-appear from the Clubhouse bar

Woll's excellent report on the match says it all, and the post match Tetley's was very welcome.

Time to hit the town !! Arriving back at the hotel to freshen up, it looked at first as if we'd either walked straight into a riot, or they had advance warning of our arrival. Police & riot vans swarmed all around the entrance to the hotel, however on Marshy's investigation, they turned out to be half of the Hereford force on detachment & billeted in our hotel.

Advance warning of our arrival

Marshy investigates

Time for a well earned drink in the hotel bar. But not for too long, as the nightlife of Doncaster was just across the road.

Time to put the camera away & get ready for the night, I slipped the key into the lock of my room, gently slipped opened the door to be confronted by a surprised WPC emerging from 'My Shower', after the appropriate greetings and not wishing to go underground, I bid a hasty retreat to reception, where, after suitable apologies, I was upgraded to a double room & presented with a bottle of red wine - which was to come in useful the next day.

Caption Competition

Having seen Alberto convert both tries & achieve 100% with his kicking it was our turn at Fifteen in Doncaster, but in spite of plenty of trying there were no conversions. We must have lacked the pep from the first half, or maybe it was just the music of the resident DJ.

Final Score: Pirates 28
Tries - Marshy 21 - Curnow 5 - Dotcom 2
Conversions: Nil/Zero

Man of the Match - Marshy for playing deep into time added on

Off to to Darlington County Durham for a few hours leisure before our late afternoon flight back to Cornwall

Try that one shall us?

Cock of the North?

The centre of Darlington is not dissimilar to Penzance, architecture aside, nearly as many pubs & a warm welcome, the trendy no smoking pub lacked the severity of PZ Weatherspoons, but instead of being barred for life for our mistake, they gave us the keys to the disabled toilet

Handy those keys, the minutes saved got us to the bus stop just in time for the airport bus which wisked us away - free of charge to the Airport - Cornwall County Council take note!

Once more BMI were bang on time & still smiling in spite of the crew's impending redundancy when their Newquay flights are stopped until next April. They'll be missed, their services & timetable are perfect for away matches

Ali our resident stewardess & entertainer

Un-beknown to us, a westerly had been blowing up from Pendeen all afternoon & visibility was too poor for us to land, fortunately our young Kiwi Pilot kept trying to get us down with the last of the fuel & after about an hour & a half we were back in our own country.

What's Curnow trying to pull?

Whilst those behind us talked of a nightmare journey, Ali our stewardess kept up the banter & in flight entertainment, ably assisted by Marshy & Curnow, to effortlesly while away the time. Another smooth journey - BMI wil be missed until next September.

If anyone from Cornwall County Council reads this, please can you encourage the Airlines to serve us locals who want to travel year round, rather than just the visitors who come for the summer.

 

 

 

 

 

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