9th September Geneva

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“ESCA has hired the services of professional organisers Dragonboat Events Ltd (UK) to ensure that the first edition of the PADDLEforCANCER Dragon boat Festival be held in the safest and most professional environment.”

Day 1.

Catching the early easyJet flight out of Gatwick at some un-Godly hour in the morning, the Dragon Boat Events Ltd. team had to arrive at the airport almost half an hour before we went to bed! Not to worry, because it meant nearly a full day in Switzerland. After making passport control, we discovered in true easyJet style, there was now a two hour delay to our flight.

Eventually arriving in Geneva without further delay, everyone collected their bags ... well, everyone that is except John who, after patiently waiting by a now empty carousel, discovered nearly one and a half hours later that his bag was still at Gatwick – on the tarmac! Nice one easyJet.

Now well into the afternoon, we finally made it through customs and met up with Conrad from ESCA. Making our way to the minibus, we set off for Lac de Joux, which was an hour away over a mountain pass and down in the valley next door. As the bus wound its way higher up the mountain pass, the urban concrete of Geneva soon gave way to pretty Swiss chalets set in lush alpine meadows and in the clear mountain air, the distant snow capped peak of Mont Blanc loomed majestically on the horizon.

Stopping at a view point, as we looked down the pine covered slopes from our vantage point high above, the combination of hot sunshine, light mountain breezes and the soothing tinkle of alpine cowbells made the scene just like something out of Heidi.

Posing for a quick team photo with the still snow covered Mont Blanc in the background, we got back in the minibus and soon wound our way down the other side before finally spotting in the valley far below, the lake that was to be tomorrow’s venue.

Now 3pm and starving hungry, we eventually met up with the rest of the organising committee who, expecting us to arrive before midday were relieved to see we had finally made it. After brief introductions, we were ushered into the marquee beside the lake and enjoyed a delicious and very satisfying lunch of local salads, French bread and Swiss cheese, washed down with local beer.

After lunch, the schedule for the rest of the day was gone through, which was “do what you want for the rest of the afternoon and meet back here for a meeting with the rest of the team for 6:30 pm”. Conrad then took us all in the minibus to the nearby town so that we could enjoy the sights, which we proceeded to do in the local bar (as you do).

At six thirty, we met up with the rest of the ESCA organising committee before climbing back into the minibus once more and departing to our evening meal destination, which was a sports hall come ski lodge high up in the mountains. There for the first time, we met up with four of the team from DragonBoatEvents.ch, Felix, Daniel, Katja and Cecille. As is common abroad, Felix, Daniel and Cecille spoke very good English. Not to be outdone though, we were able to impress our European partners with our equally remarkable ability to speak ... um, English.

The evening meal consisted of home made Indian food made up of nan breads, popudums, pakoras and several different curries. We all enjoyed our curries whilst John once again had stew. (In joke. To find out why, click here).

Eventually like all good things, the evening came to an end and as we watched to sun slowly set behind the mountains leaving behind the peaceful warmth from a hot summer’s evening, we all looked forward to a great and easy event the next day. Tomorrow, I thought was going to be a breeze.

Day 2 >>

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