Alton Towers

Team: Tash Brudenall, Jess Burkey, Keith Edwards, Jane Sarginson, Claire Vivian.

Now where do cavers go when they aren't caving? I bet that's the question you are all asking yourselves. The answer for us at least is Alton Towers on the wetest day of the year so far! Fast and thrilling rides with the added fun of painful rain hitting you in the face as you zip through the air from 0-100kmph in 2.5 seconds on one ride. We only made the mistake of sitting in the front row in the heavy rain on one ride - and feeling like we'd been through a pressure washer afterwards.

What rain? This is Alton Towers!!! 

The fun had started about 30 minutes after we left Mark and Jess' house. We had factored in queuing a lot at Alton Towers as it was half term, but we had not considered the 4 badly flooded roads we came across on the way to Uttoxeter. Jess drove admirably through the water as the rest of us watched the bow waves dispersing. What a star of a car! Only a couple of little coughs and hiccups from the engine before we got a Wetherspoons breakfast.

All smiles! It really did stop raining.

The closest thing above ground to a Longwood-August trip occured as the rain hammered down on us while we queued for Thir13teen for over an hour. Trench foot set in and we could feel ourselves gradually losing feeling in fingers and toes. To relieve the misery, we went for lunch to take the chill away and dry out a bit.

Jane, Keith and Jess watch the mighty Oblivion

After lunch,  it was like a different day entirely. The sun came out and there was even blue sky. Perfect Autumn roller coaster weather!!

Smiler does its thing (there are 14 loops)

We went to the X-Sector for some of the biggest rides in the park (Smiler and Oblivion). Barely 15 minutes queuing for Smiler for all 5 of us using the single rider queue. Result!! 

Nemesis zooms past the queue. Would you believe it! The ride is 25 years old this year, having opened in 1994.

David Attborough meets Nemesis

As it got dark we got even more excited with the chance to ride all these amazing rides in the dark! We all stayed until the bitter end, leaving the park at 21.30 and having been on every ride there, except the Wicker Man wooden roller coaster, which was closed. Oh well. Guess we'll just have to go back again to try that one!

Trip time: 11 hours of theme park fun.

The team take on the spooks in "Duel"

Even more flooding on the way home. Jess and her awesome car once more came to the rescue and showed those floods who was the boss.