Spanish Sun

Time for another blog post to let you know how we got on in sunny Spain! A group of predominantly Inters and Seniors headed of to the airport on the 9th January to start the New Year with some warmth. Despite the very early start the thought of leaving Irish weather behind was clearly enough motivation to get everyone to the airport on time and with their passports. We landed in Barcelona to brilliant sunshine and didn't see a cloud for the rest of the week. A minibus transfer up into the foothills of the Pyrenees took us to our home for the camp: Banyoles, the site of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic regatta. 

Our hired boats, an 8+ and a 4+, were pretty good and we were on the water within a couple of hours of arriving. For the rest of the week we were living the dream rowing in Banyoles, up early for breakfast and an outing in the mist watching the sun rise, off to a coffee shop for hot chocolate soup, chocolate croissants and English Breakfast tea (where we could find it), back for huge amounts of sometimes 'interesting' lunch and then another outing before chilling out for the afternoon. The conditions remained ideal for the whole week with flat calm water to make the novices really jealous after their adventures in Blessington. We trained hard and got a good number of miles under the belt and everyone benefited from the warm weather and sunshine to banish the winter blues. We even made friends with Olympians Cedric Berrest and Julien Bahain, the French double, who gave us great insights into the life of elite athletes in exchange for some company... ANY company, that wasn't their coach of 9 years! We know who we'll be cheering for on the 2nd August. 

Sunrise through the mist

Flat calm conditions