You know it’s going to be a good tour when you get a phone call on the first morning from your other driver saying “oh is it today we’re leaving?”

DAY 1

At the southern meeting point of St Albans train station, everything ran smoothly, Georgina, Claire (AKA Steve), Jenna and Sadie set off in Jenna’s 14 year old ‘Daisy the Tank’ Escort. By the time they had got through the M1 traffic and arrived at Becky’s house, Laura had just arrived in her 22 year old mini ‘Flossy’. With a suggested amount of luggage to be brought detailed as one bag and a board, the amount already filling the cars looked suspiciously to be over the limit, they also didn’t look to contain the recommended essential items but straightners and hair dryers. With that in mind, it now became a military operation to fit everyone and their “luggage” in both vehicles.
It should be should pointed out up until this point the weather had looked slightly suspect but had held off from raining. Final pick up, Kerri was just around the corner then it was time to hit Burton on Trent. As the crew pulled up to the park, in true British style the heavens opened and the rain hammered it down. All that could be done was to admire the awesome concrete park from afar. It was decided that everyone should head back to Kerri’s to get ready for the Girls Jam in Leicester later that evening…plus watch the obligatory Hollyoaks.

Bearing in mind that no one had skated that day, it was a mystery how everyone could turn up so late to the Girls Skate Night. Whilst waiting to pick up the last rider Sam at Leicester train station, Laura and Jenna “pleased” the waiting crowds in their fancy dress. Finally the first skating of the tour took place at the Boardroom. Dave had given over the park for 4 hours for ladies use only. Sessions soon got underway on the vert wall with Sam, Laura and Jenna. Georgina was pulling out some huge heel flips on the banks and Kerri on the mini ramp in her ‘could also be reading a paper’ smooth style.

After the session came to a close, the evening’s entertainment was Kerri’s local club in Burton. The evening developed into dodgy dancing, men who really shouldn’t take their tops off trying to impress the girls and a stop at the local chippy where the proprietor on entering was cleaning his feet on the surface with a tooth pick…mmm.

DAY 2

Trying to get 8 girls moving after a nights antics isn’t easy. After 2 hours, 8 showers and a dose of Hollyoaks omnibus, everyone was eventually ready around midday! On the previous day the crew had passed a car port which was about 100 m long and looked like a good place to get the first group shots. A session got underway on the steps which ran along the front of the grilling, then Sam who’d had enough of the steps decided to demonstrate her poll dancing skills (apparently this had gone down very well at the Boardmasters the week previous!) . The weather seemed to be ok, though it was raining in Stoke so the contingency plan was to try the luck with Burton. Tesco’s was hit up along the way, though as soon as everyone set foot in the store the rain came down in sheets again. All got stranded in the forecourt of the store, making friends with crazy men from Hungary, until eventually after about an hour and a half it let up ever so slightly allowing everyone to get back to the cars.

Becky mentioned a bridge with a flat bank underneath that was under cover, so everyone went in search of the spot in desperate want of a skate. The only draw back being was that there were around 10 chavs who were also using the spot to hangout. Usually if there were only 2 or 3 of you, you’d expect a mouthful of abuse, however with the arrival of 8 girl skaters, nothing was said and the lads stood dumbstruck as the bank session got underway, many of them using their camera phones to record the skating. The bank itself was ok though the run up was pretty poor and there was a lot of glass around the area so you didn’t want to fall for fear of catching something.
After that everyone headed to the Blue Dog Pub in Derby to meet up with Claire Ashmore the representative for Nikita. Danny Calow her other half was there to greet on arrival and showed the girls the pub’s indoor mini, which had interesting transitions to say the least. Obviously the locals were ripping it up but it took the girls some time to get used to. Becky and Georgina got some nice wall rides after eventually taking to the ramp, although Becky did have a rib breaking slam on the coping which everyone winced at.

DAY 3

There was mention of trying Burton for a ‘third time lucky’ but trip organiser Jenna was adamant at trying to keep even if be it loosely to the itinery of the tour, so Bristol was the next stop. Another two hours to get everyone moving obviously made the proceedings very slow. The journey was quite uneventful apart from Sam throwing cheese out of the window of Laura’s car at Daisy the Tank. Just on cue after a four hour journey, on entering Bristol the rain started to come down again. Bedminster was to be the destination, but at the best of times the park isn’t the easiest to skate, a quick executive decision was made to stop at Lloyds instead; it was just about do-able in the drizzle.

Everyone warmed up ollying off the blocks, filming was finally getting underway and a good session was developing, finally things seemed to be turning around. That was until Sadie decided to do a line for Claire to film and on doing her last flip she slammed heavily on her wrist - session over after 40 minutes. Sam though did manage to clear the huge gap between the steps just before leaving. Bristol hospital isn’t the easiest to find and rush hour didn’t help the proceedings either. After managing to drive around the hospital at least twice the entrance was eventually found. Sadie’s wrist turned out to be fine but she went home anyway.
Ferndale was supposed to be that evenings stop, but due to the hospital visit and trying to get out of Bristol the evening had worn away to night and the park was closed by the time the cars crossed into Wales. Laura and Jenna recommended a late night session at the marble blocks of Bute Square in Cardiff. There are three mellow steps also at the spot which are really good for sessioning although Claire did point out they didn’t look super impressive for filming…they were fun though. Jenna did a couple of noseslide shuv outs on the ledge next to the fountains. As you can imagine the inevitable happened and she ended up one footed and board in the water with Claire’s sticking a camera in her face laughing raucously.

DAY 4

The sun finally made and appearance, hurrah, so four skate parks were going to be crammed in the day to make up for the poor showing on the previous days. Aberdare was first on the list. There’s a clover bowl (which Laura skated bare footed until she took a chunk out of her foot) plus a good street section. The local skaters had turned out to check out the girls skating and some good tricks were soon being pulled out. Becky got a kickflip off the platform clearing the driveway to the floor. Georgina pulled out some Shuvit tail grabs, Jenna frontside rock n rolls on the big quatre and Kerri and Sam ripped up the mini. After a couple of hours the cars headed to Ferndale to make an appearance to make up for the previous day no show. It’s quite a small indoor park in the valleys, but well laid out with good transitions, friendly locals and ace people who run it. Only half an hour was spent sessioning the park as Becky need to be dropped off at Newport station to get back to the midlands.
On arrival at the station, the crew bumped into Porno Paul just hanging about. They popped into Freestyle with him to say hello to Grim whilst they were there and get some pics in the shop. Then a quick stop with Paul to Skate Extreme as it was about to close and back to Laura’s for dinner. To say everyone was shattered by this point is an understatement but Fuhrer Jenna declared that they had to go to Bridgend as it was on the itinery! Laura’s mum cooked a mean dinner which revitalised everyone enough to get moving and head to the park.

Bridgend indoor skate park shares half it’s time with the indoor bowls club, a slightly strange concept but it means the park is absolutely huge. And at £1.50 per session and no helmets (amazing for a council in this day and age) everyone was suitable impressed. There are few quarters in this park, it’s more flat banks, driveways, blocks and steps… their double set with the rail down it is slightly scary. Everyone was soon loving the park and the locals were suitable impressed by the skill level of the girls. Then disaster struck again. Laura ollied off the block and next thing she was on the floor in agony…next stop: hospital. Whilst waiting for Laura’s diagnosis everyone else skated the car park, mixing with the local rude boys and prostitutes…good times!

Eventually Laura was diagnosed with a ruptured PCL. There was no way she could drive so someone else would have to do the honours moving the mini. It turned out there wasn’t another driver amongst all the girls, apart from Claire who is an automatic only girl! Tow ropes out, Claire guiding the mini and Jenna towing, a quick practice around the car park took place with Claire looking like she was about to pass out in fear. The clunking noises also didn’t sound too healthy! However the two cars made it to the hospital, there it was decided not to tow the mini all the way back to Trefforrest for fear of it falling apart on the way. So six girls, boards and bags were packed into the escourt and the trip made home.

DAY 5

Robocopped Laura said her goodbyes to the rest of the girls, at this rate they were loosing one a day…not bad going. Cram packed now into the escourt the journey to Oxford was hard work. Everyone was shattered by this point, but this was the day two TV crews and a variety of local papers were turning out to watch them perform.

Meadow Lane Ramps got affected by the recent floods and are due to be taken down at some point in the near future which is a terrible shame as the ramps some of the most fun to skate in the UK. Oxford Wheels Project’s main man Jack had very kindly put on a BBQ for the girls arrival, even getting some vegan delights for Jenna. Although the girls skated the ramps, it wasn’t what you’d call a hard hitting session, just a nice end to the tour…that was until the TV crews asked for something impressive!?! So Sam being the designated TV personality was put on the job of looking ‘impressive. ’ For the other TV crew the girls all had to drop in together and rock fakie, which was slightly embarrassing especially as they’d never ask guys to do it! It was made more amusing with Claire shouting “sausage party” in the background on every take and everyone trying to get thumbs up for the camera. Jenna then had to teach one of the presenters how to skate, then it was all over and Daisy the Tank was zipping back to St Albans to try and catch Kerri’s booked train…which of course she inevitable missed!

Many thanks go out to Claire and Michelle at Nikita for all their hard work, Victoria at Vans and Rogue Skateboards.

Jenna Selby