Saturday 22nd February 2014, the day the Cricket Without Boundaries Volunteers headed off to Uganda.
Our illustrious leader Grant arranged for an 8-15am meet at Heathrow and taking no chances of missing the flight he was the first one there at 6-45! Thankfully by meeting time all eight of us were present and correct and this time all the kit bags came with us (unlike when leaving training weekend). Re-introductions took place (including lessons that Warrington isn't on the outskirts of London) and after a Wetherspoons breakfast we were all aboard the flight at 11-15.
8 hrs 25 minutes later and we arrived in Entebbe. Gone 11pm by the time we exited the airport but still far warmer than the wet England we'd left behind. A short journey from the airport via a rather packed minibus and we arrived at our hotel for the night where we joined Simon H, Tracey and Huddersfield Lee (not a Scouser Lizzie!) for a quick couple of beers before bed.
An early start on the Sunday as Joseph our driver was picking us up for the journey up to Gulu at 7am so a quick breakfast and we were on our way. On route we stopped off at The Ugandan National Stadium to pick up our Ugandan Cricket Association colleagues Grace and Derek. To our surprise we found some teenagers playing on the outfield, more remarkable as it was just 8am on Sunday morning! We took that in for a short time before saying goodbye to Simon H who was staying in Kampala and we started the long journey to Gulu.
What happened after can only really be described as an experience. Never will I complain about a pothole in England again. Seven hours of crater ridden, dusty roads which must have taken some toll on the bus! Windows were a form of air conditioning but at times the dust was so bad they had to be shut. A couple of stop-offs on route for refreshments and nature breaks were required.
On route we passed two lorries that had turned over and one with a flat tyre and some of the group had a heart stopping moment when the bus temporarily tilted more horizontal than we had expected. I I think that says a little about what the roads were like. Joseph however had it all under control.
We also saw some of the living conditions that we would be seeing a lot more of over the course of our trip and we also saw our first glimpse of nature on the journey. Plenty of birds, goats, cows were seen and some baboons who clearly hadn't been taught the ABC message judging by their actions as we drove past them shortly after crossing the River Nile.
Eventually some 7 hours after setting off we reached the hotel where we chilled with a relaxing drink or two before the buffet arrived. We finished the evening socialising around the table whilst Olly had the enjoyable experience of seeing his beloved Norwich beat Spurs on the telly. A relative lie-in was to be had with coach training starting at 10am.