Saddleworth Beer Walk

Big day today - early start (well for a Saturday).

I'm guessing most people are familiar with the beer walk - if not then it's basically 1500 or so people (mostly in fancy dress) walking a route around Saddleworth villages and stopping at various points to top up on beer. This year was it's 36th and it has got more popular each year with people attending from far and wide to join in the fun.

The event which is organised and run by Saddleworth round table and is their main charity fund raiser for the year.

This year was my first and boy was it fun, after a bit of lifting and shifting in the morning setting up the registration area and start field we hunkered down in the tents to avoid the rain and await the hordes of drinkers we knew were close by. The beerwalk website had taken over 1300 bookings online in the weeks leading up to the day and I'm guessing we must have processed at least another 500 on the day (I'll let Richard fill me in after they finish counting). Even with the rain falling people seemed oblivious and in full on party spirits. The costumes were all fantastic - of particular note were the 100 mime artistes (complete with mime ropes and stairs!!!), the Virgin Atlantic girls and Banana Man and his bananas. I also lost track of how many x-men, hulks, smurfs and pirates i saw. I think the bravery award must go to the girls who came in Rocky Horror outfits i.e. stockings & basques - it was a cold day and raining, they must have been freezing!

Just an awesome day all round!