We arrived on Friday 13th September early in the morning and as we couldn’t check in to our hotel until 3:00pm toured Windsor Castle and the surrounds. We then headed to the town of Dorking in Surrey, which became our home base for the first half of the tour. We basically became locals in pubs (particularly the Hog’s Head) and a few restaurants - I think everyone’s favorite was Pepito’s. We played our first match on Saturday 14th against my old club Dorking. The facilities were great and the match was competitive. I think we were a little overawed and a little jet lagged but I don’t want to take anything away from the “Dorks” (hey that’s what the sideline was shouting - I can’t help it if it doesn’t translate well) who just would not die and came back to take the victory in the last seconds. Sunday 15th saw us reach HQ, Twickenham stadium. Our guide was 76 years young and took a shine to Shane (who then proceeded to be his assistant for the tour). After spending a massive amount of money in the stadium store we headed down to Ashtead and were fed and entertained by my Dad. On Monday 16th we took the train up to London saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing Street, Horse Guards, Trafalgar Square (I had no idea how big Jamie was in Japan) and Buckingham Palace. Managed to squeeze in a few pubs then ended up in Leicester Square via Carnaby Street. Tuesday 17th was a rest day but we managed to fit in a 5:00pm practice at the Dorking pitch and a big Italian team dinner. Wednesday 18th was the second match against Simon’s old club SEAE Arborfield. We had a walk through and some pretty energetic league at my old High School Bearwood College then managed to put together a very comprehensive team effort to secure a win. The Arborfield guys threw a great party and we stayed overnight in the barracks. Thursday 19th we left for Bath in Somerset, our second base camp, via Stonehenge. Did sightseeing around Bath on Friday 20th then to Avon for a night game. Avon jumped out to a good lead, we stayed in the game and finished up strong, just not enough. Had a great party (once again) then headed back to Bath. Saturday 21st morning was an early start (for almost all of us) as we headed up to Twickenham and the Stoop (NEC Harlequins’ home ground) to see the home team record their first win over London Irish. Arthur (my step-father) took great care of us at the Carvery. Then it was off to Heathrow for our last night. Thankfully everyone made the flight and got back home around 2:30pm on Sunday 22nd.

Great time, jam packed with action, fun and wild stories. The pack returned as a tighter unit, team leaders stood up to be counted and we are all better off for the trip.

• Stage 1
• Stage 2
• Between Stages 2 & 3
• Stage 3
• Stage 4

• THURSDAY 12TH
• Leave Washington-Dulles at 7:00pm. Need to make sure that Seth and Jamie Hugh get into Frederick OK.
• FRIDAY 13TH
  • Arrive at Heathrow just after 7:00am. We will be picked up by the van company and get our two 15-man vans then move down to Dorking to check in to the hotel and dump our stuff.
  • Then head over to Windsor Castle (biggest castle in England and there’s a great Pub right next to it, and one block down and two blocks down and…).
• SATURDAY 14TH
  • Our first match against my old club Dorking. We’ll be playing their B-side at 12:30 then drinking beer watching their A-side in an important league match directly afterwards. I was anticipating being very competitive with the Dorking A-side so we’ll have to make sure that we record a nice result!
  • Dorking will then be having a season opener calypso party in their Clubhouse - everyone has to bring a Hawaiian shirt to wear - but we’ll be made very welcome.
• SUNDAY 15TH
• Head up to Twickenham and do the stadium tour and rugby museum at 1:00pm.
• Head back to Dorking for a cook out that my Dad’s putting on.
• MONDAY 16TH
• Head up into London on the train. Arrive at Waterloo and walk over the Thames to the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, then just walk up the Admiralty past Westminster Abbey, 10 Downing Street and Horseguard’s to Buckingham Palace. Then hop on the Tube over to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.
• TUESDAY 17TH
  • We’ll be using Dorking as a home base and going back to London on the train for some other sights or whatever you would like to do.
• WEDNESDAY 18TH
• Leave Dorking and travel west from Surrey to Berkshire for our second match against Simon’s old army buddies at SEAE Arborfield. The kick-off is scheduled for 2:00pm.
• We’ll be partying with the army guys and will be put up for free overnight in the barracks. We might see if we can get onto the rugby pitches at my old high school, Bearwood College for a walk through (it’s about 15 minutes from Arborfield).
• THURSDAY 19TH
• Leave Berkshire and head south through Wiltshire via Salisbury (tallest cathedral spire in England and home to the original Magna Carta) and some old rocks called Stonehenge.
• We’ll carry on going west to the City of Bath and stop by the Roman Baths. Our hotel is right downtown so we should be able to have a good night out.
• FRIDAY 20TH
  • We’ll be waking up in Bath and take a quick trip over to Cardiff, Wales for a tour of the Millennium Stadium (new Welsh national home).
  • Back to just north of Bath and our final tour match against Avon RFC kicking off at 7:00pm. There’s a women’s rugby game ahead of ours then the host Club is throwing us a party. The theme of the party is uniforms so you’ll have to think of something to wear!
• SATURDAY 21ST
• We’ll be driving back from Bath to London for a 3:00pm Premiership match, London Irish at the Harlequins with a 3:00pm kick-off. Harlequins have a lot of current big name players such as Keith Wood (the Irish hooker) and Will Greenwood (center), Jason Leonard (prop) and Dan Luger (wing) all from England. The Irish have current Ireland players Justin Bishop (wing), Keiron Dawson and Eddie Halvey (both flankers), Chris Sheasby (former England #8) and a number of young up-and-coming England stars including Declan Danaher (flanker), Geoff Appleforth (center) and Mike Horak (full back). Should be a great match and as our hotel is about 10 minutes from the Stoop (Harlequins ground) and it’s our last night in England - we’ll probably have a couple of beers!
• SUNDAY 22ND
• Our flight leaves at 11:30am and our hotel is about 5 minutes from the airport - what could possibly go wrong? We’ll be back in Dulles for 2:40pm.

Virgin Atlantic: VS 21Q
Departs London Heathrow at 11:30am Sunday September 22nd
Arrives Washington Dulles at 2:40pm Sunday September 22nd

We have two 15-man vans. They are manual and we’ll take turns driving. Whenever possible we’ll take trains or be right downtown so no one has to worry about drinking and driving.

The first payment of $500.00 is required by June the 28th with the remaining $300.00 to be paid by August the 30th. All checks/payments are to be made to "Frederick Rugby" and given to Stu Levine or Julian. Payments can be mailed to:

Stuart Levine
248 Winter Brook Drive
Walkersville, MD 21793

You can contact Stu by phone at h - 301-898-8050, w - 301-881-8840 ext. 3363, and cell - 301-237-6412.