With memories of my first HLFC tour last year still seared into my mind, I knew that Amsterdam would never be ready for what was about to be unleashed.

With a huge number of newbies, and for the first time in HLFC history, our coach (plus a special friend), we embarked on the first leg of the journey on a coach to Dover via a quick stop off to pick up Chopper Saunders. I won’t lie, we might have had a few bevvies at the pub and this may have continued on the coach with spirits as high as the early hours of the morning will allow (especially after a full day of boring work!)

After an eventful ferry crossing (certain tourists were already doing their best for relations with other teams), we arrived in France and headed off into the sunrise for Dutch-land. My memories of that first night are slightly blurred, but the ladies (and gents!) ensured that first impressions set a high standard for the rest of the tournament … everyone else was trying to emulate our pole dancing skills for the rest of the weekend, but not with quite the same finesse (or success).

Can anyone tell me - where is Wally?

Light dawned sharp and cold the next morning for the first day of rugby. As ever, Quins Ladies demonstrated an awe-inspiring array of talent in spite of the little bits of blood left in our alcohol stream. This innate flair for rugby in the harshest of conditions pervaded the weekend until on the second day of rugby, matches were called off due to the apparently unsafe snow blizzard conditions.

Apparently the cast of 'Friends' were watching the game

Luckily the highlight of the weekend was still ahead of us … imagine the beautiful sight of 30 plus rugby players let loose with a pedal-bus and 2 kegs of beer, which of course, led us to a perusal of the cultural delights of Amsterdam. How we all made it back in time for our 6am departure time is one of those questions better left unanswered! A few funnels, a quick chocolate stop and a port-fuelled court brought another fabulous HLFC tour to an end, but fear not, we’ll be back on it next year!!