Hidden away deep within in the Lake District, lives the elusive freestyler Scaife Gooch. With an impressive arsenal of creative, technical tricks with a hint of street skating, an opportunity to visit the man in his natural habitat is not to be missed!
It was November. Having rained for several days, it was a relief to awake to beaming sunshine and, for the first time in weeks, a dry, skateable surface. The only thing standing between us and a grand day of filming and freestyle skateboarding was the 90 minute journey to Penrith.
That’s when the rain happened. All of the rain. All of the rain in the world, and it was all happening there, in Penrith. Upon arriving and finding a drenched Scaife, we got a tip from a friend that it was dry in Carlisle. After a quick cake stop, we were back on the road.
While it may have been dry in Carlisle when we left Penrith, the rain seemed to be following us, so we arrived to an equally wet Carlisle. Seemingly, the planned skate would not be taking place.
After a 5 minute session outside a museum on a dry patch of concrete that couldn’t have been any more than 5 square metres,we continued to wander aimlessly about Carlisle. The skatepark was closed due to a fireworks display taking place nearby: and it would have been too wet to skate anyway. So, we came to the only logical conclusion: it was time for a drink!
After a few hours in the pub and an incredibly close game of chess, the ground outside the pub had dried up, so a quick session on the street was in order! The ground was at a slight angle, making any technical tricks particularly difficult. Even 360 spins were tricky, the curved ground directing the spins right across the pavement; as demonstrated in the video!
Darkness and even more rain began to fall across Carlisle, so after a rather disappointing skate, we headed back to Penrith. Determined to skate, the Sainsbury’s car park provided safe refuge from the rain!
Despite providing an incredibly difficult surface for skating, we managed another 20 minute session and one of the dirtiest, roughest games of skate you could possibly imagine. It was a fun little session, although is was shortly topped by a considerably longer, more rewarding session in the pub!
