Earley Skatepark and the Ghosts of Teenage Regret.

When I think back to the time that I lived in this area, around '88 to '94, I can remember the slim pickings we had for places to skate. Wokingham was home and had Tesco Steps, the bank to wall across the road, the tiny little tranny-to- curb behind Iceland, the new building and the odd bench in a half decent position on a skateable surface. Of course we had various mini-ramps pop up for short spaces of time and then finally the long campaigned for Midi and miniramp at St. Crispins, those metal rareunit jobs that had the massive coping.

Had this park existed back then god knows what the locals could have developed into. It's a fact that what you skate and who you skate with will have huge impact on your speed and extent of learning on the board. So I'm super happy for the kid I met on Saturday who lives directly opposite this fun and varied park. My 16 year-old self is insanely jealous of him though.

Earley is about half way between Reading and Wokingham and within easy striking distance of my parents house, so I'm pretty stoked to have a decent park to skate when I come out this way. The park is pretty well thought out but does seem to be another park that has way to much ground NOT covered in concrete. I'm sure it's a cost consideration but it makes for collision heavy tracks instead of a flowing park with room for manoeuvre. It's a shame because this park has some nice touches, unfortunately to link them together your going to have to risk BMX shaped death from above.

The bowl got the most attention from me this visit and will definitely be seeing more of me. For now you can take a look at photos below and decide if It's worth a visit.

[LILAC]