Hi folks,i thought you might like a look at some pics of a wee get together we had on the last weekend of November,around the 
Myself and a few like minded people braved the winter weather,which decided to dump quite a bit of snow on us
I myself set out on the Thursday morning,with just a fluttering of snow across the Scottish borders.
I arrived around lunch time to a cold but snowless camp location, to be greeted by Patrick,his kids and Scott(Typha).
The view.
A view of the camp,with Scott(Typha) and AndyE having a natter.
Well the rest of Thursday was spent chatting and settling in.
On the Friday,whilst waiting on others arriving,Scott started to make his Sm-oven,which was a smoker and oven combined,from what nature provided.
The front.
The side.
And the smoke hole at the rear.
And with the backdrop.
At this point i started to give Scott a hand by sealing the inside of the oven with mud,then a good covering of seaweed to finish it off.
All that was left to do was to select a door,after some beachcombing and gathering a few likely suspects we made our choice.
The door in position.
Well time was ticking by and a few others had arrived,so we left the sm-oven until the Saturday. We settled round the fire for a good hearty Venison stew followed by charades,after much laughter and Chestnuts roasted on an open fire,we turned in about 1-ish.
The Saturday saw more outdoorsy stuff going on,Scott turned his attention to building a primitive forge along with Mark and Vince(Windward),to beat some metal senseless.Patrick taught basket weaving too Farquhar,young Andy,Peter(Woods man),Kat and old Andy
Young Andy(left),Patrick(centre),old Andy(right) basket weaving.
While that was going on i lit a fire to heat up the oven.
Once heated,the embers scraped out,in went a bannock that Vince knocked up.Whilst the bannock cooked we lit another fire in the bottom of the sm-oven,to help retain the heat for the bannock.
So after about 30 mins this was the result,lovely warm bannock,the top of it was not as brown as i would of liked but,it tasted great anyway.
So after that success we though a nice wee roasted Partridge would be the order for the day.While Vince stoked the oven up for another firing.
I assembled the ingredients,Partridge,bacon and a clove of garlic.
Ingredients with the oven heating up.
The garlic went inside the bird and the it was wrapped completely in bacon.
Wrapped ready for the oven.
This time i left the dying embers inside the oven,sweeping them to the sides.After 50 mins it was time for a taste.
Yum-yum.
It turned out great.
Scott and Mark beat some metal into knife blades as the sun grew lower in the sky,(Sorry no pics,as I was to busy cooking and munching,maybe one of the others might have some pics they could add).
So Saturday nights meal was Venison curry cooked by Patrick and Pakoras supplied by Andy E,washed down with a couple of beers thanks to Farquhar,luvly jubbly. After some more games, Chestnuts and laughter we hit the sack just after 12.
Sunday.
Well it had been just cold up until now,I was sharing a group shelter with Mark and Scott when I awoke to grey early light,at this point my bladder told me it needed emptying,so I got out of my warm bed to take a leak,when I got out of the shelter I found it was snowing ,not a lot just about half a centimetre,but it was still on.After returning to my scratch for another couple of hours I was woken by mark looking for firewood,and informing me and Scott that it was snowing rather heavily.So after breakfast was out of the way thoughts turned to getting ready for the journey home,we all decided to get under way at about 1 oclock,but the snow just didnt let up.It took us about 3 hours to travel a couple of miles to get to the main road.
I know it took Farquhar 7 hours to get home,while I decided to slum-it in a hotel as it was just not safe to carry on driving.
On Monday I managed to get as far as Craigm9s place in Stirlingshire,where I had to spend the next 3 days as the roads were impassable down to the Borders.Craig himself couldnt get to his work due to the conditions,but the time wasnt wasted as craig took me to his local haunt for a walk in the snow.we also took his air rifle and shot some targets.
Craig in the snow.
The Targets.
Shhhh were huntin wabbits!!!
A big thanks to Craig for putting up with me for the 3 days,cheers mate.
And to all who attended the meet,I hope you all got home safe and well.
Oh before I forget,for those in the know. Re-tarr-ed!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers Stuart.
Myself and a few like minded people braved the winter weather,which decided to dump quite a bit of snow on us
I myself set out on the Thursday morning,with just a fluttering of snow across the Scottish borders.
I arrived around lunch time to a cold but snowless camp location, to be greeted by Patrick,his kids and Scott(Typha).
The view.
A view of the camp,with Scott(Typha) and AndyE having a natter.
Well the rest of Thursday was spent chatting and settling in.
On the Friday,whilst waiting on others arriving,Scott started to make his Sm-oven,which was a smoker and oven combined,from what nature provided.
The front.
The side.
And the smoke hole at the rear.
And with the backdrop.
At this point i started to give Scott a hand by sealing the inside of the oven with mud,then a good covering of seaweed to finish it off.
All that was left to do was to select a door,after some beachcombing and gathering a few likely suspects we made our choice.
The door in position.
Well time was ticking by and a few others had arrived,so we left the sm-oven until the Saturday. We settled round the fire for a good hearty Venison stew followed by charades
,after much laughter and Chestnuts roasted on an open fire,we turned in about 1-ish.The Saturday saw more outdoorsy stuff going on,Scott turned his attention to building a primitive forge along with Mark and Vince(Windward),to beat some metal senseless.Patrick taught basket weaving too Farquhar,young Andy,Peter(Woods man),Kat and old Andy
Young Andy(left),Patrick(centre),old Andy(right) basket weaving.
While that was going on i lit a fire to heat up the oven.
Once heated,the embers scraped out,in went a bannock that Vince knocked up.Whilst the bannock cooked we lit another fire in the bottom of the sm-oven,to help retain the heat for the bannock.
So after about 30 mins this was the result,lovely warm bannock,the top of it was not as brown as i would of liked but,it tasted great anyway.
So after that success we though a nice wee roasted Partridge would be the order for the day.While Vince stoked the oven up for another firing.
I assembled the ingredients,Partridge,bacon and a clove of garlic.
Ingredients with the oven heating up.
The garlic went inside the bird and the it was wrapped completely in bacon.
Wrapped ready for the oven.
This time i left the dying embers inside the oven,sweeping them to the sides.After 50 mins it was time for a taste.
Yum-yum.
It turned out great.
Scott and Mark beat some metal into knife blades as the sun grew lower in the sky,(Sorry no pics,as I was to busy cooking and munching,maybe one of the others might have some pics they could add).
So Saturday nights meal was Venison curry cooked by Patrick and Pakoras supplied by Andy E,washed down with a couple of beers thanks to Farquhar,luvly jubbly. After some more games, Chestnuts and laughter we hit the sack just after 12.
Sunday.
Well it had been just cold up until now,I was sharing a group shelter with Mark and Scott when I awoke to grey early light,at this point my bladder told me it needed emptying,so I got out of my warm bed to take a leak,when I got out of the shelter I found it was snowing ,not a lot just about half a centimetre,but it was still on.After returning to my scratch for another couple of hours I was woken by mark looking for firewood,and informing me and Scott that it was snowing rather heavily.So after breakfast was out of the way thoughts turned to getting ready for the journey home,we all decided to get under way at about 1 oclock,but the snow just didnt let up.It took us about 3 hours to travel a couple of miles to get to the main road.
I know it took Farquhar 7 hours to get home,while I decided to slum-it in a hotel as it was just not safe to carry on driving.
On Monday I managed to get as far as Craigm9s place in Stirlingshire,where I had to spend the next 3 days as the roads were impassable down to the Borders.Craig himself couldnt get to his work due to the conditions,but the time wasnt wasted as craig took me to his local haunt for a walk in the snow.we also took his air rifle and shot some targets.
Craig in the snow.
The Targets.
Shhhh were huntin wabbits!!!
A big thanks to Craig for putting up with me for the 3 days,cheers mate.
And to all who attended the meet,I hope you all got home safe and well.
Oh before I forget,for those in the know. Re-tarr-ed!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheers Stuart.
