West Wales Easter Meetup report

[John Fenna]

Although only a keen five people turned up for a cold, snowy,sleety, haily, windy, muddy time at Gellie the first meet of the Group was a great sucess!
On the friday, people arrived and got set up - some on the ground under tarps, some in hammocks and one in a tent - a goodly fire built and stocked (for warmth as well as cooking!) and people got to chatting and chilling out.
Fri night was very cold and windy with a little white stuff in the air but with a good meal, where everyone cooked their own using everything from Swedish military Trangias to girdles over the embers, and lots of strange fluids with an alcoholic base were consumed everyone retired to their various beds.
An early morning start and a breakfast where everyone cooked their own but shared various bits with the others, people practiced various bushy skills including axe work, building a reflector for the fire, cutting firewood, making spoons, spatulars, kuksas and lots of shavings, practicing first aid, trying new foods and cooking techniques and such stuff.
The day flew past and after dinner the booze reapeared and the tales were told...eggs baked in the embers were not a success and Gregs trousers gained "interesting" stains as both eggs exploded splattering him with half cooked whites....
The rain and ponies did not hit the camp until the early hours and the night was a lot calmer...
Sun morning dawned dry but as the camp was being struck and a trading session developed the horizontal sleety hail joined the happy team....
Most folk needed to get home fairly early to spend Easter Sunday with family so thing wound down and the site abandoned by mid morning.
West Wales Bushcrafters are a hardy mob and despite the weather everyone had a good time!
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u142/johnfenna/Mar23847.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u142/johnfenna/Mar23862.jpg
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u142/johnfenna/Mar23863.jpg

[dr jones]

just a quick note to say thanks to all that attended the gellie weekend. thoroughly enjoyed every minute despite the squally weather which failed to dampen spirits or the great atmos. On a different subject , need to find out the dates for the gathering in breacon which we were talking about ,organised by the south wales group in may , ive trawled through the "meetups and gatherings" section but cant find any reference to this .cant plan ahead without . once again thanks guys .

cheers dr jones (rolly)

[Bernie Garland]

Well John fair play to all concerned for having the bottle to do it in the weather we have just had,like the drinking bit.

Bernie.

[John Fenna]

Cheers Bernie - the frostbite, trench foot,hypothermia and flue will all clear in time....
Roland - Meetups and social chatter forum, page 2 "South Wales meet 20008" - it even has a map!
Heal fast!

[Matt Weir]

Good stuff John :D

[rik_uk3]

Me and Luke are gutted at missing it :( but I've been on shifts all over the weekend. When we meeting at Brecon?

[Greg]

Yes just to say thanks to all the guys for a good w/end, I really enjoyed myself. Although John that photo of me really doesn't make my muscular upper body look too great!:o I swear guys it was the softie jacket and the five thousand other layers I was wearing!!!!!!:D
On another note I hope your knee repairs itself soon Roly.
And to say I was really impressed with the Kuksas, spoons and spatulas that were made by you guys.

[markheolddu]

Thanks form a great weekend guys, I learned lots. The company was fantastic, the weather failed to dampen our spirits.:umbrella:
hope the knee gets better soon Roly, Mark hope you hand is OK from all that carving, John thanks for the trade and spoon advice, Greg Thanks for the laughs, stories and the trade!
:You_Rock_

Hope to see you all soon Mark

[firebreather]

Looks like a great weekend.

Greg

[Toddy]

Nice one :D

There were three of us on a recce for our first meet up, the last one we had over 30 folks along.
It was very good to see folks but small's good too, you kind of get more of a chance to chat, work and catch up.

cheers,
Toddy

[Jedadiah]

. Although John that photo of me really doesn't make my muscular upper body look too great!:o I swear guys it was the softie jacket and the five thousand other layers I was wearing!!!!!!:D

I was going to say it looked like you'd put weight on Greg! Not like you at all, but this explains it. And i'd spot Mark in a blizzard from a mile away, glad to see the Swannies still being used Mark. :D

I'm glad to see you all had a good time and am still gutted that we could not get there. Still, Jed had a good time and much Jelly and Ice cream was consumed, followed by some of Capt Morgan's finest Spicy! We are definatly going to the Brecon meet so i'm looking forward to seeing you all there!

[Ogri the trog]

...... but cant find any reference to this .cant plan ahead without .
cheers dr jones (rolly)


Roland - Meetups and social chatter forum, page 2 "South Wales meet 20008" - it even has a map!

Wow guys,
planning ahead is one thing but eighteen thousand years ahead is a little optimistic:rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Greg,
I was going to point out your "embiggening" as well, but it looks like you lost it all by the next photo!

Sorry I couldn't make it, the transport situation is nearly under control, just have to rob a few banks to finance the deal;)
Glad you had a good time.

Ogri the trog

[mark oriel]

Excellent weekend, really had a great time. thanks to you all for the welcome. really looking foward to the brecon bash, will confirm as soon as i can.
Sllet snow and wild horses could'nt dampen the spirit.

[Greg]

I just thought I would add a couple of videos of our Bivi site and the lads busy at work.
There isn't any sound because my camera is pants:o ! Oh and I'm not exactly the greatest cameraman in the world!:(

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Greg1933/th_100_2778.jpg (http://s196.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Greg1933/?action=view&current=100_2778.flv)

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Greg1933/th_100_2788.jpg (http://s196.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Greg1933/?action=view&current=100_2788.flv)

[John Fenna]

Better than some stuff I have seen on YouTube!
Good stuff Greg!

[Greg]

Here are a couple of photos.

Markheolddu carving his spoon to replace the hideous plastic one in his pocket:D !(Note also the backless chair which was blown into the fire the night before!)
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Greg1933/100_2782.jpg
Mark Oriel carving a kuksa.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Greg1933/100_2780.jpg
Roly aka dr jones making a permanent reflector for the Communal fire.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Greg1933/100_2787.jpg
Roly again.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Greg1933/100_2785.jpg
The Communal Fire place.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/aa273/Greg1933/100_2779.jpg

[topknot]

Hi John,
Is that your coconut cup i see in the video?
how did you make your cup could you let me in on the secret.
looks like you boys had a good time
cheers Topknot

[markheolddu]

That was my wifes chair did I hear about it!:slap:

[John Fenna]

Mark - Oooops, prezzie time!:D
Topknot - Simple stuff realy - it has to be if I can do it!:cool: :o
Buy nut (Tescos can help here) get a flat bottomed one for most stable results.
Decide where you want to cut it. Jam it in a vice or Workmate. Saw off top (keep top to make ladle later on). I used a cheapo hard point saw from Focus.
Have a bowl underneath to catch milk.
Drink milk, eat meat..
Sand the nut smoothish.
Cut a handle shape from wood and shape the ends to fit the nut.
Mark the handle positions on the nut and predrill screw holes. Glue handle in place (I used resin and charcoal mix) Screw handle into place from the inside (I used little screws from my screw jar) This is NOT easy. I sealed the srews in place with more glue and filled gaps between the handle and nut with more glue and then oiled it all with veg oil.
Job done!:p
Have fun...

[topknot]

Hi John,
You are a TOP MAN , when i get some free time i will give it a go .
Thank you very much
Topknot.

[maynman]

hi guys

Gutted i could not make the weekend away,:(

I had man flu, and we all know that this is the worst illness in the world.

Great reports and pics.

Will definitely come next time.

nice one john and greg for organising this meet.

See you on the next one:)

Maynard