Following on from Weekend and a Day, I had the chance to visit the woodland again this weekend ~ So a big thank 
:You_Rock_ you to our host and my thanks to both for putting up with my sense of humour 
.
Big personal improvement on my last visit ~ I had no need to make a trip out to collect a forgotten necessity! Hm,hmm 
I always like to go with a plan (doesnt mean that I always manage to stick to it ) and this time was to test run a couple of items ~ a couple bought, some made. As with most things, its good to practice and get up to speed with kit before you actually need to rely on it ~ in my opinion test running kit and ideas is a good part of where attending the Meet occasional Meet comes into its own .
The main thing I wanted to test was a free standing dual compartment mozzie net. This item is for those times when you want to wake up viewing some of the local wildlife ~ but without offering yourself up as an alfresco All You Can Eat buffet for each and every flying nasty that happens to pass by.
The Hilton
Easy enough to set up, which is always a good thing
. The sleeping compartment is the width of a standard camp bed plus a bit. The vestibule isnt quite as wide as the sleeping compartment, but it is wide enough for the chair in the pic.
The big black bag on the tree is my water ~ theres no water source on site, so it all needs to be carried in. In cold weather it is an exceptionally good idea to make sure that you have enough liquid water for the first brew of the day . Modern flasks dont just keep drinks warm .
An end on view of The Hilton
I hadnt expected the storage panels ~ but they certainly made life and storage easier. Theres four storage pouches in the sitting/working area and two in the sleeping area. The sleeping area also has a removable gear loft .
A closer pic
Sorry for the poor pic .
Top left pouch: Kitchen towel ~ no where near an essential, but it does make life quicker and easier.
Top right pouch: Tea and sugar tin, washing up liquid (unused) and olive oil ~ which solidified as the temperature took a significant dip. And it was quite nippy too
.
Bottom left pouch: Empty accessory bags ~ the protective container for my UCO micro* and brew kit bag.
Bottom right pouch: Empty. But you can see the put cosy that I trialled over the weekend (the mug to its left is on a boil in the bag cosy)
* The UCO Micro can be seen in the first pic ~ doesnt quite match the colour of the advertising pics (?? purple vs lavender ??)
Barely visible in the sleeping area is a thermal reflective pad slung beneath the cot ~ as I wanted to see how effective it was as an insulating barrier I decided to make use of a three season sleeping bag ~ Have I mentioned that the temperature took a bit of a nose dive? In all honesty Im not sold on how effective it was
. Ill give it another couple of runs before I make a decision ~ its roughly the same volume as my old ThermaRest and if the new doesnt give an improved performance over the old there no point making the swap. The good news is that the reflective mat is eminently reuseable for other applications
The new but old but newly insulated chair
This was a Christmas present from my In-Laws ~ a Land Rover Chair . Having seen Eliness method of adding insulation to his chair at a multitude of Meets I thought that Id do something similar to mine, with a bit of a spin of my own
This worked quite well and, as theres space between the reflective material and the chair, extra insulation could be applied if wanted/needed J .
Unfortunately I tend to not walk round with a camera ~ so once again, views of the site are limited to the background of the above pics .
The next couple were taken by myself, but arent from this weekend
Chris, holes like this?
Its surprisingly difficult for most of us to accurately describe a hole ~ Chris mentioned having seen a hole (?? or a couple ??) on a river bank and I thought That rings a bell , hence the pic to ask if it's similar.
A cousin of this little chap paid us a visit
The pic is of a male Greater Spotted Wood Pecker ~ our visitor was a Lesser Spotted. It had perched up in the trees above our communal area, we heard the call, but it made no taps. Not wanting to disturb it, we had the devils own job of locating it and, as it had been on the opposite side of the tree to us, we completely failed to see it. Then it took flight. Our second set of good fortune was that it has stayed above us long enough for me to get my binos out of my bag . The third good fortune was that it flew to a tree I could see and landed in such a way as to make ID possible . Woodpecker heads are pretty distinctive ~ and the Lesser Spotted doesnt wear embarrassed underwear .
Although we did have an impromptu wander round the site I didn't take my camera :sad6: ~ no doubt I''ll be back and I'll endeavour to do less kit pics and show more wildlife 
.
Again, thank you to our host for the opportunity to spend quality time in a really good environment and thanks to both of my weekends companions for their good company, good humour and their enthusiasm ~ a weekend is never enough and just as you're zoning in, it's time to leave .
Thank you for taking the time to read through.
:You_Rock_ you to our host and my thanks to both for putting up with my sense of humour . Big personal improvement on my last visit ~ I had no need to make a trip out to collect a forgotten necessity!
Hm,hmm I always like to go with a plan (doesnt mean that I always manage to stick to it ) and this time was to test run a couple of items ~ a couple bought, some made. As with most things, its good to practice and get up to speed with kit before you actually need to rely on it ~ in my opinion test running kit and ideas is a good part of where attending the Meet occasional Meet comes into its own
.The main thing I wanted to test was a free standing dual compartment mozzie net. This item is for those times when you want to wake up viewing some of the local wildlife ~ but without offering yourself up as an alfresco All You Can Eat buffet for each and every flying nasty that happens to pass by.
The Hilton
Easy enough to set up, which is always a good thing
. The sleeping compartment is the width of a standard camp bed plus a bit. The vestibule isnt quite as wide as the sleeping compartment, but it is wide enough for the chair in the pic. The big black bag on the tree is my water ~ theres no water source on site, so it all needs to be carried in. In cold weather it is an exceptionally good idea to make sure that you have enough liquid water for the first brew of the day
. Modern flasks dont just keep drinks warm .An end on view of The Hilton
I hadnt expected the storage panels ~ but they certainly made life and storage easier
. Theres four storage pouches in the sitting/working area and two in the sleeping area. The sleeping area also has a removable gear loft .A closer pic
Sorry for the poor pic .
Top left pouch: Kitchen towel ~ no where near an essential, but it does make life quicker and easier.
Top right pouch: Tea and sugar tin, washing up liquid (unused) and olive oil ~ which solidified as the temperature took a significant dip. And it was quite nippy too
.Bottom left pouch: Empty accessory bags ~ the protective container for my UCO micro* and brew kit bag.
Bottom right pouch: Empty. But you can see the put cosy that I trialled over the weekend (the mug to its left is on a boil in the bag cosy)
* The UCO Micro can be seen in the first pic ~ doesnt quite match the colour of the advertising pics (?? purple vs lavender ??)
Barely visible in the sleeping area is a thermal reflective pad slung beneath the cot ~ as I wanted to see how effective it was as an insulating barrier I decided to make use of a three season sleeping bag ~ Have I mentioned that the temperature took a bit of a nose dive? In all honesty Im not sold on how effective it was
. Ill give it another couple of runs before I make a decision ~ its roughly the same volume as my old ThermaRest and if the new doesnt give an improved performance over the old there no point making the swap. The good news is that the reflective mat is eminently reuseable for other applications The new but old but newly insulated chair
This was a Christmas present from my In-Laws ~ a Land Rover Chair
. Having seen Eliness method of adding insulation to his chair at a multitude of Meets I thought that Id do something similar to mine, with a bit of a spin of my own
This worked quite well and, as theres space between the reflective material and the chair, extra insulation could be applied if wanted/needed J .
Unfortunately I tend to not walk round with a camera ~ so once again, views of the site are limited to the background of the above pics .
The next couple were taken by myself, but arent from this weekend
Chris, holes like this?
Its surprisingly difficult for most of us to accurately describe a hole ~ Chris mentioned having seen a hole (?? or a couple ??) on a river bank and I thought That rings a bell , hence the pic to ask if it's similar.
A cousin of this little chap paid us a visit
The pic is of a male Greater Spotted Wood Pecker ~ our visitor was a Lesser Spotted. It had perched up in the trees above our communal area, we heard the call, but it made no taps. Not wanting to disturb it, we had the devils own job of locating it and, as it had been on the opposite side of the tree to us, we completely failed to see it. Then it took flight
. Our second set of good fortune was that it has stayed above us long enough for me to get my binos out of my bag . The third good fortune was that it flew to a tree I could see and landed in such a way as to make ID possible . Woodpecker heads are pretty distinctive ~ and the Lesser Spotted doesnt wear embarrassed underwear .Although we did have an impromptu wander round the site I didn't take my camera
:sad6: ~ no doubt I''ll be back and I'll endeavour to do less kit pics and show more wildlife .Again, thank you to our host for the opportunity to spend quality time in a really good environment and thanks to both of my weekends companions for their good company, good humour and their enthusiasm ~ a weekend is never enough and just as you're zoning in, it's time to leave
.Thank you for taking the time to read through.
~ although it's in no way light weight, it could prove to have been a good buy.
a lesson learnt only on the second night.
if this keeps up much longer lol
close call
