Here is my trip report of my visit to the 2014 BCUK Bushmoot. You may have seen many of the pictures and videos already in the Bushmoot thread however as part of my online diary I decided to put some text to these pictures. As those of you know who attend the Moot there is too much for one person to see in its entirety but I tried this year for the time I was there to document as much of it as possible
I missed the very first Bushmoot in 2004 but have been to all the rest and I see it as one of the highlights of my calendar now.
I came back from holiday in France on Saturday the 2nd of August, unpacked then re-packed and headed out with my two kids Catherine and Finlay to the Moot at Merthyr Mawr in South Wales on Sunday the 3rd of August. Unluckily I had been beaten to my usual camping spot at the Moot by another family but managed to set up nearby with my tipi, kitchen tarp and my hammock stand.
I found a fire guard lying in the sand and after digging it out used it around my fire - I think it was brought there by one of the LARPA groups who use the site. It was quite a well engineered piece and I could not understand why anyone would have discarded it.
The first few days were mostly spent chilling out with the kids before eventually getting around to putting up the workshop tarps and parachutes. Thankfully the weather was kind to us for the set up and we had lines left up from last year that made putting up the parachutes much easier.
This was also the first year I had taken my children to the Moot and thankfully they took to it like ducks to water.
For the first few evenings we had dinner with Fraser from Coastal Survival over in the sand dune area so preparing the evening meal was never an issue for me, thankfully.
I could not resist taking this shot of Stu when he arrived in a taxi and we unloaded his supplies for the Naughty Corner.
It was at this time that my daughter started feeling unwell with a high temperature and feeling very faint. For the next few days she would sleep a lot in her hammock and eat very little. I thought it was just one of those 24 hour bugs but it turned out to be quite a nasty virus and really laid her out.
This is the first of five videos I took while at the Moot and shows the set up and some of the first courses that were held.
[video=youtube;HTq-Hc8vhJs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTq-Hc8vhJs[/video]
It was good to see all the new growth on Drew's tree that had been planted last year. People have been leaving little tributes on the tree over the year which I thought made it look very special. While Catherine was feeling a little better she would come out and play with the other kids while she could. She never met Drew but I am sure that they would have gotten on with him like a house on fire. Drew loved to run role-playing games with the kids at the Moot and Catherine and Finlay love these types of games.
Before the main Moot started a number of other courses had been organised. These included Bhutenese bow making with Wayne from Forest Knights, leather working with Eric Methven, green wood working with Bob from the Rural Skills Trust, and the Coastal Hunter course with Fraser of Coastal Survival.
The first course I was involved in was the Starter Course. I have written a separate post on this course on the BCUK forum and you can read about it here - Bushmoot Starter Course. This is the second year we have run the course and it is starting to prove very popular now.
Over three of the nights I was at the Moot there was some great entertainment. On one night some of the lads from the Naughty Corner came down to the main sandpit area and had a great jamming session. Apart from filming them I recorded a couple of their tracks and then used them as backing music for my second video. Tony even got himself some birthday cake on the night.
The other two nights we were treated to an amazing fire display by Emily, Liesl and Naomi Cook. These three young ladies are very talented and brave.
Here is the video of Emily, Liesl and Naomi doing their fire show on both nights. I can only embed one video in the post so I have just put a link to the video - Bushmoot Fireshow
One of the things that has struck me about the Moot is all the different art that you can experience there. Art in the form of music from Stephen Crump (recorded for my third video), Welsh love spoons from Dean Allen, Woodland Plant Art from Keith Beaney, art in the form of iron from Dave Budd and art in the form of a skilled fireshow performance .
Needless to say Spikey and Badger managed their own version of art up in the Naughty Corner with the use of torches and some evening spirit. I have to say a big thanks to Phil the Chef for the great camp coffee he was making and I got a glass of it on my last night with my name etched in the glass. I could not really make out what had been etched on it that night (possibly due to a few beers as well) but when I got home the next day it was very clear - Cheers Phil, that was a lovely gesture.
The main Moot kicked off with lots and lots of courses. I have posted pictures from just a small selection of what was on offer: making the pizza oven with Tim, mini bows with Wayne, water purifying with Richard, net needle making with Steve and spoon carving with Dean. There were lots more courses going on but I did not get to see them as I was on the Starter course all day. My wife Alison arrived on the first day of the main Moot and took a lot of the pictures of the day.
It was at this stage that we decided that Catherine was best off at home, so instead of staying, Alison took her back that day with Finlay.
The next video is of many of the first day's workshops, with backing music from the Naughty Corner band - Bushmoot Day 1
The Sunday was another day of workshops and I tried to get around to as many as possible. These included knife sharpening with Chris, making tapestries with Shelly, tracking with Perry McGee of the National Tracking School, making a geodesic dome with Tony and wet tinder fire lighting with Richard . There were plenty of other courses going on such as plant walks with Robin Harford and willow basket trap making with Fraser from Coastal Survival that I did not get to see. I am hoping that if Robin comes back next year I will get out on one of his walks.
My video of the day has as its soundtrack Stephen Crump playing a tin whistle on a wet afternoon - Bushmoot Day 2
Needless to say I spent a lot of my time down on the archery range shooting arrows or atlatl darts. With all the bows Wayne had been helping people to make we were kept very busy. Thanks as usual to Cap'n Badger, Charlie Brookes, Paul Pomfrey and Paul Kennedy for running the range through the week.
I made a short but very funny video of Mad Dave and Cap'n Badger helping me to clear the range of a hung up tree. it started out as the usual clearance of the range and turned into an amazing show - Shiver Me Timbers
At this stage I had not run any bowdrill classes but I had done a couple of one-to-one sessions. My neighbour Matt Baillie went off after one of the sessions and persevered until he got the bowdrill cracked - well done Matt.
I also did a quick session on the Egyptian bowdrill method and made a short film of it - Egyptian method doubled up
The Monday was a bit of a damp affair but the Traders' Day went well and I managed to try some more of Richard's excellent elderberry wine. I had spent most of my day preparing my bowdrill kit for the next day for the family bowdrill so managed to avoid spending too much money.
In the early evening it was time to have the Group Meal. This is becoming a bit of a tradition now since we stopped doing the hangis, and it is amazing to see all the different dishes that can be cooked over an open fire in a Dutch Oven. A lot of people spent a lot of time preparing this food on their own campfires or over the fire in the central firepit and it was great to see it all coming together at the end. I particularly liked filming the table of food just before the doors were opened to let everyone in.
My last video of the Moot is of the Traders' Day and the group meal - Traders day and Group Meal
I spoke with Alison that evening and decided to head home in the morning as Catherine was still very poorly. I got home by lunchtime on Tuesday and thankfully over the next few days Catherine started to recover and was soon back to her usual self.
I really enjoyed the half of the Moot I attended this year and my kids are desperate to come back again next year. I hopefully will see you all again next year and meet a few new faces as well.
Thanks to Tony, Shelly and everyone else who set up and organised what has become now, an annual holiday for me.
Cheers
George
I missed the very first Bushmoot in 2004 but have been to all the rest and I see it as one of the highlights of my calendar now.
I came back from holiday in France on Saturday the 2nd of August, unpacked then re-packed and headed out with my two kids Catherine and Finlay to the Moot at Merthyr Mawr in South Wales on Sunday the 3rd of August. Unluckily I had been beaten to my usual camping spot at the Moot by another family but managed to set up nearby with my tipi, kitchen tarp and my hammock stand.
I found a fire guard lying in the sand and after digging it out used it around my fire - I think it was brought there by one of the LARPA groups who use the site. It was quite a well engineered piece and I could not understand why anyone would have discarded it.
The first few days were mostly spent chilling out with the kids before eventually getting around to putting up the workshop tarps and parachutes. Thankfully the weather was kind to us for the set up and we had lines left up from last year that made putting up the parachutes much easier.
This was also the first year I had taken my children to the Moot and thankfully they took to it like ducks to water.
For the first few evenings we had dinner with Fraser from Coastal Survival over in the sand dune area so preparing the evening meal was never an issue for me, thankfully.
I could not resist taking this shot of Stu when he arrived in a taxi and we unloaded his supplies for the Naughty Corner.
It was at this time that my daughter started feeling unwell with a high temperature and feeling very faint. For the next few days she would sleep a lot in her hammock and eat very little. I thought it was just one of those 24 hour bugs but it turned out to be quite a nasty virus and really laid her out.
This is the first of five videos I took while at the Moot and shows the set up and some of the first courses that were held.
[video=youtube;HTq-Hc8vhJs]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTq-Hc8vhJs[/video]
It was good to see all the new growth on Drew's tree that had been planted last year. People have been leaving little tributes on the tree over the year which I thought made it look very special. While Catherine was feeling a little better she would come out and play with the other kids while she could. She never met Drew but I am sure that they would have gotten on with him like a house on fire. Drew loved to run role-playing games with the kids at the Moot and Catherine and Finlay love these types of games.
Before the main Moot started a number of other courses had been organised. These included Bhutenese bow making with Wayne from Forest Knights, leather working with Eric Methven, green wood working with Bob from the Rural Skills Trust, and the Coastal Hunter course with Fraser of Coastal Survival.
The first course I was involved in was the Starter Course. I have written a separate post on this course on the BCUK forum and you can read about it here - Bushmoot Starter Course. This is the second year we have run the course and it is starting to prove very popular now.
Over three of the nights I was at the Moot there was some great entertainment. On one night some of the lads from the Naughty Corner came down to the main sandpit area and had a great jamming session. Apart from filming them I recorded a couple of their tracks and then used them as backing music for my second video. Tony even got himself some birthday cake on the night.
The other two nights we were treated to an amazing fire display by Emily, Liesl and Naomi Cook. These three young ladies are very talented and brave.
Here is the video of Emily, Liesl and Naomi doing their fire show on both nights. I can only embed one video in the post so I have just put a link to the video - Bushmoot Fireshow
One of the things that has struck me about the Moot is all the different art that you can experience there. Art in the form of music from Stephen Crump (recorded for my third video), Welsh love spoons from Dean Allen, Woodland Plant Art from Keith Beaney, art in the form of iron from Dave Budd and art in the form of a skilled fireshow performance .
Needless to say Spikey and Badger managed their own version of art up in the Naughty Corner with the use of torches and some evening spirit. I have to say a big thanks to Phil the Chef for the great camp coffee he was making and I got a glass of it on my last night with my name etched in the glass. I could not really make out what had been etched on it that night (possibly due to a few beers as well) but when I got home the next day it was very clear - Cheers Phil, that was a lovely gesture.
The main Moot kicked off with lots and lots of courses. I have posted pictures from just a small selection of what was on offer: making the pizza oven with Tim, mini bows with Wayne, water purifying with Richard, net needle making with Steve and spoon carving with Dean. There were lots more courses going on but I did not get to see them as I was on the Starter course all day. My wife Alison arrived on the first day of the main Moot and took a lot of the pictures of the day.
It was at this stage that we decided that Catherine was best off at home, so instead of staying, Alison took her back that day with Finlay.
The next video is of many of the first day's workshops, with backing music from the Naughty Corner band - Bushmoot Day 1
The Sunday was another day of workshops and I tried to get around to as many as possible. These included knife sharpening with Chris, making tapestries with Shelly, tracking with Perry McGee of the National Tracking School, making a geodesic dome with Tony and wet tinder fire lighting with Richard . There were plenty of other courses going on such as plant walks with Robin Harford and willow basket trap making with Fraser from Coastal Survival that I did not get to see. I am hoping that if Robin comes back next year I will get out on one of his walks.
My video of the day has as its soundtrack Stephen Crump playing a tin whistle on a wet afternoon - Bushmoot Day 2
Needless to say I spent a lot of my time down on the archery range shooting arrows or atlatl darts. With all the bows Wayne had been helping people to make we were kept very busy. Thanks as usual to Cap'n Badger, Charlie Brookes, Paul Pomfrey and Paul Kennedy for running the range through the week.
I made a short but very funny video of Mad Dave and Cap'n Badger helping me to clear the range of a hung up tree. it started out as the usual clearance of the range and turned into an amazing show - Shiver Me Timbers
At this stage I had not run any bowdrill classes but I had done a couple of one-to-one sessions. My neighbour Matt Baillie went off after one of the sessions and persevered until he got the bowdrill cracked - well done Matt.
I also did a quick session on the Egyptian bowdrill method and made a short film of it - Egyptian method doubled up
The Monday was a bit of a damp affair but the Traders' Day went well and I managed to try some more of Richard's excellent elderberry wine. I had spent most of my day preparing my bowdrill kit for the next day for the family bowdrill so managed to avoid spending too much money.
In the early evening it was time to have the Group Meal. This is becoming a bit of a tradition now since we stopped doing the hangis, and it is amazing to see all the different dishes that can be cooked over an open fire in a Dutch Oven. A lot of people spent a lot of time preparing this food on their own campfires or over the fire in the central firepit and it was great to see it all coming together at the end. I particularly liked filming the table of food just before the doors were opened to let everyone in.
My last video of the Moot is of the Traders' Day and the group meal - Traders day and Group Meal
I spoke with Alison that evening and decided to head home in the morning as Catherine was still very poorly. I got home by lunchtime on Tuesday and thankfully over the next few days Catherine started to recover and was soon back to her usual self.
I really enjoyed the half of the Moot I attended this year and my kids are desperate to come back again next year. I hopefully will see you all again next year and meet a few new faces as well.
Thanks to Tony, Shelly and everyone else who set up and organised what has become now, an annual holiday for me.
Cheers
George
.
