Thank for Achray!!

[Mini_Goose]

Hi,
I really enjoyed the weekend so thanks to everyone involved! I had a great time, I passed my 1 star canoeing award which was great fun and really liked listening to Waylands viking talk. I am still wondering how Magikelly made the corn doll stand up... I am confused ! Thanks to everyone involved in the archery too, it was great! I thought the crossbow was ace even though I couldn't load it properly. Thanks to everyone else for been friendly and helpful too! :You_Rock_
Hope to see you all again in Cheshire in mid-november!

 

[Doc]

Definitely one of the best meets yet.
My son Ross passed his one star open canoe test too - well done to you both.

There was a terrific atmosphere of co-operation and I'm very grateful to a lot of people for making it such a good one. It was the sort of meet where everyone was astonishingly generous of their time, skills and equipment and it really went very well indeed. Thank you to everyone for lots of things. You know who you are.

And some lucky *&^%%$££$%^%s are still there!

 

[Grooveski]

Wonderful weekend. Loved every minute of it.

Trying to think of highlights but there were too many to list.
Coming home with ten fingers has to be one (I could have watched Magikelly all day - brilliant), swimming with Mini-Goose and Ross(I'll bet most folk don't have that sort of audience for assessments ), everything I learned from everyone I spoke to, the sheer friendliness of the company....

My lousy form on the range was only matched by my lousy form with the camera. The only pics I took were a couple of site shots, the rest of the time the camera lay around the site and I was too sidetracked to remember it.

Thanks everyone.

 

[locum76]

apart from recovering from my errant first night hangover, i had a splendid time at my first meet. everyone seemed willing to share just about anything and the overall level of helpfullness and cooperation was astonishing.

at the next meet i go to i will definitely come fully laden with fresh produce and meat and cook an almighty feast for all.

(in return for a little more canoeing and maybe graham can sharpen me knives again).

seriously though, the atmosphere was great.

 

[gregorach]

Yes indeed, it was a splendid weekend! Big thanks to everybody invovled.

Josh - I faired worse than you, I didn't even take my camera out of my pack all weekend. I guess I was just having too much fun!

 

[wanderinstar]

Well, it was a long way to go. But well worth it, the scenery was breathtaking, the people fantastic. It was nice to put a few more faces to names. Wayland's Viking talk was very interesting, even though it was only meant for youngsters, I was sitting there rivetted. As Jody said "How did Magikelly make that corn dolly stand up" and how come Josh still had 10 fingers?
A truly fantastic weekend, I'm even thinking about getting a canoe as well. Once I have brought SWMBO round (spent last night in my hammock in back yard) I will start working on her. Wonder how many weeks of washing up and doing the hoovering it will take.
Thank you John for organising the meet.

 

[gregorach]

I think everyone who attends an Achray meet ends up wanting to buy a canoe.

 

[Tony]

It's great to see that you all had such a great time, let's hear some more about it. Anyone that want's to do a proper wright up can put it in the out and about forum.

 

[JohnC]

~Me and Joe had a great time...Thaks for the canoe gutys who were happy to lend their craft out (yes, I do want to buy a canoe).
Waking up in a hammock is a great thing

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Joe is telling everyone about his archery practice, thanks to those who gave advice and guidance..

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The kids got to meet a viking (as did the children)

And gregorach did a great tutorial on making a seat...

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[Graham_S]

i had a great time.
good times were had around the campfire, i managed to stay from thursday until today (monday)

p.s.
someone left a folding kuska at the archery area.
whoever it was, PM me and i'll pop it in the post back to you.

 

[Wayland]

Cracking meet up, big thanks to John for organizing it. Achray is such a beautiful site.

Also a special thanks to everyone that helped with the catering on Saturday, Russell seemed to be like a one man firewood machine at times.

I think that if we have any more meets at this site it might be a good idea for everyone to bring a bag of logs with them, we seem to have cleared a good area of firewood since we have been going there.

Great to meet old friends and make some new ones too. I think some of the SOTP crowd got quite into the bushcraft stuff going on.

Amazing to think that the Achray meet last year was the first meet I went to. I couldn't imagine not going to such meets now, they're just way too much fun.

Hope some of you make it down to the North Meet in November.

 

[Doc]

Should also add that Waylands Ragout d'agneau a la Viking went down rather well.

 

[Toddy]

The veggie stew was pretty good too Cheers Wayland :You_Rock_

Okay, lots of thanks from Dharma and me. We had a ball.
We took along lots of stuff for kids to do and they were totally unnecessary, they were just having so much fun doing a huge variety of things; Viking living history, ring side seats at a magic show, hands on archery, canoeing (with the most intense audience for their testing, I take my hat off to Grooveski, that loch was cold and he was in it everytime the kids had to go overboard), fly fishing, firemaking, music, cooking..................how many big kids wish they'd gotten there play too

Seriously, good times people, thank you one and all.



Toddy

Campsite

fascinated audience

still enthralled by Magikelly :notworthy

Empty water; must be lunchtime

Okay, so it was a kind of long lunch

 

[warthog1981]

thats me been home for a few hours now it was a great time. nice to see everyone will post some more when i get some time
(Russell seemed to be like a one man firewood machine at times) thanks Wayland your to kind Found a good source for fire wood just along the road a little lol but its still a good idea to bring logs save my back
to all thoughs that didnt stay tues night you missed a great meal just ask stuart f

 

[Grooveski]

Found a good source for fire wood just along the road a little lol but its still a good idea to bring logs save my back :

I happened to notice a 4x4 or ten up in the carpark

 

[Eric_Methven]

Cameron and I had a great time. I stuck my blog, and the tale of how we nearly didn't get back home on the Out and About section....
http://www.bushcraftuk.com/community/showthread.php?p=215125#post215125

Thanks to everyone for a great event.

Eric

 

[Toddy]

When Denise and I drove up to the gateway on the Saturday night we passed a group of eight teenagers/young adults......looked a bit *hmmm*
We stopped at the barrier, Denise got out to unlock the coded padlock. I drove through and the group came running up the path out of the dark to talk to her. I stopped and got out of the car, wondering what was going on since their cars were parked outside the barrier. Denise finished re-locking the barrier and came up to the car, laughing. It seems their group was intending to use the campsite later on in the week but hadn't wanted to come down to check when we'd be leaving in case they alarmed *us*. The tools might have surprised them a bit

cheers,
Toddy

 

[morch]

Nathan and I also had a fantastic time, was great to put faces to names, and even better to be able to remember a few!!!

Can't wait for the next one.

Thanx to everyone there for a great 3 days, and a special thanx to Eric for takin Nathan back home, I owe you one mate, thanx.

Dave

 

[Mike B]

What a great meet.
David B and myself arrived on the wednesday and set up our Tammoch's (new phrase after trying to say hammocks and tarps after umpteen malts) by friday the camp had burst it's banks with people camping across the stream so we reverted to ground dwelling.
Eric showed us how to carve spoons and in return we took Cameron out in my canoe fishing lots!
Fanatical bout his fishing

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Wayland had the children fascinated with his talk on the Vikings and Magikelly's magic show was equally well received.Narc was in fine voice in the evenings with myself and others joining in after over lubrication of the vocal chords a fine rendition of working class hero from the fungi guy with a borrowed guitar was great.
Warthog was brilliant in passing on his skills nothing was too much trouble and I have to say a great big thanks to a very skillful bushcrafter,Stuart had us in stitches on sunday night with his stories especially the one about making fire.
My thanks to all involved and I can't wait till the next time cheers to all Mike B...

 

[locum76]

thanks for the canoe instruction mike.