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Wales Summer meet 2022 (4th to the 9th September)

So, the time had come to load up and go and collect kneef :)
All loaded up we headed up the road to collect Dick and were then on our way to the site. total traveling time for us was around 4 hrs so not too bad.

we got to site, and Paul was there waiting for us along with mike and his trusty tractor.
we hitched my trailer onto the tractor and the kit was transported to the top of the site :)
next few hrs were spent setting up the tents and getting kit stowed :thumbsup:.
myself and kneef had some nice burgers for tea and we all went to sit around the fire for a few hrs drinking mikes cider :).
I retired to my pit fairly early as was a tad knackered. the other guys stayed up yapping around the fire.
the following day we spent a few hrs sorting out or stove jacks in the tents in readiness for the trip to Aviemore.
I must say there were a few tense moments as i cut a hole in my perfectly good tent :eek: but i needn't have stressed as it all went like clockwork.

The next day was a day for me to try and sort the zero out on my new to me rifle after many hours farting around i decided to stop and put it away for another day as i was at the point of snapping it in half :mad:.

spent another evening sat around the fire putting the world to rites :thumbsup::)

Next day had another look at the rifle with fresh eyes and in the end managed to get it shooting as i was hoping it was going to :thumbsup:

rifle sorted it was time to get the bow out and have a play (thanks Paul for making a string for me) fired of a few arrows to promptly loose 3 in the long grass :rofl:

Mike and Paul went down after and found 2 for me so all were not lost :thumbsup:

The meal cooking was split between me and kneef and we had some nice scran while we were away (pictures posted above in this thread).

Myself and kneef went for a wander into town a couple times to get some burgers and bread rolls as we had run out of fresh stuff.

Picked up a few fridge magnets for the misses :)

There was plenty going on at the meet but I will leave the guys who took part in the activities to explain all :)

We were very lucky with the weather as most of the rain came during the dark hours, so it didn't dampen the spirits :thumbsup:

Pack up day came around to soon and we were soon on the road heading home :(

Would like to thank the guys who turned up for their donations in keeping the forum running :thumbsup:

Would also like to thank mike for letting us use the land for the meet and I look forward to the next spring meet :)

Thats it from me as all pictures i took while at the meet were posted directly on this thread.

till the next one guys :thumbsup::)
 
Adding to what Matt has just said about what we did at the meet. Mike had a couple of things he wanted to try. Making natural cordage and friction firelighting.
Originally Mike had asked to make cordage from Lime bark, but this is a pain in the derrier because it needs retting, so he settled for willow bark. First he needed to master the twisting action to make the cord, so we started with nettles and he soon got the hang of it. Then he turned his attention to the willow bark. There was plenty available but really it was the wrong time of year. Stripped the bark off the tree without too much difficulty but separating the inner fibres from the outer fleshy bark was almost impossible in September. Normally when the fibres have been separated they are simmered in a lye solution for a couple of hours, and this made a bright idea come into my head. What would happen if we did this to the unseparated bark, would it separate after this treatment? The answer was a very firm 'YES'! It nearly fell apart, so Mike got his willow bark cordage.
Next day we turned our attention to friction firelighting - bow drill in this case. I had my bow drill set with me so I showed him what to do. I have taught quite a few people to do this and I have never seen anyone do it flawlessly first time. Mike did! Within 2 minutes he had an ember, and the drill didn't slip out once, then he took the ember to flame. A great success. He caught me out, because I didn't expect him to do it first time and therefore didn't get any pictures. Naturally he felt very pleased with himself - and rightly so. :thumbsup:
The tents with the stoves in were a great success, after a bit of jiggery pokery getting the stove jacks on. My tent was warmer than my damned house. We also had a real deluge on one occasion, absolutely hammering down - not a single drop of rain got into any of our tents.
After a bit of instruction Neil mastered the fine art of axe sharpening. He then had a blitz sharpening, I think, four very blunt axes on the trot. Very impressive.
I had a fantastic time in a lovely place and Mike was the perfect host. A big thank you to all the guys there and especially Mike and Matt, who organised it.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I’ve had a little play with some more of the willow bark and I seem to have got the joining in of a new strand sorted. Stripping the fibres from the inside of the boiled bark seems to be easiest with just my thumbnail, no tools required.
B19D2E8E-AC31-4D9F-9F13-E00F6B9336B5.jpeg
 
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