***SE PICNIC IN THE WOODS*** 24/25/26 June REVIEW

Please post your comments, pictures and photos here.

Thanks

Just got back...and partially unloaded,
Massive thanks to everyone who came, and your help to make it a great day and couple of nights up the woods. :dance:

Great to see new faces up the woods too.

Gonna go jump in the shower now and make much brown water. :lol:

Will post up something better later on, but in the meantime we can all rest assured that "PYRO-GIRL" is safely contained in a slow moving 2.3 at the head of a traffic jam heading west for the next 15 or so hours....Unigate have issued warnings to their milkfloat drivers so they dont get held up in the slow moving traffic! :lol:

I'm not very good at doing write ups so I will let the pictures do the talking.

But I do want to say a big thank you to greg and sal for a great day out and everyone else that was there. As always sal done an amazing job in keeping the hunger at bay.

Also a big thank you to everyone who let myself and Dena jump in for a ride around the woods.

It was a very muddy day and there was plenty of OOOPS heard when people got stuck or damaged their trucks.

Here are my pics, sorry there isnt many but I did take plenty of videos which I will post up later as they are taking a while to upload.

Kel needing a jump

One of the many times Ross got stuck

Steve living up to his username in Petes truck

Damage of the weekend

Everyone watching Louis working on his truck after snapping his prop

One finely repaired prop from Greg so louis can carry on playing

Vidoes to follow

Just got home and unloaded,only had to stop once at Fleet services for the customary "Dad,I need the toilet" stop.
The Permenant Temporary repair on the radiator hose held out all the way home (good old duct tape :lol:

)
A BIG thanks to Greg and the crew for a memorable weekend.
Will post the pics as soon as i have eaten and showered

Last edited by RatCav on Sun Jun 26, 2011 8:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Only got a couple. Too busy being thown around in the 2.4 Little White Leafer replacement ...

The welded rear rop from the fourtrak.

Damage occured while trying to pull the 2.4 out of between two trees and running out of fuel. It got stuck itself by sliding into a tree. Once the 2.4 was pulled out then it was dragged accross a tree bole and that in itself ripped the baked bean can rear prop in two. Off to the workshop and experienced and qualified engineering skills (read: Greg and myself looking at the tube and silently agreeing that it would do for a bodge) were put into practice. Then clamped on a precision made jig (read: jammed in a 25 year old battered workmate). Aligned with calibrated guages (read: tatty old tape measure held against it and looked at while squinting along it with one eye). Fabricated with extreme care so as to not cause distortion (read: chuck some weld on ... then some more .... then even more ... then some more to really make certain it won't fall in half). Finally balanced so as to not cause vibration and damage the drive train (read: weld the date on for future reference so we know how long it to to vibrate the drive train to bits)

The only other photo I got was the dial surround of Glitterball (Sals Shorty). It was even more dramatic in the sun as you can really see the glitter and paint effect.

Summary of the weekend:

Woke up at stupid o'clock Saturday morning. Was keen and eager though not too excited about the weather. It was chucking it down to be honest:

Had an extremely quick run down and arrived near to site at around 8:30am, waking Greg up to come guide me to the woods. Shortly after that a veritable monster truck arrived with a groggy looking Greg behind the wheel. The Flambé 2.8 then guided me to the playground. By the time I got there people were starting to stir and realise the error of far too much alcohol the night before. The ground was suitably slippery, but the rain had stopped so was drying out ...

... now I would go into detail of every action but to be honest there were too many things going on. Here are a few choice moments in no particular order.

Rich braving it in the Bedford and sliding into a tree. Taking out his sill and door. From the back it actually looked like the tree was growing out of the car itself. Bizzarly enough the window stayed intact.

Fudge getting approximatley 100 yards before his dumper wheels took out his already damaged front diff.

Rob beaching his newly aquired Series A shorty .. don't worry Mickh ... the side atep took the hit!

The Fourtrak demonstrating its abilty to uproot a 40' tree and its root bole using nothing but its rear propshaft.

Kel and his amazing off road bouncy castle ride! (As Greg says, you need to put the rear shocks back on)

The Strange Rover for amusing me in so far as no matter where you stood in the woods you could always here a growling V8 thundering around like some maddened beast.

Finally and most importantly Greg and Sal for providing a brilliant event and making a newbie to the woods so welcome. Greg your tour of the woods was thrilling ... and achieving the climb over the fallen log at the top of the hill will always be a fond memory. Sal thanks once again for the cooking (and rich's other half for todays breakfast).

Quotes I can think of:

"watch out Pyro Girl is coming"

"Squeeky Stoat"

"If I put my lights on it gives me an extra 5 bhp"

.....and dont forget the burger relish flavour toothpaste.

Initially big thanks to Greg and Sal for all their hard work for making this event possible.
It was good to see some new and revisiting peeps - some of you having travelled a far old way to be there.
Hope you enjoyed what you saw and experienced what the woods as got to offer. If we had been blessed with dryer conditions, that would have help you enjoy the tracks even more. I was down there Wednesday evening and I reckon the heavier rain during Friday night had certainly changed the balance.
I'm going to add more constructive comments and pics tomorrow because at the moment I've got the right hump with my cheapo video/web camera SD card.
After purposely sitting out and letting Steve drive my motor about for a short while so that I could take some vids, of the 6 longish takes (about 45mg each) the only one I can get to transfer is the shortest 23mg one.
Going to hit the sack now so I'll be back 2moz when I can stay awake to type.

Here they are, after a few hours of uploading here are my videos.

After a lesson from the "Gregster school of motoring" i thought i would give the woods a "BASH" in the old 2.3.....
5 minutes later i found my first tree :lol:

Once the "repair" was done to allow the window to go up and down again i took her out for a second attempt
Not happy with the first lot of damage i decided to create more carnage

Amazingly the window still didn't go :shock:

Greg then showed us all how to get a lwb wegde between 2 trees

Will post a few more once i have sorted the pics..
Again a BIG thanks to Greg,Sally and everyone who made it a wonderful weekend

l have doors in green for sale

Trust Tom! :lol:

sadly only got to pop in for a couple of hours and cos the frog diff is still bust, pete kindly let me see how unstoppable a 2.8 shorty is, and one with a welded rear diff.................

well just as i thought the legendary beast is no match for the ineptitude of which i possess :oops:

plenty of good runs, failed to get up a few hills with all 4 spinning and more impressively nicely lodged on a log with a drop a lot bigger the other side than expected!! still pete did say he wanted to film his truck in action :twisted:

seriously though pete, really impressed with the difference the diff made and not a noticeable as a front diff lock and a big thank you for letting me have a go - now remember, repeat after me;
" i will not listen to 2much and mapracing when they give me guidance on which route to take"
" i will not let 2much drive my truck"
3x "hail mary"

thanks to all for the laffs while i was there and as ever to Greg and the Boss

Didn't want you having withdrawal symptoms on us Steve - but I think next time I'll give you the video camera instead - you might have better luck than me getting that bloody thing to work as well

I knew one day the tree slider things would have to be used again

Only under carriage damage is a bent trailing arm on the off side, but I'm sure I remember you saying that you bent one of yours straight so I'm going to get at it with a small bottle jack and try and push it back into shape - other than that, happy days

i had a great time all of the 5 mins of driving that is :oops:

another diff bites the dust, think i will have tio get manuals, as i think it is the shock loading that is doing it

but other than that and getting bk at 11.30 last night it was all good

Had every intention to get a better post up last night...but fell asleep during topgear yesterday :oops:

Anyway the "picnic" with sleepovers...

Friday
Started friday up the workshop...Ross the random one arrived at lunchtime with a trailer full of intermediate wood to assist with getting the weekends essentials down to the woods, shorty followed by Rob (robertmillsav) in his new shorty A...

We got all the gear down the woods, using Ross's 2.4 to drag the Fog-bog as my 2.8's towball is a tadge high of the ground now and the caravan would have had no back end left if we had stuck it behind that!

Then set up commenced, to turn to clearing into our traditional communal area for the next couple of nights.

Much confusion ensued with working out the lighting, which had been put away in haste when it pee-ed down at the end of the last weekender.

We got there in the end though...but we did it wrong with the cover (as expected) and Sally put us right when she arrived and we had to move the picnic/banqueting table under the cover!

The Rancid clan from far west arrived in their trusty 2.3, now sporting a bodged top hose in true redneck fashion. Well done that man.

Lloyd and Louis came down for a while and entertained us with their car care and control...not...
Took Rich round the woods to give him and idea of what not to do on Saturday, whilst checking for fallen stuff and that the exclusion zones were taped off properly. I think he enjoyed the 2.4 experience and had a go in the BGL demonstrating that he can drive between trees without hitting them!

Then we settled into the evening...started the BBQ and turned on the bonfire...
The intermediate wood that Rosco bought helped no end as the small pile of twigs we collected at the workday were a tadge damp.
The rain then started, light at first, but getting worse as the canopy of foliage above couldnt keep any more off us...

It was during this evening that the Rancid child transformed into PYRO-GIRL...the transformation commenced when Kel turned up in his transit full of the Krusher Clan and all of the furniture from his house...to be burned (the furniture not his family!)...
Pyro girl then commenced in destroying stuff like a frenzied person in a frenzy of frenzyness...ripping stuff to bits before condemning them to the flames!

Kel, Wendy and Chelsea stayed for a little while and then headed off for the airport before Pyrogirl removed and burnt the ply lining out of his van!
Good to see you again Wendy...and thanks for letting Kel off the hook to come to the August Weekender!

Sally then departed in the Frank Sinatra (Vx Sintra)...to go home to look after Roma...(Sals only with me for my dog I think...)

Then into an evening of much alcomohol, laughs and grub...I even managed to cook some chicken that was not cremated or raw...was jummy...
That and some westcountry bolognese and roscos mrs' home made cakes...washed down with loads of Stella on my part...and all sorts of evil concoctions for the Rancid clan...
Needless to say the night went on into the silly hours...highlights included Ross's nose being set on fire ny Pyrogirl, us duck taping her to try and sedate her...and her getting soaked multiple times when the water fell off the tarp over the clearing...amongst many many other hilarious moments...

Sadly was raining to much to sit round the bonfire, despite us building a fire that in my reckoning should have evaporated the rain before it got below 1000ft.

We all then turned in to try and get a couple of hours sleep before Saturday morning started..

Saturday...
My phone started making a noise, I thought that cant be the alarm already...and it stopped...
I fell back asleep for a couple of minutes before it all started again...I remember thinking that I didnt snooze it, so rummaged in the tent and gradually my eyes focused on the 121 on the display...which meant I had an answaphone message...
from Ratcav who was waiting to be escorted from the nearby meeting point down to the woods....D'oh!!!
I stumbled into my clothes and fell out my tent...I jumped in the 2.8 and managed to sleep-drive out of the woods and up to meet him...
Then back to the woods for caffeine, nicotine and more caffeine...finally I could string a sentence together and awake enough to say hello properly to Neal.
As the kettle repeatedly boiled and was emptied, the other reprobates who haunt the woods on a regular basis started to arrive as the campers emerged suffering somewhat in most cases.
Namely Paul (Mapracing), RetroPedro Pete, Hobsey and Dena, Krusher, Matt and later on in the day Lloyd and Louis (when they finished work) Fudge and Kelly, and Stevey-always-stuck...and Sally returned again to take control of stuff and laugh at my hangover.

The rain had finally stopped but the woods were very slippy to start out and it was stuck after stuck to start with...
Some how Rancid Rich managed to tangle his 2.3 into a tree by the former stump garden...I dunno how, hundreds of trucks have been through that track since we dug it in at the first digger weekend, and that is the first one i think to get tangled on that tree...we even removed a stump opposite at the last workday so the gap is twice as wide!
Dare I say it, I dont even think Lloyd and Louis have managed to hit that tree, and are both most upset by the whole incident, both feeling that they have let us all down somehow!
I feel conscratchulations are in order Rich!

Petes winch got used a lot this day...dragging most trucks at some point or other...and everything that wasnt winched was at the end of strop at some time i think...
The woods dryed out a bit as the day went on, which should mean less stucks, but in reality it meant stucks in sillier and harder to recover places!
A trip to the workshop to redneck Louis propshaft back together again so he could go playing again, and weld up Neal and Robs new spring shackles...

As the sun set the trucks returned to the clearing, and the evenings festivities began...great company, great BBQ food, loads of beer and raging bonfire until it started to get light and the last standing few of us retired for a couple of hours sleep...

Sunday
Lots of weary looking foggers gradually emerged from there tents and cars...
And cleardown slowly commenced...Mother of Pyro cooked breakfast, this helped wake folks up and quicken the pace of cleardown but it seemed to take for ever...but everyone suddenly appeared really busy when I was looking for a volunteer to help with the loos in bobbinsjobs abscence!
The lock bust on the swing away wheel carrier, and needed "modifying" to work, I tried with an axe as the metal would blunt the chainsaws, but to no avail, but Neal got all proffesional on us and used a screwdriver! Got there in the end when some bright spark said what about lifting the wheel slightely...and it opened...so we probably mullered the mech for no reason, we just needed to lift the tyre!

Big thanks to everyone who stayed to the end helping clear up...

And that was pretty much that...up to the workshop, say our fairwells and offhome to our various corners of the country!

This meets mudlovers featured...(in no particular order)

RancidRich and Family..
Newbies to our woods, and trees and fire also I think...but now fully acquainted...
Great to meet you all, and thanks for making the long journey for the reduced meet, the furthest travelled this meet coming from down west.
Glad you enjoyed yourselves and thanks for the cooking, grub, and entertainment into the early hours.
Thanks for staying to the end to help cleardown, and hope you both enjoyed driving the beast that is the BGL...
Hope, all fingers and toes crossed, that you can make it back in August...will be great to see you all again.

Ratcav...
Another newbie to the woods, and the waker of the deadish...is our Neal.
Sporting a Suzu Trooper 2.8 with an upturned boat grafted on the roof...to give an icecream-van-esque kinda hi top, just as well as this was Neals accomodation for Saturday night. Gotta say I did like your trooper, and the seats are pukka...Just one thought though, when Lotus tuned the suspension, they should have lifted it more than an Esprit!!!
Hope the hangers do the trick, glad to help, and thanks for your help sorting the die-laughing prop shaft...
We had some proper laffs in the 2.4...you must stop giving me ideas though!
We wont tell Stevey2stuck that we got an UNLIFTED LWB on nearly bald muds over the same obstacle that he got Pete's lifted,locked and special trak'ed 2.8 shorty STUCK on! It will be our secret Neal...Ok? :lol:

Thanks for staying to the end to help clear up...much appreciated...
See you again soon mate...was great to catch up having missed ya at the annual meet.

RetroPedro
Pete and his trusty 2.8 arrived Saturday morning, and proceeded with care into the woods following his "laying down on the job" the other evening, where a fight with gravity ended up with gravity winning...Glad you are getting to grips with the trucks new and interesting capabilities and querks, and massive thanks for your winching assistance on countless occasions during the day. Thanks for rescuing my BGL from its wedged between trees predicament, much appreciated...was quite a good stuck even if I say it myself, even if I did go straight on to get stuck again in a matter of feet if the bus slithered sideways on the sideslop into another cluster of trees!Hope you wedding anniversary meal went well and you had a lovely evening with Sue...Congratulations to you both...

Mapracing
The half a bloke formally known as Paul was there with his locked up 2.0i...We were all a lot happier when Paul accumulated a thick layer of mud on his boots, meaning we could release the guy ropes that prevented him blowing away. Gotta say mate, you are looking really well and congrats again on your London to Brighton Bike ride last weekend, and good luck with the race coming up soon.
Didnt see that much of Paul during the day, as he was busy playing in the mud with Pete most of the time, and probably not stuck either..you really do get the best out of that Li'll leafer mate.

Hobsey and Dena
Great to see you again, and the B is looking really nice...shame it was a bit wet and slippy, but you deffo did the right thing not risking the truck as you are selling it soon. Hope to see you both again soon, and you gotta camp at the weekender in August and do some beers round the bonfire till the sun comes up!
Good luck on finding a 2.8 shorty...(hobsey has been "converted" from the refinement of a B to the ruggedness and grunt of a 2.8 shorty. Good man!)

RandomRoss
Our man Rosco didnt beat me to the woods like he did last time! Talk about keen-ness...Last time he caught me with my MaccyD's down...phoning me from the workshop whilst I was devouring some plastic food and brown lettuce at a nearby Mcdonalds!
Massive help in setting up on friday, meeting up the workshop at lunchtime...and working hard till the evening.
Thanks for the trailer full of intermediate wood and thank ya misses for the cakes mate.
Ross seemed to be the arch enemy of PyroGirl...having his nose set on fire by her, beaton with sticks on his shins by her...saying that I got hit in the gob by a log that was launched by her to! You had us all in stitches Rosco as always, with your cherry lambrini and pear cider...Like I said to you when you vanished off the face of FOG into the land of nappies, WE CANT PULL A WEEKENDER WITHOUT ROSS...Fortunatley Ross didnt get as mullered as last time, and managed to stay verticle almost by himself...saying that it could be that he feared being horizontal with Pyro-girl around as she would have been able to torture him somewhat more!
The truck did well with its new boots...I had the pleasure of trying to shunt it towing the caravan back into its parking space with Ross "being" the N/S mirror..but Ross...you are a cr4p mirror holder...
Thanks for all your help mate, and see you soon with my new toy!

Robertmillsav
Rob arrived shortly after Rosco, another glutten for punishment, but a massive help in getting everything setup for the weekend...
Rob needs an avatar change to "HALF MAN - HALF MONKEY" after demonstrating his tree climbing skills when erecting the lighting system and canopy in the clearing. Was good to do some beers with you fella...
Like the new shorty, a leafer too...which drives really nicely...reminds me of the LWL only yours is wider, and longer... :shock:

Rob braved the woods when it was a bit dryer in the new toy, and did really well, until you suffered either wrong-line-syndrome, or lacked faith in the leafers actrobatic ability hence taking a line through the end of the pit of doom obstacle which crossaxled you out...The line through that is about 2ft right of where you were...you will get air...about 4ft of it with a leafer shorty, but will keep going ...Sterling effort though and 10/10 for bravery tackling the pit first time out, which many avoided I think.
Thanks for all your help mate...and staying to the sticky end (it was proper hot up the workshop after the cool of the shade in the woods)
Glad you back was well enough to hit the beers and join in with the fun, look fowards to seeing you soon with a bit taller leafer.

Krusher
Kel has returned home to the minimalist look....as he burned all their furniture on friday night...
So glad you could come back on Saturday, your 2.8lwb doing its thing...did you get stuck? Dunno..I didnt see it if you did...but I gotta say your wagon is true testament to what can be done with careful driving and sensible challenge decisions...still as shiny and undented (other than sidesteps and a little dink in the rear bumper) after a year or so of woods visits. Nice to see the kids and Wendy again, the youngsters seemed to enjoy the bonfire and glad we could sort accommodation of sorts for you to stay Sat night. We cant do a woods-styley-bonfire-bender without the Krusher and your wicked sense of humour!
It was getting proper light when we called it a night early sunday morning...was yet another blinding night round the bonfire.
Thanks for all you help clearing down...much appreciated

Stevey2stuck
Great you could make it down Ste...our resident Mr Jetset who has crossed the equator more times since the last meet than I have crossed Sally...and thats saying something...
The snot-green shorty wasnt playing as its still sporting a front diff with less teeth than the front row of a Barry Manilow concert...
But Pete let him loose in his unstoppable tricked up 2.8 shorty...well it was unstoppable until Ste had a go and then it was beached high and dry on the log obstacle! Sally said that I shouldnt mention that we managed the same obsticle going up in an unlifted, unmodded LWB leafer on worn out M/T's...so i wont!
Great to see you again fella and thanks for your words of ridicule, encouragement and help when I got wedged.
Shame you couldnt stay over mate...August bank holiday weekend, stick it in the diary and make sure you are in the same hemisphere and continent so you can be at the next weekender. We'll get your shorty sorted before then.

Fudge and Kelly
Great to see you two down the woods again...the 2.0i didnt fair well though...after taking hours to get down to kent (I think fudge got stuck on the hill that is the north side of the queen elizabeth bridge! LOL!), arriving late in the day saturday...Threw the dumper tyres on it (the wrong way round!), while we were fixing Louis prop shaft. Then off down to the woods to bust the front diff he'd welded again a matter of minutes after heading out...Kelly turned in earlish but fudge stayed up for some bevvies round the bonfire late into the wee hours. Gutted for you with the diff failure, will try and catch up at some point and redneck it proper for ya mate.

Matt
Matt arrived saturday morning with his disco and 2.0i leafer in tow...sporting a set of road tyres with tread hacked into them with a tyre cutter and rear diff welded up, he campaigned it hard and did well considering how slippy it was...he suffered some carnage, but its a plaything, thats whats its all about...
Front wing was "unique" after a tree moment! Matt left earlyish, cos he has a new baby at home (2weeks ish) and a litter of 9 Puppy Labs (born the same day I think as the baby!) so kinda mad in their house at the mo. Good to see ya fella and little white leafers rock!

Lloyd
The strange rover was sporting new boots...a part worn set of MT baja claws in place of the shredded colway c-trax m/t's that have been retired...
and a new paint job...textured gloss black...textured by the brush and also the rain while he painted it!
It also had the ultimate redneck door handle on the drivers door...and gate bolt attached to a precision engineered piece of wood screwed to the door, that latched around the inside of the B post...sheer quality! (but gutted I didnt get a pic for the redneck repairs thread)
The V8 rumbled round all day doing really well on the new tyres and recovering loads of stuck trucks..

Louis
The die-laughing did its thing with its new cv joint giving it 4wd...for a while at least, until a rear prop failure sidelined the truck..It all went wrong when Louis recovered my stuck 2.4 that then ran out of juice on the side slope...he then got stuck on a tree...and in towing him round the tree which then fell over the Daihatsu had the rootball stuck under it...lots of pulling and wheelspin from Louis got it over the rootball, but minus the rear prop which had ripped in half...Lloyd then "towed" it out of its predicament without a rope and Louis limped it back to the clearing for further inspection in the tyre changing hole...Lloyds strange rover proved both an excellent jack and axle stand. The old prop removed a group of us retired to my workshop and we chopped down the remains and sleeved it with something a bit more substantial, complete with dynamic balancing welded date, so we new when the "warranty on the repair" runs out...Its got a year on it, but one of the exclusions is that its not driven by Louis...ever...so thats that kinda run out!...Job done and the 4trak was off again, albiet with a floppy front axle as Louis had somehow managed to sheer of the spring pack retaining bolt which locates the spring into the axle perch...didnt stop him though!

Sally
The boss didnt stay over this weekend, opting to stay at home with Roma as the weather was grotty friday and dealing with a 13st dog covered in mud in a tent wasnt gonna be easy...Sally came down and set up the clearing area for us and got the BBQ started before heading off home, returning Saturday morning to do her thing in the clearing all day like normal and cooking lunch for the masses. It was a shame Sally couldnt have stayed Sat night as the weather was better and lovely in the clearing, but she headed off late back to Roma (who was probably sleeping on our bed with her backside on my pillow as Sal has trained her too!)...
My boss was seriously missed when it came to teardown on Sunday morning...Sal normally handles that with some help with the heavy stuff, and I gotta say I didnt realise how much there was to do, and how well she organises everyone (including me). Credit were credit is due, Sal normally grafts most of the day, something I forget when I am out playing/recovering...
Well done babe, and next time you are deffo staying and I will be more help...promise!

Me...
Gotta say I was really so disappointed when so many dropped out at the last minute or couldnt make this meet, meaning that no matter how many times we did the maths, the weekender as normal wasnt gonna happen.
Everyone has worked so hard to create our own unique place to meet and play, and its gutting to have to admit defeat at this stage, especially when we have to let down members who have travelled a long way by cutting the meet short as there is insufficient support/funding to do it.
As it happened the weather turned great on Sunday, such that if we had done a normal 2 day weekender, then the participants would have had both the fun of mud and slipping around on Saturday, and then the ability to be able to explore and try much more with the site dryer.
I think what we have made here is great and its a real privilege, but if its not supported then it cant move forwards and will lose momentum and we will lose it. The weekenders are what the woods are all about, not just mud and 4x4's, but a whole lot more...

Disappointment aside, we all had a great time...
I enjoyed the company of our newbies to the woods immensely and it was great to catch up with the regulars to.
The weather threw a spanner in the works, we have never done a sleep over in the rain before but the cover worked well and provided Pyro-girl with hours of entertainment! But the weather came good in the end, and we had so many laughs with getting stuck, getting unstuck and having many a beer round the raging bonfire with great food until the sun started to rise.
My truck did well and suffered some minor modifications that will only serve to make it smaller and fit gaps easier next time. Thanks to everyone who recovered me when I beached it or wedged it. I did a Kel and kinda ran it out of juice, the spare can I had getting guzzled by the genny. Got myself another shorty leafer this weekend from Rosco which I look forwards to seeing soon. The 2.4 is gonna get some mods before the next weekender, might be swapping the lsd rear for a normal diff that can get welded up, which should help it a bit. still toying with cutting a chunk out of the middle and making it a shorter lwb, or a longer swb...not sure yet though.

Thanks to everyone who came, thanks to everyone that helped and we hope to see you all again soon.

Some pics I took are below...soz about the quality of some of them, my phone doesnt like the duskyness...

The BGL beached on the log climb, kinda like Stevey2stuck managed to do in Pete's locked up, lifted and special traked shorty 2.8 coiler...
But on the 3rd run we made it, but needed the extra 5bhp gain by turning on the headlights...full beam would have been excessive and irresponsible as that would have given a 7.5bhp gain, which would have been simply silly...

The 2.4 kinda wedged between 2 trees on a side slope...Its difficult to see but there was another tree tight up against the rear bumper/spare wheel also, making for an interesting recovery...It came about when Neal and I were trying to get back to the clearing as running out of fuel...we came down Krushers revenge and it all got real rollercoaster, engine over run and cadance braking not working, even powering out to try and regain traction didnt either...reverse gear and a boot full worked though providing muchos braking and an unusual 2 rooster tails out of the front whilst going forwards...
We then found ourselfs off the lower side of the sideslopey track there, such that carrying on down would have had us in the trees, the only option to drive diagonal up the hill to gain some distance up from the trees behind...this meant using a little used track that comes out on the white root hole climb, which nature had dumped a hefty tree, still verticle-ish but fallen and dead slap bang in the middle of the exit of the track...Only one thing for it as didnt want to shunt to much as we were on a very dicey slippy sideslope...and that was test the bulldozer abilities of the 2.4... A couple of "nudges" moved the tree out of the way, but as I tried to drive past it gravity got a hold on the bus and for every inch forwards we slid 6 sideways..gassed it and made it worse, and finally ended up wedged front and rear between 2 trees!Extracted by Petes winch from the top of hill, by dragging the rear out first...cheers mate!

The die-laughing with Louis at the "controls"...

Matt having a go at one of the hills in his white shorty.

Propshaft surgury on the 4trak, using the tyre changing hole and a V8 powered jack/axlestands!

Some shots from in the clearing...a real leafer fest this weekend with 8 leafers vs 5 coilers of which Petes and Kels were the only ones to get muddy playing, wheras 7 of the 8 leafers ventured out...
You will see the sintra in one of the pics...this a 2.2ecotec, so we wore protective helmets in case a piston came out when Sally started it...it made it in and out of the woods fine on its winter tyres that someone fitted on the front!...Go on lickle Sintra, lob a rod so I can bang your body on a LWB chassis to make a offroad camper out of ya...the interior space on this thing is so useful, room for a kingsize double in the back, captains chairs..would be great..nothing like a horrid delicia..much much bigger and extreme!

Some pics I took today when I returned to do a last rubbish sweep round the clearing and woods...Thanks everyone for respecting the woods that we are allowed to use and using the bins/fire or taking your rubbish home...
3/4 of a carrier bag, and in fairness most of that was years old and had blown into the woods...
We aim to always leave the woods BETTER than when we found it...thanks for your cooperation!

The massive amount of rubbish that I cleared today...NOT...well done and thanks everyone, most in the bag was old and green or fragments of greenoval or 4trak!

A woodpecker house recovered from a dead tree that was felled...

be back soon

Ok lads n lasses, in an attempt to keep the SE weekenders in the public eye I have a few pics for you to see (not for the first time)
what you have been missing. I am not going to go in to some long winded paragraph about how good these weekender are because

A. Greg has already given you the rundown.. :lol:

B. You should know by now, we have been running picnics/weekenders for ages... :wink:

A huge thanks to Greg and the Boss fro their huge effort in organising this (again), and for finding space for me and the krushlets to kip
over last minute.
Also big thanks to rancidrichess for her cullenery skills in keeping all us loonies fed...

We/I had a absolute ball as per usual and you are dead right Greg, you cannot beat a FOG styley bonfire p155 up..
I really love meeting up with all the foggers (regs and newbies) especially over a beer and bbq.
Anyway I didnt get many pics but I got a few, put your names down for the next one, I heard a rumour that there would be some girls there!

Oh and Greg, no I never got stuck this time and no carnage either... :dance:

Heres my pics........

This made us all laugh.........

....but this is what happened to it.

...Snapped rear propshaft... :shock:

Wouldnt happen to your fronty I might add, it was just louis thinking he was invincable

looks like you all had fun just wish i could of been there but i'm still in abit of pain.

driving round the woods would of kill me. plus i had to put my blood family first. come hell or high water i'll be there next time.

Here goes with my contribution to the photo gallery

And the 2 vids that I have been able to salvage - will add more if I have success in uploading from the corrupted SD card.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrRetroPedr ... OU5msXbQtE