SE PICNIC IN THE WOODS/MUD 7th NOV 2010 ***REVIEW***

[gregster]

Just about to leave here so starting this review thread ready for the first returning picnicers....

Hope you all had fun....

Please post you comments, pics and vids from the mudfest here please guys....

[bobbinsjob]

Just got home after a brilliant day once again. Thanks to Greg and Sal for all their superb efforts as per usual, thanks to the rain gods for making it super gloopy, and thanks to The great Fronty 'B' god, for not letting Angelina get stuck once (that needed recovery) but allowed her to drag several 'A's out of the sticky stuff

I did however get a few bits for greg's carnage thread, as in the bullbar is now hanging on by bluetac and spit, drivers side rear cluster parted company with the truck, front bumper is slightly further back than it was (them trees dont half jump out on ya) and a few more dents n scatches but hey, who's counting.

Halfajob had a brilliant day too, (probably cos he was sniffin round Goergia all day, chip off the old block).

It was great to see some new faces down there today and one I aint seen for ages, glad you could make it Gareth, and then there were the faces that are part of the furniature there lol.

Great to meet Mrs K and the bin lids (cool name ) glad you enjoyed yourselves and appreciate why your dad needs more recovery points pmsl

Unfortunately I joined the club of "Forgot to charge the camera battery before I left" so I didnt get any pics apart from one on my phone which I sent to Drift if he can post it. and I'll let Gregster explain the logistics of planting saplings front and rear of the truck and waiting till they are fully grown trees hahahaha

See you all again very soon, going for a bath now, then off to local rugby club as they have asked for Angelinas assistance later to drag cars out the field for fireworks display lol

[Krusher]

Back home again now in the warm after a hard days playing in the mud. Great day again as always with the SE rabble
in the woods, great turnout aswell I must say with plenty of people on hand to recover me because it seems I may have got stuck more times today than anyone else . It was proper muddy by the end of the play day and was very difficult in places to get around.

I had the misses and kids with me today for added abuse I mean support, they had an absolute blast really enjoyed themselves. It was mrs Krushers first time offroading and was abit nervous at first but when the truck started getting thrown about she couldnt stop laughing. She also wants me to say thank you to everybody for making her feel welcome and how friendly everyone is. I did tell her well this is the family of FOG and now she can see what I meant.

I must say a big thanks to Greg and Sal for everything today, it has been fantastic. Also thanks to (here goes the list) Retro Pedro, Mapracing, 2Stuck, Jamesz, Bobbinsjob, Louis and everyone else that had some input in getting me out of the predicaments I managed to myself in today, Youre all stars. I got a few pics today but not many I was too busy getting stuck....

[Drift]

Top stuff, looks like Kel beat me to Gregs piccy, Greg you nugget diff's R us

[Norse]

Few pics taken on my phone

The Mrs (Charlie) driving for the first time, away from camp and she went up to the toilets and back a few times

[fudge]

im just got bk and had my bath
i will sort out pictures tomorrow when i get back from work.

i had great fun, and i can now see what you can do in a fronty with very little mods like norse's one.

and seeing how ease it is to get it well and truly stuck.

[Norse]

im just got bk and had my bath
i will sort out pictures tomorrow when i get back from work.

i had great fun, and i can now see what you can do in a fronty with very little mods like norse's one.

and seeing how ease it is to get it well and truly stuck.

you got it stuck first, i then got it truly stuck, though need to hammer the rear bumper corner a lil

[dcy]

Had a great day and glad I came up, all be it in the golf. Big thanks to James and Jammy for letting me be a passenger so could get a good look at what my truck will hopefully be in for next time. I know the ol girls gonna love it tho.
Thanks to all for making me feel welcome, and feeding me and the loud mouth dog! Lol. Will see you all again soon, and some of you even sooner.

[gregster]

Great pictures guys....and a great day too!!!

Well the weather threw a wild card and some rain and windy days turned the woods into a mudfest, with a liberal layer of zero traction leaves over everything...
So today was all about getting stuck and then unstuck...but was brill fun...

Todays rabble were...(order copied from the list!)

Bobbinsjob...plus halfajob
The resident pornmeister did well today...managing not to get stuck and giving his B some stick in the goo...
Scored some carnage to the tuperware work at the front, and the luckiest of escapes on the rear taillight...
Pup-pu-pu-PORNO POWER did the business today...
Nice to meet the halfajob ...

Le Wilberforce
Jim joined us in the bus with his 2.8 shorty play thing now sporting a welded rear diff...sadly the front diff which was already missing a tooth gave up completely early on in the day and was making some most unpleasant noises...
The shorty retired to the clearing after being extracted a couple of times where its intermitant drive at the front end was making the mud unsumountable...
Cheers for the cooking with Stevy2stuck...really nice mate...

hobsey and other half
Great to see hobsey and Dena and their squeaky clean B again, this time sporting new boots...Some great driving on their part I reckon as the B made it unscathed I think...Hobsey made me try silly stuff in the li'll white locked up leafer and WE got it wedged between 2 trees and broke it!

Jammywagonwheel
John and his shorty A were doing their thing today in the mud, scoring a fantastic mod to the rear bumper from a tree as it slithered down a hill somewhere in the woods...Good to see you again mate

Krusher, Mrs Krusher and the 2 Krushlets...
Kel and the family came down to today, was great to see you all...Kel got stuck much more than usual today, maybe cos he wasnt booting it as much as usual, in the fear that if something bust, his misses would know exactly how it happened, and the "It just started making this noise on the thanet way" line just wouldnt work this time!
Gave us all a challenge with his final extraction, kel being the "one last go" victim today, but after a lot of pushing pulling, cutting down trees, and dragging some out of the way (Louis)...it finally came out thanks to some "ever so careful" driving from Kel with only mm's to play with sporting only minor adjustments by way of a bust indicator...Well done fella...

Jamez2
James and his misses joined us for the second time and I dont know how, but James managed to get round the woods in his 2.2i lwb on nearly bald road tyres??? And I aint got a clue how...but he was having loads of fun scaring his misses!
Lunchtime bought about more of James great potato salad and a loan of the special tyres off the dead li'll white leafer...giving James a taste of what proper traction is all about...meaning he could now get stuck in places he couldnt get to before!
Great to see you again (not at midnight!)mate and cheers for you help taping up this morning..

DavetheRave
Dave joined us in his 2.5lwb and copiloted many of the loons round the woods and helped with the many extractions...
Great to see the 2.5 going again albiet not playing, but if you wanna race with a fronty with a proper engine, pick a day when my 2.8lwb aint full of stuff that will fall over and break/spill if I go round a corner at anything faster the snails pace! Cheers for you help fella!

Andyt54
A newbie to woods and the SE gang, Andy came up with his son...in his tidy B series fronty...
Nice to meet you both and hope you enjoyed the experiences in the various cars you went out in...Andy's face was priceless when we got the li'll white leafer over at about 60degrees...quality...
Will be great to see you back with a plaything mate...we will all show you how not to do it!

RetroPedro
Pete overlaid and gave us some cock and bull story about being stuck in a supermarket for hours cos they wouldnt let him pay till 11 oclock!!!
But when he finally arrived he and his well modded 2.8 shorty took no prisoners in the woods...Pete has a notable roller coaster ride down one of the hills when it took off and slid down! A blinding team this man and his truck, both have evolved over the last year, one looking more scarred, yet still purposeful and ultra reliable, and the truck aint bad either!
Cheers for all your helps as always Pete...

Mapracing
Paul arrived in his L200 today as didnt realise the tax has run out on his shorty until friday, and couldnt get it taxed in time...(more like he saw that Ian was coming, and heard that he might have his wheel brace with him!)...
Paul kept many a passenger seat warm as he encouraged the picnicers to do the impossible in their trucks I have no doubt...
Nice to see you again fella...and dont forget to do that sorn or they will have ya!

Stevey2stuck
Steve came down to see everyone, still suffering from his recent op on his leg....His flextastic shorty was sporting new boots but sat it out today as Stevey was struggling driving (doesnt normally stop him though???)...
So alas the snot green flexer sat there unattended in the clearing looking all clean and shiny....I couldnt resist it...and no, I didnt donut mud all over it...just some finger painting with mud, which amazingly Ste didnt notice when he left in the dark, until he pulled into a supermarket on the way home!!!
Thanks big time for your cooking today, a stunning effort considering the pain your leg was giving you...
Well done fella, great that you came down, cant wait to see how the snot green shorty does next time!

Houndog and Family
Great to see Phil and Nina again with Georgia their weena as they have missed the last couple of meets...
Their 2.8lwb did well and didnt seem to have scored any carnage...good driving mate...
Phil bought with him his white leafer (ex-Horses45) which now has a new home with my mate Matt...
Not long to go for Nina before another FOG-let makes an appearance into the world...
Look forwards to seeing you all again soon...

Matt and Abbey ex houndog white leafer
Arrived later as the water pump gave up last night on Matts disco, so he had to rob one off another engine and fit it this morning...Matt had a blast around in his Disco, but the road tyres on the white leafer prevented much other than an amble round the easier bits of the woods...I think it will be different when we see it next...
Good that you are part of the fronty gang now Matt...apart bleedin time you saw sense!!!

Lloyd in the StrangeRover
Lloyd wasnt coming today until he heard the engine of Louis truck and the li'll white leafer ripping up some tracks yesterday when we were sorting the site ready for today...then the petrol head in him took over and the strangerover put in another appearance!
Lloyd and louis had a moment today when lloyd came over the crest of a hill onto find louis in the hole in the dialaughing...and slid straight into the side of it...it should fit through narrower gaps now!
The roaring V8 is music to anyones ears and Lloyd doesnt spare the revs when forcing the rangey up the hills...does loads of fuel though! Pete took him up the garage for more....he started with a full tank!

Louis in the Die-laughing
Louis didnt stop all day other than to recover the shogun thousands of times...The diahatsu 2.8td is now sporting a set of muds and Louis manages to get it everywhere, albiet collecting trees en-route...
Louis was loads of help yesterday getting set up for today...and a constant source of help, amusement and entertainment all day...

Kevin1964 & Kim
Bought the "shiny" to the woods today, and kept Sally and Nina company in the clearing...Kev looked scared when I walked towards his truck with my muddy hands after decorating Steves!
Nice to see you both again, has been too long....

Dcy
Another Newbie to the woods and our antics, Dan came down in his Golf as his fronty is ill and in bits at the mo...
Nice to meet ya meet and hope you enjoyed your first taster of our kind of madness...Sally loved your dog and commented about how well behaved it was...Gotta say she does make some funny sounds though when another dog comes between her and the BBQ!!!
Good to meet you and hope to see you again!

Gareth
After way too long an abscence the Gareth returned to the woods and his friends up here...albiet frontyless at the mo, I think the changes we have all introduced up the woods in the last 6 months or so since Gareth last got up and the fun loving rabble has relit that desire for Mud that our man has been missing...
Great to have you back again fella, has been way toooo long....thanks for your help with the shogun and clearing down...
See ya again....SOON!!!

Josh in the shogun
Well half a shogun now....which may not be seen in the woods again as its likely its going to the frag to make way for another plaything for Josh...At the end of play it was MINUS...wings, bonnet, starter motor, mirrors etc etc...Had to remove bits with my trusty axe, and coax it back into life when it decided enough was enough...
Brill entertainment though, but sadly went home on the end of Louis tow chain....RIP Shogun...
(the R stands for Rust!)

Norse, Fudge and Charlie...
(missed off orig edit as I copied and pasted the "list" and of course they werent on it as it was a surprise for Norses birthday!!! It was late and I was tired...sorry guys )
Great to see you all again, now you see what the picnics are all about having only been to a workday before...Proper good fun...The 2.8 bus is now sporting Stevey2stucks pepperpots and tyres, and they all did really well considering they are relative newbies to all this madness in the mud...the truck won a couple of bits of character, but did well all day with even Charlie having a go on the flatter bits...You all looked like you were enjoying yourselves and we hope to see y'all again for more fun...


Sally
Was always the hostess with the mostest, running basecamp and managing everything that I cant be trusted to...
Sally spent the day in the clearing laughing at us all when we came back covered in mud, and with cars missing bits...
Your a star babe...hoooj thanks as always

Me....Da Gregster!!
Had a great day....the li'll white leafer with both diffs locked and dumper tyres was like having Magnatraction....apart from on sideslopes where it slides well...and gets wedged between trees in the most wierdest of ways...
Sadly the driver let the leafer down when I got a bit over exuberant trying to slide it round, and I think sheared the pinion off in the front diff..!!!
So back to the clearing for an early retirement...leaving the other mud lovers to extract each other...We stuck the dumpers on James truck for the afternoon which gave him an insight into what difference traction can make...
A blinding day, well slippy, but some ace driving by everyone in difficult conditions...
Thanks everyone for your help today, setting up, during the day, ripping down and stashing everything up the workshop...
and thanks for everyone coming and making our last meet up the woods of 2010 a blinder!
Soz no pickies today, was too covered in mud all day to even touch a camera!

Laters
Greg

[James Bass]

Looks like you all had a great time. Some good pics too. Thanx guys.

[robbie]

Well am glad you all had a realy good dayand wish i lived just a lil bit closer but hope to join you all next year abit more

[jammywagonwheel]

First and foremost - a HUGE thanks to Greg, Sal and the SE team for a fantastic day..

Aplologies second.. some p!llock picked up camera with nice new batteries, and a spare set.. and left the memory card in the PC at home - so no pics sorry..

Mud - Mud and a glorious THUD..
Martha has some more 'Organic Mods'.. but more on that in a bit...

Convoyed to site with Houndog & tribe towing Lil-white-exhorses45-leafer2 (now matts), Wilberforce and collected Hobsey on the way.. got to 'the secret meeting point'.. and the day began..

Lots of new faces (Hi All newbies, welcome along.. ), and the usual suspects.. Then off to site for a cuppa, donut, cake and a 'safety' talk from Greg.. and then off we charged..

Loads of gloopy stuff to slip around in, Its my first time back since the second round of 'enhancements' caused by Greg & team with the digger (pre weekender) - and What a difference its made! What a blinding day!

3 seconds after setting out (beating even Stevey2Stuck's previous record by nearly 2 whole seconds).. Krusher with the first (of Many) stuck.. (Mrs K's line "are we stuck then?" and Krushers reply "erm - well - Sort of" was a classic!).. went for a poodle down the bottom track to go climb some hills.. and on the advice of Greg - gave it a miss for a couple of hours (to let it dry out a bit.. ) so went topside for a drive (crash) in the bombholes and the new bits. after an hour or so of ?gentle? navigation and finding the paths / lanes buried under the leaves... PLAYTIME!!

Picked up Andyt54 for a 'gentle' introduction to the woods in Martha and showed him around a few of the 'sights' - ooh - sky, ooh - floor, "if you look to your left - theres the sun and about 2 foot of fresh woodland air under the wheel - and to your right theres the tree roots", had a minor 'loss of momentum' in one of the 'new' features.. (bl00dy hell some are a bit deep! - had already walked the route earlier to check) but red lining it in 2nd got us free.. and Andy I can quite honestly say, was absolutely stunned by what a 'little 2.0 leafer" can do, .. and Martha wasnt holding back.. spent about 20 mins or so in 3 wheel action.. being clattered around.. loving it..

Back to basecamp for a cuppa, more cake, another Jam donut and to let the clutch ... erm... stop glowing and the call came in.. "Gregs proper stuck, can someone go and help?" It was like a scene from the Old Western Films about the Gold rush.. Camera's out, plenty of "helpful advice / encouragement" - ahem.. from Bobbins.. "Why did you plant 2 trees there and let them grow", "'Ere Greg you said them diffs and tyres on that will make that unstoppable" etc etc etc... etc etc etc there must be a pic / vid somewhere... application of chainsaw, shovel, right foot, manpower and a final drag sideways from Krusher, Lil-white-leafer was free.. and a little bit poorly..

Back to playtime..

then it was my turn for a stuck.. coincidentally.. not a million miles from where Greg got stuck.. with his Welded diffs and digger tyres oopsy!!
went for a steep muddy climb with DCY & mutley co-piloting - no problems.. then took a route I had driven (Down - not up) 3 times already that day.. but came at it from the other side.. momentary loss of traction, plus the addition of Gravity and one more 'Modification' to the rear bumper - prefectly tree shaped - including bits of bark (sorry tree), Lloyd in the Strangerover like a knight in once shining (dented) armour couldnt extract me, and I was properly hung up.. after a brief moment of BIGging it (Brain In Glovebox), the drivers front wing, passenger upper rear light cluster, lower light cluster, wing mirror got - erm - customised. Enter stage left - Houndog.. and his winch! And also Stevey2Stuck turned up (with Retro) to offer some 'words of encouragement' (glad you could make it!)

Martha recovered.. so back on with playtime.. 1/3 of a tank of fuel later.. it was lunchtime, top cheffing again chaps.. the ribs were lovely then a quick play after lunch and home for Grand Prix & a pint..

Great to meet everyone again, old and new..

Looking forward to the next one already!
John

[Norse]

Upped few of the video's i took





Now onto the car



that is the major damage from when me and fudge got it well and truly stuck, it was being pulled at the "worst" angle ie 90 degree's and up, bent it along the weld Fudge did, shows a good strong recovery point (ie not the bullbar tie down eyes), other damage was slightly cracked rear light, tree shaped dent in the rear corner bumper and few lil scratches

[Kevin1964]

Well i have to say what a really good day it was...A tad wet but none the less a very entertaining day seeing almost everyone having some form of extra layer attached to there vehicles...MUD!! A few dings here and there made for interesting veiwing especially when it came to panelbeating...Nice work Greg Both myself and Kim kept the bench worm for the others and kept ourselves occupied laughing at you lot... Thanks to all of you for the laughs and look forward to seeing you all very soon

[jammywagonwheel]

Top vids Norse.. I like the 1st one.. The "Strangerover" dragging Krusher - "the pink one" - out....

[jamez2]

great day sporting injuries including
a dented scratched and now stuck bonnet
dented wing
a now overheating motor

but enjoyed the day and a big thanks to greg for the loan of the special boots cheers alot

[fudge]

and now for my pic's

[hobsey]

Big thanks to Greg and Sal for a great day, can I just put an order in for warmer weather for the next one.

The truck came away with no injuries due to me wimping out after my first run due to it being very slippy, had a couple of brown pant moments. Was beginning to wish I had got some M/Ts instead of A/Ts but I dont think that would have made alot of difference.

Great cooking from the FOGer chefs as always.

Never any good at right ups so I will finish up by saying 'Roll on the new year for the next one'

One last thing, can you please thank your other halves for keeping Dena company while I was out playing.

[2much]

A big thank you to everyone that made it on Sunday, i couldnt drive the frog this weekend but realise how much fun it is with the lot of ya's!

Good to see some new faces and sorry Andyt54(?) didnt get chance to say hi, only realised a new truck was there just before i went out for last run and left. Thanks to Fudge/Norse for buying the old wheels/tyres, i was very impressed that they were fitted straight away and put into action - action which saw them pretty stuck on one occasion and we introduced them to the SE extraction processes! and an even bigger thank you for the extra £, its really appreciated

Ian, thanks for the run out in the B, first time i've been in one and they certainly "feel" different off road or maybe that was all the debris in the footwells!! Krusher thanks for my first run of the day, being in the back of a LWB when going through the bombholes was certainly "interesting" and well done for getting stuck late in the day - made me laff that we rescued you once and we all agreed to take the easy route back to camp only to see you dive off into the trees where there wasnt even a track

And to chaffeur number 3 - young pedro! quite what he was thinking in taking me AND paul (mapracing) out at the same time, but he still listened to our words of "encouragement" and went down several routes he really didnt want to, bending his tree sliders in the process Cheers pete for the drive and ice-man paul for the laffs as always

Houndog & Co - always a pleasure to see you all and the LWB is looking sweet with the new lift, Kevin and missus keeping the camp safe and the shorty clean and showing me up on the knee/scar/operation front!, Sal looking after everyone as usual especially Georgia and i managed to kiss Sal on cheek without being attacked, John (jammy) good to see you fella and keep up the good posting on the B rebuild and glad to see Martha picking up more organic mods thanks to Louis for sorting the bacon for me, Hi to Matt - look after the white un and try not to let it end up like the Lil' locked white leafer!!! Hobsey and Dena - ask Santa for some thermals this year so you dont get so cold nice to see the truck looking better and better. Gareth great to see you after all this time, get yourself another truck soon and well done on bringing the ribs, perfect BBQ food not even sure if you got any but let me tell ya they were excellent. Jimbo 2trux thanks as always for the cooking, shame Lara broke a little worse but looks like you had plenty of fun in the mud. I'm sure i've missed someone out so sorry but look forward to seeing you all soon....

My biggest laff and thanks for the day must go to Greg, its been a great year down the woods and they have got better and better, its a shame there's a few months off but a "top work fella" to you for making this all happen. A very casual comment from Greg as i left "shame you couldnt get the frog dirty" (couldnt drive due to knee) as i left went un-heeded until i pulled into Tesco express on the way home to strange looks - as i parked under the lights and got out i saw the truck had been given some "attention". A wonderful layer of muddy water and about 30 muddy handprints over the bonnet and sides :lol just goes to show ya, at a FOG picnic you just have to get muddy

Roll on 2011...

PS. Thanks for the good luck wishes on the job front, today i got offered the Slough one with my current employer but after the drive there and back i'm not convinced i can do this every day - lets hope it goes as well with other job on Friday, mind you that's only about 10miles less in distance

[Norse]

A big thank you to everyone that made it on Sunday, i couldnt drive the frog this weekend but realise how much fun it is with the lot of ya's!

Good to see some new faces and sorry Andyt54(?) didnt get chance to say hi, only realised a new truck was there just before i went out for last run and left. Thanks to Fudge/Norse for buying the old wheels/tyres, i was very impressed that they were fitted straight away and put into action - action which saw them pretty stuck on one occasion and we introduced them to the SE extraction processes! and an even bigger thank you for the extra £, its really appreciated

No problems about the extra they are wonderful and make an....interesting howl